A few weeks ago, some For Lease signs went up outside our Hawthorn shop, alarming many customers. Readings moved to Hawthorn in the early 1970s and has become a fixture of that community, and we have no intention of leaving the area. Our lease is coming to an end and we couldn’t work out anything satisfactory with the landlord. We’ve long admired the rejuvenation of the area around Lido Cinema, and emailed the owner, Eddie Tamir, on the off-chance that he might have some space. ‘It just so happens...’ Eddie replied, and so, in April 2023 we’ll be moving into a beautiful building that was once an old bank. Kerstin Thompson Architects, who designed Readings Emporium, will be doing the design and the preliminary proposals are very exciting.

In this issue we announce the winners of the Readings Prizes; all fine books in their categories. I’m particularly excited about our fiction winner, Jessica Au, who takes out the prize with her second novel Cold Enough for Snow. It’s a sublime, beautiful and gentle meditation on travel and the relationship between a mother and daughter. Jess is also a former editor of the Readings Monthly and in that role bestowed a lot of love and encouragement on many writers through her pages. It seems very fitting that she gets some of that back now.

Artist Oslo Davis has been a long-time contributor to the Readings Monthly; his monthly witty takes on the literary world are one of the first things I look for when a new issue hits. Oslo’s whimsical illustrations adorn our website and our bags and many of you will know his clever ‘Overheard’ cartoons in The Age. Although Tasmanian by birth, Oslo has been chronicling Melbourne for a long time. Late this month Black Inc. publishes Oslo’s Melbourne, self-described as his illustrated adventures in ‘the world’s most tolerated city’. In this beautiful little package Oslo muses and draws his way through Melbourne – it should sit proudly on your bookshelf and be sent to all your non-Melburnian friends.

A few weeks back a subscriber wrote to me: ‘It’s always a pleasure to lift my mailbox lid and see the Readings Monthly.’ For the past two years the newsletter has been helmed by our wonderful editor Jackie Tang, who stepped into the role while editor Elke Power took maternity leave. She’s been helped by designers Cat Matteson and Natasha Theoharous and, of course, by the wonderful contributors. Elke will be resuming her role in 2023, so it feels bittersweet saying farewell to Jackie but welcoming back Elke. Also, after 12 years Fiona Hardy is moving on from her Dead Write crime round-up, which has always been a wonderful feature of the newsletter. Fiona is an accomplished author (and bookseller) with three children’s novels to her credit, and there are rumours that she may even write her own crime novel.

The Readings Monthly is about to start its summer break; have a wonderful Christmas and don’t forget there are some wonderful books to read.

Mark Rubbo is managing director of Readings.