Pre-Covid, publishers would occasionally take booksellers out for drinks or dinner with one of their authors. Several years ago, Text Publishing had a function for Helen Garner. Sean O’Beirne, who also works as a bookseller, attended and was placed next to Helen. The two hit it off ; Sean, Helen and another writer began to meet regularly to talk about all sorts of things. Helen would read Sean’s work, really read it, and when Sean’s first collection of short fiction, A Couple of Things Before the End, was published in early 2020, Helen not only gave it a ringing endorsement but insisted on launching it. This month, Sean’s new book, On Helen Garner, is published. To some, it may seem a leap of faith to choose Sean, self-described as from the ‘junior writing division’, for this instalment of the Writers on Writers series, so I asked series editor Chris Feik why he chose this pairing. He said, ‘It seemed better to have a fresh voice. I had a hunch that Sean, with his various obsessions – voice, self, origins – would somehow mesh with Helen’s preoccupations and literary choices.’ His hunch was right and this account of how someone from ‘the junior writing division’ has learnt, and is still learning, from another writer is so engaging.

This month I’m also really looking forward to Andrew Leigh’s What’s the Worst That Could Happen. Leigh, you may recall, is an ALP Member of Parliament and a professor of economics. His new book draws on the work of philosopher Toby Ord, which posits that humankind’s activities – unregulated artificial intelligence, pandemics, climate change and nuclear war – give us a one-in-six chance of becoming extinct. Leigh argues that tackling long-term threats requires four things: strong science, effective institutions, global engagement and a sense of cooperation and order. With many countries under the thrall of populists, we are in a clear and present danger. Populists are by their very nature anti-intellectual, anti-institutional, anti-international and they thrive on chaos. Leigh puts it quite succinctly by saying, ‘we should no more expect populists to be good crisis leaders than we should expect jockeys to be good at basketball.’ I am looking forward to discussing all this with Leigh at the Zoom event at 6:30pm on 20 April. You can book here.

You’ve probably read about the impacts of Covid on the global supply chain. The publishing industry has certainly been affected but it has done remarkably well here all things considered, particularly when you consider our distance from international markets. One way this has been achieved has been by publishers printing more and more titles onshore. The two major book printers, McPherson’s and Griffin Press, have seen a surge in demand. Hopefully this will be a long-term trend that will enable them to invest in more printing capacity and bring us books more quickly and at less environmental cost.

Mark Rubbo is managing director of Readings.