English novelist Sue Townsend, best known as the author of the Adrian Mole books, has died aged 68. Sue Townsend was born in Leicester in 1946 and left school at 15 years of age. She married at 18, and by 23 was a single parent with three children. She worked in a variety of jobs including factory worker, shop assistant, and as a youth worker on adventure playgrounds. She wrote in secret for tw... Read more

The Booktopia Book Guru asks The Monday Morning Cooking Club authors of The Feast Goes On Ten Terrifying Questions ___________ 1.To begin with why don’t you tell us a little bit about yourselves – where were you born? Raised? Schooled? We all live in Sydney, Australia but we have come from all over: Perth, Melbourne, Sydney, South Africa. And our family backgrounds are even more diverse, reflec... Read more

It’s the sticker that is instantly recognisable for generations of Australians. The tick of excellence for a future Australian classic. The seal of approval by the Children’s Book Council of Australia. The CBCA is a volunteer run, not for profit, organisation that was established in 1945 and is comprised of branches of individual members who are passionate about children’s and... Read more

It’s the question on everyone’s lips. Who wrote The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August? Already being spoken about as one of the books of the year, with Booktopia’s John Purcell calling it ‘fascinating’ and ‘a real page turner’, the greatest question is who could have written it? On the book itself Claire North is described as “an acclaimed author who ... Read more

The shortlists for this year’s NSW Premier’s Literary Awards have been announced. In their 34 year history, the NSW Premier’s Literary Awards have honoured many of Australia’s greatest writers and most significant works. The Awards help to establish values and standards in Australian literature and draw international attention to some of the country’s best writers ... Read more

The Booktopia Book Guru asks Silvia Kwon author of The Return Ten Terrifying Questions 1. To begin with why don’t you tell us a little bit about yourself – where were you born? Raised? Schooled? I was born in Seoul, South Korea and arrived in Perth, Western Australia aged nine. I spent the first few years in country towns and found the transition from a bustling city to rural Australia fa... Read more

Jane Kennedy made her name in comedy, so when she arrived at Booktopia to sign copies of her wonderful new cookbook One Dish: Two Ways, we were always going to try to impress her. Did we? Probably not, but we had some fun trying. Take a look at possibly our most ridiculous video yet, as she meets Andrew Cattanach, The Incompetent Cook. Grab a copy of One Dish: Two Ways here One Dish: Two Ways b... Read more

Not since the 60s folk scene have the lines been so brilliantly blurred between music, art and literature. From the extraordinary lyricism of Australian indie rock gods The Drones to the extravagant avant-garde persona of Kanye West, to be a musician is to be a songwriter is to be an artist once again. And the upside of this? Not only do we get to listen to great music, but also read books from... Read more

A brilliantly diverse longlist has been announced for this year’s Miles Franklin Award. In a wonderful year of Australian writing, heavyweights Tim Winton, Richard Flanagan and Alexis Wright are joined by some incredibly talented first time nominees like Fiona MacFarlane and Evie Wyld. Don’t miss the chance to grab a copy of these fantastic books and judge them for yourself. You can... Read more

The most famous name in the Comic Book World, Stan Lee, will be coming to Australia for Sydney’s Supanova Expo, held June 13-15 at the Sydney Showgrounds. Lee created Spider-Man, the Hulk, the Fantastic Four, Iron Man, Thor, the X-Men, the Avengers, Daredevil, Doctor Strange, the Silver Surfer and countless other characters in the Marvel Comics universe. He remains as big an icon as the charact... Read more