Inside the Australian and New Zealand book industry

Image. Advertisement:

News >

Puncher & Wattmann acquires three Craig novels 

Friday, 28 October 2022
Puncher & Wattmann has acquired world English rights (ex USA & Canada) to two novels by Blue Mountains–based writer Jen Craig, as well as world rights to her debut, via...

Books in the media this weekend, 29–30 October 

Friday, 28 October 2022
A round-up of the books being reviewed and mentioned in key media this coming weekend.  National  The Saturday Paper Iris (Fiona Kelly McGregor, Picador) Lucy by the Sea (Elizabeth Strout,...

Waterstones Book of the Year shortlist announced

Friday, 28 October 2022
UK bookselling chain Waterstones has announced the shortlist for its annual Book of the Year award. The 10 shortlisted titles are: The Marriage Portrait (Maggie O’Farrell, Tinder Press) Heartstopper Volume...

Fuge wins 2022 Bragg Prize for Science Writing

Friday, 28 October 2022
Lauren Fuge has won the 2022 UNSW Press Bragg Prize for Science Writing for her essay ‘Time travel and tipping points’, originally published in Cosmos Magazine. Fuge's story transports the...

Scribe acquires new Gott novel 

Friday, 28 October 2022
Scribe Publications has acquired world English rights to Naked Ambition, a new novel by Robert Gott. Described by the publisher as a ‘playful’ novel, Naked Ambition explores the collision of...

Au, Burton, Archbold win 2022 Readings Prizes

Thursday, 27 October 2022
The winners of the three Readings Prizes for children’s, young adult and new Australian fiction have been announced. The winners are: New Australian Fiction Prize Cold Enough for Snow (Jessica...

UQP acquires book by leading Indigenous psychologist 

Thursday, 27 October 2022
UQP has acquired world rights to a book by leading Indigenous psychologist Tracy Westerman outlining her life and work. Westerman is an internationally recognised psychologist specialising in culturally appropriate psychological...

‘When Women Kill’ wins British Academy Book Prize

Thursday, 27 October 2022
In the UK, Chilean writer Alia Trabucco Zerán has won the £25,000 (A$44,770) British Academy Book Prize for Global Cultural Understanding for When Women Kill: Four crimes retold (trans by...

Hachette acquires Jones’s ‘Cool Water’ 

Wednesday, 26 October 2022
Hachette has acquired world rights to literary novel Cool Water by Myfanwy Jones, in a deal negotiated by Jacinta di Mase Management. Following the story of a family over three...

Hedley appointed HarperCollins NZ publishing director 

Wednesday, 26 October 2022
HarperCollins New Zealand has announced the promotion of Alex Hedley to publishing director, reports the Publishers Association of New Zealand. Hedly joined the New Zealand team in 2016, publishing bestsellers...

McGaughey wins Nakata Brophy prize

Wednesday, 26 October 2022
Jasmin McGaughey has won the Nakata Brophy Short Fiction and Poetry Prize for 'Sweet Anticipation'. McGaughey receives $5000 and a three-month writing residence at Trinity College at the University of...

‘People Who Lunch’ sells to Little, Brown Spark 

Wednesday, 26 October 2022
Talia Krohn at Little, Brown Spark has acquired world English language rights (ex ANZ) to People Who Lunch: Essays on work, leisure & loose living by Sally Olds (Upswell), via Black...

Reflections from an Open Book intern: Maya Hodge

Wednesday, 26 October 2022
The Open Book: Australian Publishing Internship is a six-month internship program aimed at increasing cultural diversity in the Australian publishing workforce. Maya Hodge was this year’s Melbourne-based intern; she shares her...

Educational publishers respond to Grattan report

Tuesday, 25 October 2022
The Australian Publishers Association (APA) has criticised a recommendation by the Grattan Institute that governments should consider buying curriculum materials overseas ‘as an immediate priority’. In its report Ending the...

Picador acquires ‘Prima Facie’ novelisation 

Tuesday, 25 October 2022
Picador has acquired rights to the novelisation of Australian playwright Suzie Miller’s multi-award-winning play Prima Facie, plus an as yet untitled second novel, in ‘a heated auction’. Pan Macmillan publisher...

Tasmanian Literary Awards longlists announced

Monday, 24 October 2022
The longlists for the 2022 Tasmanian Literary Awards have been announced. The longlisted titles in each category, worth $25,000 each, are: Young readers and children Aster’s Good, Right Things (Kate...

S&S acquires Paterson debut historical novel 

Monday, 24 October 2022
Simon & Schuster Australia (S&S) has acquired the debut novel Where Light Meets Water by Susan Paterson. Former S&S publishing director Fiona Henderson acquired ANZ rights to the novel from...

VPLAs add children’s award

Monday, 24 October 2022
The Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards (VPLAs) will add a new children’s book award worth $25,000. The Award for Children’s Literature will be presented to the creators of the best children’s...

Around 90,000 attend Frankfurt

Monday, 24 October 2022
Around 90,000 visitors from more than 100 nations attended Frankfurt Book Fair’s (FBF) official trade days, reports Publishing Perspectives. FBF president and CEO Juergen Boos said the number of visitors...

What does the future look like for bookselling? 

Friday, 21 October 2022
As the Australian Booksellers Association rebrands to BookPeople and prepares to re-launch its national vouchers scheme, CEO Robbie Egan says the industry is 'criminally under-using data', but argues bookshops won't...

Books in the media this weekend, 22–23 October 

Friday, 21 October 2022
A round-up of the books being reviewed and mentioned in key media this coming weekend.  National The Saturday Paper  Moon Sugar (Angela Meyer, Transit Lounge)  The Passenger (Cormac McCarthy, Picador) ...

Keneally, Nannestad win $100K Historical Novel Prize

Friday, 21 October 2022
Tom Keneally has won the $50,000 ARA Historical Novel Prize in the adult category for Corporal Hitler's Pistol (Penguin), while Katrina Nannestad has won the $30,000 children and young adult...

Schmidt wins 2022 Hungerford Award

Friday, 21 October 2022
Molly Schmidt has won the 2022 City of Fremantle Hungerford Award for her manuscript Salt River Road. She receives $15,000 in prize money and a publishing contract with Fremantle Press....

MWF moves to May 

Friday, 21 October 2022
Melbourne Writers Festival (MWF) has announced that next year it is moving from September to the first weekend in May. In a statement, MWF said the organisation made the decision...

US$75K Cundill History Prize finalists announced

Friday, 21 October 2022
The finalists for the 2022 Cundill History Prize, which rewards ‘the best history writing in English’, have been announced. The finalists are: Cuba: An American history (Ada Ferrer, Scribner) All That...

Frankfurt Book Fair opens

Thursday, 20 October 2022
The first full-scale Frankfurt Book Fair in three years has opened. The Bookseller reported rights-traders have noted ‘an appetite for literary works’ and a ‘later’ Frankfurt season, with ‘more pre-empts...

Walkley Book Award longlist announced

Wednesday, 19 October 2022
The longlist for this year’s Walkley Book Award has been announced. The nine longlisted titles are: Currowan (Bronwyn Adcock, Black Inc.) QAnon and On (Van Badham, Hardie Grant) Making Australian...