Local news | Books+Publishing

Regional, suburban writers’ festival programs announced

Tuesday, 14 May 2024
Several writers’ festivals have revealed the programs for their upcoming events. The Words on the Waves Writers Festival will run on the NSW Central Coast from 29 May to 3...

Wellington bookstore Good Books closed

Tuesday, 14 May 2024
Good Books, in Wellington, Aotearoa New Zealand, has ceased trading. The bookshop, established in late 2020 by writers Catherine Robertson and Jane Arthur, had its final day of operation last...

SLNSW offers new $50K creative writing fellowship

Monday, 13 May 2024
The State Library of NSW (SLNSW) has announced the creation of a new $50,000 creative writing fellowship, as well as a new Summer Scholars Program. The $50,000 Imago Creative Writing...

NT Writers Festival announces 2024 program

Monday, 13 May 2024
The NT Writers Festival has announced the program for its 2024 festival, which will run from 27 to 30 June on Larrakia Country in Darwin (Garramilla). Events will take place outdoors at...

Aotearoa Booksellers Choice Award shortlist announced

Monday, 13 May 2024
The shortlist for the Aotearoa Book Industry Awards Booksellers Choice Award has been announced. The 16 books in the running for the award, which will be voted for by booksellers,...

Pantera acquires Eley’s romantasy ‘The Rule’

Monday, 13 May 2024
Pantera Press has acquired world rights to The Rule by Bronwyn Eley in a two-book deal. The Rule is a fantasy novel following Zinha, a member of the underground assassin...

Murdoch, Eadie to depart amid ‘structural changes’ at PRHNZ

Monday, 13 May 2024
Penguin Random House New Zealand (PRHNZ) director Becky Innes has confirmed the publisher is undertaking ‘structural changes’, with the Spinoff reporting that head of publishing Claire Murdoch and nonfiction publisher...

The Voice to Parliament Handbook wins ABIA book of the year

Thursday, 9 May 2024
The winners of the 2024 Australian Book Industry Awards (ABIAs) have been announced, with The Voice to Parliament Handbook (Thomas Mayo & Kerry O’Brien, HG Explore) taking out the overall book...

UQP sells First Nations Classics series to Bolinda

Thursday, 9 May 2024
UQP has sold world audio rights to the First Nations Classics series to Bolinda, in a 15-book deal brokered by rights and contracts manager Erin Sandiford. In 2023, UQP launched...

Birch, McMullin win 2024 Age Book of the Year awards

Thursday, 9 May 2024
The winners of the Age Book of the Year awards have been announced. Tony Birch won the fiction award for his novel Women & Children (UQP) and Ross McMullin won...

Brumby Sunstate acquires Bookreps NZ

Thursday, 9 May 2024
Queensland-based distributor Brumby Sunstate has acquired Bookreps NZ, and its distribution arm Publishers Distribution NZ, based in Auckland. Established in 1996, Bookreps NZ is an agency-based book sales businesses and...

Levitina shortlisted for UK Historical Novel Society’s First Chapters Competition

Wednesday, 8 May 2024
Sydney author Julia Levitina has been shortlisted for the UK Historical Novel Society’s (HNS) First Chapters Competition. Levitina was shortlisted in the 20th-century historical fiction category for the opening chapters...

Western Sydney council votes to remove same-sex parenting books from libraries

Wednesday, 8 May 2024
Cumberland City Council, in Western Sydney, has passed a motion to remove same-sex parenting books from its library shelves, reports the ABC. In what the ABC described as ‘a heated...

PANZ 2024 conference first guests announced; Meredith appointed association director

Tuesday, 7 May 2024
The first guests for the Publishers Association of New Zealand Te Rau o Tākupu (PANZ) International Conference, to be held in Auckland on 1 and 2 August, have been announced....

Slaughter wins 2024 Calibre Essay Prize

Tuesday, 7 May 2024
Aotearoa New Zealand writer Tracey Slaughter has won the 2024 Australian Book Review (ABR) Calibre Essay Prize. Slaughter’s essay, ‘why your hair is long & your stories short’, was chosen...

Red Room to present poetry festival in partnership with BBC, ABC

Tuesday, 7 May 2024
Red Room Poetry will present the UK poetry and spoken word festival Contains Strong Language at venues across Gadigal and Dharug lands in Sydney in late August. The BBC founded...

Varuna announces Roderick Centre Fellowship for Regional and Remote Writers

Tuesday, 7 May 2024
Varuna, The National Writers’ House has announced a new fellowship program—the Roderick Centre Fellowship for Regional and Remote Writers. Described by Varuna as ‘the only national literary program in Australia...

S&S acquires McEwan romantasy duology

Tuesday, 7 May 2024
Simon & Schuster Australia has acquired ANZ rights to a two-book romantasy series by Stacey McEwan, via an exclusive submission from Amy Collins at Talcott Notch Literary. S&S Australia associate...

Fremantle Press’s Bookaburras program to receive support from Premier’s Summer Reading Challenge, KindiLink

Monday, 6 May 2024
Fremantle Press’s early reading program, Bookaburras, will launch a regional tour featuring Bookaburras Ambassadors across Western Australia, following the announcement of additional support from the Premier's Summer Reading Challenge and...