Local news | Books+Publishing

Inaugural Varuna Trans and Gender Diverse Fellowship announced

Tuesday, 14 January 2025
Varuna, the National Writers’ House has announced a new fellowship program – the Varuna Trans and Gender Diverse Fellowship. Varuna described the fellowship as being open to ‘trans and gender...

Peter Porter Prize 2025 shortlist announced

Monday, 13 January 2025
The shortlist for the 2025 Australian Book Review (ABR) Peter Porter Poetry Prize has been announced. Shortlisted poems include: ‘The Orphan’ by Sarah Day ‘Hook, Grandmother, Line, Marlin’ by Jennifer Harrison...

Australian market down 3% in value

Friday, 10 January 2025
The book market in Australia in 2024 was down by 3% in value and 1.2% in volume, according to figures from Nielsen BookData’s BookScan service. Nielsen’s 2024 snapshot, covering 31...

Tasmanian Literary Awards 2025 longlists announced

Friday, 10 January 2025
The longlists for the 2025 Tasmanian Literary Awards have been announced. Longlisted titles have been announced in four award categories, worth $25,000 each. The books longlisted in each of these...

Creative Australia announces New York Publishers Program 2025 delegates

Friday, 10 January 2025
Creative Australia has announced the delegates for the 2025 New York Publishers Program. The delegates, who will visit New York from 3 to 7 March 2025, are: Sandra Buol, A&U...

Riveted Press acquires middle-grade fantasy trilogy

Friday, 10 January 2025
Riveted Press has acquired worldwide rights to the middle-grade fantasy series Farwood by Jayne McIntyre, in a three-book deal via Debbie Golvan at Golvan Arts Management. The first book in...

Berberovic wins inaugural WestWords Prize

Friday, 10 January 2025
Vahida Berberovic has won the inaugural WestWords Prize for her novel Piggy Tales. Berberovic receives a publication deal with WestWords Books, the adult trade imprint of WestWords. Piggy Tales was chosen...

‘In Too Deep’ is Aotearoa New Zealand’s number-one Christmas bestseller

Monday, 6 January 2025
In Too Deep (Lee Child & Andrew Child, Bantam) is the top Christmas bestseller for Aotearoa New Zealand, selling just under 2500 copies in the week ending 14 December, according...

‘RecipeTin Eats: Tonight’ is Australia’s number-one Christmas bestseller

Monday, 6 January 2025
Nagi Maehashi’s RecipeTin Eats: Tonight (Macmillan) has topped the 2024 Australian Christmas bestsellers list, having sold 27,916 copies in Australia in the week ending 14 December, according to data from...

Best of the best books of 2024

Friday, 13 December 2024
Across five major ‘best books of 2024’ articles published this December, we counted the most-mentioned Australian books. From end-of-year lists published by the Age/Sydney Morning Herald, Australian Book Review, Guardian...

Osborne-Crowley longlisted for Gordon Burn Prize

Friday, 13 December 2024
In the UK, British–Australian author Lucia Osborne-Crowley has been longlisted for the £10,000 (A$20,011) Gordon Burn Prize. Osborne-Crowley was longlisted for her book The Lasting Harm: Witnessing the Trial of...

Indie Book Awards 2025 longlists announced

Friday, 13 December 2024
The longlist for the 2025 Indie Book Awards has been announced. The longlisted titles in each category are: Fiction Dusk (Robbie Arnott, Picador) Safe Haven (Shankari Chandran, Ultimo) The Valley...

Literature orgs, writers among latest Creative Aus grant recipients

Thursday, 12 December 2024
Literature organisations and writers are among the recipients of the latest round of Creative Australia funding, worth $12 million. Among the successful recipients are: Arts Projects for Organisations Overland magazine...

Hardie Grant Books acquires ‘Silk Silver Opium’

Thursday, 12 December 2024
Hardie Grant Books has acquired world print, ebook and audio rights to Silk Silver Opium: The Trade with China that Changed History by writer and historian Michael Pembroke, in a...

UQP acquires Jacobs, Natt picture book for adults

Thursday, 12 December 2024
UQP has acquired world rights to a satirical picture book for adults, titled If Queers Weren’t Meant to Have Kids, by Narelda Jacobs and Karina Natt, to be illustrated by...

Juchau wins 2024 Blake-Beckett Trust Scholarship

Thursday, 12 December 2024
The Australian Society of Authors (ASA) has announced Mireille Juchau as recipient of the $35,000 Blake-Beckett Trust Scholarship. Assessors Amal Awad and Kate Ryan said that in Juchau’s autofictional detective...

Inaugural WestWords Prize shortlist announced

Thursday, 12 December 2024
WestWords has announced the shortlist for its inaugural WestWords Prize. The shortlisted writers (and their manuscripts) are: Amy Anshaw-Nye for ‘The Maydown Girls’ Philip Barker for ‘Burning Good Samaritans’ Vahida...

Hollier appointed chair of new SPN board

Thursday, 12 December 2024
A new board has been elected at the Small Press Network (SPN) annual general meeting, held on 9 December. Nathan Hollier, a former CEO of Melbourne University Publishing and more...

Leigh responds to petition on fixed-price book laws

Wednesday, 11 December 2024
Assistant Minister for Competition, Charities and Treasury Andrew Leigh has responded to a petition asking for Federal Parliament to introduce fixed-price laws for books in Australia. The petition, which attracted...

WeirDo, Wolf Girl to be adapted to screen

Wednesday, 11 December 2024
Two Anh Do series, WeirDo (Scholastic) and Wolf Girl (A&U), are being adapted to screen, reports the Age. The WeirDo series is being turned into a television series in partnership...

CLNZ Contestable Fund Grants 2024 recipients announced

Wednesday, 11 December 2024
Copyright Licensing New Zealand (CLNZ) has announced recipients of its Contestable Fund Grants, totalling NZ$75,000. The recipients are: Georgina Tuari Stewart (NZ$8220): for the publishing project ‘Ngā Kararehe o Aotearoa—he Mātauranga, he Matatika, development...

UQP sells world English rights to ‘Someone Like Me’

Wednesday, 11 December 2024
University of Queensland Press (UQP) has sold world English (ex ANZ) rights to Someone Like Me: An Anthology of Nonfiction by Autistic Writers (co-edited by Clem Bastow & Jo Case)...

Tu awarded 2025 BR Whiting Studio Residency

Wednesday, 11 December 2024
Jessie Tu has been awarded Creative Australia’s 2025 BR Whiting Studio Residency in Rome. Tu’s debut novel, A Lonely Girl Is a Dangerous Thing (A&U), was named literary fiction book...

Debenham wins 2024 Ampersand Prize

Wednesday, 11 December 2024
Michael Debenham’s Drowning for Beginners has won the 2024 Ampersand Prize for children’s and YA debut fiction. Hardie Grant Children’s Publishing (HGCP) publishing director Marisa Pintado said: ‘Michael’s compulsively readable...