News | Books+Publishing

‘Gustavo the Shy Ghost’ wins 2021 Klaus Flugge Prize

Thursday, 23 September 2021
Flavia Z Drago has won the £5000 (A$9400) Klaus Flugge Prize for most promising newcomer to children’s picture book illustration for Gustavo the Shy Ghost (Walker Books). The book is...

APA Indies Roadshow adds children’s/YA presentation

Thursday, 23 September 2021
The Australian Publishers Association (APA) will run its Indies Roadshow online again this year, on Wednesday, 29 September at 4.30pm AEST, following the inaugural virtual event held in response to...

$100k Historical Novel Prize shortlists announced

Wednesday, 22 September 2021
The Historical Novel Society Australasia (HNSA) has announced the shortlists for 2021 ARA Historical Novel Prize. The novels shortlisted in the adult category are: Bila Yarrudhanggalangdhuray, River of Dreams (Anita Heiss,...

PRH acquires Weldon debut novel ‘Sixty-Seven Days’

Wednesday, 22 September 2021
Penguin Random House Australia (PRH) has acquired world rights to Sixty-Seven Days by Yvonne Weldon, in a deal brokered by Selwa Anthony of Selwa Anthony Author Management Agency. According to...

Dohle assures agents of competitive bidding between PRH, S&S

Wednesday, 22 September 2021
Penguin Random House (PRH) CEO Markus Dohle has told literary agents in a Zoom chat that, following the acquisition of Simon & Schuster (S&S), editors at PRH and S&S will...

HGCP acquires ‘UnMonumental’ picture book

Wednesday, 22 September 2021
Hardie Grant Children’s Publishing (HGCP) has acquired world rights to UnMonumental, a hardback picture book by artists James Tylor and Matt Chun based on their Instagram project of the same...

Willson appointed Murdoch Books publisher

Wednesday, 22 September 2021
Murdoch Books has announced the appointment of Jane Willson as publisher. Willson, who will be based in Melbourne, joins Murdoch from Hardie Grant, where she was publishing director for six...

Freya Blackwood on ‘The Boy and the Elephant’

Tuesday, 21 September 2021
Freya Blackwood is a Greenaway Medallist and seven-time CBCA winner whose picture books are beloved for her warm and perceptive drawings. Her latest book, The Boy and the Elephant (HarperCollins, November) is a tender, wordless picture book...

Bowen appointed ILF CEO

Tuesday, 21 September 2021
The board of the Indigenous Literacy Foundation (ILF) has announced the appointment of Ben Bowen as the organisation's new chief executive officer. ‘Ben is a proud Aboriginal man, a descendent...

Hardie Grant acquires debut novel ‘The Eulogy’

Tuesday, 21 September 2021
Hardie Grant Books has acquired world rights (ex US) to The Eulogy, the debut novel by Jackie Bailey. Drawing on Bailey’s family’s stories of intergenerational trauma, the autofictional novel follows...

Bookshop.org, BA to help underrepresented communities open indie bookshops

Tuesday, 21 September 2021
In the UK, Bookshop.org and the Booksellers Association (BA) have launched a program to help launch and foster new bookshops founded by members of underrepresented communities. The New Futures program...

OzAsia Festival announces new writing and ideas program

Tuesday, 21 September 2021
OzAsia Festival has launched a new writing and ideas program, In Other Words. Held annually in Adelaide, OzAsia Festival runs from 21 October to 7 November, with In Other Words...

Pyke’s ‘Family Tree’ selected for National Simultaneous Storytime 2022

Monday, 20 September 2021
Josh Pyke’s forthcoming book Family Tree (Scholastic) has been selected for the Australian Library and Information Association’s (ALIA) National Simultaneous Storytime (NSS) 2022, which will be held on Wednesday, 25...

Ultimo acquires Khalil, Davidow memoir

Monday, 20 September 2021
Ultimo Press has acquired world rights to Runaways by Shaimaa Khalil and Shelley Davidow. The deal was brokered by Sarah McKenzie at Sarah McKenzie Literary Management. Khalil and Davidow met...

Joyce wins £10,000 Wilbur Smith prize for ‘Miss Benson’s Beetle’

Monday, 20 September 2021
In the UK, Rachel Joyce has won the £10,000 (A$18,900) Wilbur Smith Adventure Writing Prize for her novel Miss Benson’s Beetle (Black Swan), reports the Bookseller. Set in 1950, the book follows Margery...

Walker Books launches new imprint Walker Studio

Monday, 20 September 2021
Walker Books Australia is launching a new ‘beautifully produced, design-driven’ imprint, Walker Studio. While the Studio imprint has been previously launched by Walker Books in the UK and Candlewick in...

Rival French publishing company ups stake in Lagardère

Friday, 17 September 2021
In France, media company Vivendi has upped its stake in Hachette Livre parent company Lagardère to over 45% ownership, reports the Financial Times. Vivendi, which owns French publisher Editis, has...

Sales, Crabb and Rees to celebrate Love Your Bookshop Day

Friday, 17 September 2021
The Australian Booksellers Association (ABA) has announced that this year’s Love Your Bookshop Day (LYBD) celebrations on Saturday, 9 October will take place online ‘so that everyone can engage from...

Baragwanath wins 2021 Michael Gifkins Prize

Friday, 17 September 2021
Tom Baragwanath has won the 2021 Michael Gifkins Prize for an Unpublished Novel for his crime novel Paper Cage. Baragwanath was chosen as the winner from a shortlist of three...

Liminal & Pantera Press nonfiction prize longlist announced

Thursday, 16 September 2021
The longlist for the inaugural $10,000 Liminal & Pantera Press Nonfiction Prize has been announced. The longlisted writers are: André Dao Barry Corr Brandon K Liew Elizabeth Flux Frankey Chung...

Varuna announces 2022 residential fellowships

Thursday, 16 September 2021
Varuna the National Writers’ House has announced the recipients of the Varuna Residential Fellowships for 2022. The writers and their projects are: The Eleanor Dark flagship fellowship Katherine Brabon, for...

Fernandez joins Alex Adsett Literary

Thursday, 16 September 2021
Rochelle Fernandez has joined Alex Adsett Literary as an Australian literary agent. Fernandez, who has almost 20 years’ experience in Australian publishing, was publisher for HarperCollins’ speculative fiction imprint Voyager...