Cinema Nova offers the very best in new release arthouse films together with upmarket commercial releases, regular special film events and festivals, all in a warm, intimate environment of architecturally challenging design.

 

With two stores located in both Sydney and Brisbane, Egg Records is a great place to find the latest new and used CDs, LPs, DVDs and memorabilia. They also buy and trade at the best prices around. They started Egg Records in 2000 in a small store in Newtown but moved to a bigger store a few doors up where they still are today.
 
 

Meanjin was founded in Brisbane by Clem Christesen (the name, pronounced Mee-an-jin, is derived from an Aboriginal word for the finger of land on which central Brisbane sits) in 1940. It moved to Melbourne in 1945 at the invitation of the University of Melbourne. It currently receives funding from the university, the Literature Fund of the Australia Council for the Arts, CAL and Arts Victoria as well as receiving vital support through subscriptions and other sales. At the beginning of 2008 Meanjin became an imprint of Melbourne University Publishing.

 

The Paperback Bookshop is an independent, general bookshop that was established in the early 1960s at the top of Bourke street and was then one of the few Melbourne bookshops to sell a good selection of Australian and imported books, particularly paperback editions of books not commonly available in Melbourne. Their charter has broadened since then and The Paperback does sell hardbacks now but still specialises in having a good selection of local and overseas books of interest to a broad but discerning audience.

 

Kill Your Darlings is a quarterly publication. They publish fresh, clever writing that combines intellect with intrigue. Kill Your Darlings is independent, smart and ridiculously good-looking.

 

The Movie Reel is an independent movie rental store specialising in Arthouse, Cult, Foreign, Classic and hard to find titles. Quest: To become the ultimate independent video rental store in the universe. Well, at least somewhere people could come and choose from a good range of movies. Be it Arthouse, Cult, International or the latest big budget no brainer. At 69 High St Westgarth 3070.

 

The Saturday Paper is a quality weekly newspaper, dedicated to narrative journalism. It offers the biggest names and best writing in news, culture, and analysis, with a particular focus on Australia.

 

The Lifted Brow is a magazine from Australia and the world. Every two months there appears a giant print version, every fortnight a digital version, and on this very website a whole lot of other content. Since its inception in 2007, The Lifted Brow been home to everyone from Christos Tsiolkas to Helen Garner, David Foster Wallace to Neil Gaiman as well as writers like Rick Moody, Karen Russell, Tom Cho, Douglas Coupland, Heidi Julavits, Tom Bissell, Tao Lin, Rebecca Giggs, Jim Shepard, Frank Moorhouse, Anna Krien, Romy Ash, Sam Lipsyte, Sheila Heti, Jim Shepard, Elizabeth Gaffney, Angie Hart, Blake Butler and Benjamin Kunkel.

 

The Monthly is one of Australia’s boldest voices, providing enlightening commentary and vigorous, at times controversial, debate on the issues that affect the nation. Home to our finest thinkers, journalists and critics, the magazine offers a mix of investigative reportage, critical essays and thoughtful reviews.

 

Scribe marked its 35th year as a home-grown, wholly independent trade-publishing house in 2011. What started off in 1976 as a desire on publisher Henry Rosenbloom’s part to publish ‘serious non-fiction’ on a limited scale has turned into a company with over a dozen staff members and two scouts that publishes 60–65 non-fiction and fiction titles a year.

 

Triple R has shaped and inspired the culture of Melbourne. Since its inception as an educational broadcaster in 1976, Triple R has become Australia’s largest community radio station with over 12,000 subscribers and 329,000 listeners per week.

 

PBS 106.7FM is an icon of Melbourne’s unique music and arts community. Since 1979, PBS has been a key provider of independent and diverse music. With over 80 specialist music programs ranging from soul to garage to country to jazz, PBS is dedicated to promoting and nurturing music in all its diversity.
 
