Each week we bring you a sample of the books we’re reading, the films we’re watching, the television shows we’re hooked on, or the music we’re loving. Joanna Di Mattia is reading Unquiet by Linn Ullmann

I’m very close to finishing an utterly engrossing novel, my first by the Norwegian writer, Linn Ullmann. Unquiet is categorised as fiction - and that’s certainly where we shelve it in store …

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The American Library Association (ALA) has announced its top books for children and young adults, including the influential Caldecott, Newbery and Printz awards. The winners include…

Winner of the John Newbery Medal for the most outstanding contribution to children’s literature:

When You Trap a Tiger by Tae Keller

When Lily and her family move in with her sick grandmother, a magical tig…

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The finalists for this year’s National Book Critics Circle (NBCC) awards have been announced. The NBCC honours outstanding writing and fosters a national conversation about reading, criticism and literature.

Below is the complete list of NBCC Award finalists for the publishing year 2020:

Fiction Inside Story by Martin Amis If I Had Two Wings by Randall Kenan Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell How to…

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Day Break by Amy McQuire & Matt Chun What We’ll Build by Oliver Jeffers Amari and the Night Brothers by B.B. Alston Explore Your World: Deep Dive into Deep Sea by Tim Flannery Code Name Bananas by David Walliams The Left-Handed Booksellers of London by Garth Nix Young Dark Emu: A Truer History by Bruce Pascoe The Traitor (Wolf Girl #4) by Anh Do Sing Me the Summer by Alison Lester & Jane Godwin …

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Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart The Dictionary of Lost Words by Pip Williams The Dry by Jane Harper My Tidda, My Sister by Marlee Silva Phosphorescence by Julia Baird The Survivors by Jane Harper Honeybee by Craig Silvey Loving Country: A Guide to Sacred Australia by Bruce Pascoe & Vicky Shukuroglou The Midnight Library by Matt Haig The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett

During a week that annually…

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The longlist for this year’s International Dylan Thomas Prize has been announced.

This Prize is run in partnership with Swansea University and is awarded to the best literary work in the English language written by an author aged 39 and under. The winning author will receive £30,000.

The 12 longlisted titles are…

Alligator and Other Stories by Dima Alzayat Antiemetic for Homesickness by Romal…

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Round off the first month of 2021 with two exciting YA online events! We’re so pleased to be presenting US authors Angie Thomas and Brigid Kemmerer in conversation, talking about their new novels.

Angie Thomas in conversation

Join us at 11am on Sunday 24 January to hear YA superstar Angie Thomas discuss her writing career and brand-new novel with fellow author Leanne Hall.

Concrete Rose s…

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Each week we bring you a sample of the books we’re reading, the films we’re watching, the television shows we’re hooked on, or the music we’re loving. Lian Hingee is reading A Thousand Ships by Natalie Haynes

For someone who’s never read The Iliad (and truthfully, probably never will) I have a deep and abiding fascination for the story of the Trojan War. Pat Barker’s remarkable novel The Si…

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Western fiction has a long and rich history – one ripe for reinvention and subversion. Here are six of our best recommendations for novels that do exactly this.

Outlawed by Anna North

Ada feels lucky – she loves her broad-shouldered husband and her job as an apprentice midwife. But after a year of marriage with no pregnancy, in a town where barren women are hanged as witches, Ada has to fl…

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Kids are naturally curious about the world and, given half a chance, love to have deep conversations about important issues and events. Here are some books to help spark interesting discussions with kids. For discussing the bushfire season… The Bushfire Book by Chris Nixon & Polly Marsden

Australia is a big country with all sorts of weather – and sometimes extreme weather that causes bushf…

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