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Writers Victoria petition achieves 10,000 signatures

the logo for Writers Victoria 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”

Photograph of Pip Williams sitting in front of a bookcase 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

Photo of Lucy Dangerfield. 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

Photo of Jennifer Martin. 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

Photo of Mick Fanning. 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...

Zoe Gaetjens recommends 

Tuesday, 17 March 2026
I recently read Catch by Sarah Brill. This is a contemporary coming-of-age YA novel, but it uses magical realism to explore the invisible weight teenagers carry. I read it for...

AI among the themes dominating the London Book Fair 

London Book Fair logo. Tuesday, 17 March 2026
Attendees at this year’s London Book Fair, held from 10 to 12 March, have described the fair as “high energy” and “really busy”, reported the Bookseller last week, as authors...

Fitzroy Writers Festival 2026 program announced

Fitzroy Writers Festival logo. 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

Photo of Michael Caleb Tasker. 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...

Carnegie Medal 2026 shortlists released

Monday, 16 March 2026
In the UK, the shortlists for this year’s Carnegie Medal for Writing and the Carnegie Medal for Illustration have been announced. The shortlisted titles in each category are: The 2026...

A&U acquires Davis’s “The Modern Dad”

Photo of author Louis Davis. 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

Cover of “Dark Desert Road”. 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!

black&write! logo. 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 

Photo of author Stephanie MacFie. 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...

Apollo Bay WORDfest 2026 line-up announced

Apollo Bay WORDfest logo. 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

Five people sitting on chairs on a stage 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...

Book Club – this month’s reads 

Thursday, 12 March 2026
Looking for your next great group read? Our monthly Book Club rounds up new release titles perfect for sparking conversation and perhaps even some debate. From compelling fiction to thought-provoking...

Manly Writers’ Festival announces 2026 program 

Manly Writers' Festival logo. 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...

 

 

 

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