 
Bee sustainable provides specialty supplies and knowledge for beekeeping, cheese making, baking and food-preserving enthusiasts. They provide expert support through the trials of getting started on your path to kitchen and garden self-sufficiency. Bee Sustainable is for creative and resourceful people who value health and a deeper relationship with their food.

 

The Story Wine is a tiny independent winery oddly located in a drab, southern suburb of Melbourne. There they receive grapes from some fabulous Grampians and Henty vineyards, and turn them into wine. Each vintage there is a new story to tell, and each year their label changes to reflect that story. Small budgets, small vineyards, engaging subjects.

 

Brunswick Bound is an independent bookstore in the heart of Sydney Road, Brunswick. Stocking an eclectic range of books, music (cds & vinyl), stationery and jewellery/gifts, there is always something different to be found. They also have an upstairs gallery space that features bi-monthly exhibitions of Melbourne artists.

 

Affirm Press is a Melbourne-based publishing company committed to publishing books that have a positive impact on the community and that influence by delight. When it comes to fiction, they want to publish new and under-published authors – in any genre – and distinguish themselves through editorial commitment.

 

MUP became Melbourne University Publishing Ltd in 2003, a wholly owned subsidiary of the University of Melbourne. Melbourne University Publishing Ltd inherits the proud 80-year history of Melbourne University Press, which was founded in 1922. MUP publishes approximately 80 books and electronic products each year over a wide range of subject areas and disciplines, and maintains a backlist of some 350 titles.

 

Wide Open Road is a cafe and a micro coffee Roaster in Brunswick. We are serious about what we do and endeavour to provide exceptional, coffee, food and service. We roast our own coffee on site, and are therefore able to control quality from bean to cup.

 

Miss Gertrude brings together a team of stylists and technicians who are impeccably trained to an international standard. Miss Gertrude appreciates her community and the creativity that surrounds her. And with equal commitment to contemporary fashion and sustainability, Miss Gertrude is a very modern hair salon.

 

Writers Victoria supports and connects writers. We understand that writing can be an isolated pursuit and our programs are built around a clear need to create a community for writers. These include a range of courses, various publications and the provision of advice through our staff, magazine, weekly enews and website.

 

Treadlie magazine is for bike lovers, would be bike lovers and those that appreciate great bike design – a magazine devoted to culture, fashion and design. Featuring people and their bikes, bike businesses, cycling cities, bike travel and a toolkit section profiling the latest in bike accessories, art and design.

 

Avenue Bookstore is one of Australia’s best independent bookshops. It opened in 1986, and is located in the heart of Albert Park village with a second store set to open in Elsternwick next month. Avenue booksellers are great readers who love a challenge: special gifts, obscure titles, personalised picks or book club recommendations are all in a day’s work!

 

The Toff in Town is a rich, multi-layered venue: its premier boutique live performance space hosts the full spectrum of Australian and international performing arts and transforms into a dedicated nightclub, featuring local and international DJs, on the weekends. The bar is fitted out with unique train carriage style booths down the middle, which can be reserved for private dining. The Carriage room is entertained by Melbourne’s best local DJs seven nights a week.

 

Cookie is located on the first floor of historic Curtin House in Melbourne’s CBD, a multi-dimensional space, where one can dine, flirt, sip and reminisce. The massive marble bar with over 200 bottled beers & 24 beers on tap, and an impressive 70-page wine list offer infinitive choice to cool the heat from the kitchen.
 
 

The NSW Writers’ Centre is a government-funded, not-for-profit organisation that exists to promote writing-based culture and the rights and interests of writers in NSW. The Centre provides a dynamic program of activities each year including writing workshops, courses for writers, publishing seminars, festivals for writers and writing competitions, as well as providing mentorship opportunities, manuscript assessments and providing support for writers and writing organisations in Sydney and across New South Wales.

 

Padre Coffee was born at the Brunswick East Project, back in 2008. Essentially a two-man operation, back then they roasted, brewed and sold all of their coffee under the one roof; making friends, having fun and learning as we went. The Project is still there, and a lot of their first customers are as well – they’re proud to say that it’s thanks to the support of loyal, coffee-loving locals that they’ve grown up to be the company they are today.

