Olivia De Zilva on ‘Plastic Budgie’
Tuesday, 10 June 2025
Tarndanya/Adelaide-based writer Olivia De Zilva’s debut, Plastic Budgie (Pink Shorts Press, August), is described as a ‘sharply funny, sad and sentimental reflection on the people, places and cultural forces that...
Olivia De Zilva recommends
Tuesday, 10 June 2025
Cher Tan’s Peripathetic: Notes on (Un)belonging. I’ve worked with Cher before and have been a fan of her writing for a long time. Cher was really one of the first...
Introducing Junior Book Club – A bunch of this month’s brilliant books
Friday, 6 June 2025
Searching for your next great read to share with kids? Our Junior Book Club picks highlight 10 new titles each month that are perfect for classrooms, libraries and family reading...
On alchemy: B+P reflects on Melbourne Writers Festival 2025
Wednesday, 4 June 2025
This year, several members of the B+P team attended the Melbourne Writers Festival. We asked publishing director Kate Cuthbert and managing editor Ange Glindemann to share their experience. ‘Alchemy’ –...
The quiet revolution of bookshop succession
Wednesday, 4 June 2025
In the independent bookstores of Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand, a new generation of book lovers is taking the reins. Incoming owners are learning that bookstores are more than just...
The digital life of a neighbourhood bookstore
Monday, 2 June 2025
Ramona Books is a new independent bookstore in Melbourne that’s quickly made a name for itself online. Books+Publishing's reviews editor Jess Lomas spoke with store owner Katie Smith about how...
Who gets published in Aotearoa? Three key findings
Wednesday, 28 May 2025
A recent Booksellers NZ newsletter shared independent publisher Damien Levi’s analysis of 2023 publishing data on gender and ethnicity in Aotearoa. This analysis follows on from earlier work by writer...
A First Nations writer’s fellowship was withdrawn by Queensland’s government. What’s going on?
Wednesday, 28 May 2025
Jo Caust is an associate professor at the University of Melbourne in the School of Culture and Communication, where she is also an honorary principal fellow. She is a founder-editor...
Explainer: State Library Victoria duty of care review timeline
Tuesday, 27 May 2025
Following the release of documentation from the State Library Victoria (SLV) regarding ways of working with stakeholders including contractors, Books+Publishing has compiled a timeline of relevant events. Bootcamp postponement In February...
Emma Pei Yin on ‘When Sleeping Women Wake’
Tuesday, 20 May 2025
Canberra-based, British-born Hong Kong-Chinese writer and editor Emma Pei Yin’s debut novel, When Sleeping Women Wake (Hachette, July), is set in 1940s Hong Kong and follows three women whose lives...
Emma Pei Yin recommends
Tuesday, 20 May 2025
I have been so deep in research for When Sleeping Women Wake that I haven’t read much Australian fiction over the past few years. The most memorable Australian fiction I...
Enamoured Books opens in Auckland
Tuesday, 20 May 2025
Enamoured Books, Aotearoa New Zealand's first dedicated romance bookshop, opened in Auckland in May of 2025. Founder Ruby Wallace spoke with Books+Publishing about her vision for the shop. Why did you...
The 2025 Visiting International Publishers: Why they’re coming and what they hope to find
Wednesday, 14 May 2025
The 2025 Creative Australia Visiting International Publishers (VIPs) Program is running in Sydney from 19–23 May, coinciding with the Sydney Writers' Festival. The program invites international publishers, scouts and literary...
Publishing industry hopeful following Federal Election
Wednesday, 14 May 2025
With the landmark results of the 3 May federal election, questions have arisen about the future of the literary sector. Following the Books Create Australia election campaign, B+P reached out to the Australian Publishers...
Jasmin McGaughey recommends
Tuesday, 13 May 2025
I’m currently reading the First Nations Classics out with UQP, and I’ve been loving every book from the series. There are about 16 books published, with 4 more coming in the...
Jasmin McGaughey on ‘Moonlight and Dust’
Tuesday, 13 May 2025
Jasmin McGaughey is a Torres Strait Islander and African American author and editor, and the writer behind Ash Barty’s Little Ash series. Her new young adult novel, Moonlight and Dust...
