Penguin Literary Prize 2026 shortlist announced
Thursday, 12 March 2026
Penguin Random House Australia (PRH) has announced the shortlist for the 2026 Penguin Literary Prize. The shortlisted manuscripts are: “An Allergy” by Sunil Badami (Sydney, NSW) – “‘An Allergy’ explores...
Manly Writers’ Festival announces 2026 program
Thursday, 12 March 2026
The Manly Writers’ Festival has released its program, which will run from 19 to 22 March 2026, bringing together almost 90 writers, journalists, historians, thinkers and musicians, while examining “how...
Auckland Writers Festival Waituhi o Tāmaki 2026 program announced
Thursday, 12 March 2026
The program for the 2026 Auckland Writers Festival Waituhi o Tāmaki, to run from 12 to 17 May, has been announced. This third program by artistic director Lyndsey Fineran features...
Novel Insight Reviewers’ Choice Award winners announced
Thursday, 12 March 2026
Novel Insight has announced the winners of the inaugural Reviewers’ Choice Award for children’s books. The winners in each category are: Junior primary (4 to 8 years old) Ella and...
Stella Prize 2026 longlist announced
Thursday, 12 March 2026
The longlist for the $60,000 Stella Prize for women and non-binary writers has been announced. The longlisted books are: KONTRA (Eunice Andrada, Giramondo) The Rot (Evelyn Araluen, UQP) Memorial Days...
SLQ to end management of QLAs and black&write! fellowship
Wednesday, 11 March 2026
The State Library of Queensland (SLQ) will no longer manage the Queensland Literary Awards (QLAs) or the black&write! fellowship program following the release of the Daubney Review. The review was...
HarperCollins acquires new Rogers novel
Wednesday, 11 March 2026
HarperCollins has acquired ANZ rights to The Clue Keeper, a new novel by Megan Rogers, in a deal brokered by Benython Oldfield at Zeitgeist Agency. The Clue Keeper follows Ginnie...
S&S acquires world rights to Barry quartet
Wednesday, 11 March 2026
Simon & Schuster Australia has acquired world rights to The Northshine Quartet, a new contemporary series by Amy Barry, in a deal brokered by Sarah Younger at Nancy Yost Literary...
Sydney Writers’ Festival program announced
Wednesday, 11 March 2026
The program for this year’s Sydney Writers’ Festival, running from 17–24 May, has been announced. The festival is hosting 200+ in-person and live-streamed events featuring 39 international guests and over...
Local authors on 2026 British Book Awards shortlists
Tuesday, 10 March 2026
The late Australian author Virginia Roberts Giuffre and Aotearoa New Zealand’s Sarah Wynn-Williams are among the writers and illustrators shortlisted for this year’s British Book Awards (also known as the...
Heads & Tales acquires Holy Cow! Creative
Tuesday, 10 March 2026
Heads & Tales, Hardie Grant Media’s creative content and custom publishing agency, has acquired Sydney design agency Holy Cow! Creative. Founded in 1995 by Melissa Webber, Holy Cow! “brings deep...
Neilma Sidney Short Story Prize 2025 shortlist released
Tuesday, 10 March 2026
The shortlist for the 2025 Neilma Sidney Short Story Prize has been announced. The 8 shortlisted stories, chosen from more than 500 entries, are: “Many Small Violences” by Arden Baker “Two...
Barcelona, Melbourne partner on Cities of Lit Mirror Cities initiative
Friday, 6 March 2026
UNESCO Cities of Literature Barcelona and Melbourne are partnering on the inaugural Mirror Cities initiative, a virtual exchange to connect librarians, booksellers and literary programmers from the two cities. The...
UQP sells Abdel-Fattah’s “Discipline” to Oneworld
Thursday, 5 March 2026
University of Queensland Press (UQP) has sold world English (ex ANZ) rights to Randa Abdel-Fattah’s novel Discipline to Oneworld Publications, in a deal between UQP rights manager Erin Sandiford and Oneworld...
ASAL 2026 fellows announced
Thursday, 5 March 2026
The Association for the Study of Australian Literature (ASAL) has announced its two writers’ fellowships for 2026 in association with the Copyright Agency’s Cultural Fund. This year’s fellows are: Western...
