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National Biography Award 2015 shortlist announced

Monday, 6 July 2015
The State Library of NSW has announced the shortlist for the 2015 National Biography Award for biographical writing and memoir.The shortlisted titles are: An Unsentimental Bloke: The Life and Work of...

MidnightSun signs first international rights deals

Monday, 6 July 2015
Adelaide-based small press MidnightSun Publishing has signed its first three international rights deals.The publisher has sold US rights to Amanda Hickie’s thriller An Ordinary Epidemic to Little, Brown in a...

RiP Michael Zifcak

Friday, 3 July 2015
Michael Zifcak, former chairman of Collins Booksellers and Hill of Content Publishing, has died, aged 96.Zifcak was the chairman of Collins Booksellers and its publishing division Hill of Content, which he...

Scribd makes dramatic cuts to romance list

Thursday, 2 July 2015
Scribd is dramatically reducing the number of romance and erotica titles offered through its subscription service in a move that is believed to prevent romance readers from cannibalising profits, reports...

Fuller wins Desmond Elliott Prize

Thursday, 2 July 2015
In the UK, Claire Fuller’s Our Endless Numbered Days (Penguin) has won the £10,000 (A$20,438) Desmond Elliott Prize for new fiction. Fuller’s debut novel was chosen from a shortlist that...

Robotham shortlisted for CWA Gold Dagger

Thursday, 2 July 2015
Life or Death by Australian author Michael Robotham (Sphere) has been shortlisted for the 2015 Crime Writers’ Association (CWA) Gold Dagger award for best crime novel in the UK.Life or...

Neurosurgery memoir wins PEN/Ackerley Prize

Wednesday, 1 July 2015
The £3000 (A$6115) PEN/Ackerley Prize for a work of memoir or autobiography has been awarded to neurosurgeon Henry Marsh for his memoir Do No Harm: Stories of Life, Death and...

Emma Viskic’s Resurrection Bay

Wednesday, 1 July 2015
Caleb Zelic’s deafness has made him an astute observer of the minute details of world around him, and of people in particular, a skill he has parlayed into a career...

Budding romance: Lili Wilkinson on ‘Green Valentine’

Wednesday, 1 July 2015
Lili Wilkinson’s latest YA novel Green Valentine (A&U) is a romantic comedy with an environmental twist, that explores ‘the cliché that popular girls are always mean girls’. Read her interview with reviewer Sarah...

Black to leave Aboriginal Studies Press

Wednesday, 1 July 2015
Rhonda Black has retired as publisher at Aboriginal Studies Press (ASP) after 12 years in the role. Black was instrumental in developing many resources at ASP, including the publisher’s information...

Williams appointed chair of the Copyright Agency

Tuesday, 30 June 2015
Former News Corp CEO Kim Williams has been appointed chair of the Copyright Agency. Williams replaces Hardie Grant Publishing chief executive Sandy Grant, who has been chair of the board...

Lonely Planet launches cookbook series

Tuesday, 30 June 2015
Lonely Planet has launched a series of ‘destination’ cookbooks called ‘From the Source’.The publisher will release the first two cookbooks in August—From the Source: Italy and From the Source: Thailand—and...

ALA Andrew Carnegie Medals 2015 winners announced

Monday, 29 June 2015
In the US, the American Library Association (ALA) has announced the winners of the 2015 Andrew Carnegie Medals. Anthony Doerr won the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction for...

‘Overland’ Fair Australia Prize shortlist announced

Monday, 29 June 2015
Literary journal Overland and the National Union of Workers (NUW) have announced the shortlists for the inaugural Fair Australia Prize. Shortlists have been released for the Essay Prize, Fiction Prize, Poetry...

Locus Awards 2015 winners announced

Monday, 29 June 2015
The winners of the 2015 Locus Awards for science-fiction and fantasy writing have been announced. Winners include: Ancillary Sword (Ann Leckie, Orbit) in the Science-fiction Novel category; The Goblin Emperor...

NZ book sales up in 2015

Monday, 29 June 2015
New Zealand’s book sales are up in volume and value in the first half of 2015, according to new figures released by Nielsen Book. New Zealand’s total market for the...

Cohen wins inaugural Russell Prize for Humour Writing

Friday, 26 June 2015
Bernard Cohen’s The Antibiography of Robert F Menzies (HarperCollins) has won the inaugural Russell Prize for Humour Writing. The book was chosen for the $10,000 biennial prize from a shortlist...

New ‘Books+Publishing’ reviews out now

Friday, 26 June 2015
Books+Publishing’s latest Reviews newsletter contains 13 reviews of books publishing in August and September.Included is a five-star review of Fever of Animals by Miles Allinson (Scribe, September), winner of the...

French publishers’ income down 1.3% in 2014

Friday, 26 June 2015
French publishers’ net income fell by 1.3% to €2652m ($A3842m) in 2014—the fourth year running that French publishers have recorded a decline, reports the Bookseller. Book sales dropped by 1.7% to...

S&S UK signs debut Australian author

Thursday, 25 June 2015
Simon & Schuster UK has purchased UK, Commonwealth and ANZ rights for a novel by Australian author Aoife Clifford.All These Perfect Strangers is the first novel from Clifford, who was...

Laville-Moore elected PANZ president

Thursday, 25 June 2015
Allen & Unwin NZ director Melanie Laville-Moore has been elected president of the Publishers Association of New Zealand (PANZ) at the organisation’s recent AGM.Laville-Moore, who was previously vice-president, replaces Auckland...

Amazon UK website records £5.3bn sales in 2014

Thursday, 25 June 2015
Amazon’s UK website has recorded sales of £5.3bn (A$10.8bn) for the year ending December 2014, up 14% from £4.49bn (A$9.1bn) the previous year, reports the Bookseller. The net sales for...