Local news | Books+Publishing

Auckland Writers Festival 2018 program released Archive

Thursday, 15 March 2018
The program for the 2018 Auckland Writers Festival has been announced. This year’s festival, which runs from 15 to 20 May, will be headlined by Norwegian author Karl Ove Knausgård...

‘The Narrow Road to the Deep North’ to be adapted for TV Archive

Thursday, 15 March 2018
Richard Flanagan’s Man Booker Prize-winning novel The Narrow Road to the Deep North (Penguin) is to be adapted for television. TV rights to Flanagan’s 2013 novel have been secured by...

Picador to publish new Zusak novel Archive

Wednesday, 14 March 2018
Pan Macmillan Australia has announced it will publish a new novel by Australian author Markus Zusak in October—his first in 13 years. The new book, Bridge of Clay, comes 13...

Hardcopy announces digital-only access opportunity and First Nations scholarship Archive

Wednesday, 14 March 2018
The ACT Writers Centre’s professional development program Hardcopy has announced two new access opportunities for this year’s event. A new sub-program called HC Digital will allow up to 10 emerging...

Leading Edge Books announces conference program Archive

Wednesday, 14 March 2018
Leading Edge Books has released the program for its 2018 conference, to be held from 25-27 March at the Hotel Grand Chancellor in Hobart, Tasmania. Entrepreneur and author Andrew Keen...

Australian publishers shortlisted for LBF International Excellence Awards Archive

Tuesday, 13 March 2018
Australian publishers Quirky Kid and Typefi have been shortlisted for the London Book Fair (LBF) International Excellence Awards. Quirky Kid is nominated for both the Educational Learning Resources Award and...

Australian author Peter Temple dies Archive

Tuesday, 13 March 2018
Acclaimed crime author Peter Temple has died, aged 71. Temple was the first Australian writer to win the Gold Dagger, a major award from the UK's Crime Writers’ Association, for...

Dyer to step down from SWF, joins AWW as director Archive

Friday, 9 March 2018
The Sydney Writers’ Festival (SWF) has announced that CEO Jo Dyer will step down from the role in June 2018, following the upcoming festival which runs from 30 April to...

Hazel Rowley Fellowship Award 2018 winners announced Archive

Friday, 9 March 2018
Writers Victoria has announced that author Jacqueline Kent has been awarded the $15,000 Hazel Rowley Literary Fellowship for her proposed biography of political campaigner and women's rights activist Vida Goldstein....

Schmidt longlisted for Women’s Prize for Fiction 2018 Archive

Friday, 9 March 2018
Australian author Sarah Schmidt has been longlisted for the 2018 Women’s Prize for Fiction for her debut novel, See What I Have Done (Hachette). Schmidt’s book takes as its subject...

Stella Prize 2018 shortlist announced Archive

Thursday, 8 March 2018
The shortlist for the 2018 Stella Prize has been announced. The shortlisted titles are: The Enlightenment of the Greengage Tree (Shokoofeh Azar, Wild Dingo Press) Terra Nullius (Claire G Coleman,...

ABIA 2018 longlists announced Archive

Thursday, 8 March 2018
The longlists for the 2018 Australian Book Industry Awards (ABIAs) have been announced. The titles in each category are: General fiction book of the year Force of Nature (Jane Harper,...

Pantera acquires the Author People Archive

Thursday, 8 March 2018
Pantera Press has acquired boutique publishing company the Author People from co-founder Lou Johnson. The purchase will see Pantera take on US rights to A Thousand Shards of Glass by...

PRH acquires journalist’s investigation into death of boxer Davey Browne Archive

Thursday, 8 March 2018
Penguin Random House has acquired ANZ rights to a nonfiction title by journalist Stephanie Convery that investigates the 2015 death of boxer Davey Browne. Browne was knocked out in the...

Kostakis nominated for Lammy award Archive

Wednesday, 7 March 2018
YA author Will Kostakis has been announced as a finalist in the 30th annual Lambda Literary Awards—known as the ‘Lammys’—for his book The Sidekicks (Penguin). The Lammys celebrate achievement in...

20,000 attend PFWW; Beer tops bestsellers Archive

Wednesday, 7 March 2018
Twenty thousand people attended the 2018 Perth Festival Writer’s Week (PFWW), which ran from 19 to 25 February. Attendance was down on last year’s event, but a festival spokesperson said...

New spec fic festival announces headliners Kaufman, Kristoff and Canavan Archive

Wednesday, 7 March 2018
The creators of the Morning Bell literary podcast have announced a new festival focusing on speculative fiction and ‘the craft of writing’. The Speculate Literary Festival will run on Saturday...

NewSouth withdraws ‘Deadly Woman Blues’ from publication Archive

Tuesday, 6 March 2018
NewSouth Publishing has withdrawn Clinton Walker’s recently released book Deadly Woman Blues from publication, after factual inaccuracies were brought to light by women who were featured in the book. The...

HarperCollins launches unpublished manuscript prize Archive

Tuesday, 6 March 2018
HarperCollins has launched The Banjo Prize, an annual unpublished manuscript prize for Australian commercial fiction. The winner of the prize will receive a publishing contract with HarperCollins and an advance...

Ockham New Zealand Book Awards 2018 shortlists announced Archive

Tuesday, 6 March 2018
The shortlists for the Ockham New Zealand Book Awards have been announced. The shortlisted titles in each category are: Fiction The New Animals (Pip Adam, Victoria University Press) Salt Picnic...

Schmidt wins inaugural MUD Literary Prize for debut fiction Archive

Tuesday, 6 March 2018
Sarah Schmidt's See What I Have Done (Hachette) has won the inaugural MUD Literary Prize, awarded to a debut novelist. As part of the prize, Schmidt received a cash prize...

‘The Jade Lily’ sold into North America Archive

Tuesday, 6 March 2018
Australian author Kirsty Manning’s forthcoming historical-fiction novel, The Jade Lily (A&U), has sold in the US at auction to William Morrow in a two-book deal. The deal was negotiated by...

‘Overland’ Neilma Sidney Prize winners announced Archive

Monday, 5 March 2018
The winner and runners-up for Overland’s second Neilma Sidney Short Story Prize for travel-themed short fiction have been announced. Laura Elvery’s story ‘Unspooling’—about a woman ‘overwhelmed by a pair of...

Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature 2018 winners announced; Winton donates prize money to Ningaloo Reef protection Archive

Monday, 5 March 2018
The winners of the 2018 Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature were announced at a ceremony on 3 March as part of Adelaide Writers’ Week. The winners in each category are:...

Pascoe honoured for Lifetime Achievement in Literature Archive

Monday, 5 March 2018
Bunurong writer Bruce Pascoe has won the Australia Council Award for Lifetime Achievement in Literature. The Australia Council Award for Lifetime Achievement in Literature ‘acknowledges the achievements of eminent literary writers...