In this episode of the Readings Kids podcast, a conversation with Lisa Fuller, winner of The Readings YA Prize in 2020, and author of the new book, Washpool.

In Fuller’s new work of middle grade fiction, the world looked as though it had been drawn in weird crayon colours ... There were no bird calls. No distant rustling of animals in the scrub. No breeze teasing the tops of the trees. Everything was still. Bella is shy and thoughtful. Her big sister, Cienna, is popular and brave. One thing they have in common is their love for Washpool, the local swimming spot. But one weekend when they dive into Washpool, Bella and Cienna surface in the strange new world of Muse.

In this episode, a discussion about music and why it matters in our lives. Leading the conversation is Dr. Shain Shapiro, author of the book This Must Be The Place: How Music Can Make Your City.

To discuss live music and culture in Melbourne, pre- and post-Covid, Shapiro was joined by Helen Marcou, cofounder and owner of Bakehouse Studios, Patrick Donovan, former CEO of Music Victoria, and Kirsty Rivers, former director of Creative Australia, now with SoundStory.

In this episode, a conversation with author Melanie Cheng, a winner of the Victorian Premier's Literary Award, and author of the book, The Burrow.

Amy, Jin and Lucie are leading isolated lives in their partially renovated, inner city home. They are not happy, but they are also terrified of change. When they buy a pet rabbit for Lucie, and then Amy's mother, Pauline, comes to stay, the family is forced to confront long-buried secrets. Will opening their hearts to the rabbit help them to heal or only invite further tragedy?

The Burrow tells an unforgettable story about grief and hope. With her characteristic compassion and eye for detail, Melanie Cheng reveals the lives of others – even of a small rabbit.

In this episode, a conversation with New York Times-bestselling author Neal Shusterman. Shusterman’s newest book, All Better Now, is a young adult thriller about a world where happiness is contagious but the risks of catching it may be just as dangerous as the cure. Three teens from very different backgrounds who’ve had their lives upended in very different ways find themselves at the center of a power play that could change humanity forever.

In this episode, a conversation with Sara Haddad, author of the novella, The Sunbird.

Haddad’s book follow’s Nabila Yasmeen, a woman in her eighties. She lives alone with over a hundred plants that she keeps in pots because she can’t bear to put them in the ground. In June of 1948, as a six-year-old girl, she was expelled with her family from their village in Palestine. Now she carries the weight of that expulsion with her, and her past and present are one.

Told in two timeframes, The Sunbird is a modern parable that tells the story of millions who just want to go home.

In this episode, a conversation with Tess Woods, author of The Venice Hotel.

When the lives of four very different women become entangled in a boutique Venice hotel, dark secrets unravel and not everyone who checked into the hotel will check out again. 

The Venice Hotel explores the powerful bonds that develop between women in times of crisis, and the healing power of female connection.

In this episode, Ryan Shelton and Josh van Cuylenburg of The Imperfects podcast detail their new project, My Imperfect Life: A Novel Journal Written by You, the Listener, the Reader, the Writer.

On The Imperfects, with Hugh van Cuylenburg, the hosts talk to a variety of interesting people who vulnerably share their own struggles and imperfections, or expertly pass on their wisdom on the subject of imperfection, all with the aim of finding some valuable takeaways we can all apply to our own imperfect lives.

With 100 questions inspired by episodes from 2024 on The Imperfects, My Imperfect Life is an introduction to vulnerability, allowing you to unpack your own imperfect life and be more vulnerable with yourself.

In this episode, a conversation with Raeden Richardson, author of The Degenerates.

Following the interwoven lives of four characters across India, Australia and the United States, this novel takes root in Melbourne and brings its streets, shopping centres and laneways to life with astounding originality.

In propulsive prose, The Degenerates summons the power of storytelling, disrupts conventional narratives and pays tribute to those lives often lost in the margins.

In this episode, a conversation with Nina Kenwood, author of The Wedding Forecast.

The writer of two successful young adult novels, this new book is the perfect aged-up addition to Kenwood’s bibliography. Laugh-out-loud funny with chemistry that jumps off the page, The Wedding Forecast ought to be the feel-good romcom of the summer.

In today’s episode, an instalment of the Readings Kids Podcast, and an interview with Tigest Girma, author of Immortal Dark.

The first in a new fantasy trilogy, Readings’ own Angela Crocombe wrote that Immortal Dark is ‘a fascinating world incorporating African myth and characters, who just happen to live in close proximity with vampires,’ and that ‘it features sophisticated writing with compelling, three-dimensional characters and intricate world-building.’

Orphan Kidan Adane is the heiress to a fallen House of humans bound to vampiric creatures known as draniacs. As a human, it is her responsibility to study and nurture the relationships between draniacs and humans at Uxlay University. But when her sister is kidnapped and Kidan suspects that her own house draniac, the enigmatic Susenyos, is to blame, she heads down a violent path towards vengeance, willing to hurt anyone who stands in her way.