 

Milkwood serves excellent coffee, breakfast, brunch and lunch. All baking is done on site.

Located at 120 Nicholson St, Brunswick East.

 

Northside records has been serving up SOUL for Melbourne for ten years: be that hip hop, funk, electronica, turkish psych, jazzzzz, african music, disco and more of the goodness. With records coming fresh daily Northside’s got CDs and new and second hand vinyl to give you what you want and need.

 

Gleebooks has been Australia’s favourite independent bookshop for over 30 years. Online from 1996. Five Sydney bookstores; four times Australian Bookseller of the Year.

 

Right Now is a volunteer, not-for-profit media organisation focused on human rights issues in Australia. They are committed to covering human rights issues through free, accessible, creative and engaging online, print and radio media. Their work begins with the belief that creating a positive, rights-respecting culture in Australia begins with the flow of information.

 

Avid Reader is Brisbane’s best indie bookstore and cafe, always stocking books, literary journals gifts, CDs and DVDs you won’t find anywhere else! Their jam-packed events series is like a writers festival every week, so you’re always bound to bump into a writer.

 

Monash University Publishing publishes scholarship of the highest standard across the humanities and social sciences, and specialises in Asian Studies, Politics, Education, Communications, and the study of Australian history, culture and literature.

 

The Searchers is a record/bookshop located near the corner of Smith & Gertrude Street in Fitzroy, Melbourne. They stock a wide range of books & records for most styles & budgets, with a quality mix of fiction & nonfiction with an extensive collection of art, film & music-related books.

 

Porter’s Paints offers clients unique products for interiors and exteriors. Their traditional and modern paint finishes are all water-based, durable, easy to apply and made by hand. Instead of mass-production through cheaper (often harmful) materials, Porter’s Paints continues to make and check each and every batch of paint itself, thereby guaranteeing superior finish, depth and accuracy of colour.

 

Hill of Content offers a broad and discerning range of books – published locally and overseas – in a pleasant browsing environment. They pride ourselves on our friendly and personalised customer service, including an efficient special order service and free gift wrapping.

 

Gould’s Book Arcade specialises in out of print books, publishers remainders of the last 30 years, and secondhand books, catering to the general reader, students and some specialist areas. Australian history and politics and Australiana are the main specialty areas. The collection on labor movement and left-wing politics is the broadest in Australia, and stands up well by international standards, covering Australia but also other countries.

 

Better Read Than Dead has been recognised many times for its commitment to its customers including an Excellence in Customer Service Award, an Outstanding Retailer of the Year and the People’s Choice Award ‘Newtown Times Retailer of the Year’. Their staff’s outside work interests include: music, theatre and stagecraft, history, cultural studies, philosophy, children’s education and international commerce.

 

Kobo is inspired by a ‘Read Freely’ philosophy and a passion for innovation, and is one of the world’s fastest-growing eReading services. Read Freely stems from Kobo’s belief that consumers should have the freedom to read any book, anytime, anyplace – and on any device. As a result, Kobo has attracted millions of readers from more than 170 countries and features one of the world’s largest eReading catalogues with over 2.5 million eBook, newspaper and magazine titles.

 
 
Tiamo is renowned by Melbournians as one of Carlton’s finest food and coffee venues. A family-run venture, this restaurant is the success story of in-laws working together to create quintessential and contemporary Italian food. It is synonymous with traditional Italian cuisine on iconic Lygon Street.

 

CERES (the Centre for Education and Research in Environmental Strategies) is an award winning, not-for-profit, sustainability centre located on 4.5 hectares on the Merri Creek in East Brunswick, Melbourne. It is also a thriving community, an urban farm, Australia’s largest deliverer of environmental education, an event and conference venue and a place rich with social and cultural diversity. CERES is recognised as an international leader in community and environmental practice.

