Local news | Books+Publishing

Garner wins Baillie Gifford

Wednesday, 5 November 2025
In the UK, author Helen Garner has won the £50,000 (A$100,700) Baillie Gifford Prize for Nonfiction for How to End a Story: Collected Diaries (Text). The winning title was described...

A&U acquires Ham’s first nonfiction book

Wednesday, 5 November 2025
Allen & Unwin has acquired world rights to Look After Your Feet by Rosalie Ham, via literary agency Jenny Darling and Associates. In this first nonfiction book, the author of...

HarperCollins acquires Bailey memoir

Wednesday, 5 November 2025
HarperCollins has acquired world rights to Flamingos Aren’t Born Pink, a memoir by Robin Bailey. Described by the publisher as “a moving and uplifting memoir on heartbreak, grief and finding...

2025 speech pathology book award winners announced

Wednesday, 5 November 2025
Speech Pathology Australia has announced the winners of its 2025 Book of the Year Awards. Chosen from shortlists announced in July, the winners in each category are: Birth to 3 years...

Suwannakit nominated for Carnegie Medal for Illustration

Wednesday, 5 November 2025
Australian author and illustrator Tull Suwannakit’s Higher Ground (New Frontier) is among the newly announced nominees for the UK-based 2026 Carnegie Medal for Illustration. Nominated titles for the partner prize,...

Newcastle Short Story Award 2025 shortlist announced

Wednesday, 5 November 2025
The Hunter Writers’ Centre has announced the shortlist for this year’s Newcastle Short Story Award. Shortlisted stories are: “Sun, Do Not Die” by ALB “Solastalgia” by Liz Allan “Backburn”...

Marani wins 2025 Richell Prize

Wednesday, 5 November 2025
Croatian Australian writer and theatre-maker Monique Ivankovič Marani has won the 2025 Richell Prize for Emerging Writers. Marani’s winning entry, “The Sweeter”, was selected from a shortlist of 5 manuscripts....

Webster wins 2025 Nature Writing Prize

Wednesday, 5 November 2025
Bridget Webster has won the 2025 Nature Writing Prize for her piece “Like All Good Fruit”. Island editorial manager and lead judge Jane Rawson said, “Bridget’s work stood out to...

Disability Arts History Australia website launched

Monday, 3 November 2025
A new Disability Arts History Australia website bringing together the stories, achievements and influence of Australian artists with disabilities over the past five decades has been launched at Queensland University...

Ultimo acquires Moriarty time travel novel at auction

Monday, 3 November 2025
Ultimo Press has acquired ANZ rights at auction to Time Travel For Beginners, Jaclyn Moriarty’s new novel for adults, in a deal brokered by Tara Wynne of Curtis Brown Australia....

Aston, Morton, Wright shortlisted for Walkley Book Award

Monday, 3 November 2025
The Walkley Foundation has announced the shortlist for this year’s Walkley Book Award. The three books, drawn from a longlist of eight, are: The Chairman’s Lounge by Joe Aston (Scribner) Mean Streak by...

Australian historian wins Cundill History Prize

Monday, 3 November 2025
Oxford University-based historian Lyndal Roper has won this year’s Cundill History Prize for Summer of Fire and Blood (John Murray), her history of the German Peasants’ War of the 1520s....

Ultimo acquires Ash’s Mantle

Thursday, 30 October 2025
Ultimo Press has acquired ANZ rights to novelist Romy Ash’s new work, Mantle, in a deal brokered by Michaela McGuire of a4 Literary. Mantle is a literary eco-thriller set in...

Priest wins Blake-Beckett Trust Scholarship

Wednesday, 29 October 2025
The Australian Society of Authors (ASA) has announced Ann-Marie Priest as the 2025 recipient of the $35,000 Blake-Beckett Trust Scholarship for her biography “Tell It Slant: The Life and Loves...

Amba Press acquires ACER Press titles

Wednesday, 29 October 2025
Amba Press will acquire 38 educational titles under an agreement with ACER Press, the publishing arm of the Australian Council for Educational Research. Amba Press said, “The acquisition represents a...

Bakers Lane Books acquires McGuinness YA novel

Wednesday, 29 October 2025
Bakers Lane Books has acquired world rights to Violet Town, a young adult novel by Bryony McGuinness. Violet Town follows Cate Hawkins, a longstanding resident of Hickory’s Orphanage, as she...

A&U acquires Stroud’s “The Angry Wives Club”

Wednesday, 29 October 2025
Allen & Unwin (A&U) has acquired world rights to The Angry Wives Club, a novel by Gabbie Stroud. The Angry Wives Club follows three women “quietly planning a revolution”, said the...

Upswell acquires Curtin novel

Wednesday, 29 October 2025
Upswell Publishing has acquired world rights to Six Days by Amanda Curtin. “Six Days creates a character in Daniel, an expat Australian who has lived in Paris for longer than anywhere...

Blak & Bright moves to September

Tuesday, 28 October 2025
The 2026 Blak & Bright First Nations Literary Festival will run from 3 to 6 September 2026, organisers have announced. This marks a shift in the timing of the biennial...

Industry welcomes government’s AI copyright announcement

Tuesday, 28 October 2025
Publishing industry organisations have reacted enthusiastically to news that the Australian Government has ruled out relaxing copyright rules for generative AI training. Attorney-General Michelle Rowland announced on Sunday that the...