Local news | Books+Publishing

Magabala acquires Reid’s ‘Our Matriarchs Matter’

Monday, 10 August 2020
Magabala Books has acquired Our Matriarchs Matter by Wiradjuri and Wailwan activist, lawyer and co-founder of Instagram account Blackfulla Bookclub, Teela May Reid. The publisher acquired the work of junior...

Scott joins WA Writers Hall of Fame, WA Prem’s Book Award winners announced

Monday, 10 August 2020
The winners of the 2019 Western Australian Premier’s Book Awards have been announced, with Kim Scott inducted into the Western Australian Writers Hall of Fame. Scott's works include the award-winning...

A&U announces new crime fiction prize

Monday, 10 August 2020
Allen & Unwin (A&U) has announced a new prize for an unpublished crime or thriller manuscript, with the winner to receive a publishing contract and advance against royalties of $25,000....

Changes to JobKeeper, Victorian business grants

Friday, 7 August 2020
Businesses will now only need to show their GST turnover has fallen in the June quarter to qualify for the extended JobKeeper scheme, reports the ABC. Previously businesses needed to...

UQP acquires Walker’s ‘The First Time I Thought I was Dying’

Friday, 7 August 2020
UQP has acquired world rights to The First Time I Thought I was Dying, a collection of personal essays and cultural criticism on ‘the unruly body in late capitalism’ from...

S&S acquires Rogers autobiography

Friday, 7 August 2020
Simon & Schuster Australia (S&S) has acquired the autobiography of rugby player Mat Rogers. The book, scheduled for Christmas 2021, is the first major acquisition by new S&S nonfiction publisher...

Parritt joins ABA

Thursday, 6 August 2020
Former Lonely Planet Asia Pacific marketing manager David Parritt has joined the Australian Booksellers Association (ABA) as product and member services assistant. The ABA said Parritt brings with him ‘a...

Woodley purchases ALS Library Services

Thursday, 6 August 2020
Patricia Genat has sold ALS Library Services to managing director Simon Woodley. Genat, who has owned the business for 13 years, said, ‘It was a privilege to own and run...

Shortlists for 2020 NSW Premier’s History Awards announced

Wednesday, 5 August 2020
The State Library of NSW (SLNSW) has announced the shortlists for the 2020 NSW Premier’s History Awards, worth $15,000 each. The shortlisted works in each category are: Australian history prize...

Queensland Literary Awards 2020 shortlists announced

Wednesday, 5 August 2020
The shortlists for the 2020 Queensland Literary Awards have been announced. The shortlisted titles in each category are: Queensland Premier's Award for a Work of State Significance ($25,000) Heartland:...

HarperCollins acquires Mattinson’s ‘We Were Not Men’

Wednesday, 5 August 2020
HarperCollins has acquired ANZ rights to Campbell Mattinson's debut novel We Were Not Men, from Tara Wynne at Curtis Brown. ‘It only took the first 22 pages of this novel—which...

Byron Writers Fest releases digital program, Langton delivers 2020 Thea Astley Address

Wednesday, 5 August 2020
The annual Byron Writers Festival (BWF) Thea Astley Address, presented by Marcia Langton this year, will be available as a podcast, and the festival is offering free digital sessions in...

Wakefield acquires Parker’s ‘Endo Days’

Wednesday, 5 August 2020
Wakefield Press has acquired world rights to journalist Libby Trainor Parker’s debut nonfiction book, which has the working title Endo Days: Life, love and laughs with endometriosis. Endo Days is...

Black Inc. acquires ‘We’ve Got This’ anthology

Tuesday, 4 August 2020
Black Inc. has acquired world rights to We've Got This: Parenting with a disability, an anthology to be edited by journalist and disability advocate Eliza Hull, creator of the ABC...

Melbourne booksellers enter stage four lockdown

Tuesday, 4 August 2020
On Sunday, 2 August Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews announced that the state has enacted a state of disaster due to the continued rise in Covid-19 cases. Subsequently, metropolitan Melbourne has...

Digital Australian Government Style Guide in public beta

Tuesday, 4 August 2020
The Australian government has released the draft digital version of its Australian Government Style Manual in beta for public testing. The digital edition being developed will be the first edition...

Murphy receives inaugural IPEd Janet Mackenzie Medal

Tuesday, 4 August 2020
Elizabeth Manning Murphy has won the inaugural Institute of Professional Editors (IPEd) Janet Mackenzie Medal. The award, which honours the late founding member of Editors Victoria and lifetime IPEd member...

NZ Sir Julius Vogel Awards 2020 winners announced

Monday, 3 August 2020
The 2020 winners of the Sir Julius Vogel Awards for New Zealand Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror have been announced The winners include: Best novel—adult The Dawnhounds (Sascha Stronach, Little...

Queensland Poetry Festival awards 2020 winners announced

Monday, 3 August 2020
The winners of the 2020 Queensland Poetry Festival (QPF) awards have been announced. The winning poets in each category are: Thomas Shapcott Poetry Prize for an Unpublished Manuscript ($2000 and...

Colin Roderick Award 2020 shortlist announced

Monday, 3 August 2020
The shortlist for the 2020 Colin Roderick Award, administered by the Foundation for Australian Literary Studies at James Cook University, has been announced. The shortlisted titles are: Peace (Garry Disher, Text)...

New project to digitise, lend and sell out-of-print Australian titles

Friday, 31 July 2020
The Australian Society of Authors (ASA) is working with the University of Melbourne and Australian public libraries on a pilot project ‘to breathe new life into important out-of-print Australian books...

SLV launches ‘6 weeks, 6 issues’ web series

Friday, 31 July 2020
State Library Victoria (SLV) has launched a new live web series, ‘6 weeks, 6 issues’, featuring Victorian policy experts. CEO Kate Torney will host leaders from the health, education, labour...

Two Victorian library services sign with Civica for Spydus LMS

Friday, 31 July 2020
Two of Victoria’s largest metropolitan libraries, Eastern Regional Libraries Corporation (ERLC) and Yarra Plenty Regional Libraries (YPRL)—which between them loaned 9 million items last year—have signed five-year contracts with Civica...