"The first time she sent me a Snapchat-filtered photo of her, her head was a piece of broccoli."

Activating humanness, welcoming ants to picnics, the challenge of judging picture books alongside middle grade fiction, and more!

Welcome back to my free weekly newsletter for 2025! When I started writing this week, I intended to keep it pretty brief. (Looming deadlines are coming at me from all angles right now!) But of course, once I got stuck in, I couldn’t stop. The year has kicked off and there are so many bookish things to keep up with. It’s a great problem to have.

Thanks for reading I Read A Lot, and apologies, but at the end of this newsletter I’m going to make a short plea to consider turning your free subscription into a paid one… I love writing this, but if I can’t afford to buy a coffee every now and then, it may all fall to the wayside!

But seriously, thank you for being here regardless, and I’m looking forward to another year of reading, writing, and talking about books with you all. If you aren’t able to pay for a subscription, please take a second to comment and/or share instead. It really helps!

The Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards