Local news | Books+Publishing

Text acquires Webb ‘anti-usage’ guide

Wednesday, 28 October 2020
Text Publishing has acquired world rights to an 'anti-usage' language guide by ABC journalist Tiger Webb. Webb is the ABC’s language research specialist, providing broadcasters with pronunciation guidelines, updating the...

QBD to open two new Melbourne stores as Covid restrictions ease

Wednesday, 28 October 2020
The QBD bookselling chain has opened a new Parramatta store and will open two new stores in Melbourne before Christmas. The Parramatta store, in Westfield Shopping Centre, opened on 24...

Ibrahim wins 2020 Heyman Mentorship Award

Wednesday, 28 October 2020
HarperCollins Australia and Kathryn Heyman of the Australian Writers Mentoring Program have announced Naima Ibrahim as the winner of the 2020 Heyman Mentorship Award. Ibrahim’s winning fiction manuscript follows 10-year-old...

Copyright Agency grants to Castagna, Cohen, Ord, Savage

Wednesday, 28 October 2020
Felicity Castagna, Bernard Cohen, Mandy Ord and Ellena Savage are among the six recipients of a combined $95,000 from Copyright Agency as part of its most recent Create Grants. Castagna...

NewSouth acquires Janke’s ‘True Tracks’

Tuesday, 27 October 2020
NewSouth has acquired world English-language rights to True Tracks: Working with Indigenous knowledge and culture by Terri Janke of law firm Terri Janke and Company. ‘For Indigenous people, arts, language...

Layton launches Larrikin House

Tuesday, 27 October 2020
James Layton, CEO of children’s book reseller Learning Discovery, has launched a new children’s book publisher, Larrikin House. Larrikin House plans to publish 20 books per year, with an initial...

Affirm acquires Stubbins memoir

Tuesday, 27 October 2020
Affirm Press has acquired world rights to Melbourne writer Sinéad Stubbins’s debut memoir In My Defence, I Have No Defence, via Danielle Binks and Jacinta of Jacinta di Mase Management...

Larsen launches Debut Books

Monday, 26 October 2020
Former bookseller and product manager at Penguin Books Australia Katherine Larsen has established independent Melbourne-based publisher Debut Books. Debut Books will launch in December with the first of a collection...

Arts South Australia announces latest grant recipients

Monday, 26 October 2020
Arts South Australia has announced the successful recipients in its latest round of Arts and Culture Grants. Among the 25 successful applicants of the August 2020 round are the following...

Danger Prize 2020 shortlist announced

Monday, 26 October 2020
The Bad: Sydney Crime Writers Festival has announced the shortlist for this year’s Danger Prize, awarded for the best book, film, podcast or TV drama about Sydney and crime. The...

‘Mophead’ takes PANZ Book Design Awards hat-trick

Monday, 26 October 2020
The winners of the 2020 Publishers Association of New Zealand (PANZ) Book Design Awards have been announced. Mophead by Selina Tusitala Marsh (Auckland University Press) took a hat-trick at the...

Robotham wins Gold Dagger

Monday, 26 October 2020
Michael Robotham has won the 2020 UK Crime Writers’ Association (CWA) Gold Dagger for Good Girl Bad Girl (Hachette). Good Girl Bad Girl was one of six titles shortlisted for...

Papas wins 2020 City of Fremantle Hungerford Award

Monday, 26 October 2020
Perth writer Maria Papas has won the 2020 City of Fremantle Hungerford Award for an unpublished manuscript for 'I Belong to the Lake', a work of literary fiction about a family's...

Scribe to publish first graphic novel, acquires two more book-length comics

Thursday, 22 October 2020
Scribe Publications has acquired world rights to two book-length comics: a work of graphic nonfiction by artist and organiser Sam Wallman, and a graphic novel written by Luke C Jackson...

McGuire wins 2020 Ray Koppe Residency

Thursday, 22 October 2020
Melbourne writer Tim McGuire has won the Australian Society of Authors (ASA)’s 2020 Ray Koppe Young Writers Residency for his manuscript ‘Game Farm’. McGuire's literary suspense novel is a creative...

‘Flames’ to be adapted for screen

Thursday, 22 October 2020
Flames, the debut novel by Robbie Arnott (Text), will be developed into a six-part television series with Tasmanian government funding of $20,000. The project, which will be produced by Jungle...

Ampersand Prize 2020 shortlist announced

Wednesday, 21 October 2020
Hardie Grant Children's Publishing (HGCP) has announced the shortlist for its 2020 Ampersand Prize for unpublished young adult and middle-grade fiction. The five shortlisted authors and their works are: Conan...

S&S creates new audiobook role as audio sales on track to double

Wednesday, 21 October 2020
Simon & Schuster Australia (S&S) has promoted Anthea Bariamis to a new position focusing on local audio titles, among a number of staff changes designed to support the publisher’s local...

McLean receives inaugural $10k Albert Ullin Award

Wednesday, 21 October 2020
Andrew McLean is the winner of the inaugural Albert Ullin Award. The $10,000 biennial award, created with a bequest from the late The Little Book Room co-founder Albert Ullin, is...

Craig appointed Ultimo Press publisher

Wednesday, 21 October 2020
Former Picador Australia publisher Alex Craig has been appointed publisher of Ultimo Press. Craig spent 12 years at Pan Macmillan, including five as Picador publisher, before resigning from the company...

Scribner acquires Lucy’s ‘Turns Out, I’m Fine’

Tuesday, 20 October 2020
Scribner Australia has acquired ANZ rights to comedian Judith Lucy’s new book Turns Out, I’m Fine, from Kevin Whyte at Token Artists. ‘For a while, Judith didn’t know what this...

Nielsen report: over a third of listeners new to audiobooks

Tuesday, 20 October 2020
A new report from Nielsen Book Australia has found that 37% of Australian audiobook consumers began listening to audiobooks for the first time in the past year. The report also...

Watkins appointed Ultimo Press publishing director

Tuesday, 20 October 2020
Hachette Australia head of literary and head of illustrated Robert Watkins has been appointed publishing director of new Hardie Grant–backed independent publisher Ultimo Press. Watkins joined Hachette as commissioning editor...