Local news | Books+Publishing

EWF, Hachette partner for online Inside the Publishing House event

Thursday, 11 February 2021
Hachette Australia in partnership with the Emerging Writers’ Festival (EWF) has announced a one-day online experience that aims to demystify the inner workings of the Sydney-based multinational publisher. Aimed at...

HarperCollins launches new illustrated imprint

Wednesday, 10 February 2021
HarperCollins Australia has announced it will launch a new illustrated imprint, Harper by Design. HarperCollins said the ‘design-led' imprint, to be overseen by current head of design Mark Campbell in...

Greaves named inaugural writer in residence at Female Orphan School

Wednesday, 10 February 2021
Laura Greaves has been named the inaugural writer in residence at the Whitlam Institute's Female Orphan School in Parramatta, NSW. Greaves was chosen from almost 40 applicants for the $4000...

‘Sorrow and Bliss’ to be adapted for screen

Wednesday, 10 February 2021
US production company New Regency has acquired the film and television rights to Meg Mason’s 2020 novel Sorrow and Bliss in a deal brokered by Casarotto Ramsay and HarperCollins Australia....

Giggs wins ALA Andrew Carnegie Medal

Tuesday, 9 February 2021
In the US, Australian writer Rebecca Giggs has won the American Library Association’s (ALA) 2021 Andrew Carnegie Medal for nonfiction for Fathoms: The world in the whale (Scribe). The Andrew Carnegie...

Hachette acquires Williams autobiography

Tuesday, 9 February 2021
Hachette Australia has acquired the autobiography of All Blacks star Sonny Bill Williams via Nick Fordham of The Fordham Company, as part of a worldwide deal that will also see...

Ultimo announces poetry, short fiction prize

Tuesday, 9 February 2021
Ultimo Press has announced a new annual prize for poetry and short fiction, the Ultimo Prize. Open to writers under the age of the 30, the prize will be awarded...

Value of top 10 up 39% in lead up to Christmas 2020

Monday, 8 February 2021
It appears Australian book buyers heeded the message to shop early ahead of Christmas 2020. Book sales in Australia were up 17.5% in the 10 weeks to 5 December 2020,...

Echo to publish new Morris novel

Monday, 8 February 2021
Echo Publishing has acquired Heather Morris's third novel Three Sisters, which concludes The Tattooist of Auschwitz trilogy. Three Sisters tells the true story of Cibi, Magda and Livia, who were...

PRH acquires Hickey crime debut ‘Cutters End’

Friday, 5 February 2021
Penguin Random House Australia (PRH) has acquired world rights to debut novel Cutters End by author and playwright Margaret Hickey. In a statement, PRH said Cutters End was a captivating...

Low joins Christchurch WORD festival

Friday, 5 February 2021
The WORD Christchurch festival has appointed Nic Low as program co-director. Originally from Christchurch, Low is a Ngāi Tahu author and arts organiser, who has recently returned to the city...

Fremantle Press launches podcast aimed at writers

Thursday, 4 February 2021
Fremantle Press publisher Georgia Richter has launched a new podcast series ‘aimed at making the Australian publishing industry more accessible to new writers’. Richter, who co-wrote How to Be an...

Transit Lounge acquires Rabin novel

Thursday, 4 February 2021
Transit Lounge has acquired world rights to Sean Rabin's second novel The Good Captain, via Jessica Craig at Craig Literary. Rabin's debut novel Wood Green, published by Giramondo in Australia...

Inaugural Little Hare Prize for Illustration shortlist announced

Wednesday, 3 February 2021
The shortlist for Hardie Grant Children’s Publishing’s (HGCP) inaugural Little Hare Prize for Illustration has been announced. The shortlisted artists are: Jennifer Goldsmith Jake Minton Meg Rennie Hyo Young Yim....

Nat’s What I Reckon wins 2020 Booktopia FAB Award

Wednesday, 3 February 2021
Un-cook Yourself: A ratbag's rules for life by YouTube cooking star Nat’s What I Reckon (Ebury) has won the $5000 Booktopia Favourite Australian Book (FAB) Award for 2020. The author...

Thames & Hudson Australia revenue up 47% in 2020

Wednesday, 3 February 2021
Thames & Hudson Australia (THA) has reported a 47% increase in revenue in 2020, with overall sales of $17.6 million, as ‘consumer price barriers appeared to come down’ during the...

Australia Reads becomes ‘always on’ campaign, seeks 2021 ambassadors

Tuesday, 2 February 2021
The Australia Reads initiative will become an ‘always on’ campaign in 2021, extending beyond its key Australian Reading Hour event. ‘Australia Reads will now focus on championing reading and book...

Ultimo first title to be Smith book on China

Tuesday, 2 February 2021
Ultimo Press has acquired world rights to The Last Correspondent: Dispatches from the Frontline of Xi’s New China by Michael Smith, one of the last Australian journalists to leave China...

McKay wins $100k Victorian Prize for Literature

Tuesday, 2 February 2021
Laura Jean McKay has won Australia’s richest literary prize, the $100,000 Victorian Prize for Literature, for her debut novel The Animals in That Country (Scribe), at this year’s Victorian Premier’s...

Scott to represent Australia in Literature Live Around the World event

Monday, 1 February 2021
Writing WA will present a session featuring multi-award-winning Noongar author Kim Scott in conversation with writer and journalist Gillian O’Shaughnessy, as Australia’s contribution to a multi-country Literature Live Around the...