Summit acquires Coper’s “Angertainment”
Thursday, 5 March 2026
Summit Books Australia has acquired ANZ rights to Angertainment: How Social Media Outrange Ruined Everything by political communications specialist Ed Coper. “Rage-bait – the 2025 Word of the Year –...
McConaghy longlisted for 2026 Women’s Prize for Fiction
Thursday, 5 March 2026
Local author Charlotte McConaghy is on the longlist for this year’s UK-based Women’s Prize for Fiction. McConachy’s Wild Dark Shore (Penguin) “expertly conveys the awe-inspiring majesty of the extreme climate...
UNESCO Cities of Literature Fellowship announced
Wednesday, 4 March 2026
The Melbourne UNESCO City of Literature Office has announced a new $15,000 fellowship for researchers, writers, artists and creative practitioners from other UNESCO Cities of Literature. The fellowship is part...
A&U acquires Moss’s solo YA novel
Wednesday, 4 March 2026
Allen & Unwin has acquired ANZ rights to Tamara Moss’s YA murder mystery, Five Voices, in a deal negotiated at auction by Jill Grinberg and Sam Farkas at Jill Grinberg Literary...
Wiley acquires Zahner’s social media critique
Wednesday, 4 March 2026
Wiley has acquired world rights to Real: Reconnecting to Yourself in a World of Likes and Lies by Alexis Zahner. Drawing on the author’s own experience as well as psychological research...
Transit Lounge acquires Thompson novel
Wednesday, 4 March 2026
Transit Lounge has acquired world rights to Karenlee Thompson’s novel Notes from the White Room through NAC Literary Agency. The novel follows Hunter, “a lost soul searching for her missing...
Ockham 2026 shortlists announced
Wednesday, 4 March 2026
The shortlists for this year’s Ockham New Zealand Book Awards have been announced. The titles in each category are: Jann Medlicott Acorn Prize for Fiction All Her Lives (Ingrid Horrocks,...
Two Milligan novels optioned for TV
Tuesday, 3 March 2026
Allen & Unwin has optioned Louise Milligan’s crime novels Pheasants Nest and Shellybanks (both A&U) for screen adaptation by Ambience Entertainment. Pheasants Nest (2024) follows the abduction of journalist Kate Delaney...
Inaugural Fearless Prize goes to Perkins for “New Growth”
Tuesday, 3 March 2026
Bakers Lane Books has awarded its inaugural Fearless Prize to journalist Miki Perkins for her debut novel, New Growth. Perkins receives a $10,000 advance and publication of the novel. The...
Hachette acquires Sunday’s “Kill to Love”
Tuesday, 3 March 2026
Hachette Australia has acquired world rights to the novel Kill to Love by Penny Sunday after a 2-book auction with 5 bidders, in agent Chloe Berry’s first print deal since...
Pantera acquires Coombs Marr’s “Queerstralia”
Tuesday, 3 March 2026
Pantera Press has acquired world rights to Queerstralia, comedian Zoë Coombs Marr’s exploration of Australia’s untold queer history. The book is a companion volume to the 2023 ABC documentary of...
Cannon leaves Monash University Publishing
Tuesday, 3 March 2026
Senior marketing coordinator Sarah Cannon is leaving Monash University Publishing after 21 years. Cannon, who has 35 years’ experience in publishing, joined Monash at the press's inception in 2004. “Since that time,”...
Christmas Press acquires Cullen middle-grade novel
Monday, 2 March 2026
Christmas Press has acquired world rights in The Secret of Panther Valley, a mystery/adventure novel for middle-grade readers by author Brenton Cullen, via Debbie Golvan of Golvan Arts Management. Staying...
“Security Questions” wins Poetry in Translation Prize
Monday, 2 March 2026
Osdany Morales’s Security Questions, translated from the Spanish by Harry Bauld, is the inaugural winner of the Poetry in Translation Prize, co-awarded by Giramondo. Shortlisted under the translated title of...
Sorrento Writers Festival program launched
Monday, 2 March 2026
Described as “Victoria’s biggest literary event”, Sorrento Writers Festival has launched a 155-session program across 10 venues in the Victorian beachside towns of Sorrento and Portsea from 23 to 26...
