The start of a new month means that there's a new issue of Readings Monthly available online and in our shops. Below you can read the foreword from the latest issue – and keep an eye on the blog for more updates and recommended new releases throughout the month!
Christmas is the busiest time for booksellers and the months of January and February are usually a time to slow down a bit, recover and catch up on some reading. However, this year we’ve been off to a busy start.
We’ve just given our website a complete overhaul, with the help of design studio TRiC. What I like best about the new design is that it showcases the passion all our employees have for books and reading. If you take a second to look around, you’ll see it compiles all our reviews, blog posts, events, podcasts and recommendations. The look is very classic, and I think very Readings, and we were also lucky enough to have Oslo, our long-time collaborator, contribute some new illustrations.
I’m also excited to announce that we are opening a new Readings shop in Chadstone shopping centre in March. The shop will be quite large, almost as big as our shop in Carlton and is designed by Kerstin Thompson Architects. We have commissioned the artist Edward Linacre to create a feature lantern that will run down the length of the shop. Ed has recycled damaged books to create the paper of the lantern and the result is going to be spectacular. And most importantly, the shop will feature an extensive and varied collection of books that our head book buyer Alison Huber is busy curating as I type this. The shop will have a dedicated space for events and we look forward to hosting many book launches there in the years to come.
In this issue of the Readings Monthly we announce our Readings Foundation recipients. We’re all very proud of the foundation and the work it does in supporting grassroots organisations.
And we’re also thrilled that our very own Fiona Hardy is publishing her debut crime novel, Unbury the Dead. It is up there with the best Australian crime writing, and we’re not just saying that. Join us for the launch at Readings Carlton on Wednesday 5 March – and if you can’t make it, you can find our Q&A with Fiona here.
