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Ondaatje Prize 2015 shortlist announced

Monday, 4 May 2015
The shortlist for the 2015 RSL Ondaatje Prize, an annual award of £10,000 (A$19,361) for ‘a distinguished work of fiction, nonfiction or poetry evoking the spirit of a place’, has...

Bestsellers this week

Monday, 4 May 2015
Fiction and health-related cookbooks are dominating this week’s bestseller charts, with six fiction titles and three health books in the top 10. The fiction list is led by The Liar...

New Zealand Book Council launches books podcast

Monday, 4 May 2015
The New Zealand Book Council (NZBC) is producing a new monthly podcast discussing new release and classic New Zealand books.‘Talking Books’ is hosted by novelist Catherine Robertson, who will speak...

Cunningham wins 2015 Calibre Prize

Friday, 1 May 2015
Sophie Cunningham has won the ninth Australian Book Review (ABR) Calibre Prize for an Outstanding Essay. Cunningham’s essay ‘Staying with the trouble’, which describes ‘an epic walk up Broadway in New York, and...

Kobo signs first publishing deal

Thursday, 30 April 2015
In Canada, Kobo has signed its first publishing deal, acquiring a book by Kevin Donovan on radio presenter Jian Gomeshi, who is awaiting trial in Canada for sexual assault, reports the Bookseller. Kobo has...

Edgar Allan Poe Awards 2015 winners announced

Thursday, 30 April 2015
In the US, the Mystery Writers of America has announced the winners of the 2015 Edgar Allan Poe Awards, which honour ‘the best in mystery fiction, nonfiction and television’ published...

Coutts wins 2015 Wellcome Book Prize

Thursday, 30 April 2015
In the UK, The Iceberg by Marion Coutts (Atlantic Books) has won the 2015 Wellcome Book Prize, worth £30,000 (A$57,745), for the best new work of fiction or nonfiction centred...

New ABIA sponsors announced; award funding up 24%

Thursday, 30 April 2015
Dymocks, 3M Cloud Library and JCDecaux have been announced as the major sponsors of this year’s Australian Book Industry Awards (ABIAs), with overall funding for the awards up 24% on...

Bloomsbury and Pantera Press announce new partnership

Wednesday, 29 April 2015
Bloomsbury Australia and Pantera Press have announced a new partnership to ‘strategically grow Pantera Press’ readership and sales’.The partnership, which begins in June, will see Bloomsbury distribute Pantera Press titles through UBD,...

Quote of the week

Wednesday, 29 April 2015
‘I think it’s great for the vigour of the culture if one book does not scoop all the prizes’—Booktopia editorial director Caroline Baum on judging this year’s Stella Prize

New podcast focuses on contemporary Australian poetry

Wednesday, 29 April 2015
A new podcast series with news and interviews about the contemporary Australian poetry scene has launched.The Australian Poetry Podcast is hosted by poets Robbie Coburn and Nathan Hondros, with four...

The Creative Word Shop writing school opens in Newcastle

Tuesday, 28 April 2015
A new writing school has opened in Newcastle offering classes for adults and children, as well as manuscript and mentoring services.The Creative Word Shop, which is the first of its kind in Newcastle, is run...

writingWA Awards 2014 winners announced

Monday, 27 April 2015
The winners of the 2014 writingWA Awards, which support emerging writers based in regional Western Australia, have been announced. Doreen Hill of Mandurah was awarded the Curtin University Prize for...

Encore Award 2014 shortlist announced

Monday, 27 April 2015
In the UK, the shortlist for the Encore Award for best second novel has been announced. The shortlisted books are: Getting Colder (Amanda Coe, Virago); Reasons She Goes to the...

Scholastic to stop gender-labelling its books

Monday, 27 April 2015
In the UK, Scholastic has stopped gender-labelling its books after receiving a complaint from a young reader, reports the Guardian. In response to a petition from an eight-year-old reader arguing that ‘no...

Creative Victoria reopens Marketing Innovation Fund

Friday, 24 April 2015
Creative Victoria has announced it will reopen its Marketing Innovation Fund, offering grants of up to $15,000 to help arts organisations expand their audiences. The program will support up to 75% of...

US court fines copyright infringers US$37.5m

Friday, 24 April 2015
A US federal court has found two website operators guilty of intentionally infringing the copyright of up to 16,000 publishers, in a case brought by academic publisher Elsevier and supported...

Jonasson’s UK publisher pursued over unpaid royalties

Friday, 24 April 2015
Hachette US and Swedish writer Jonas Jonasson have begun legal proceedings against the UK publisher of Jonasson’s bestselling book The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared...

NSW Premier’s Literary Awards 2015 shortlists announced

Friday, 24 April 2015
The shortlists for this year’s New South Wales Premier’s Literary Awards have been announced.The shortlisted titles in each of the categories are:Christina Stead Prize for Fiction Only the Animals (Ceridwen...