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...
Women’s Prize for Nonfiction 2026 shortlist announced
Thursday, 26 March 2026
In the UK, the shortlist for the 2026 Women’s Prize for Nonfiction, worth £30,000 (A$57,702) has been announced. The six shortlisted titles are: The Finest Hotel in Kabul: A People’s History...
Bookseller’s diary: Clunes and the pleasures of re-homing vintage books
Wednesday, 25 March 2026
For the 20th Clunes Booktown Festival, held on the weekend of 21 to 22 March, 15,000 book lovers descended on the small Victorian town of Clunes. The event featured 70...
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...
Waving through windows: Insights from the “Reaching Australian Readers” report
Wednesday, 25 March 2026
Reading peak body and newly minted not-for-profit organisation Australia Reads has released a new research report, “Reaching Australian Readers”, following on from last year’s “Understanding Australian Readers” report. This new...
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,...
Shukman wins 2025 Sunday Times Charlotte Aitken Young Writer of the Year Award
Wednesday, 25 March 2026
In the UK, debut author Harry Shukman has won the £10,000 (A$19,224) Sunday Times Charlotte Aitken Young Writer of the Year Award for Year of the Rat (Vintage), a “shocking, eye-opening...
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...
BookUp conference and research day dates announced
Wednesday, 25 March 2026
The 2026 BookUp publishing conference will run in Melbourne on 22 July, the Australian Publishers Association (APA) has announced. Now in its sixth year, BookUp in 2026 “will focus on...
Local bookshop numbers double for 2026 “crawl”
Wednesday, 25 March 2026
Following the inaugural Global Book Crawl (GBC) in 2025, 140 Australian bookshops have signed up for this year’s event. In 2026, 12 separate book crawls will take place in Australia,...
Dylan Thomas Prize 2026 shortlist announced
Tuesday, 24 March 2026
In the UK, the shortlist for Swansea University's Dylan Thomas Prize has been announced. This year, the shortlist is composed of 4 novels and 2 poetry collections. The shortlisted titles...
Thom wins 2025 Judith Wright Poetry Prize
Tuesday, 24 March 2026
Overland has announced Mia Thom as the winner of the 2025 Judith Wright Poetry Prize, worth $6000, for their poem “go raging”. Thom’s poem, chosen from a shortlist of 8, will...
Campos wins inaugural Kat Muscat Award
Tuesday, 24 March 2026
The inaugural winner of the $1000 Kat Muscat Award is Paula Campos for “Palm Trees, Piercings and a More Lowkey, Chill Place to Live”, which appeared in Voiceworks #136 “Quits!”. This year, the...
“Wild Dark Shore” wins Book of the Year at 2026 Indie Book Awards
Tuesday, 24 March 2026
Australian independent booksellers have announced the winners of the 2026 Indie Book Awards, with Charlotte McConaghy’s Wild Dark Shore (Penguin) named Book of the Year. The winners in each category...
A&U acquires Jeff Apter’s “Reckless”
Tuesday, 24 March 2026
Allen & Unwin (A&U) has acquired world rights to the nonfiction title Reckless by music writer Jeff Apter. Reckless is the inside story of Australian Crawl, the band behind tracks...
Australian Book Design Awards 2026 shortlists announced
Monday, 23 March 2026
The shortlists for the 2026 Australian Book Design Awards, presented by the Australian Book Designers Association (ABDA), have been announced. Shortlisted works in each category are: Best designed general fiction...
Kinokuniya to open Chatswood store
Monday, 23 March 2026
Japanese book retailer Books Kinokuniya will open a new bookstore in Westfield Chatswood Shopping Centre in Chatswood, New South Wales. Books Kinokuniya is the largest bookstore chain in Japan, with...
Woldeyes awarded new travel fellowship
Monday, 23 March 2026
Poet and storyteller Yirga Gelaw Woldeyes will appear at national and international writers festivals this year as the recipient of a new travel fellowship supported by the Barton Family Foundation. The...
NZSA announces mentorship program recipients
Monday, 23 March 2026
New Zealand Society of Authors Te Puni Kaituhi O Aotearoa (NZSA) has announced the recipients of its 2026 mentorship program. The mentees are: Vivienne Bailey (Paraparaumu) Cassandra Barnett (Waikato) Angela Barnett (Tāmaki Makaurau...
James Tait Black Prize 2026 shortlists announced
Monday, 23 March 2026
In the UK, the shortlists for the James Tait Black prizes have been announced. The shortlisted titles in each category are: Fiction Big Kiss, Bye Bye (Claire-Louise Bennett, Fitzcarraldo) Darryl (Jackie...
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...
UK government no longer “prefers” copyright exception for AI training
Thursday, 19 March 2026
The UK government is moving away from the proposal to create a copyright exception for generative AI training, which was widely opposed by the creative industries, reports the Bookseller. The...
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 &...
