Local news | Books+Publishing

UNSW Press Bragg Prize for Science Writing 2024 shortlist announced

Tuesday, 8 October 2024
The shortlist for this year’s UNSW Press Bragg Prize for Science Writing has been announced. Shortlisted pieces are: ‘Of Moths and Marsupials’ by Kate Evans ‘The World’s Oldest Story Is...

Liquidators say ‘master files’ of authors’ works ‘likely owned by Shawline’

Monday, 7 October 2024
Shawline authors will be included by the company’s liquidators, Brooke Bird, on the list of creditors of the company, which entered liquidation on 3 October. However, liquidators Adrian Hunter and...

Shawline enters liquidation

Monday, 7 October 2024
Shawline Publishing, which recently rebranded as New Found Books, has entered liquidation. At a general meeting of the members of the company on 3 October, it was resolved that the...

Varuna announces First Peoples India–Australia exchange

Monday, 7 October 2024
Varuna, the National Writers' House has announced a First Peoples India–Australia exchange will take place commencing next year. In November 2025, two Adivasi writers will travel from India for a...

Hachette acquires Harry middle-grade verse novel

Monday, 7 October 2024
Hachette Australia has acquired ANZ rights to Pip Harry’s middle-grade verse novel Drift, via agent Benython Oldfield at Zeitgeist Agency. According to the author, Drift tells the story of Nate and...

Van Neerven receives 2024 Creative Australia Fellowship for literature

Monday, 7 October 2024
Author Ellen van Neerven is the recipient of the 2024 Creative Australia Fellowship for literature, worth $80,000. Van Neerven’s fellowship ‘will allow for the creation of new work over two...

HarperCollins acquires three Ringland books

Monday, 7 October 2024
HarperCollins Australia has acquired ANZ rights to three new books by Holly Ringland, via Benython Oldfield at Zeitgeist Agency. The first book scheduled for release under the deal is a...

Smith to join Wheeler Centre as head of programming

Thursday, 3 October 2024
The Wheeler Centre (TWC) has announced the appointment of Gene Smith as head of programming ‘following an extensive search’. Smith, who was most recently head of programming of the Emirates...

Untapped releases findings report

Thursday, 3 October 2024
Untapped: The Australian Literary Heritage Project has released a new report on project findings. Titled Untapped Potential: Results from the Australian Literary Heritage Project and written by project members Paul...

Aotearoa New Zealand publishers represented at Frankfurt

Thursday, 3 October 2024
Five publishers are exhibiting at the Frankfurt Book Fair as part of the Aotearoa New Zealand collective stand. The stand will be managed by Publishers Association of New Zealand Te...

A&U acquires Gorry memoir

Thursday, 3 October 2024
Allen & Unwin (A&U) has acquired world rights to Katrina Gorry: A Matildas Hero’s Story of Football, Motherhood and Breaking Down Barriers, written by Katrina Gorry with Robert Wainwright, in...

Booktopia to build podcast studio, loyalty program

Wednesday, 2 October 2024
Booktopia is building a podcast studio to create ‘exclusive audio content’ for its customers, alongside a loyalty program, reports the Australian. New owner Shant Kradjian told the masthead that the...

Hardie Grant launches Figment imprint

Wednesday, 2 October 2024
Hardie Grant is launching Figment—a new, dedicated graphic novel imprint, which will begin publishing in 2025. One of the first graphic novel imprints in Australian trade publishing, Figment will be led...

ARA Historical Novel Prize shortlists announced

Wednesday, 2 October 2024
The Historical Novel Society Australasia (HNSA) has announced the shortlists for the 2024 ARA Historical Novel Prize. Shortlisted titles, selected from longlists announced last month, are: Adult The Unearthed (Lenny...

Paice wins ACU Poetry Prize

Wednesday, 2 October 2024
Kiama-based poet and author Christine Paice has won the $10,000 Australian Catholic University (ACU) Prize for Poetry for a poem about the death of her mother. The winning poem, ‘Gabriel...

Rural and regional writers festival round-up

Tuesday, 1 October 2024
Headland Writers Festival will run from 18–20 October in Tathra, New South Wales. Described as 'a celebration of reading, writing, sharing stories and indulging the mind', this year's festival will...

Several Pantera staff moving to Hardie Grant

Tuesday, 1 October 2024
Hardie Grant, which last week announced it agreed to acquire Pantera Press, has confirmed it has ‘retained the employment of key publishing and marketing staff to drive forward the business’....

Matuku wins inaugural NZSA Shaw Writer’s Award

Monday, 30 September 2024
The New Zealand Society of Authors Te Puni Kaituhi O Aotearoa (PEN NZ Inc) (NZSA) has announced Steph Matuku as the inaugural winner of the $5000 NZSA Shaw Writer’s Award....

Graphic novel publishing guide released by Beatrice Davis Editorial Fellow

Monday, 30 September 2024
Beatrice Davis Editorial Fellow Sophie Splatt has produced a guide to graphic novel publishing. The report, titled ‘Graphic Novels: Can We Grow Them at Home? The Editing and Publishing of Graphic...

PRH acquires Chidgey dystopian fiction ‘The Book of Guilt’

Thursday, 26 September 2024
Penguin Random House (PRH) Australia has acquired Australian rights to dystopian novel The Book of Guilt by Aotearoa New Zealand writer Catherine Chidgey. The novel will be published in New...

Magabala to move sales and distribution to Hachette and ADS

Thursday, 26 September 2024
Magabala Books has announced a partnership with Hachette Australia for sales representation, and Alliance Distribution Services (ADS) for distribution services, beginning February 2025. Said Magabala CEO Lilly Brown: ‘Hachette’s commitment...