The Booktopia Book Guru asks Georgia Madden author of Confessions of a Once Fashionable Mum Ten Terrifying Questions ____________ 1. To begin with why don’t you tell us a little bit about yourself – where were you born? Raised? Schooled? Here, there and everywhere! I was born on Sydney’s Northern Beaches, but moved to Hong Kong with my family when I was five and lived there until 18. I ca... Read more

Australian novelist Cathryn Hein, author of The Falls, The French Prize, Heartland and much more gives her verdict on the books she’s been reading. With nine books to read and judge for the Romance Writers of America’s prestigious RITA awards – none of which I can tell you about, sorry! – I didn’t have much personal reading time left. But I did manage three wonderful books. Al... Read more

I’m one of those mums who don’t like a fuss on Mother’s Day. An extra hour in bed, a full ‘Irish’ breakfast, no squabbling children in my immediate vicinity, and I’m content. Being a mother is relentless, and all I ask for is a small reduction in pace. Yup, that’s all I want on Mother’s Day (but if there are chocolates and presents on offer too, well, I’m not going to say no!) I am the CEO of o... Read more

The article in The Australian Women’s Weekly caught my eye straight away. Three smiling vibrant women who each seemed strangely familiar to me. They could have been women I knew from school, or from sport, or from the local neighbourhood, and it seemed incongruous that these happy photographs should be married to the chilling caption: MISSING MUMS. These women, these ordinary every-day mothers,... Read more

Looking for the winners of our Facebook competition? Scroll to the bottom of the post… All the Bright Places is a heartbreaking and touching novel exploring a wide range of issues such as depression, mental disorders, suicide, coping with the loss of a loved one and finding hope. The book begins with Theodore Finch – an outsider with his own unique brand of coolness –standing on his... Read more

The importance of valuing the hard work of writers. The effort that goes into good short form writing is frequently undervalued. People often imagine that all it takes is for someone to come up with an idea, sit down and type out an essay, run a spell check, then deliver their work. Of course writing a strong essay is so much more than this; for most of us it’s a long and arduous process, from ... Read more

  The Booktopia Book Guru asks Monica Dux author of Mothermorphosis 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 Sydney. Raised by wolves and schooled in the ways of the jungle. 2. What did you want to be when you were twelve, eighteen and thirty? And why? At twelve I wa... Read more

The Booktopia Book Guru asks Jennifer Niven author of All the Bright Places 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 North Carolina, raised mostly in Indiana (after living in Okinawa and then Maryland). My move to Indiana in fourth grade prompted one of my earliest books—... Read more

The shortlists for the 2015 Australian Book Industry Awards have just been announced! Voted on by some of Australia’s most influential readers, publishers and booksellers, the awards also feature a collection of new prizes, headlined by the Matt Richell Award for Best New Writer. Agree with the judges? Tell us in the comments below… General Fiction Book of the Year Laurinda by Alice... Read more

Kooshyar Karimi is an Iranian Jew who fled his native country after years of living a double life; as a doctor performing secret and illegal operations and as a spy for his country’s secret police. He talks to Caroline Baum about his acclaimed new book Leila’s Secret. Leila’s Secret by Kooshyar Karimi In fundamentalist Iran, new life sometimes means certain death. When Leila c... Read more