Mark Rubbo
Mark Rubbo is chairman of Readings. He is a past president of the Australian Booksellers Association and was founding chair of the Melbourne Writers Festival. In 2006 he was awarded a Medal of the Order of Australia.
Review — 22 Jul 2014
Warning: The Story of Cyclone Tracy by Sophie Cunningham
It’s almost 40 years since Cyclone Tracy destroyed the northern city of Darwin on the night of 24 December, 1974. Australia had not known a natural disaster like it since…
Review — 13 Oct 2014
Amnesia by Peter Carey
Despite its more serious subtext, Amnesia is a very funny book and is Peter Carey at the height of his powers. I read it a second time because I wanted…
Blog post — 26 Jun 2014
Mark's say: Hachette vs. Amazon
Last month the US publishing industry’s annual get-together, the BookExpo America (BEA), was held in the giant Javits Center in midtown Manhattan on the banks of the Hudson River. It’s…
Blog post — 9 Jun 2014
Mark's Say: Political memoirs from women
What do you do when an invitation to meet a former prime minister arrives in your inbox?
It might depend which PM, but if you’re a bit of a sycophant…
Review — 4 Mar 2013
The Childhood of Jesus by J.M. Coetzee
When they arrive in the town of Novilla, a child and a man are directed to a building with a large sign in Spanish that reads ‘Resettlement Centre’. The man…
Blog post — 6 May 2014
Mark's Say: Life-changing reads
While there are many fine books published, and it feels a great privilege to sell and promote them, it’s not so often that I come across a book I know…
Blog post — 27 Mar 2014
Mark's Say: Censorship and bookselling
A few weeks ago, we received some negative commentary about a book that we had in the front window of our Carlton shop. The book in question was Before They…
Review — 25 Mar 2014
The Tainted Trial of Farah Jama by Julie Szego
In 2008, a young Somali man was convicted of the rape of a 48-year-old woman at a Doncaster nightclub. The woman had been found unconscious in a locked toilet cubicle…
Blog post — 24 Feb 2014
Mark's Say: The city of Melbourne and its booksellers
Melbourne is one of five UNESCO Cities of Literature, inducted in 2008. One of the pitches to obtain this status was the vibrancy of Melbourne’s bookselling landscape – since that…
Review — 26 Feb 2014
A Mad And Wonderful Thing by Mark Mulholland
It’s a strange irony that Bernard McGinn died of natural causes just a few months or so back; Mcginn was part of an IRA group of snipers based in South…
