Local news | Books+Publishing

‘Dark Emu’ to be adapted for TV documentary series

Friday, 18 October 2019
Bruce Pascoe’s book Dark Emu (Magabala) will be adapted as a television documentary series by Blackfella Films, a Sydney-based documentary production company founded by Rachel Perkins. Screen Australia has announced...

‘All of the Factors of Why I Love Tractors’ sold to US, Canada

Thursday, 17 October 2019
Hardie Grant Egmont has sold US and Canadian rights to picture book All of the Factors of Why I Love Tractors (Davina Bell, illus by Jenny Løvlie) to HarperCollins imprint...

S&S to reissue Trioli’s ‘Generation F’

Thursday, 17 October 2019
Simon & Schuster (S&S) will reissue journalist Virginia Trioli’s Generation F in November, with a new foreword and afterword by the author. Originally published by Heinemann imprint Minerva in 1996, Generation...

Noni moves to PRH after eight-way auction

Thursday, 17 October 2019
Penguin Random House Australia (PRH) has acquired ANZ rights to a new series from YA author Lynette Noni titled 'The Prison Healer'. Rights were acquired in an eight-way auction via...

Owners of The Hobart Bookshop to retire

Wednesday, 16 October 2019
The owners of The Hobart Bookshop, Christopher Pearce and Janet Grecian, have decided to retire after almost 30 years of owning the business. In the early 1970s, after graduating with...

Scribe acquires book on Hong Kong protest movement

Wednesday, 16 October 2019
Scribe publisher Henry Rosenbloom has acquired world rights to City on Fire: The fight for Hong Kong by Antony Dapiran, an Australian writer and lawyer who has lived in Hong...

Walker acquires middle-grade novels from Pamela Rushby, Allison Rushby

Wednesday, 16 October 2019
Walker Books Australia has acquired world rights to new middle-grade titles by authors Pamela Rushby and Allison Rushby, who are mother and daughter. Pamela Rushby's book, called The Mummy Smugglers...

Oz, NZ authors and illustrators on 2019 White Ravens list

Wednesday, 16 October 2019
Several books by Australian and New Zealand authors and illustrators have been included in the 2019 White Ravens list for international children’s and youth literature. The Australian titles on the...

Lawyer Stewart Levitt launches $20,000 poetry prize

Wednesday, 16 October 2019
Human rights lawyer Stewart Levitt has launched the biennial $20,000 Levitt Indigenous Poetry Prize for poems that ‘reflect Indigenous social, personal and political issues’. Entrants need not be Indigenous or...

Hachette acquires Claire Thomas’ ‘The Performance’ at auction

Wednesday, 16 October 2019
Hachette has acquired ANZ rights to Claire Thomas’ second novel, The Performance, in a five-way auction via Clare Forster at Curtis Brown Australia. Weidenfeld & Nicolson also acquired UK rights...

Scrivenor wins 2019 Ray Koppe Residency

Wednesday, 16 October 2019
Hayley Scrivenor has won the Australian Society of Authors (ASA)’s 2019 Ray Koppe Young Writers’ Residency for her manuscript ‘The Push Back’. Scrivenor’s manuscript tells the story of a young...

HarperCollins acquires Morton’s ‘My Year of Living Vulnerably’

Wednesday, 16 October 2019
HarperCollins has acquired ANZ rights to Rick Morton’s second book, My Year of Living Vulnerably—a series of interconnected essays of memoir and social commentary written following Morton’s diagnosis of complex...

Full program announced for SPN conference 2019

Tuesday, 15 October 2019
The Small Press Network (SPN) has announced the full program for its 2019 Independent Publishing Conference, which will run at the Wheeler Centre in Melbourne from 21–23 November. It will...

Phil Roberts wins Victorian Premier’s History Award for ‘Avenue of Memories’

Tuesday, 15 October 2019
Phil Roberts has won the third Victorian Premier’s History Award, worth $5000, for Avenue of Memories, published by Ballarat Arch of Victory & Avenue of Honour Committee. The award was...

HarperCollins puts backlist titles on Kindle Unlimited

Tuesday, 15 October 2019
HarperCollins has put a ‘limited number’ of its backlist ebook titles onto Amazon’s Kindle Unlimited subscription service in Australia and the UK. As reported by the Bookseller, HarperCollins UK is...

Australian bookshops threatened with legal action over Ronan Farrow book

Monday, 14 October 2019
An Australian journalist has threatened legal action over the publication of investigative reporter Ronan Farrow’s new book, reports the Sydney Morning Herald. Former Channel Seven sports reporter Dylan Howard, who...

Shortlists for Tasmanian Premier’s Literary Prizes announced

Monday, 14 October 2019
The shortlists for the 2019 Tasmanian Premier’s Literary Prizes have been announced. The shortlisted works and their authors are: Tasmania Book Prize for the best book with Tasmanian content in...

Over 700 sign open letter urging arts ministers to reject MPA funding framework

Friday, 11 October 2019
More than 700 artists and arts workers have signed an open letter addressed to state arts ministers as they meet today in Adelaide to discuss revisions to the Major Performing...

Ardern launches te reo Māori translation trust

Friday, 11 October 2019
New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern has launched the Kotahi Rau Pukapuka Trust, which will translate 100 popular fiction books into te reo Māori over the next 10 years. Working...

Deakin University Nonfiction Prize shortlist announced

Friday, 11 October 2019
Deakin University and Express Media have announced the shortlist for the 2019 Deakin University Nonfiction Prize. The shortlisted writers and their works are: Kat Capel, for ‘work & love’ Olivia...

Collins Sunbury named National Franchise of the Year

Thursday, 10 October 2019
Collins Booksellers Sunbury has been named National Franchisee of the Year at the Collins National Franchisee Conference in Melbourne. Collins Booksellers Thirroul won the marketing award and Collins Booksellers Orange...

Picador acquires Spargo-Ryan memoir in ‘heated’ auction

Thursday, 10 October 2019
Picador has acquired ANZ rights to an as yet untitled work of nonfiction by Anna Spargo-Ryan. Picador publisher Mathilda Imlah won a 'heated' auction to acquire the rights via Tara...

OzCo launches funding initiatives for promoting Australian books overseas

Thursday, 10 October 2019
The Australia Council has launched three new literature initiatives aimed at engaging with overseas readers and increasing international demand for Australian literature. The opportunities, aimed at authors, translators, publishers, literary...