Shakthidharan among Windham-Campbell Prize 2026 winners
Thursday, 9 April 2026
Sydney playwright S Shakthidharan has won a 2026 Windham-Campbell Prize, worth US$175,000 (A$249,000). Shakthidharan was selected in the category of drama for his “ambition and scale, and his deep care...
Stella Prize 2026 shortlist announced
Thursday, 9 April 2026
The shortlist for the $60,000 Stella Prize for works by Australian women and non-binary writers has been announced. The shortlisted books are: The Rot (Evelyn Araluen, UQP) Memorial Days (Geraldine Brooks, Hachette)...
ABIA 2026 book award shortlists announced
Wednesday, 8 April 2026
Books+Publishing, in partnership with the Australian Publishers Association, has announced the 2026 book award shortlists for the Australian Book Industry Awards (ABIAs). The shortlisted titles in each category are: Audiobook...
ALIA National Conference 2026 program announced
Wednesday, 8 April 2026
The Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA) will hold its national conference on 11 to 14 May 2026 at Rosehill Gardens in Sydney. ALIA has decided not to have an...
Cultivate mentorship 2026 winners announced
Wednesday, 8 April 2026
Writing NSW has announced the winners of the 2026 Cultivate Mentorship Program for First Nations and Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Emerging Writers. Developed by Writing NSW to “help build equity...
A&U acquires Keane’s “Seize the Moment”
Wednesday, 8 April 2026
Allen & Unwin (A&U) has acquired world rights to Seize the Moment, a nonfiction title by Bernard Keane. According to the publisher, the book examines “how Australia can prosper in...
Pink Shorts acquires Adameitis’s “Australianarama”, De Zilva’s “Sick Note”
Wednesday, 8 April 2026
Pink Shorts Press has acquired world rights to Australianarama: A Campendium of Kitsch by artist and designer Stavroula Adameitis, also known as Frida Las Vegas, and poetry collection Sick Note...
Blake Poetry Prize 2026 shortlist announced
Tuesday, 7 April 2026
Liverpool Powerhouse and WestWords have announced the poets shortlisted for the 2026 Blake Poetry Prize, worth $5000. The shortlisted works are: “Aftermath” by Terri Slanovits “Father” by Phillippa Cordwell “Jigar...
New ASA mentorship program winners announced
Tuesday, 7 April 2026
The Australian Society of Authors (ASA) has announced the winners of mentorships in the 2026 CA/ASA Developmental Leadership Program. Thirteen creators have won the opportunity to work with an experienced...
A&U acquires Urquhart ultramarathon story
Thursday, 2 April 2026
Allen & Unwin (A&U) has acquired world rights to ultramarathon runner Donna Urquhart’s as yet untitled story about her Guinness World Record Antarctic run in January 2024, written with journalist...
DANZ Children’s Book Award 2026 longlists announced
Thursday, 2 April 2026
The 2026 longlists for the Australian School Library Association (ASLA) DANZ (Diversity in Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand) Children’s Book Award have been announced. The longlisted titles in each category...
Australia Reads nominated for 2026 IPA Innovation in Publishing Award
Thursday, 2 April 2026
Newly minted not-for-profit Australia Reads, established by the Australian Publishers Association, is among 5 nominees for the 2026 Innovation in Publishing Award presented by the International Publishers Association. The award...
O’Loughlin wins inaugural MidnightSun Picture Book Prize
Wednesday, 1 April 2026
Penny O’Loughlin has won the inaugural MidnightSun Picture Book Prize for her manuscript The Battle of the Beast. MidnightSun said The Battle of the Beast “impressed the judges with its...
Words on the Waves 2026 program announced
Wednesday, 1 April 2026
The program for the Words on the Waves Writers Festival, to run from 27 May to 1 June on the NSW Central Coast, has been announced. The festival’s opening address,...
CBCA 2026 shortlist announced
Tuesday, 31 March 2026
The Children’s Book Council of Australia (CBCA) has announced the shortlist for the 2026 CBCA Book of the Year Awards. The shortlisted books in each category, selected from the 2026 Notable...
