Congratulations to Alison Huber, Readings’ Book Division Manager, who has been awarded Bookseller of the Year by the Australian Booksellers Association (ABA).

Huber has worked at Readings for 17 years, and in 2015, took on the role of head book buyer for the bookshop. She has been a positive and ardent advocate for Australian literature over the years, with a particular emphasis on raising the profile of emerging local voices. This has seen her championing authors such as Jennifer Down, Stephanie Bishop, Ceridwen Dovey, Zoë Morrison, Ellen van Neerven, Jock Serong, Laura Jean McKay, Bri Lee, Sean O'Beirne – to name just a few.

She has been awarded the ABA Text Publishing Bookseller of the Year award specifically for her “outstanding achievement in the past twelve months”, a time period which has seen her take a critical role in steering Readings through the Covid-19 crisis.

In her acceptance video, Alison said: “Congratulations to my fellow shortlisted booksellers – you are amazing. We’ve been through a pretty rough patch over the last six months, so I’d also like to acknowledge the broader bookseller community and everything we’ve been through.”

“I’ve been working in bookshops for over half my life and it didn’t take me very long to work out that book people were my people. I feel incredibly lucky to work with an amazing, smart, passionate group of people at Readings and also in the broader book industry. It makes my job so fun.”

Huber was shortlisted alongside several other passionate booksellers including Michael Earp (The Little Bookroom), Kate Horton (Farrells Bookshop), Krissy Kneen (Avid Reader), Anna MacDonald (Paperback Bookshop), and Rachel Robson (Berkelouw Books Leichhardt). Our congratulations to them once more.