Our latest blog posts
September's unmissable events for readers of children's and young adult fiction
This month we’re thrilled to be hosting two panels for readers of children’s and young adult fiction at our Hawthorn store. We’d love you to come, and here’s why…
MEET JEN STORER AND LUCINDA GIFFORD
© Lucinda Gifford, 2015, from The Fourteenth Summer of Angus Jack by Jen Storer, illustrated by Lucinda Gifford. Published by ABC Books.
You (and your children) will know Jen Storer from her bestselling Truly Tan books, the hugely fun detective series set in rural Australia…
Sarah Holland-Batt on how travel energises her poetry
by Sarah Holland-BattPoetry collections are most often gatherings of miscellanea, assemblages of thoughts and ideas and arguments curated over a period of years, textual cabinets of curiosities. This makes it difficult to think of the poetry collection as a fully unified animal – straddling, as it does, different times and places, the different selves who wrote the poems, those who were in love and those who had fallen out of it, and so forth. All of which is a roundabout way of…
Today is Indigenous Literacy Day
Today is Indigenous Literacy Day. Between 40% and 60% of Indigenous children living in very remote locations across WA, SA and NT are achieving below minimum standards in Reading in Year 3. The Indigenous Literacy Foundation (ILF) is working to raise the literacy levels of Indigenous Australians living in remote communities by providing access to educational materials, getting culturally appropriate books into homes and schools, and working with communities to create and publish the stories of Indigenous people. My colleague…
A visit to Tiwi Islands with the Indigenous Literacy Foundation
Emily Harms, our head of Marketing and Communications, was recently invited on a field trip to the Tiwi Islands to see the Indigenous Literacy Foundation (ILF) in action. She reports back here.
The Indigenous Literacy Foundation (ILF) has been doing incredible work since it was founded in 2004 by Riverbend Bookshop owner Suzy Wilson, with the aim of improving literacy levels in remote indigenous communities. The response from the Australian book industry was overwhelming, leading to The Foundation raising $25,000…
Finalists announced for the Melbourne Prize for Literature and Awards 2015
The finalists for the Melbourne Prize for Literature 2015 and Awards have been announced.
The Melbourne Prize runs on a three-year awards cycle, alternating between literature, music and urban sculpture. This year, the focus returns once more to books, and includes an exciting new $20,000 prize for an essay.
The $60,000 Melbourne Prize for Literature 2015 is awarded to a Victorian published author whose body of published work has made an outstanding contribution to Australian literature, as well as to…
Cook your way through Rush Oh!
by Shirley BarrettWe’re thrilled to be hosting a free event with Shirley Barrett (filmmaker and now author) this Friday 4 September. Barrett will be in conversation with critic Rebecca Harkins-Cross. Find out more here.
Here, Barrett shares some recipes and housekeeping tips which are referenced in her debut novel, Rush Oh!.
One of the pleasures of writing domestic fiction in a historical setting is the opportunity it presents to waste hours of precious writing time poring over ancient recipe books…
Mark's Say, September 2015
Last month I went to an event at our Hawthorn shop to celebrate the publication of The Hush Treasure Book. The book is a collection of original writings and illustrations by some of Australia’s leading children’s authors, and lots of the contributors came to read their stories to a huge crowd. The book comes out of the Hush Music Foundation which was established by physician Dr Catherine Crock. While working with young cancer patients at the Royal Children’s Hospital…
Our top ten bestsellers of the week
The Mindfulness Colouring Book: Anti-Stress Art Therapy for Busy People by Emma Farrarons
Prick with a Fork: The World’s Worst Waitress Spills the Beans by Larissa Dubecki
The Girl in the Spider’s Web by David Lagercrantz (translated by George Goulding)
Make Me by Lee Child
Go Set A Watchman by Harper Lee
All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
A Guide to Berlin by Gail Jones
Gut: the Inside Story of Our Body’s Most Under-Rated Organ by Giulia…
Dear Reader, September 2015
September in Melbourne is usually associated with a certain feverish state, namely Footy Finals Fever. It may not be surprising to hear that this common ailment does not affect me, but this year I don’t feel so left out because bookish fevers of other kinds give one plenty of reason to cheer and swoon.
This is the month we celebrate the release of Fever of Animals, our Book of the Month, and the seriously wonderful debut novel from our…
A mid-festival update from the Melbourne Writers Festival
Our staff have been enjoying the Melbourne Writers Festival over the past week. As the final weekend of the festival looms, here’s what we’ve loved so far, and what we’re still looking forward to.
Stella Charls has seen almost everything
I’ve been helping out at the Writers Festival, and was lucky enough to park myself in the Deakin Edge theatre for pretty much the entirety of the first weekend. My bookmarked international guest right from the moment the program launched…
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