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Adam Sharp announced as 2026 Hedberg Writer-in-Residence 

Monday, 29 June 2026
Nonfiction author, journalist and academic Adam Sharp has been named the 2026 Hedberg Writer-in-Residence at the University of Tasmania. Sharp receives a $32,500 stipend to cover three months of accommodation...

Upswell acquires Declan Fry’s “Fantasy Ransom”

Monday, 29 June 2026
Upswell Publishing has acquired world rights to Fantasy Ransom, the debut novel by Declan Fry, via Jenny Darling at Jenny Darling & Associates. Set against a backdrop of political unrest...

Karen Bartlett, Ben Lerner win 2026 Orwell Prizes

Monday, 29 June 2026
Karen Bartlett’s The Escape from Kabul (Duckworth Books) has won the 2026 Orwell Prize for Political Writing, while Ben Lerner’s Transcription (Granta) has won the Orwell Prize for Political Fiction,...

Upswell acquires Emily Ballou’s “Wait Here”

Thursday, 25 June 2026
Upswell Publishing has acquired world rights to Wait Here, a new volume of poems by Emily Ballou. A writer of poetry, fiction and screenplays, Ballou is the author of the...

Ultimo Press acquires SK Lynch crime novel

SK Lynch. Credit: Nicole Cleary. Thursday, 25 June 2026
Ultimo Press has acquired ANZ rights to SK Lynch’s novel Something He Did, via Alex Christie of Curtis Brown. Something He Did follows the story of Detective Claudia Russo, who...

Wilson tops the charts at Words on the Waves 

A Words on the Waves sandwich board sign in front of the ocean Thursday, 25 June 2026
Words on the Waves Writers Festival, held on the New South Wales Central Coast from 27 May to 1 June, has reported a 40% increase “in core ticket sales” for...

Fino Books opens in Melbourne 

Thursday, 25 June 2026
New bookshop Fino Books opened on 20 June in Melbourne’s Fitzroy North. With a brief of “finding inspiration new and old”, the store is stocking a mix of new and...

Carnegie Medal 2026 winners announced

Thursday, 25 June 2026
In the UK, the winners of this year’s Carnegie Medal for Writing, Carnegie Medal for Illustration and Shadowers’ Choice Medals have been announced. Beth O’Brien won both the Carnegie Medal...

Happy MF shortlist day 

Wednesday, 24 June 2026
The Miles Franklin shortlist is out; Text is moving in with Penguin Random House; Sophie Higgins joins the Indigenous Literacy Foundation board; there’s a new edition of the Books Without...

Text Publishing to move into PRH offices 

Photograph of Text logo on glass doors to an office space Wednesday, 24 June 2026
Text Publishing will move into the Penguin Random House (PRH) offices from next week. As previously reported, the then independent Melbourne publisher became part of PRH in 2025, but the...

Pink Shorts Press acquires Lara Day’s “Abakada”

Photo of Lara Day Wednesday, 24 June 2026
Pink Shorts Press has acquired ANZ rights to Abakada, a memoir by Adelaide author Lara Day. The publisher describes Abakada as “an alphabetical memoir of country hopping and linguistic longing”....

IPEd releases second edition of “Books Without Barriers”

Photo of Books without Barriers book cover Wednesday, 24 June 2026
The Institute of Professional Editors (IPEd) has released the second edition of accessible publishing guide Books Without Barriers, co-published with the Australian Publishers Association. The free guide provides advice about...

Sophie Higgins joins ILF board 

Photograph of Sophie Higgins Wednesday, 24 June 2026
The Indigenous Literacy Foundation (ILF) has announced the appointment of Sophie Higgins to its board of directors. Recently promoted to head of sales and operations at Booktopia, Higgins has worked...

Miles Franklin Literary Award 2026 shortlist announced

Photo of shortlisted books Wednesday, 24 June 2026
The shortlist for the 2026 Miles Franklin Literary Award has been announced. Chosen from a longlist of 10, the shortlisted titles are: Discipline (Randa Abdel-Fattah, University of Queensland Press) First...

Anna Battese recommends 

Tuesday, 23 June 2026
There are so many incredible Australian kids’ books out there, which makes this question so hard to answer! I'm going to be a terrible cheat and give you my just-read...

QWC Varuna 2026 fellowships announced

Varuna, The National Writers House Tuesday, 23 June 2026
Varuna has announced the 2026 recipients and shortlisted writers for the Queensland Writers Centre (QWC) fellowships. The recipient of the 2026 QWC Established Writers Fellowship is Ashley Hay, author and Meanjin...

McGraw Hill sales flat, income up 

Tuesday, 23 June 2026
US educational publisher McGraw Hill, which operates a subsidiary in Australia among more than 100 countries outside of the US, has released its first full year of financial results since...

QBD opens Mirrabooka store 

Tuesday, 23 June 2026
QBD has opened a new store in the Perth suburb of Mirrabooka, Western Australia. The store, which opened on Saturday 20 June, is located in Square Mirrabooka. With the addition...

 

 

 

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