Create NSW launches affordable residencies program for writers, illustrators
Tuesday, 31 March 2026
Create NSW has announced the establishment of the Rocks Creative Terraces Affordable Residencies Program, which it says “fulfils one of the first commitments outlined in Stories Matter: A Writing and...
Queensland Literary Awards moves to BWF for “foreseeable future”
Tuesday, 31 March 2026
The Queensland Literary Awards (QLAs) will become part of the 2026 Brisbane Writers Festival (BWF), with a BWF spokesperson confirming to Books+Publishing that BWF would be administering the awards "for...
Newcastle Poetry Prize 2026 winners announced
Tuesday, 31 March 2026
The Hunter Writers’ Centre has announced the winners of the 2026 Newcastle Poetry Prize. The winners in each category are: First place ($15,000) Greg McLaren for “Late Sonnets” Second place ($3000)...
Nigerian publisher Masobe Books acquires 5 books by Bacon
Tuesday, 31 March 2026
Othuke Ominiabohs, founder and publisher of Masobe Books, has acquired Nigerian rights for five books by African-Australian author Eugen Bacon, in a deal brokered in partnership with Bacon’s US publisher...
Upswell acquires Nowra’s “My Grandfather’s Ghost”
Tuesday, 31 March 2026
Upswell Publishing has acquired world rights to My Grandfather’s Ghost, a narrative nonfiction title by Louis Nowra, via Natalie Stewart, HLA Management. Describing My Grandfather’s Ghost, Nowra said, “On 12...
“A strong year” locally as PRH global earnings down 4.7%
Monday, 30 March 2026
While global revenue at Penguin Random House in 2025 rose 1.3% to €4.981 billion (A$8.34 billion), earnings were down 4.7% to €704 million (around A$1.18 billion). PRH parent company Bertelsmann...
S&S acquires Rogers’s “The Damned”
Monday, 30 March 2026
Simon & Schuster Australia (S&S) has acquired The Damned by Matt Rogers. Described as a “heart-pounding new thriller”, The Damned follows the author’s 2025 thriller The Forsaken and again features ex-assassin Logan...
Newcastle Writers Festival kicks off tomorrow
Thursday, 26 March 2026
Newcastle Writers Festival (NWF) runs from 27 to 29 March, with an opening night event featuring London-based Australian author Kathy Lette, who will reflect on “her writing career, resilience, and...
ABA 2026 conference program announced
Thursday, 26 March 2026
The Australian Booksellers Association (ABA) has released the program for its 2026 conference, to run from 13 to 15 June at in Canberra at the QT hotel (pictured). Sessions at...
APA, Melb Uni launch second Workforce Survey on Diversity and Inclusion
Thursday, 26 March 2026
The Australian Publishers Association (APA) has launched its second Australian Publishing Industry Workforce Survey on Diversity and Inclusion, in partnership with the University of Melbourne. The survey, which is open...
Bakers Lane acquires Jones’s “Swimming Backwards”
Thursday, 26 March 2026
Bakers Lane Books has acquired world rights to the novel Swimming Backwards by Helen Jones. Swimming Backwards, which was shortlisted for the publisher’s inaugural Fearless Prize, tells the story of grieving...
Australian Government opens consultation on next National Cultural Policy
Wednesday, 25 March 2026
The Australian Government has opened consultation to hear views on developing the next National Cultural Policy, 3 years after the launch of the 5-year policy Revive. The consultation process invites submissions...
Copyright: APA, ASA oppose expansion of exceptions; Aus material “being ripped off by foreign players,” says minister
Wednesday, 25 March 2026
Industry bodies the Australian Publishers Association (APA), Australian Society of Authors (ASA) and Copyright Agency are among a coalition of creator representatives to have released a joint statement warning against...
Text acquires Szubanski memoir
Wednesday, 25 March 2026
Text Publishing has announced the acquisition of the memoir I Can’t Tell You But I Will by Magda Szubanski. Szubanski is a comedian, actor and LGBT rights advocate. Her previous memoir,...
HGCP acquires “The Everywhere Train”
Wednesday, 25 March 2026
Hardie Grant Children’s Publishing (HGCP) has acquired world rights to The Everywhere Train by author Deborah Frenkel and illustrator Danny Snell. From the creators of 2025 National Simultaneous Storytime book The...
