Free | Books+Publishing

Big five US publishers, Amazon withdraw from LBF

Tuesday, 3 March 2020
Amazon and the US businesses of HarperCollins, Hachette and Penguin Random House are the latest publishers to withdraw staff from the London Book Fair (LBF) due to the coronavirus outbreak,...

Giramondo, Fitzcarraldo, New Directions establish award for lit fic

Tuesday, 3 March 2020
Giramondo Publishing has partnered with Fitzcarraldo Editions in the UK and New Directions in the US on a new award for literary fiction. Awarded biennially, the Novel Prize will be...

Hachette UK revenue down 1.4% in 2019

Tuesday, 3 March 2020
Lagardère full-year results show that Hachette UK’s revenue was down 1.4% in 2019, reports the Bookseller. Hachette UK CEO David Shelley said that while 2019 was a strong year for...

New $30,000 historical fiction prize

Tuesday, 3 March 2020
The Historical Novel Society Australasia (HNSA) and infrastructure and facilities service provider ARA Group have announced a new $30,000 award for an outstanding historical novelist. The award is open to...

ABIA 2020 longlists announced

Monday, 2 March 2020
The longlists for the 2020 Australian Book Industry Awards (ABIAs) have been announced. The titles in each category are: General fiction book of the year Bruny (Heather Rose, A&U) Call...

Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature winners announced

Monday, 2 March 2020
The winners of the 2020 Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature, presented biennially by the South Australian government, have been announced. The winning titles are: Premier’s Award for best overall published...

Clunes Booktown Festival 2020 program announced

Monday, 2 March 2020
The program has been announced for this year’s Clunes Booktown Festival, to be held from 2–3 May. Over 30 authors will appear at the festival, including Andy Griffiths, Garry Disher,...

S&S, Macmillan US pull out of LBF due to coronavirus

Monday, 2 March 2020
Several American publishing companies including Simon & Schuster US (S&S), Macmillan Trade US, Ingram Content Group and OverDrive have pulled out of the London Book Fair (LBF) due to the...

The elephant in the room: Chris Flynn on ‘Mammoth’

Friday, 28 February 2020
Chris Flynn’s third novel Mammoth (UQP, May) handles an ambitious conceit and makes it work, according to reviewer Brad Jefferies. Narrated by the fossil of a 13,000-year-old mammoth, the novel...

Azar longlisted for International Booker Prize 2020

Friday, 28 February 2020
Iranian-Australian writer Shokoofeh Azar has been longlisted for the 2020 International Booker Prize for her novel The Englightenment of the Greengage Tree (trans by Anonymous, Wild Dingo Press). Azar is...

BookUp announces first keynotes

Friday, 28 February 2020
The Australian Publishers Association has announced the first keynote speakers for its inaugural book industry conference BookUp. Demographer Claire Madden will present ‘Generational change: where is Australia going?’, a look...

Waterstones staff to receive 6.2% pay rise

Thursday, 27 February 2020
In the UK, staff at bookselling chain Waterstones will receive a 6.2% pay rise, reports the Bookseller. Effective 1 April, the raise in bookseller wages is in line with the...

Godfrey awarded 2020 Kat Muscat Fellowship

Thursday, 27 February 2020
Perth-based writer Maddie Godfrey has been awarded the 2020 Kat Muscat Fellowship. Godfrey plans to use the fellowship to develop a hybrid manuscript of poetry and personal essays called ‘Womanhood...

Overland announces Judith Wright Poetry Prize shortlist

Thursday, 27 February 2020
The shortlist for the 2019 Overland Judith Wright Poetry Prize for new and emerging poets has been announced. The nine shortlisted poems are: ‘Chinny chin chin’ (Grace Yee) ‘Eulogy for...

Ivor Indyk on literary writing and publishing

Wednesday, 26 February 2020
‘A prize as supposedly prestigious as the Prime Minister’s Award has only a modest impact on sales, and in the case of poetry, none at all. Speaking generally, we have...

Bologna postponed due to coronavirus, CBCA & ABDA longlists, screen adaptations and more

Wednesday, 26 February 2020
Bologna Children’s Book Fair organisers have postponed the event for a month due to the coronavirus outbreak in Italy. Originally scheduled for 30 March–2 April, the fair will now run...

Russia and the West 2017-19

Wednesday, 26 February 2020
Trade consignment and retail orders accepted for Russia and the West 2017-19, RRP$25. Tony Kevin’s controversial new book. Selling well. A book for fearless and discerning readers. See www.tonykevin.com.au or...

Editors Victoria: Punctuation refresher

Wednesday, 26 February 2020
Editors Victoria is running a one-day face-to-face course, taught by Ann Philpott, which is designed to help writers and editors brush up on their punctuation. Are you unclear about when...

Folio Prize 2020 shortlist announced

Wednesday, 26 February 2020
In the UK, the shortlist for the £30,000 (A$59,000) Rathbones Folio Prize has been announced. The eight shortlisted titles are: Guest House for Young Widows (Azadeh Moaveni, Scribe) On Chapel...

TV adaptations of Cheng, Clarke books receive development funding

Wednesday, 26 February 2020
TV adaptions of Melanie Cheng's short story collection Australia Day (Text) and Maxine Beneba Clarke's Foreign Soil (Hachette) have received funding from Screen Australia in its latest development funding announcement. The...