Engaging in extensive discussions about the weather and changing seasons is part of being a Melbournian, so I am not at all self-conscious to raise this sometimes-prosaic topic, and mention that March signals for me the beginning of our gradual transition into my favourite part of the year, when the nights start to cool, the days shorten a little, and the light changes to warmer hues. It’s also the time for fungi to start growing in earnest in the damp places around our city, and I’ve always been fascinated by these organisms. I mean, have you ever seen phosphorescent fungi glowing in the dark? It’s a bona fide natural wonder! Australian ecologist Alison Pouliot (co-author, with Tom May, of the authoritative book on local foraging, Wild Mushrooming) is one of the most respected experts on the topic, and her new book, Underground Lovers, is a wonderful blend of nature writing and memoir. It’s our Nonfiction Book of the Month, and is bound to inspire more than a few bushwalks.

Lots of us loved Jenny Odell’s call to arms, How to Do Nothing (2019), and Odell follows up this month with Saving Time, which our reviewer calls ‘stunning’ in both content and form. We also have strong endorsements for activist and academic David Graeber’s final work, Pirate Enlightenment, or the Real Libertalia, clinical and forensic psychologist Ahona Guha’s Reclaim: Understanding Complex Trauma and Those Who Abuse, and Thomas H Ford & Justin Clemens’ Barron Field in New South Wales: the Poetics of Terra Nullius. Also out this month: journalist Margaret Simons (most recently, biographer of Penny Wong) has turned her eye to Tanya Plibersek (check out the Readings blog for a Q&A with the author); Kate Legge explores familial legacies in Infidelity and Other Affairs; Peter Frankopan, author of the tremendously popular Silk Roads (2015), publishes The Earth Transformed; Bernie Sanders reminds us all that It’s OK to be Angry about Capitalism (like, seriously angry); Mariana Mazzucato & Rosie Collington expose the cult of consultants and their power in government and business in The Big Con; Jennifer Higgie, writer, artist, curator and author of the wonderful exploration of women and self-portraiture, The Mirror and the Palette (2021), publishes The Other Side:
A Journey into Women, Art, and the Spirit World.

Our Fiction Book of the Month is Funny Ethnics by Shirley Le, a member of the Sweatshop Literacy Movement in Western Sydney. Le was the inaugural recipient of Affirm Press’s mentorship for Sweatshop writers, so it’s exciting to see the first publication resulting from this initiative, which included editorial support and manuscript development over a number of years. The resulting debut novel is original and refreshingly bold, and our reviewer says it ‘feels like a jolt of something electric and new’, qualities I know I crave in my reading days, and signal a new talent on the literary scene. The Melbourne City Reads initiative kicks off again this month, and our first book is Miles Franklin-shortlisted author Gregory Day’s new novel, The Bell of the World. It’s a lovely hardback package, at the special price of $26.50 for the month, and our reviewer (Mark Rubbo, who started it all) says it is a ’big, bold work: lyrical, powerful, challenging and rewarding’, so get reading, Melbourne! Our staff also heap praise on the new works from Australian authors Dominic Smith, Rijn Collins, Jacinta Halloran, Sally Colin-James, Diane Yarwood, and Zoya Patel. Eleanor Catton won the 2013 Booker Prize for The Luminaries, and so many people will be keen to read her new novel, Birnam Wood, which has early readers very, very excited. Margaret Atwood’s collection of short stories, Old Babes in the Woods, could be read by our reviewer ‘again and again’, while Sophie Mackintosh’s Cursed Bread is ‘spellbinding’, Sebastian Barry’s Old God’s Time is ‘absolutely beautiful’, and Rebecca Makkai’s I Have Some Questions for You is ‘remarkable’. Wow! We also have two wonderful poetry reviews, for the highly anticipated first publication from the Joan imprint, Dress Rehearsals by Madison Godfrey, and Autumn Royal’s new collection, The Drama Student. Crime readers will want to check out the debuts from Australian authors Mali Waugh (whose Judgement Day is our Crime Book of the Month), Kerryn Mayne, and Ashley Kalagian Blunt.

And finally, dear reader, one of the big releases for the first half of 2023 appears in April, when Pip Williams follows up The Dictionary of Lost Words (which defied countless logistical challenges during 2020’s lockdowns to become an international smash hit) with The Bookbinder of Jericho. Get a sneak peek of the reading experience that awaits you with our exclusive extract on the next page, and be sure to check out the details of our super-special price offer for pre-orders and early purchases.