Daily news | Books+Publishing

Australian Short Story Festival 2025 program announced

Monday, 20 October 2025
The Australian Short Story Festival (ASSF) has announced its 2025 program. The festival will be held in Adelaide from 21 to 23 November 2025 under the theme “Good Things Come...

David Brooks wins 2025 Patrick White Literary Award

Monday, 20 October 2025
Poet, writer, and academic David Brooks has won the $20,000 Patrick White Literary Award for 2025. Award trustee Perpetual described the award as “a richly deserved recognition of [Brooks’s] profound...

Walkley Book Award 2025 longlist announced

Monday, 20 October 2025
The Walkley Foundation has announced the finalists for the 70th annual Walkley Awards for Excellence in Journalism. The works longlisted for the Walkley Book Award are: All Women Want (Alyx...

Tan announced as managing editor for Overland

Monday, 20 October 2025
Overland has announced Cher Tan will step into the role of managing editor. An essayist, editor and critic, Tan takes over from Natasha Seymour, who is leaving the journal after seven...

Arnott, Walton, Leal win 2025 ARA Historical Novel Prize

Thursday, 16 October 2025
Robbie Arnott and Tasma Walton will share the $100,000 ARA Historical Novel Prize in the adult category for their works Dusk (Picador) and I Am Nannertgarrook (Bundyi) respectively, while Suzanne Leal has...

Ventura Press acquires Fitzsimmons’s debut crime novel

Thursday, 16 October 2025
Ventura Press has acquired world rights to The Rising, a gripping police procedural crime novel by journalist Whitney Fitzsimmons. The Rising follows journalist Bec Carter, who finds the bones of...

2025 Richell Prize for Emerging Writers shortlist

Thursday, 16 October 2025
Hachette Australia and the Emerging Writers’ Festival (EWF) have announced the shortlist for the 2025 Richell Prize for Emerging Writers. Chosen from the longlist announced last month, the 5 shortlisted writers...

Wombat Books acquires Ahola’s debut middle-grade novel

Thursday, 16 October 2025
Wombat Books has acquired world rights to Miles Thorne and the Forbidden Magic by Rebecca Ahola. After being kicked out of Nox Wizarding Academy, Miles Thorne is terrified of his...

Jenner wins 2025 Kathleen Grattan Poetry Award

Thursday, 16 October 2025
In Aotearoa New Zealand, Lynn Jenner has been announced as the winner of the 2025 Kathleen Grattan Poetry Award for her manuscript The Gum Trees of Kerikeri. The collection is...

Prichard wins 2025 Landfall Tauraka Essay Prize

Thursday, 16 October 2025
In Aotearoa New Zealand, literary journal Landfall Tauraka has announced Tasmin Prichard as the winner of this year’s Landfall Tauraka Essay Prize for their essay “Four Hours in the Dark,...

Magabala Books acquires van Neerven’s middle-grade novel

Thursday, 16 October 2025
Magabala Books has acquired world rights to Ruby’s Web, a middle-grade novel by Ellen van Neerven. Beginning year 7, Ruby finds herself facing online bullying every day. Even her former...

A&U acquires Legge’s memoir

Thursday, 16 October 2025
Allen & Unwin (A&U) has acquired world English rights to Delicious, a memoir “celebrating food and friendship” by author and journalist Kate Legge. According to the publisher, Delicious: Stories of Cooking, Love...

Murray awarded 2025 ASA Medal

Wednesday, 15 October 2025
The Australian Society of Authors (ASA) has announced Kirsty Murray is the recipient of the 2025 ASA Medal. The ASA board noted Murray’s contribution to young people’s literature, including “her...

Riveted Press acquires Hargreaves’s middle-grade fantasy trilogy

Tuesday, 14 October 2025
Riveted Press has acquired world rights to middle-grade fantasy trilogy The Sterling Brothers by debut author Cody Hargreaves. The first instalment, The Ostrich Dilemma, features estranged twin brothers who must overcome their lifelong...

Wilderness Society announces Karajia, environment award winners

Tuesday, 14 October 2025
The Wilderness Society has announced the winners for the 2025 Environment Award for Children’s Literature and Karajia Award for Children’s Literature. Chosen from shortlists announced in June, the winners are:...

PRH acquires Timms’s debut crime novel

Tuesday, 14 October 2025
Penguin Random House Australia (PRH) has acquired ANZ rights to The Lineup, a crime fiction debut by Nicholas Timms. PRH commercial fiction publisher Beverley Cousins acquired the novel via Daniel...

Bragg science writing prize shortlist announced

Tuesday, 14 October 2025
The shortlist for this year’s UNSW Press Bragg Prize for Science Writing has been announced. Shortlisted pieces are: “The Unexpected Poetry of PhD Acknowledgements” by Tabitha Carvan “The Night I...

Chidgey named Aotearoa New Zealand public’s favourite woman writer

Monday, 13 October 2025
Waikato author Catherine Chidgey (The Book of Guilt, Penguin, 2025) has taken out the number-one spot in The Women’s Bookshop's Top 50 Women Writers of the Last 50 Years survey....

Barnes wins inaugural Bundyi Writing Prize

Monday, 13 October 2025
Bundyi Publishing has announced Shannon Barnes as the winner of the inaugural Bundyi Writing Prize for her mixed-genre novel Strangelands. Barnes wins a $10,000 cash prize, manuscript development, and a...

Affirm acquires Lewis’s debut nonfiction

Monday, 13 October 2025
Affirm Press has acquired world rights to I’m Not Mad (Anymore), a debut piece of nonfiction from Bron Lewis, in a deal brokered by Bec Sutherland of Jubilee St Management....

Melbourne Books acquires Buckrich history

Monday, 13 October 2025
Melbourne Books has acquired world rights to Fitzroy North: People, Place, Protest by Judith Buckrich. “[Beginning with] the local Aboriginal communities prior to European colonisation, Fitzroy North: People, Place and Protest reveals...