MWF releases 2026 program and ventures into the suburbs
Friday, 20 March 2026
Melbourne Writers Festival (MWF) has released its program for 2026, featuring more than 150 artists participating in readings, panels and workshops from 7 to 10 May. This year marks MWF’s...
Writers Victoria petition achieves 10,000 signatures
Thursday, 19 March 2026
A petition to restore funding for Writers Victoria has gained more than 10,000 signatures, a number sufficient to trigger a debate in the Victorian parliament. Writers Victoria launched the petition in January...
NZ Booklovers Awards 2026 winners announced
Thursday, 19 March 2026
In Aotearoa New Zealand, the winners of the 2026 NZ Booklovers Awards have been announced. The winning titles in each category are: Best Adult Fiction Book Softly Calls the Devil...
Hachette, Sweatshop partner on new scholarship
Thursday, 19 March 2026
Hachette Australia has announced it will partner with Sweatshop Literacy Movement to create an annual scholarship for two First Nations and/or culturally and linguistically diverse writers. The scholarship, which will start...
Affirm acquires Williams’s “The German Ward”
Thursday, 19 March 2026
Affirm Press has acquired world rights to The German Ward, a “breathtaking historical love story” by Pip Williams, with US rights sold to Ballantine and UK rights to Chatto &...
Wombat acquires Dangerfield’s middle-grade novel
Thursday, 19 March 2026
Wombat Books has acquired world rights to The Misspelled Sky by Lucy Dangerfield following a pitch at last year’s CYA Conference. The speculative middle-grade novel follows Megana, who “always believed she was...
Online queer bookshop Obsidian opens in Sydney
Wednesday, 18 March 2026
Obsidian Bookshop, a new online-only queer bookshop, has opened in Sydney, reports Star Observer. The bookshop is run by librarian Billy Hambides, artist Archer Nox and photographer Bowen Halkett. “All...
Martin wins 2026 Hazel Rowley Literary Fellowship
Wednesday, 18 March 2026
The 2026 Hazel Rowley Literary Fellowship has been awarded to Jennifer Martin, who receives $20,000 for her proposed biography of Australian journalist Eva Sommer. In 1956 then 22-year-old Sommer beat...
S&S acquires Fanning memoir
Wednesday, 18 March 2026
Simon & Schuster Australia (S&S) has acquired world rights to the memoir All Heart, by three-time world champion surfer Mick Fanning. All Heart follows Fanning from the western suburbs of...
Canberra Writers Festival announces anniversary events
Tuesday, 17 March 2026
Canberra Writers Festival is hosting a series of events this year, celebrating its tenth anniversary in the lead-up to the festival, which runs from 15 to 18 October. These events...
Silvey charged with new offences, alleged collaborator charged
Tuesday, 17 March 2026
Author Craig Silvey has been charged with more child exploitation offences, reported the Guardian yesterday. Silvey, who was charged in January with possessing and distributing child exploitation material, has also...
Fitzroy Writers Festival 2026 program announced
Tuesday, 17 March 2026
Yarra Libraries has released the program for this year’s Fitzroy Writers Festival, running on 18 April. To be held in inner Melbourne’s Fitzroy Town Hall, sessions are set to cover...
A&U acquires Tasker’s debut novel
Tuesday, 17 March 2026
Allen & Unwin (A&U) has acquired ANZ rights to Michael Caleb Tasker’s Just Like the Night, in a deal brokered by Ellen Levine at Trident Media Group. The novel follows...
A&U acquires Davis’s “The Modern Dad”
Monday, 16 March 2026
Allen & Unwin (A&U) has acquired world rights to the nonfiction title, The Modern Dad, by Aotearoa New Zealand author Louis Davis. The Modern Dad provides advice about how to...
CJZ options Ayliffe’s “Dark Desert Road” for TV
Monday, 16 March 2026
Tim Ayliffe’s first standalone novel, Dark Desert Road (Echo), has been optioned by Australian TV production company CJZ. Dark Desert Road follows police officer Kit McCarthy, who hasn’t seen her twin...