Creative Australia’s VIPs – a very important program
Wednesday, 7 May 2025
Creative Australia’s Visiting International Publishers (VIPs) program began in 1998, and has since welcomed 307 international guests to Australia from 30 countries. Books+Publishing publishing director Kate Cuthbert spoke with Creative...
Who’s eating publishers’ lunch? The rising costs and shrinking margins of Australian books
Wednesday, 7 May 2025
Alice Grundy is an editor, publisher, researcher and teacher. She has worked on both sides of the publishing industry – holding various trade publishing roles over a 15-year period, as well...
Mother’s Day recommendations from B+P reviewers
Friday, 2 May 2025
In the lead-up to Mother’s Day, one of the busiest book-buying times of the year, Books+Publishing reviews editor Jess Lomas looks at some reviewer favourites from April and May with...
Global Book Crawl a ‘success’ in Australia
Thursday, 1 May 2025
From 21 to 27 April, bookstores in the Blue Mountains, Hobart, Melbourne, Mornington Peninsula, Newcastle, Sydney and North East Victoria took part in the Australian arm of the Global Book...
Meet the ABDA Emerging Designer of the Year shortlistees: Emi Chiba
Thursday, 1 May 2025
In the lead-up to the 73rd Australian Book Designers Association (ABDA) Awards, Books+Publishing is speaking to the three shortlistees for the Deb Brash Emerging Designer of the Year Award. In our final instalment,...
Meet the ABDA Emerging Designer of the Year shortlistees: Katherine Zhang
Tuesday, 29 April 2025
In the lead-up to the 73rd Australian Book Designers Association (ABDA) Awards, Books+Publishing is speaking to the three shortlistees for the Deb Brash Emerging Designer of the Year Award. In this second instalment,...
Meet the ABDA Emerging Designer of the Year shortlistees: Hana Kinoshita Thomson
Monday, 28 April 2025
In the lead-up to the 73rd Australian Book Designers Association (ABDA) Awards, Books+Publishing is speaking to the three shortlistees for the Deb Brash Emerging Designer of the Year Award. In this...
Diversity Arts Australia: ‘How to be anti-racist’ in the book industry
Wednesday, 23 April 2025
Diversity Arts Australia, an advocacy organisation for racial equity in the creative industries, recently launched ‘Anti-racism and the Arts’, a call to action for creative individuals and organisations to address...
Marija Peričić on ‘Foreign Country’
Tuesday, 22 April 2025
Marija Peričić’s first novel, The Lost Pages (A&U), won the Australian/Vogel’s Literary Award in 2017. Her ‘lyrical and haunting’ third novel, Foreign Country (Ultimo, July) is a work ‘vivid and...
Thomas Vowles recommends
Tuesday, 15 April 2025
Losing Face by George Haddad. He knows something about the complicated nature of the human soul. I can’t wait to see what he does next.
Thomas Vowles on ‘Our New Gods’
Tuesday, 15 April 2025
Melbourne-based screenwriter and author Thomas Vowles makes his novel debut with Our New Gods (UQP, June), a ‘twisty and menacing’ psychological literary thriller set in Melbourne’s queer scene that is...
ABDA 2025 shortlists announced
Wednesday, 9 April 2025
The shortlists for the 2025 Australian Book Design Awards, presented by the Australian Book Designers Association (ABDA), have been announced. Shortlisted works in each category are: Best designed commercial fiction...
Thorpe-Bowker: ‘Having access to books wherever you might want them increases demand’
Wednesday, 2 April 2025
In the lead-up to the 2025 Australian Book Industry Awards (ABIAs), Books+Publishing is in conversation with the event’s major sponsors about the status of the industry, what excites them about the future,...
Clunes Booktown 2025 – books, bands, and breaking records
Tuesday, 1 April 2025
Under blue skies and a hot sun, Clunes transformed into Booktown during the weekend of 22–23 March, welcoming about 10,000 visitors and a record 135 booksellers. Books+Publishing publishing director Kate...
