Clare Millar
Clare Millar is a bookseller at Readings Hawthorn
Reviews
Root and Branch by Eda Gunaydin
Root & Branch is the debut essay collection from Eda Gunaydin, a Turkish-Australian writer and academic. Gunaydin’s essays cover a wide range of topics: class, wealth, post-colonisation, whiteness, h…
Revenants by Adam Aitken
2022 is going to be another incredible year for Australian poetry, with debuts, new books from established poets and out-of-print titles being reissued. I was thrilled to begin the year with Adam Ait…
White Clouds Blue Rain by Oliver Driscoll
Having released his debut poetry title I Don’t Know How That Happened just last year, Oliver Driscoll returns with his second, White Clouds Blue Rain. This is an intriguing collection, told through …
How Decent Folk Behave by Maxine Beneba Clarke
Maxine Beneba Clarke hardly needs an introduction. The author of several award-winning titles including The Hate Race and Foreign Soil, Beneba Clarke will delight readers with her fourth poetry colle…
Human Looking by Andy Jackson
Andy Jackson has written several acclaimed poetry collections, and returns this year with Human Looking. Readers may be familiar with Jackson’s work through his contribution to the anthology Growing …
How to Make a Basket by Jazz Money
Jazz Money won the 2020 David Unaipon Award for her collection How to Make a Basket, and it’s easy to see why: this is an absolutely stunning collection of poetry.
The collection opens with a poem a…
Beneath the Tree Line by Jane Gibian
Jane Gibian is the author of several poetry collections, and she returns with Beneath the Tree Line. I regret I haven’t previously read Gibian’s work, but I was thoroughly impressed with this latest …
Trigger Warning by Maria Takolander
Maria Takolander is an established Australian poet, and Trigger Warning is her fourth collection. At times a deeply personal selection of poems, it left me in awe of a poet’s ability to trust and to …
Whisper Songs by Tony Birch
2021 is the year of Tony Birch, with two new books: one short story collection (Dark as Night, August) and one poetry collection. Birch has always been a beautiful writer, and it feels particularly f…
The Open by Lucy Van
I was immediately intrigued by Merlinda Bobis’s introduction to The Open in which she describes Lucy Van’s poetry as having ‘all doors open’. This is true – not just in the frequent imagery surroundi…
A Thousand Crimson Blooms by Eileen Chong
Poetry can be so incredibly personal, and Eileen Chong’s A Thousand Crimson Blooms is no exception. As a writer, Chong describes needing poetry in order to process the world, and there is almost noth…
Dropbear by Evelyn Araluen
I cannot speak highly enough of contemporary Australian poetry, and Evelyn Araluen’s debut collection Dropbear is no exception. Araluen is the recipient of several awards and fellowships, including t…
Literary Lion Tamers by Craig Munro
Everyone who knows me knows I’m obsessed with publishing, and I frequently read books about books, so I was thrilled to see Literary Lion Tamers published. Craig Munro has had an impressive career – …
Song of the Crocodile by Nardi Simpson
Song of the Crocodile was the winner of the 2018 blak&write! writing fellowship, which serves to find and develop outstanding unpublished manuscripts by Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander writers. …
Hysteria by Katerina Bryant
I’m an avid reader of Australian debut writing, especially from younger authors. If you haven’t heard of it, Voiceworks is a literary journal produced by and for writers and artists under twenty-five…
The Weekend by Charlotte Wood
Charlotte Wood is an accomplished Australian writer. She won the 2016 Stella Prize for her feminist dystopian novel The Natural Way of Things, which received many other awards as well.
The Weekend f…
The Old Lie by Claire G. Coleman
Claire G. Coleman’s debut novel, Terra Nullius, made waves as it was shortlisted for the 2018 Stella Prize, along with many other awards. This year she’s back with a new science-fiction novel, explor…
Hearing Maud: A Journey for a Voice by Jessica White
Hearing Maud is a compelling work of creative nonfiction. In many ways, this is a book about the power of language, of writing, and of finding one’s own voice. Jessica White lost all of her hearing i…
An Orchestra of Minorities by Chigozie Obioma
Chigozie Obioma received international acclaim for his first novel The Fishermen, which was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize in 2015, won several international prizes for emerging writers, and le…
News
The best of Australian poetry 2021
In 2021, we revived poetry in the Readings Monthly, which allowed me the great privilege reading so many excellent collections. 2021 has truly been an excellent year for Australian poetry — it was incredibly difficult to choose only 10!
It’s worth noting that most of these poets I have chosen are either First Nations or people of colour. I think poetry is where a lot of exciting voices are comin…
Penny Tangey wins the Readings Children’s Book Prize 2021
We are thrilled to share that the winner of the Readings Children’s Book Prize is As Fast As I Can by Penny Tangey! This thrilling and entertaining sporty adventure will delight readers of ages 8-12.
Ten-year-old Vivian has her life sorted already – she’s determined to go the Olympics. She just doesn’t know in which sport! She’s tried nearly everything, but now she’s found her love of cross cou…
The Readings Children’s Book Prize shortlist 2021
The Readings Children’s Book Prize celebrates exciting new voices in Australian children’s literature. This year’s six shortlisted titles are for readers aged 5 to 12.
The 2021 shortlist is:
The Power of Positive Pranking by Nat AmooreThe Year the Maps Changed by Danielle Binks
Aussie Kids: Meet Taj at the Lighthouse by Maxine Beneba Clarke & illustrated by Nicki Greenberg
The Grandest Booksho…
