News | Books+Publishing

ViacomCBS looks to sell S&S

Thursday, 5 March 2020
In the US, mass media company ViacomCBS is planning to sell Simon & Schuster, reports Publishers Weekly. At a Morgan Stanley investor conference, ViacomCBS CEO Bob Bakish said it will...

Text sells ‘filmic romance’ to Germany in six-figure deal

Thursday, 5 March 2020
Text Publishing has sold German-language rights to debut author Hugh Breakey’s forthcoming novel The Beautiful Fall in a six-figure deal to Blanvalet (PRH Germany), where it was acquired by Diana...

Pomare, Maguire novels to be adapted by new production company

Thursday, 5 March 2020
Wooden Horse, a new Australian production company, has announced screen adaptations of J P Pomare's sophomore thriller In the Clearing (Hachette) and Emily Maguire's 2016 novel An Isolated Incident (Picador)...

‘Knowing your worth’: The UK publication highlighting female leadership in publishing

Wednesday, 4 March 2020
The FLIP is a monthly newsletter that publishes interviews with women who are leading the way in the UK book industry. Andrea Hanke spoke with co-founder Ella Horne about the...

‘WBN’ published Thursday next week

Wednesday, 4 March 2020
Please note that, due to the public holiday on Monday (Victoria, South Australia, ACT and Tasmania), the next Weekly Book Newsletter will be published on Thursday, 12 March. The deadline...

Affirm signs Sakr’s debut novel

Wednesday, 4 March 2020
Affirm Press has acquired Sydney poet and writer Omar Sakr’s debut novel, White Flu. White Flu is a work of literary speculative fiction and the publisher says early copies will...

Women’s Prize for Fiction 2020 longlist announced

Wednesday, 4 March 2020
In the UK, the longlist for the 2020 Women’s Prize for Fiction has been announced. Now in its 25th year, the £30,000 (A$58,370) prize is presented annually to the best...

LBF to go ahead as publishers pull UK staff from fair

Wednesday, 4 March 2020
Penguin Random House (PRH), Pan Macmillan and Hachette Livre, as well as Curtis Brown parent company Original Talent, have withdrawn all staff—including UK employees—from the London Book Fair (LBF) due...

Ockham New Zealand Book Awards 2020 shortlists announced

Wednesday, 4 March 2020
The shortlists for the 2020 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards have been announced. The shortlisted titles in each category are: Fiction Auē (Becky Manawatu, Mākaro Press) Pearly Gates (Owen Marshall, Vintage) A...

HarperCollins acquires new Holly Ringland novels in six-figure deal

Wednesday, 4 March 2020
HarperCollins Australia has acquired ANZ rights to two new novels by Holly Ringland in a six-figure deal, via Benython Oldfield at Zeitgeist Agency. The first book in Ringland’s new deal,...

Book industry figures create climate action group

Tuesday, 3 March 2020
Writer Sophie Cunningham, children's author Lorna Hendry and Berbay sales and marketing manager Kirsty Wilson have founded an industry action group to address climate change. The Book Industry for Climate...

Big five US publishers, Amazon withdraw from LBF

Tuesday, 3 March 2020
Amazon and the US businesses of HarperCollins, Hachette and Penguin Random House are the latest publishers to withdraw staff from the London Book Fair (LBF) due to the coronavirus outbreak,...

Giramondo, Fitzcarraldo, New Directions establish award for lit fic

Tuesday, 3 March 2020
Giramondo Publishing has partnered with Fitzcarraldo Editions in the UK and New Directions in the US on a new award for literary fiction. Awarded biennially, the Novel Prize will be...

Hachette UK revenue down 1.4% in 2019

Tuesday, 3 March 2020
Lagardère full-year results show that Hachette UK’s revenue was down 1.4% in 2019, reports the Bookseller. Hachette UK CEO David Shelley said that while 2019 was a strong year for...

New $30,000 historical fiction prize

Tuesday, 3 March 2020
The Historical Novel Society Australasia (HNSA) and infrastructure and facilities service provider ARA Group have announced a new $30,000 award for an outstanding historical novelist. The award is open to...

ABIA 2020 longlists announced

Monday, 2 March 2020
The longlists for the 2020 Australian Book Industry Awards (ABIAs) have been announced. The titles in each category are: General fiction book of the year Bruny (Heather Rose, A&U) Call...

Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature winners announced

Monday, 2 March 2020
The winners of the 2020 Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature, presented biennially by the South Australian government, have been announced. The winning titles are: Premier’s Award for best overall published...

Clunes Booktown Festival 2020 program announced

Monday, 2 March 2020
The program has been announced for this year’s Clunes Booktown Festival, to be held from 2–3 May. Over 30 authors will appear at the festival, including Andy Griffiths, Garry Disher,...

S&S, Macmillan US pull out of LBF due to coronavirus

Monday, 2 March 2020
Several American publishing companies including Simon & Schuster US (S&S), Macmillan Trade US, Ingram Content Group and OverDrive have pulled out of the London Book Fair (LBF) due to the...

Around 15,000 attend Perth Festival’s Literature & Ideas Weekend; Hill tops bestsellers

Monday, 2 March 2020
Around 15,000 people attended Perth Festival’s Literature & Ideas Weekend, which ran from 21–23 February. Perth Festival producer Anna Kosky said the audience was receptive to the new three-day format....

The elephant in the room: Chris Flynn on ‘Mammoth’

Friday, 28 February 2020
Chris Flynn’s third novel Mammoth (UQP, May) handles an ambitious conceit and makes it work, according to reviewer Brad Jefferies. Narrated by the fossil of a 13,000-year-old mammoth, the novel...

Lightning Source to remove books from catalogue for ‘content integrity’

Friday, 28 February 2020
Ingram’s print-on-demand service Lightning Source will remove from its catalogue print content that ‘does harm’ to buyers’ and affects the reputations of its retail and publishing partners. In a notice...

Azar longlisted for International Booker Prize 2020

Friday, 28 February 2020
Iranian-Australian writer Shokoofeh Azar has been longlisted for the 2020 International Booker Prize for her novel The Englightenment of the Greengage Tree (trans by Anonymous, Wild Dingo Press). Azar is...

BookUp announces first keynotes

Friday, 28 February 2020
The Australian Publishers Association has announced the first keynote speakers for its inaugural book industry conference BookUp. Demographer Claire Madden will present ‘Generational change: where is Australia going?’, a look...