Local news | Books+Publishing

Shaw launches Shaw Literary

Tuesday, 7 April 2020
Martin Shaw, formerly agent-at-large at Alex Adsett Publishing Services and book buyer for Readings, has launched his own literary agency. Shaw Literary will represent Shaw’s current list of authors, including...

NT Writers Festival postponed until October

Tuesday, 7 April 2020
The NT Writers Festival has been postponed due to Covid-19 and is now scheduled to take place from 1 to 4 October in Darwin. Festival director Fiona Dorrell said the...

Kristoff longlisted for Glass Bell Award

Tuesday, 7 April 2020
Jay Kristoff’s Darkdawn (Harper Voyager) has been longlisted for the UK’s Glass Bell Award. Presented by London bookstore Goldsboro Books, the prize celebrates the best storytelling across all genres of...

OzCo announces four-year funding; 49 unsuccessful orgs to receive extensions

Monday, 6 April 2020
The Australia Council has announced 95 arts organisations will receive Four Year Funding for 2021–24. Forty-nine currently-funded organisations that were unsuccessful this round will have their funding extended for 12...

ALIA announces Covid-19 Relief Fund

Monday, 6 April 2020
The Australian Library and Information Service (ALIA) has announced it will set up a relief fund ‘specifically to help members who are experiencing a reduction in income as a result...

A&U to reduce working hours and salaries by 20%

Friday, 3 April 2020
Allen & Unwin (A&U) has made the 'precautionary' decision to seek a temporary 20 percent reduction in working hours and salary from all staff for the duration of the Covid-19...

Australian trade publishing revenue up 15%, unit sales up 36% year-on-year

Friday, 3 April 2020
The Australian trade publishing market has been experiencing Christmas-like sales growth as consumers purchase books for entertainment in isolation. However, international data suggests a drop off may be on its...

‘The Enlightenment of the Greengage Tree’ shortlisted for International Booker

Friday, 3 April 2020
The Enlightenment of the Greengage Tree by Australian author Shokoofeh Azar (Wild Dingo Press) has been shortlisted for the 2020 International Booker Prize. This is the first time an Australian...

EWF 2020 to take place ‘entirely online’

Thursday, 2 April 2020
The Emerging Writers Festival (EWF), which runs from 16–23 June, usually in Melbourne, will take place online as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. Festival organisers ‘made the proactive decision...

Scholastic sells ‘How Did I Get Here?’ in 17 territories

Thursday, 2 April 2020
Scholastic Australia has sold rights to Philip Bunting's picture book How Did I Get Here? in 17 territories across the US, UK, European and Asian markets. Dutch-language rights were sold...

‘Most’ Dymocks stores remain open as chain announces Top 101

Wednesday, 1 April 2020
While a small number of Dymocks stores have decided to close their shopfronts during the Covid-19 outbreak, the national bookselling chain says that most stores remain open at present. Books+Publishing...

CBCA Awards 2020 shortlists announced

Tuesday, 31 March 2020
The shortlists for this year’s Children’s Book Council of Australia (CBCA) Book of the Year Awards have been announced. The shortlisted titles are: Older readers The Boy Who Steals Houses...

Oz writing bodies call for additional ‘disaster response’ funding, ELR/PLR to expand to digital

Tuesday, 31 March 2020
Australia’s writing organisations and the Australian Society of Authors (ASA) are calling on the federal government to provide additional funding to the Australia Council ‘to boost capacity for an effective...

Bookshops, publishers eligible for wage subsidy scheme

Tuesday, 31 March 2020
Bookshop and publishing house staff are among the workers who could be eligible for the federal government’s $130 billion JobKeeper wage subsidy scheme. Under the scheme, the Australian Tax Office...

Bothroyd wins ASA/HQ Commercial Fiction Prize

Monday, 30 March 2020
Sally Bothroyd has won the inaugural ASA/HQ Commercial Fiction Prize for her manuscript ‘Brunswick Street Blues’. Bothroyd, who is a director of the Northern Territory Writers Centre and former journalist,...

Hussein appointed Voiceworks editor

Monday, 30 March 2020
Express Media has appointed Adalya Nash Hussein as editor of Voiceworks journal for a two-year period. Hussein—a writer, editor and co-editor at Liminal magazine—will replace previous editor Mira Schlosberg. Hussein...

Aurealis Awards 2019 finalists announced

Friday, 27 March 2020
The finalists for the 2019 Aurealis Awards, presented for science fiction, fantasy and horror writing in Australia, have been announced. The finalists are: Best science fiction novel The Subjects (Sarah...

Besliev joins Affirm Press as kids publisher

Friday, 27 March 2020
Five Mile commercial director Tash Besliev will join Affirm Press in the newly created role of kids publisher, where she will oversee an expansion of Affirm’s children’s list. Besliev has...

Van Neerven wins inaugural UQP Quentin Bryce Award

Friday, 27 March 2020
Ellen van Neerven has been named the winner of The University of Queensland Press' (UQP) inaugural Quentin Bryce Award, for their poetry collection Throat. The Quentin Bryce Award recognises a...

OzCo suspends grant programs to support arts sector during pandemic

Thursday, 26 March 2020
The Australia Council has suspended many of its investment programs to concentrate on providing a response package to support artists, arts practitioners, arts groups and arts organisations coping with the...

Brow Books to reissue Tumarkin’s ‘Traumascapes’

Thursday, 26 March 2020
Brow Books has acquired world rights to Maria Tumarkin's nonfiction book Traumascapes, which was originally published by Melbourne University Press in 2005. Tumarkin recently won a Windham Campbell prize for...

Books Create Australia announces agreement for digital library storytimes

Thursday, 26 March 2020
Books Create Australia, the joint industry group comprised of the Australian Booksellers Association, the Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA), the Australian Publishers Association (APA) and the Australian Society of...