Winter Reading List
Whether you are escaping to warmer climates or staying put and embracing Melbourne's chill, there's no better season to get absorbed in a good book.
From Helen Garner classics and YA adventures to the memoir everyone is talking about, our team share what books they'll be diving into this winter.️
Georgia Booth, Marketing and Partnerships Manager
What I am about to say might shock you but I, a born and bred Melbournian and certified literature lover, have never read a single word by Helen Garner. This is my deep shame, and I’ve been mildly worried I’ll have to resign in disgrace over it. But there’s no time like the present to right past wrongs, is there? I recently picked up a (heavy) copy of How to End a Story: Collected Diaries 1978-1998 and I am excited to spend to finally get to know our patron saint of literature.
Unlike my failings with Garner, I have read every single book by Elizabeth Strout and have been waiting impatiently for her latest release, The Things We Never Say. In this new book, we are introduced to a brand-new character in a new town away from the beloved characters we’ve met across Strout’s previous works. Anna Funder declared this “one of the best novels [she’s] ever read” and I look forward to co-signing her statement.
What I am currently reading is Looking at Women, Looking at War by Victoria Amelina. Amelina was writing a novel when Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, but then she switched her focus to start researching war crimes and documenting the efforts of the women joining the Ukrainian resistance. Amelina was in the process of editing and finalising the book when she was tragically killed by a missile strike. The result is a raw, unfinished and deeply human account of the realities of war and resistance.
It’s not an easy read by any means, but it is worthwhile and deeply important.
Karys McEwen, Education Advisor
One of my recent standout reads has been Lamington Left Behind by Andrea Innocent, an Australian graphic novel that blends dystopian adventure, environmental storytelling and magical elements. Set in a flooded future Australia populated by strange technologies and surviving communities, the story follows Lamington, a girl living alone in the wilderness who discovers she can communicate with animals. Together with a hidden underground community, she embarks on a dangerous mission to recover a precious library of seeds and help restore the dying forest. The artwork is immersive and packed with strange beauty. Despite its high stakes, the novel feels deeply hopeful, balancing loneliness and danger with warmth, friendship and care for the natural world. It’s perfect for middle grade readers, but honestly, adults who love rich speculative fiction will fall hard for it too.
Another memorable recent read for me was Drawing Nudes While Making Other Plans by Zoe Gaetjens, an Australian YA novel about grief, friendship, creativity and first love. Set over one pivotal summer before Year 12, the story follows Cleo as she attends a life-drawing course while navigating the loss of her older sister. What makes the novel so compelling is the way it balances awkward humour and romance with deeper themes around identity, confidence and learning how to move forward after grief. The life-drawing setting gives the book a fresh, distinctive energy, full of uncomfortable moments, artistic discovery and tentative new friendships. It feels incredibly compassionate and very readable, perfect for teens who love thoughtful coming-of-age stories with heart and humour.
Veronica Sullivan, Festival Director/CEO
Winter is the best season for cosy reading.
Laura McPhee-Browne’s Worry Doll is a slippery, sapphic fever dream centring on two protagonists, Heloise and Lacey, whose relationship is not as it seems. It’s always a pleasure to sink into Laura’s sensuous prose, and in her latest novel the characters’ obsessive, unreliable internal terrain and the external weather spanning Melbourne and Wellington are both equally tumultuous.
Inarguably, a millennial woman of neurotic disposition simply must read Lena Dunham’s Famesick this winter in order to partake in the ~discourse. Dunham’s memoir is full of delicious anecdotes about her working and personal relationships with her fellow cast and creators on Girls, but it’s also a deeply engrossing meditation on illness, celebrity, creativity and love. Best experienced on audiobook, read by Dunham herself.
I’m excited to get stuck into Colson Whitehead’s Cool Machine, the forthcoming conclusion to his Harlem Trilogy following Harlem Shuffle and Crook Manifesto. Don’t we all need more heists and capers in our reading lives?