 

Queensland Writers Centre strives for more Australian writers to have sustainable careers, and to be read and enjoyed throughout the world. Their members are published authors, emerging writers, children’s authors and illustrators, journalists, editors, agents, publishers, poets, storytellers, playwrights, cultural producers, freelancers, teachers, academics and critics. We provide development and support to beginner writers through to established professionals in Australian writing and publishing.

 

Black Inc. is an independent Melbourne-based publisher of literary non-fiction, fiction and poetry, publishing some of Australia’s finest writers and poets, including Alice Pung, Simon Leys, Anna Goldsworthy, AJ Mackinnon, Les Murray and Robert Adamson. The much-loved Best Australian Stories, Poems and Essays anthologies are published annually under this imprint. They also publish the Quarterly Essay.

 

Pan Macmillan is a major Australian publisher and distributor with brilliant authors and books. They publish a wide range of titles under imprints including Macmillan, Pan, Picador, Plum, Momentum, Macquarie Dictionary Publishers, Pancake, St Martin’s Press, Tor, Forge, Griffin and Sidgwick & Jackson. Their publishing encompasses commercial and literary fiction, children’s and teenage fiction, picture books and character product, Australiana, history, biographies, cooking, health and self-help, sport and travel.

 

Malthouse Theatre is at once a treasured building, a theatre company, a creative site and an engine for change. It is also the imaginative expression of a committed team of artmakers reaching out to an even larger number of local, national and international artists.

 

Melbourne Theatre Company was founded in 1953 and is the oldest professional theatre company in Australia. It is a semi-autonomous department of the University of Melbourne. It is not only Victoria’s major theatre company and one of the major performing arts companies in Australia, but one of the largest theatre companies in the English-speaking world.

 

Monsterthreads came about through a passion for illustration and graphics. They were captivated by the highly personal works of talented young illustrators adorning the walls of contemporary art galleries and in illustration journals, and wanted to make them a part of the every day lives of young people. Their lead products include t-shirts, bags, jewellery, greeting cards and melamine plates.

 
 

Readings is an independent retailer of books, music and film, with six shops operating in Melbourne at Carlton, Hawthorn, Malvern, St Kilda, the State Library of Victoria and at the Melbourne Brain Centre in Parkville. Their shops have long been at the centre of the local literary scene, both as meeting places and via our exciting calendar of events, which showcases a range of in-conversations, panels, author signings, special in-store performances and book launches throughout the year.

 

Mankousche is a restaurant situated at 323-325 Lygon Street, Brunswick. Literally meaning ‘pie’ in Lebanese, Mankoushé serves traditional Lebanese flat bread and Middle Eastern inspiredIran, recipes from Iraq and Tunisia.

 

Mrs Secondhand was started by Tracey 11 years ago in Preston. After one shop and three warehouses moves later, the business has evolved according to the ever-changing trends. They have a great team that are now like family and have become friends with many of their customers. Mrs.Secondhand online stores sell global and our warehouse store buys and sells locally.

 

Megalong Books is an independent bookshop located in Leura, one and a half hours from Sydney in the World Heritage Listed Blue Mountains of New South Wales, Australia. As well as a large selection of fiction and nonfiction books on all subjects, and a very popular children’s book section, they carry a wide variety of books about the Blue Mountains, including titles on its history, guides to bushwalks, and local flora and fauna.

 

3CR is a dynamic, community hub that has produced radio since 1976. We live in an old rabbit warren of a terrace building in Melbourne that has an exciting new mural by local artists Bindi Cole, Tom Civil and Reko Rennie. 3CR broadcasters present over 120 radio programs every week. The radio station was established in 1976 to provide a voice for those denied access to the mass media, particularly the working class, women, Indigenous people and community groups.

 

Inspired by travel through Europe, China and Korea, visiting various street vendors and hawkers markets, Trailer Made is taking the food truck scene in Melbourne to another level. Trailer Made is the innovative answer to Melbourne’s insatiable demand for fresh, refined, street food with fast and responsive service. Find Trailer Made on the streets in the Northern suburbs of Melbourne and at the summer music and food festivals.