Writing Australia seeks publisher to operate black&write!
Monday, 16 March 2026
Writing Australia is looking for a delivery partner in the publishing sector to operate the black&write! fellowship program. The black&write! program has been managed by the State Library of Queensland...
Text acquires MacFie’s debut novel
Monday, 16 March 2026
Text Publishing has acquired world rights to Stephanie MacFie’s debut novel Once Upon a Breakfast Show. Set in the high-pressure world of breakfast radio, this “funny and wise novel about love and...
HarperCollins acquires “Conversations with My Rabbi”
Monday, 16 March 2026
HarperCollins Australia has acquired ANZ rights to Conversations with My Rabbi: Timeless Teachings for a Fractured World by Nikki Goldstein in a deal negotiated with Rena Rossner of the Deborah...
Apollo Bay WORDfest 2026 line-up announced
Monday, 16 March 2026
The Apollo Bay WORDfest has released the program for its 2026 festival, to be held in the Victorian coastal town from Friday 24 July to Sunday 26 July. Authors scheduled...
Penguin Literary Prize 2026 shortlist announced
Thursday, 12 March 2026
Penguin Random House Australia (PRH) has announced the shortlist for the 2026 Penguin Literary Prize. The shortlisted manuscripts are: “An Allergy” by Sunil Badami (Sydney, NSW) – “‘An Allergy’ explores...
Manly Writers’ Festival announces 2026 program
Thursday, 12 March 2026
The Manly Writers’ Festival has released its program, which will run from 19 to 22 March 2026, bringing together almost 90 writers, journalists, historians, thinkers and musicians, while examining “how...
Auckland Writers Festival Waituhi o Tāmaki 2026 program announced
Thursday, 12 March 2026
The program for the 2026 Auckland Writers Festival Waituhi o Tāmaki, to run from 12 to 17 May, has been announced. This third program by artistic director Lyndsey Fineran features...
Novel Insight Reviewers’ Choice Award winners announced
Thursday, 12 March 2026
Novel Insight has announced the winners of the inaugural Reviewers’ Choice Award for children’s books. The winners in each category are: Junior primary (4 to 8 years old) Ella and...
Stella Prize 2026 longlist announced
Thursday, 12 March 2026
The longlist for the $60,000 Stella Prize for women and non-binary writers has been announced. The longlisted books are: KONTRA (Eunice Andrada, Giramondo) The Rot (Evelyn Araluen, UQP) Memorial Days...
SLQ to end management of QLAs and black&write! fellowship
Wednesday, 11 March 2026
The State Library of Queensland (SLQ) will no longer manage the Queensland Literary Awards (QLAs) or the black&write! fellowship program following the release of the Daubney Review. The review was...
HarperCollins acquires new Rogers novel
Wednesday, 11 March 2026
HarperCollins has acquired ANZ rights to The Clue Keeper, a new novel by Megan Rogers, in a deal brokered by Benython Oldfield at Zeitgeist Agency. The Clue Keeper follows Ginnie...
S&S acquires world rights to Barry quartet
Wednesday, 11 March 2026
Simon & Schuster Australia has acquired world rights to The Northshine Quartet, a new contemporary series by Amy Barry, in a deal brokered by Sarah Younger at Nancy Yost Literary...
Sydney Writers’ Festival program announced
Wednesday, 11 March 2026
The program for this year’s Sydney Writers’ Festival, running from 17–24 May, has been announced. The festival is hosting 200+ in-person and live-streamed events featuring 39 international guests and over...
Local authors on 2026 British Book Awards shortlists
Tuesday, 10 March 2026
The late Australian author Virginia Roberts Giuffre and Aotearoa New Zealand’s Sarah Wynn-Williams are among the writers and illustrators shortlisted for this year’s British Book Awards (also known as the...
Heads & Tales acquires Holy Cow! Creative
Tuesday, 10 March 2026
Heads & Tales, Hardie Grant Media’s creative content and custom publishing agency, has acquired Sydney design agency Holy Cow! Creative. Founded in 1995 by Melissa Webber, Holy Cow! “brings deep...
