Our latest blog posts

Gerard Elson wins Young Bookseller of the Year

by Gerard Elson

St Kilda staff member Gerard Elson was named Young Bookseller of the Year at the 2015 ABA Conference last night. We’re enormously proud.

Here, he tells us his favourite books to handsell and why publishers must continue to be ‘daring’.

What are your favourite books to handsell to customers?

Two books I always enjoy sending to good homes are Katherine Dunn’s Geek Love and Sarah Bakewell’s genial but sagacious biography of Michel de Montaigne: How to Live: A Life of

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Meet two more stars of the Readings Children's Book Prize Shortlist

Both of these authors were driven to write their debut children’s books through a personal experience that they wanted to share with a young audience. For one of them, it was time spent far away from home working in an orphanage that triggered the idea for the story, while the other took her drawing journal on a camping trip up the Glenelg River and from there decided to embark on her first graphic novel.

Meet Tamsin Janu and Trace Balla.

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What we're reading: Amelia Gray, Judy Blume and Stephanie Bishop

Each week we bring you a sample of the books we’re reading, the films we’re watching, the television shows we’re hooked on or the music we’re loving.

Nina Kenwood is reading In the Unlikely Event by Judy Blume

I was lucky enough to nab one of the much sought-after advance copies of Judy Blume’s new novel, her first book for adults in over 15 years. Just the words ‘Judy Blume’ evoke comfort in me. Along with most of the adult…

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Read along with the 2015 Sydney Writers' Festival

The Sydney Writers Festival kicks off on 18 May, and the program is chock-full of exciting authors. To celebrate the line-up of international guests, we’ve put together ten books to read if you want to get into the festival spirit. (And we’ve made a note if the international guest is also appearing in Melbourne…)

H is for Hawk by Helen Macdonald

What it’s about: As a child, Helen Macdonald was determined to become a falconer, learning the arcane terminology…

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The KonMari Method: On The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying

by Nina Kenwood

The first thing you need to know about Marie Kondo is that she is insane. The second thing you need to know is that she’ll change your life (sort of).

I bought her bestselling book about tidying, The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying, at the start of the year because I was determined that 2015 was going to be different. I am someone with little to no interest in cleaning, and my boyfriend is a very messy person by nature…

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Best new crime in May

by Fiona Hardy

CRIME BOOK OF THE MONTH:

The Truth and Other Lies by Sascha Arango

Claus Moreany’s publishing house is on the verge of going under when his distractingly beautiful employee Betty discovers unknown author Henry Hayden’s manuscript in a pile. Frank Ellis becomes a runaway bestseller, subsequent books sell millions, and Hayden becomes a wealthy man living in a beautiful house with his lovely wife, a sporty-looking dog and the magazine spreads to prove it. All is well until the day…

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Join us for the Stories Up High festival

Stories Up High is a festival of ideas, imagination, and laughter. Visit iconic venues throughout the beautiful Dandenong Ranges and Yarra Valley during autumn, when they are at their very best. Readings is the official bookseller for Stories Up High.

Here, we share some of the program highlights.

Stories Up High with Andy Griffiths

Andy Griffiths headlines Stories Up High, a day of literary fun with Punch and Judy shows, literary word games, storytellers, face painters and more.

Sunday 17

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Getting to know our shortlisted authors: Trace Balla

Over the next few weeks we’ll introduce you to the six shortlisted authors on the Readings Children’s Book Prize 2015. Who are they? Where do their ideas come from? What do they love to read? What do they love to snack on?

We hope you’ll share these mini interviews with your children.

MEET TRACE BALLA

Trace Balla, from Castlemaine, has a background in illustration and community arts. Her debut was Rivertime, a graphic novel about a boy…

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