Local news | Books+Publishing

Red Room Poetry announces 2025 youth ambassadors

Wednesday, 13 August 2025
Red Room Poetry has announced the 2025 participants in its Red Room Poetry Youth Ambassadors program. The 2025 ambassadors are: Rataj Abdullah (regional NSW) Charlee Brooks (Vic) Maggie Knight-Williams (ACT)...

Promotions, moves at S&S

Wednesday, 13 August 2025
Simon & Schuster Australia (S&S) has announced staffing changes, alongside news that the Affirm Press team will move to the S&S Melbourne offices. S&S marketing and publicity director Fleur Hamilton...

S&S announces new dedicated children’s team

Wednesday, 13 August 2025
Simon & Schuster Australia (S&S) has announced the formation of a ‘dedicated team focused on publishing, product, sales, marketing and publicity for children’s books’. Under S&S children's publishing director Tash...

Books pitched at MIFF 2025

Wednesday, 13 August 2025
Six titles were selected for pitching at the 37ºSouth Market’s Books at MIFF program, which promotes books to potential screen rights buyers at the Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF). The...

Prime Minister’s Literary Awards 2025 shortlists announced

Tuesday, 12 August 2025
Creative Australia has announced the titles shortlisted for the 2025 Prime Minister’s Literary Awards. Shortlisted titles in each category are: Fiction Always Will Be: Stories of Goori Sovereignty from the...

Newman to step down from Dymocks CEO role

Tuesday, 12 August 2025
Dymocks has announced that Mark Newman will step down from his role as CEO of Dymocks Retail, after five years of leadership. Newman was appointed as Dymocks managing director in...

Hachette acquires Grieve’s ‘Duty to Warn’

Tuesday, 12 August 2025
Hachette Australia has acquired world English rights for Duty to Warn, a memoir by Charlotte Grieve, who was a named defendant in the Al Muderis v Nine Network defamation trial,...

Love Your Bookshop Day 2025 theme announced

Tuesday, 12 August 2025
BookPeople has announced 'Discover the magic. Discover you' as the theme for Love Your Bookshop Day 2025 (LYBD), which will take place on 11 October 2025. LYBD ‘aims to reignite...

Indigenous Literacy Foundation releases 2024 impact report

Tuesday, 12 August 2025
The Indigenous Literacy Foundation (ILF) has released its 2024 impact report, detailing its activities and outcomes over the past 12 months. Among key achievements, the organisation reported delivery of 136,800...

Text acquires Hornung’s ‘The Minstrels’

Tuesday, 12 August 2025
Text Publishing has acquired world rights to The Minstrels by Eva Hornung, via Jenny Darling & Associates. The Minstrels follows the Thurston family, farming land overlooked by the Minstrels, the plunging gorge...

Alizzi named 2025 Rising Star

Monday, 11 August 2025
Arlie Alizzi has been named the Australian publishing industry's 2025 Rising Star. Alizzi is a Yugambeh editor, writer, researcher and anti-racism educator based in Rubibi/Broome and works as an editor at Magabala...

Waitere appointed PANZ president

Monday, 11 August 2025
In Aotearoa New Zealand, Eboni Waitere (Ngāti Kahungunu, Rangitāne) has been appointed president of the Publishers Association of New Zealand Te Rau o Tākupu (PANZ). Waitere is the first Māori...

Writers, lit organisations receive Cultural Fund grants

Monday, 11 August 2025
The Copyright Agency has announced the recipients of the latest funding round through its Cultural Fund. The 2025 Create Grants, which awards $20,000 to writers and artists to develop new...

Quay wins 2025 Crystal Kite Award

Monday, 11 August 2025
Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI) has announced the winners of the 2025 Crystal Kite Award. Open to SCBWI authors, illustrators, and translators, the award is peer-judged to...

Byron Writers Festival showground events cancelled

Monday, 11 August 2025
Organisers of Byron Writers Festival (BWF) cancelled the Bangalow Showground events for the second and third days of the 2025 festival program, because of rain and safety issues. In an...

Creative Australia adjusts dates for North America Publishers’ Program

Monday, 11 August 2025
Creative Australia has adjusted the dates for the North America Publishers’ Program, to accommodate publishers, agents and rights-sellers who may wish to travel to the London Book Fair afterwards. The...

Emerging Writers Festival 2025 program launched

Monday, 11 August 2025
The Emerging Writers Festival (EWF) has launched its 2025 program alongside a new logo. The festival, which will run 11–18 September, will hold 70 events with over 200 artists in...

Rapee wins CBCA 2025 Nan Chauncy Award

Monday, 11 August 2025
The Children's Book Council of Australia (CBCA) has announced Wendy Rapee as the recipient of the 2025 Nan Chauncy Award, which ‘honours a person, or a collaborative partnership, who has...

Stella Day Out to host Brisbane events

Monday, 11 August 2025
Literary organisation Stella has announced the program for its Stella Day Out Brisbane event, set to take place on 13 September 2025 at Avid Reader in West End. Two sessions...

Byrne appointed director of Writing Australia

Thursday, 7 August 2025
Creative Australia has announced Wenona Byrne as the director of Writing Australia. Byrne was appointed acting director of Writing Australia on 1 July 2025 and was previously the head of...

NZ Coalition for Books strategic plan report

Thursday, 7 August 2025
In Aotearoa New Zealand, the Coalition for Books has released the Mahi Tahi Work Together: A Strategic Plan for the Aotearoa New Zealand Book Sector 2025–2030, which is the culmination...

Ned Kelly Awards 2025 best debut crime fiction shortlists announced

Thursday, 7 August 2025
The Australian Crime Writers Association has announced the 2025 Ned Kelly Awards shortlist for best debut crime fiction. The shortlisted titles are: All You Took From Me (Lisa Kenway, Transit...

Newcastle Writers Festival announces spring festival

Thursday, 7 August 2025
Newcastle Writers Festival (NWF) has announced a special spring program, which will run 20 September to 25 October 2025. The spring program reflects the organisation’s commitment to creating year-round opportunities...

Industry bodies respond to Productivity Commission AI interim report

Wednesday, 6 August 2025
The Australian government Productivity Commission’s (PC) current Harnessing Data and Digital Technology inquiry released an interim report overnight, calling for feedback on ‘the issue of copyrighted materials being used to...