Local news | Books+Publishing

Booktopia leases new warehouse

Thursday, 11 August 2022
Booktopia has secured a lease for a new customer fulfilment centre (CFC) in South Strathfield in Sydney’s west. According to Booktopia, after constant retrofitting, its current Lidcombe facility has become...

Brennan wins 2022 National Biography Award for ‘Leaping into Waterfalls’

Thursday, 11 August 2022
Bernadette Brennan has won the 2022 National Biography Award for Leaping into Waterfalls: The enigmatic Gillian Mears (A&U). Brennan receives $25,000, while the other shortlisted authors receive $2000 each. Judges...

Readings union members to consider industrial action

Wednesday, 10 August 2022
Retail and Fast Food Workers Union (RAFFWU) members at Readings bookshop will consider industrial action, following on from a protest outside the independent chain’s Carlton store in Melbourne on 6...

ILF announces digital event for ILD 2022

Wednesday, 10 August 2022
The Indigenous Literacy Foundation (ILF) has announced two events in collaboration with the Sydney Opera House for Indigenous Literacy Day (ILD), which falls on Wednesday, 7 September this year. The...

Caro’s ‘The Mother’ optioned for film

Wednesday, 10 August 2022
Film rights for Jane Caro’s first novel for adults, The Mother (A&U), have been optioned by New Town Films in a deal negotiated by Jacinta di Mase of Jacinta di...

Griffin Press ceases POD

Tuesday, 9 August 2022
Opus Group has confirmed that Griffin Press, which it acquired from Ovato earlier this year, will cease its print on demand (POD) services. In a statement to clients on Friday,...

Scribe & Varuna announce 2022 fellows

Tuesday, 9 August 2022
The recipients of the 2022 Scribe & Varuna Fellowships have been announced. The fellows and their projects are: Sam Elkin for ‘Shapeshifting’ Jacqueline Wright for ‘Beauty and Menace’ Nevo Zisin...

UQP acquires Taylor debut ‘Flinch’

Tuesday, 9 August 2022
UQP has acquired world rights to debut novel Flinch by 2022 Neilma Sidney Short Story Prize winner Saraid Taylor. A coming-of-age story set against a backdrop of elite sport and...

Dessaix honoured for Lifetime Achievement in Literature

Monday, 8 August 2022
Robert Dessaix has won the Australia Council Award for Lifetime Achievement in Literature, which ‘acknowledges the achievements of eminent literary writers over the age of 60 who have made an...

Renée crime fiction debut sells to UK in two-book deal

Monday, 8 August 2022
Nadine Rubin Nathan at High Spot Literary has sold world English-language rights (ex NZ) to two crime novels, The Wild Card and Blood Matters (The Cuba Press), by Māori writer...

Aotearoa NZ publishers grow 0.8%; Te Reo Māori publishing up 40%

Friday, 5 August 2022
Aotearoa New Zealand trade publishers’ revenue last year grew 0.8%, according to a new report from the Publishers Association of NZ/Te Rau o Tākupu (PANZ). The Book Industry Market Size...

Masson, Carrington launch Pardalote Press

Friday, 5 August 2022
Author Sophie Masson and illustrator Lorena Carrington have partnered on a new micropublisher, Pardalote Press, which aims to publish ‘small, surprising things which help the imagination take flight’. A crowdfunding...

Ultimo acquires Kalagian Blunt thriller ‘Dark Mode’

Thursday, 4 August 2022
Ultimo Press has acquired ANZ rights for Ashley Kalagian Blunt’s thriller Dark Mode, in a deal brokered by Pippa Masson from Curtis Brown. Described by the publisher as ‘compulsive and...

Qld Literary Awards 2022 shortlists

Thursday, 4 August 2022
The shortlists for the 2022 Queensland Literary Awards have been announced. The shortlisted titles in each category are: Queensland Premier’s Award for a Work of State Significance ($25,000) Wounded Country...

Pantera announces Public Holiday Swap initiative

Wednesday, 3 August 2022
Pantera Press has announced a new Public Holiday Swap initiative that gives permanent employees the option to work on a public holiday and take a different day of leave in...

Weir, Henderson launch Bold Type Agency

Wednesday, 3 August 2022
Former Penguin Random House (PRH) senior rights manager Nerrilee Weir and former Simon & Schuster (S&S) publishing director Fiona Henderson have announced the creation of a new rights agency. Bold...

‘Grimmish’ sells to UK, North America

Tuesday, 2 August 2022
Martin Shaw at Shaw Literary, on behalf of Puncher & Wattmann, has sold UK and US rights at auction to Michael Winkler’s debut novel Grimmish, in a co-publishing deal between...

Mossop appointed SWF artistic director

Monday, 1 August 2022
Ann Mossop has been appointed artistic director of the Sydney Writers Festival (SWF) for a three-year term, replacing Michael Williams, who programmed the 2021 and 2022 Festivals. Mossop comes to...

Nib Literary Award 2022 longlist announced

Monday, 1 August 2022
The longlist for the 2022 Mark and Evette Moran Nib Literary Award, worth $20,000, has been announced. The longlisted titles are: Currowan (Bronwyn Adcock, Black Inc.) Telling Tennant’s Story (Dean...

Age Book of the Year 2022 shortlists announced

Monday, 1 August 2022
The shortlists for the 2022 Age Book of the Year Award, which this year includes a prize for nonfiction, have been announced. The shortlisted works in each category are: Fiction...

Unity Books wins NZ Bookshop of the Year; Hedleys recognised with Lifetime Achievement Award

Monday, 1 August 2022
Unity Books in Wellington was named winner of the Nielsen BookData Bookshop of the Year Award at the Aotearoa Book Trade Industry Awards on 30 July in Auckland. Unity Books,...

Elizabeth Jolley Short Story Prize shortlist announced

Friday, 29 July 2022
The Australian Book Review (ABR) has announced the shortlist for the 2022 Elizabeth Jolley Short Story Prize. The shortlisted stories and their authors are: 'Dog Park' by Nina Cullen 'Natural Wonder' by...

UQP acquires Wagan Watson short story collection

Friday, 29 July 2022
UQP has acquired world rights to poet Samuel Wagan Watson's first short story collection, New and Used Ghosts. The collection of ghost stories interrogates and celebrates myth, legend and secrets...

Transit Lounge acquires Shirm’s ‘The Crying Room’

Thursday, 28 July 2022
Transit Lounge has acquired world rights to Gretchen Shirm's second novel The Crying Room, via Jane Novak Literary Agency. ‘It is hard to think of a novel more deeply sensitive and...

MWF full program announced

Wednesday, 27 July 2022
Melbourne Writers Festival (MWF) has announced its full 2022 program, which runs 8–11 September, and features over 150 events. The festival makes its return to live programming after two years...

APA, ABA children’s publishing conference returns

Wednesday, 27 July 2022
The program for the Australian Publishers Association (APA) Children's Publishing Conference, held in conjunction with the Australian Booksellers Association (ABA), has been announced. ‘Between the Covers, Behind the Counter’, which...