 

For over 30 years, Dendy Cinemas has screened the best in quality cinema across the east coast of Australia. As well as its core film programming, the company is also home to a vibrant arts program of opera, theatre and ballet productions from some of the world’s finest companies.

 

The NT Writers’ Centre has 350 members throughout the Northern Territory, ranging from hobby writers to published authors. Whatever your writing interests or experience, the NT Writers’ Centre can offer you advice and point you in the right direction. Their current goals are to maintain a diverse program of literary activities in the Northern Territory, while embarking on new initiatives to encourage and support the development of young writers (16-30 years), Indigenous writers, and writers from non English speaking backgrounds.

 
Human Powered Cycle is an independent bike shop located at 562 High St. Thornbury, Melbourne. They stock a range of quality commuting bikes, long distance tourers, vintage and retro style cycles and kids bikes. Our range is selected to cater for cyclists who like to get by without using cars as much as possible; people who want their bikes to last a long time and withstand the rigours of daily use in all conditions.

 
 
Archer Magazine is an independent journal of sexual diversity, started in Melbourne in 2013. The print edition is published twice-yearly, and takes a snapshot of Australia’s attitudes to sexuality, gender and identity at the time of publication. Archer accepts story ideas, suggestions and photography for the print edition, and blog ideas for the website.
 
 
 
The Canary Press is a story magazine run by a group of dedicated, slightly-homeless magazine moguls. It was founded by Robert Skinner and Andy Josselyn, on the back porch of their shared apartment, in an elaborate attempt to avoid doing the dishes. It has been running shambolically since then. They spend a lot of time huddled around their cold office trying to unjam a printer, but every 3 months they put out a magazine of the best damn stories they can find.

 

The Tasmanian Writers’ Centre was incorporated in 1998 and grew out of an already strong literary community who realised the benefits a professional organisation could offer writers and readers in the state. For its fourteen-year history the Centre has been housed in The Salamanca Arts Centre on Hobart’s waterfront.

 

Island is a quarterly magazine of ideas, writing, and culture. It started in 1979, initially under the banner of The Tasmanian Review, reflecting the magazine’s home and scope. But by 1981, after only five issues, and with its interests and scope becoming much broader, Island magazine was born. Island is now one of Australia’s leading literary magazines, tracing the contours of our national, and international culture, while still retaining a uniquely Tasmanian perspective.

 

The Review of Australian Fiction has entered its third year in production. In that time they have published 8 volumes, 48 issues, and 96 stories from Australia’s leading fiction writers. A a six issue, three-month subscription to RAF costs $12.99. They release a new issue containing two stories every two weeks, and subscribers are always the first to receive it.

 

Five Boroughs is a friendly little local design store situated in the inner Melbourne suburb of East Brunswick that aims to be a site for the best designed and crafted goods from around Australia and from further afield. Most of all, they want a visit to their store to be a treat. They hope that The Boroughs is the sort of store you’d stay the whole day. They like to think of their store as place where a friend picked things they knew that you’d love and put it all under one roof.

 

Varuna the Writers House is a creative retreat and writers’ network for Australian stories and ideas. We support bringing rigour and commitment to the writing craft; building a respectful and inclusive community; valuing of heritage and place; and making writing and creativity matter.

 

Boney is the brand new offering from the team behind Cookie, The Toff In Town and Revolver Upstairs. Featuring live music seven nights a week, DJs til late plus a restaurant serving up lunch and dinner.

 

 

 

Crikey is Australian for independent journalism. Independent media. Independent minds.

 
 
 

Spineless Wonders is a publishing company devoted to short, quality fiction produced by Australian writers. Interested in brief fiction in all its forms – short story, novella, sudden fiction and prose poetry, their stories are ‘spineless’ because they’re delivered to readers via smart phones and laptops. Spineless Wonders stories are for any person, anywhere, who has a digital device and a little time on their hands.