I’ve just read Peter Carey’s latest novel, A Long Way From Home (you can read my short review in these pages) and can highly recommend it. I’ve always loved Carey’s work – some more than others – and admired his way of putting words together in a style that’s distinctly his, yet quintessentially Australian. Up until the sixties, Australia’s pubs had to close at 6pm and workers had little over an hour to down as much booze as they could before closing time; Carey describes this in the new book as the ‘wobbly hour’; what a wonderful phrase that is. Whether Carey made it up or found it somewhere doesn’t really matter: what matters to me is that he used it, and in a few words, it describes a whole cultural and social phenomenon. Carey hasn’t resided in Australia for many years, yet still retains an amazing ear and sensibility for this culture. He and J.M. Coetzee share the honour of being the only authors to have won the Booker Prize more than once. Carey’s expatriate status possibly works against him and I feel that his stature here is unfairly diminished by it. His previous book, Amnesia, was set in Melbourne’s north and contained a prescient dig at Julian Assange. Before the book was published, his publisher informed us that Readings was in the book (and so was I); when the book arrived, I pored over it and read that one of the characters stole a book from our shelves. In my pantheon of hated persons, shoplifters are up there with Donald Trump and Peter Dutton, so I was a bit disappointed. On a visit to mark the local publication, Carey made amends and ‘returned’ the book that had been stolen.

We are pretty excited that Peter is returning to Australia to talk about A Long Way From Home, a book that I believe will come to be regarded as one of his best. We are even more excited that his publishers, Penguin Random House, have produced a special hardback edition of the book for us that we’ll be able to sell for the price of the paperback. Peter will be talking about the book for Readings on 16 November. The edition is beautifully produced and will be included in the ticket price for this very special event.

The annual Indigenous Literacy Foundation’s fund-raising trivia night is on again at the Fitzroy Town Hall on 29 November. Hosted by Rockwiz frontman Brian Nankervis, the questions are, of course, of a literary nature and a chance for you to show off your literary nous, raise money for a wonderful cause and have a lot of fun doing it. Organise a table and pit yourselves against other literati. Book here.

November sees the last issue of the Readings Monthly for the year. I know I’m biased but I think it’s a wonderful publication – unique in Australia and possibly the world – and I hope you find it useful and enjoyable. If you’re not already subscribed, you can do so for free here.

Many Readings staff contribute and it wouldn’t be possible without their support and the support of our publisher friends. This year our editor has been the wonderful Jo Case, who has done a truly wonderful job as editor while editor Elke Power has been on maternity leave; I, for one, am truly grateful for her dedication and professionalism.

Mark Rubbo is the managing director of Readings.