Local news | Books+Publishing

Books among Victorian Community History Awards winners

Friday, 29 October 2021
The 2021 winners of the Victorian Community History Awards have been announced. The following books were among the winners and commended entries: Judges special prize (joint winners): Under the Rainbow:...

IBBY Australia names 2022 Honour List selections

Thursday, 28 October 2021
IBBY (International Board on Books for Young People) Australia has selected writer Vikki Wakfield and artist Philip Bunting for the 2022 IBBY Honour List. Wakefield, who is based in South...

Deborah Cass Prize 2021 shortlist announced

Thursday, 28 October 2021
Writers Victoria and the Deborah Cass Prize Committee have announced the shortlist for the 2021 Deborah Cass Prize for emerging writers from migrant backgrounds. The shortlisted works and their authors...

Moriarty, de Kretser, Allende among first AWW guests

Wednesday, 27 October 2021
Adelaide Writers' Week (AWW), which runs as part of Adelaide Festival, has announced the first guests for its 2022 festival, to take place 5–10 March at the Pioneer Women’s Memorial...

A&U acquires debut middle-grade novel ‘A Girl Called Corpse’

Wednesday, 27 October 2021
Allen & Unwin (A&U) has acquired ANZ rights to A Girl Called Corpse: An Elston-Fright tale, the debut middle-grade novel by Reece Carter. The book was acquired by A&U children’s...

Writers Vic announces 2021 Writeability fellows

Tuesday, 26 October 2021
Writers Victoria has announced the 2021 Writeability fellows. The following five writers with disability were awarded Writeability fellowships: Beau Windon for 'A Proud Failure', a hybrid memoir exploring neurodiversity through...

SPN Book of the Year Award shortlist announced

Tuesday, 26 October 2021
The shortlist for the Small Press Network (SPN) Book of the Year Award has been announced. Formerly the Most Underrated Book Award, the prize was first presented under its new...

Nielsen: Book sales surge after NSW reopens

Monday, 25 October 2021
Australian book sales for the week ending 16 October 2021 have broken the average BookScan weekly sales record for this time of year over the past decade, in what was...

Australians nominated for 2022 Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award

Monday, 25 October 2021
Six Australian authors, illustrators and organisations have been announced as candidates for the 2022 Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award, the world’s richest prize for children’s literature. The Australian candidates are: Jeannie...

‘Henry Hamlet’s Heart’ sells to US, UQP acquires second Wilde YA novel

Monday, 25 October 2021
UQP has sold North American rights for Rhiannon Wilde's YA debut Henry Hamlet’s Heart to Charlesbridge, and has acquired world rights to Wilde's second novel Where You Left Us. Released...

Serong, Nannestad win $100k Historical Novel Prize

Monday, 25 October 2021
Victorian writer Jock Serong has won the $50,000 ARA Historical Novel Prize in the adult category for The Burning Island (Text), while Katrina Nannestad has won the $30,000 children and...

S&S signs Spicer book on AI bias

Monday, 25 October 2021
Simon & Schuster Australia (S&S) has acquired a new book by journalist Tracey Spicer on ‘the ways that sexist and racist stereotypes are being embedded into emerging technologies, thus perpetuating...

Prime Minister’s Literary Awards 2021 shortlists announced

Friday, 22 October 2021
The shortlists for the 2021 Prime Minister’s Literary Awards have been announced. The shortlisted titles in each category are: Fiction A Treacherous Country (K M Kruimink, A&U) In the Time...

Aotearoa NZ industry shocked by NZ$500k grant for book recommendation site

Thursday, 21 October 2021
The Aotearoa New Zealand literary industry is frustrated and ‘astonished’ by a NZ$500,000 (A$479,000) grant given to an organisation to improve access to books, reports Stuff.co.nz. The grant was made...

MUP acquires Quilty’s ‘Fall of Kabul’

Thursday, 21 October 2021
Melbourne University Publishing (MUP) has acquired world rights to Fall of Kabul: America’s last days in Afghanistan by award-winning photo-journalist Andrew Quilty. MUP acquired rights directly from the author. Quilty...

SPN 2021 program announced

Thursday, 21 October 2021
The program for the 2021 Small Press Network (SPN) annual Independent Publishing Conference has been announced. The 10th annual SPN conference will be held online from 25–27 November, with a...

Aus publishers attend Frankfurt virtually for second year

Wednesday, 20 October 2021
The 2021 Frankfurt Book Fair begins today, with publishers and authors attending the five-day event in-person or virtually through Frankfurt’s digital rights platform. At the annual opening press conference, Börsenverein...

NSW bookshops reopen, Dymocks unveils flagship store refurbishment

Wednesday, 20 October 2021
On 11 October in New South Wales, non-essential retail, including bookshops, opened for fully vaccinated customers for the first time since the state went into lockdown in June. New state...

Scribe acquires Marson nonfiction book

Wednesday, 20 October 2021
Scribe has acquired a nonfiction book about sexual violence by ACT-based prosecutor Katrina Marson. World rights (ex North America) were acquired from Grace Heifetz at Left Bank Literary. The as...

Arts NT Varuna Fellowships announced

Tuesday, 19 October 2021
The recipients of the 2021 Arts NT Varuna Residency Fellowships have been announced. Presented in partnership with the Northern Territory government, the fellowship gives six writers from the Top End...

Aus international rights sales up by volume and value: new report

Tuesday, 19 October 2021
The Australia Council has released the results of its research into Australian international book rights sales. The original research for the report was based at Macquarie University and supported by...

Writing NSW announces recipients of new paid publishing internships

Monday, 18 October 2021
Writing NSW has announced the successful candidates for its new internship for emerging editors from culturally diverse backgrounds. The paid internship program is presented in partnership with publishers Giramondo, Hachette,...