News | Books+Publishing

Affirm acquires two Robinson novels

Wednesday, 20 July 2022
Affirm Press has acquired world rights to two new novels by Alice Robinson. The first title, Blueshifts, is a literary/speculative fiction novel set both 100 years into the future and...

Meet ABA Children’s Bookseller of the Year Becky Lucas

Wednesday, 20 July 2022
Becky Lucas is the owner of Shakespeare's Bookshop in Blackwood, in the Adelaide foothills. Named 2022 ABA Children's Bookseller of the Year, Lucas has a passion for children's books and...

HarperCollins US staff to go on one-day strike

Wednesday, 20 July 2022
In the US, unionised employees of HarperCollins will hold a one-day strike on Wednesday, July 20, reports Publishers Weekly. UAW Local 2110, a union for technical, office and professional workers,...

T S Bookshop urges board to rethink closure

Wednesday, 20 July 2022
Customers and supporters of the T S Bookshop in Melbourne have launched a Change.org petition in response to the planned closure of the store by the board of the Theosophical...

Bookshop tour: Scorpio Books, Christchurch

Wednesday, 20 July 2022
Established nearly 50 years ago, Scorpio Books is the biggest bookshop in the South Island of Aoteoroa New Zealand, and is considered an institution by many Christchurch locals. The well-loved...

Summers leaves Hardie Grant

Wednesday, 20 July 2022
Hardie Grant Books publisher Arwen Summers has left the role after five years at the company. Summers said in a LinkedIn post she was 'in need of major change' after two...

PANZ Book Design Awards 2022 finalists announced

Tuesday, 19 July 2022
The finalists for the 2022 Publishers Association of New Zealand (PANZ) Book Design Awards have been announced. Finalists were announced in 10 categories including: Best illustrated book Bill Hammond: Across...

HarperCollins acquires two crime novels by Lando

Tuesday, 19 July 2022
HarperCollins has acquired ANZ rights to two novels by Veronica Lando, via Benjamin Paz at Curtis Brown. The first book, The Drowning Girls, is a ‘darkly absorbing’ mystery set in...

Batt awarded Reading Australia fellowship

Monday, 18 July 2022
The Copyright Agency has named Jantiena Batt, a deputy principal working within the ACT Education Directorate, as the 2022 Reading Australia Fellow for Teachers of English Literacy. Batt receives a...

Orwell Prizes 2022 winners announced

Monday, 18 July 2022
In the UK, journalist Sally Hayden and novelist Claire Keegan have won the 2022 Orwell Prizes. Hayden was awarded the Orwell Prize for Political Writing for My Fourth Time, We...

Sidnam wins 2022 Michael Gifkins Prize

Friday, 15 July 2022
Wellington-based poet and student Emma Sidnam has been awarded the 2022 Michael Gifkins Prize for an unpublished manuscript by an Aotearoa New Zealand writer. Chosen from a shortlist of four,...

Books in the media this weekend, 16–17 July

Friday, 15 July 2022
A round-up of the books being reviewed and mentioned in key media this coming weekend. National The Saturday Paper Lilly and Her Slave (Has Fallada, Scribe) Uncanny Angles (Sean Williams,...

Ultimo acquires debut novel ‘Higher Education’

Friday, 15 July 2022
Ultimo Press has acquired ANZ rights to debut novel Higher Education by Kira McPherson, in a deal brokered by Cara Lee Simpson from UK-based agency Peters Fraser + Dunlop. According...

Nash to step down from Booktopia executive management

Thursday, 14 July 2022
The board of Booktopia Group has given founder and CEO Tony Nash notice to step away from executive management of the company. Current CFO Geoff Stalley has been appointed interim...

Affirm acquires Barron debut novel ‘Golden Days’

Thursday, 14 July 2022
Affirm Press has acquired world rights to Golden Days, the debut novel by Aotearoa New Zealand author Caroline Barron, via Nadine Rubin Nathan of High Spot Literary. Described by the...

National Biography Award 2022 shortlist announced

Thursday, 14 July 2022
The State Library of New South Wales (SLNSW) has announced the shortlist for the $25,000 National Biography Award. The shortlisted books are: Car Crash: A memoir (Lech Blaine, Black Inc.) Home...

FedEx to manage all UBD new releases

Wednesday, 13 July 2022
United Book Distrbutors (UBD) has announced that from next month all its new release deliveries will be managed by FedEx (TNT). The distributor said that, after assessing its freight model...

McHardy leaves Booktopia

Wednesday, 13 July 2022
Franscois McHardy has left his position as head of publishing at Booktopia after three years in the role, and will be lecturing next semester in the Master of Publishing course...

Last chance to complete our 2022 employment survey

Wednesday, 13 July 2022
Books+Publishing‘s 2022 employment surveys will close at midnight tonight, Friday, 15 July. If you are currently employed by a company in the book industry (e.g. publisher, bookshop, rights agency), please complete our employees’ survey...