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We will miss Martin Shaw when we wave him and his family on their way to their new adventure in Germany, but as oceans are no barrier to flurries of emails about new book discoveries, we will be saying bon voyage to Martin, not goodbye. We are excited to welcome Alison Huber to the role of head book buyer – we’re already in the habit of exchanging book recommendations with Alison as she is moving from part-time Readings book expert to full-time in her new role. In next month’s issue you’ll hear from Alison in her new column.

In this issue, you’ll find the inside story of the judging process for the Readings Children’s Book Prize, directly from the prize manager, Angela Crocombe. You’ll see adorable and creative reader responses to the announcement of the winner, the wonderful Rivertime by Trace Balla.

Plus, on the cover of this Readings Monthly, we are celebrating Rivertime’s win by running a colouring competition (pictured right).

As for fiction and non-fiction, I have never seen so many rave reviews – our reviewers all loved their books. This is a great month to be stuck inside in front of the fire – take your pick, you can’t go wrong, especially if you choose from among the fantastic Australian writers featured in these pages.

I was delighted to speak with the talented Antonia Hayes about her debut novel, Relativity, a book with a divisive issue at its heart that is sure to become a book club favourite.

Further highlights within Australian fiction include In the Quiet by Eliza Henry Jones and Six Bedrooms by Tegan Bennett Daylight. Our book of the month, Stephanie Bishop’s outstanding second novel The Other Side of the World, has already been touted as one of the books of the year.

Elke Power is the editor of Readings Monthly.