We have a very special event planned for this month. On Monday 11 May we’re delighted to have Readings’ managing director Mark Rubbo in conversation with author Helen Garner at the Church of all Nations. These two people have changed the way Australians appreciate writers and writing, and it’s sure to be a fascinating conversation. Plus, all proceeds from this event will be donated to the Readings Foundation.

Kids will be keen to join beloved children’s author Sally Rippin…

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Last month the Harper Competition Policy Review delivered its final report. Set up by the Abbott Government in late 2013, the report runs to 500 odd pages. As you might expect, the Review does not favour regulations and makes a number of recommendations to the government. Recommendation 13 in particular refers to the book industry, as well as the film industry, recommending that restrictions on parallel imports should be removed unless it can be shown that the benefits of the…

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The Strays by Emily Bitto

The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins

The Mindfulness Colouring Book: Anti-Stress Art Therapy for Busy People by Emma Farrarons

All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

Between You and Me: Confessions of a Comma Queen by Mary Norris

The Little Paris Bookshop by Nina George (translated by Simon Pare)

My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante (translated by Ann Goldstein)

The Lady from Zagreb by Philip Kerr

When There’s Nowhere Else to…

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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 Weetzie Bat by Francesca Lia Block

I’d heard Weetzie Bat referred to as a cult classic YA book for years, and always thought ‘I should read that’ but never quite got around to it. The recent news that Weetzie Bat is being made into a film, 25 years after…

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Well what a frenetic time it’s been in the book world in recent weeks! We’ve had the announcement of the Stella Prize to our near Carlton neighbour Emily Bitto for her debut novel The Strays; the award of the Australian/Vogel’s Prize for an unpublished writer under 35 to Melbourne author Murray Middleton for When There’s Nowhere Else to Run; and the major US fiction awards: the Pulitzer to Anthony Doerr’s All the Light We Cannot See, and…

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Emily Gale, Online Children’s Specialist:

For generations my family ran an art gallery in London – my late grandfather being the last in the line to do so – and their main associates were painters, sculptors and writers. The heyday of the gallery was the 1920s and 1930s when they exhibited Matisse, Pissarro, Picasso and Chagall, among others. My mum, born after this period in the late 1940s, would have been the only child at many arty gatherings; her needs…

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Bookseller Angela Crocombe sets the scene for the Clunes Booktown Festival which is happening this coming weekend (1 May - 2 May). We’re excited to have a Readings stall there for the very first time!

I know Clunes fairly well. This small town has an active local community and everyone is very friendly. There is an abundance of bookshops (five at my last count), one pub and no fast food joints. The streets are gloriously wide, many old buildings date…

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Mother’s Day is a time when the colour pink blankets the world, women’s interests are reduced to cooking, gardening and homewares, and the word ‘Mum’ is thrown around in annoying ways (‘Spoil Mum!’, ‘Give Mum a break this Mother’s Day!’, ‘It’s Mum’s special day!’, ‘Show Mum how much you care!’). I work in marketing, I quite like the colour pink, and my job is to sell you stuff, so I realise the irony, but in the spirit of avoiding stereotypes…

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Each month we choose a newly released book that we feel is perfect for a book club. Then we roadtest it.

Here are our thoughts on whether Lisa Gorton’s The Life of Houses is a good pick for for book clubs.

Does the book make for good conversation?

As well as the mother-daughter parallels and contrasts, I think there’s a definite conversation to be had about the sense of place in the novel, specifically houses and the way the places…

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I studied creative writing at university. I loved almost everything about the course: the teachers were inspiring, the readings insightful and provocative, and the workshops were a safe and temperate space.

But the exercises I hated the most – which left me sitting under the fluorescent lights, mouth agape, my mind utterly blank – were on memoir.

‘Write about your childhood,’ our tutor instructed. ‘Write about your first memory. Your worst memory. Your best memory.’

As I sat there, glumly…

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