Local news | Books+Publishing

More companies allowing the option to work January 26

Tuesday, 24 January 2023
More and more Australian publishers are offering staff the option to work on January 26, despite it officially being the Australia Day public holiday. Many Australian companies, including Woolworths, Telstra...

All About Women of Colour 2023 mentorship recipients announced

Monday, 23 January 2023
The Sydney Opera House has announced Margretta Sowah and Uppma Virdi as the recipients of the 2023 All About Women of Colour mentorship program, presented in partnership with Sweatshop. Sowah,...

Shaw sells US rights to Adam’s ‘The New Animals’

Monday, 23 January 2023
Martin Shaw at Shaw Literary has sold US rights to New Zealand author Pip Adam’s 2017 novel The New Animals (Te Herenga Waka University Press) to Dorothy, a publishing project....

Perth Festival 2023 Literature & Ideas program announced

Friday, 20 January 2023
Perth Festival has announced the full line-up for its 2023 Literature & Ideas program, comprising A Day of Ideas on Saturday, 18 February and the Writers Weekend, to be held...

Ultimo acquires Smith debut novel in two-book deal

Friday, 20 January 2023
Ultimo Press has acquired ANZ rights to Twelve Steps to a Long and Fulfilling Death, a ‘whip-smart comedy’ debut by television drama writer Sarah Smith, in a two-book deal brokered...

Nichol joins A&U NZ as publisher

Friday, 20 January 2023
Allen & Unwin (A&U) New Zealand has announced the appointment of Tess Nichol as publisher. Nichol, who will be publishing local titles, was most recently deputy editor of North &...

Disney wins 2023 Porter Prize

Friday, 20 January 2023
Seoul-based Australian poet Dan Disney has won the Australian Book Review's (ABR) 2023 Peter Porter Poetry Prize for his poem ‘periferal, fantasmal’. Judges Sarah Holland-Batt, Des Cowley and James Jiang described Disney's...

‘Abomination’ wins Jewish Book Award

Friday, 20 January 2023
In the US, Abomination by Melbourne-based author Ashley Goldberg (Vintage) has won the 2022 National Jewish Book Award for debut fiction. Published in May last year, Goldberg's debut novel follows...

Black Inc. sells Skinner memoir to Steerforth Press

Thursday, 19 January 2023
Black Inc. has sold North American rights to forthcoming memoir I’d Rather Not (July 2023) by Robert Skinner to Chip Fleischer at Steerforth Press, in a deal made with Black...

ABIAs add new categories

Thursday, 19 January 2023
Three new categories have been added to the 2023 Australian Book Industry Awards (ABIA), which will take place in Sydney on 25 May. In addition to the existing industry and...

Enache shortlisted for Novel Prize

Wednesday, 18 January 2023
Fitzcarraldo Editions, Giramondo and New Directions have announced the shortlist for the Novel Prize, a biennial international award for a book-length work of literary fiction. The shortlisted writers, selected from...

Indie Book Awards 2023 shortlist announced

Wednesday, 18 January 2023
Leading Edge Books has announced the shortlists for the 2023 Indie Book Awards. The shortlisted titles in each category are: Fiction Limberlost (Robbie Arnott, Text) Horse (Geraldine Brooks, Hachette) Seeing...

BWF announces 2023 curators, Country of Focus

Wednesday, 18 January 2023
The Brisbane Writers Festival has announced the curators of its 2023 festival program. First Nations artist Daniel Browning, a descendent of the Bundjalung and Kullilli peoples of far northern New...

Affirm Press Mentorship Award 2023 winners announced

Tuesday, 17 January 2023
Affirm Press and Varuna, the National Writers’ House have announced the winners of the 2023 Affirm Press Mentorship Award. The winners are: Anne Andrew for ‘Blood Quilt’ Zoe Downing for...

Nielsen: Australian book sales up 7.2% in 2022

Tuesday, 17 January 2023
Sales of books in Australia grew 7.2% in 2022, according to data from Nielsen BookScan, with total sales by value closing in at $1.4 billion for the year, compared to...

Ultimo Press acquires Campbell debut in two-book deal

Monday, 16 January 2023
Ultimo Press has acquired world rights to Lowbridge, a debut crime novel by Canberra author Lucy Campbell, as part of a two-book deal, via Martin Shaw of Shaw Literary in...

Fremantle Press announces restructure, Szabo to retire

Monday, 16 January 2023
Fremantle Press has announced a restructure of its sales and marketing team and the retirement of ‘long-standing, and much valued’ staff member Cathy Szabo, who will step down as customer...

Foster’s ‘The Hush’ optioned for TV

Friday, 13 January 2023
Producer Clark Peterson and his company Story and Film, Inc. have optioned Sara Foster’s 2021 thriller The Hush (HarperCollins) for development as a television series, ‘in a competitive situation’, according...

Hazel Rowley fellowship 2023 shortlist announced

Friday, 13 January 2023
Writers Victoria has announced the shortlist for the 2023 Hazel Rowley Literary Fellowship, worth $20,000. The nine shortlisted writers and their projects are: Diane Bell (ACT), for ‘The Queen and...

The Next Chapter, Open Book receive Australia Council funding

Friday, 13 January 2023
The Australia Council has announced its latest round of funding, with $9.5 million going to 225 creative projects and activities. Among the recipients was the Wheeler Centre (TWC), which received...

Hachette acquires Adams debut fantasy ‘Tonight, I Burn’

Thursday, 12 January 2023
Hachette Australia has acquired ‘dark and decadent’ debut fantasy Tonight, I Burn by Aotearoa New Zealand-based author Katharine J Adams. Australian rights were acquired by Hachette Australia head of children’s...

Christmas Press acquires second Kelleher middle-grade novel

Thursday, 12 January 2023
Christmas press has acquired world rights to The Cave, an upper middle-grade novel by Victor Kelleher, via Margaret Connolly of Margaret Connolly and Associates. Described by Christmas Press publishing director...

Release of issues paper kicks off copyright review

Wednesday, 11 January 2023
The Attorney-General’s Department has released an issues paper on copyright enforcement as part of a review into whether Australia’s current copyright enforcement regime is fit-for-purpose. Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus said the...

Affirm acquires Lord debut YA spec-fic

Wednesday, 11 January 2023
Affirm Press has acquired world rights to Anomaly, the debut young adult novel by Sydney-based writer Emma Lord. Described by the publisher as Tomorrow When the War Began meets The...

Law to adapt Pung’s ‘One Hundred Days’ for screen

Tuesday, 10 January 2023
Black Inc. has sold screen rights to Alice Pung's novel One Hundred Days to author and screenwriter Michelle Law, in a deal made by Black Inc. international director Sophy Williams. Pung’s...

Mascara, Varuna residency winners announced

Tuesday, 10 January 2023
The winners of the inaugural Mascara Varuna Writers’ and Editors’ Residency have been announced. The successful writers and their manuscripts are: Timmah Ball, for experimental nonfiction collection 'Blue Print for Another World'...