News | Books+Publishing

‘The Ruin’ wins best novel at 2019 Davitt Awards

Monday, 2 September 2019
Dervla McTiernan’s novel The Ruin (HarperCollins) has won the award for best adult novel at the 2019 Davitt Awards for crime books by Australian women, presented by Sisters in Crime. The...

Audible halts Captions on major publishers’ titles

Friday, 30 August 2019
In a New York district court stipulation, Audible has agreed to exclude works from a group of major publishers from its Captions program until permission and licensing issues are resolved,...

Collins to waive franchise fee for independent bookstores

Friday, 30 August 2019
Collins Booksellers is waiving its usual franchise fee for independent bookstores that want to join the group while keeping their independent identities. Under the arrangement, Collins will waive the initial...

Pantera acquires literary crime novel by Kimberley Starr in two-book deal

Friday, 30 August 2019
Pantera Press has acquired ANZ rights to literary crime novel Torched by Kimberley Starr, via Pippa Masson at Curtis Brown, in a two-book deal. Set in a small town in...

‘My Pet Star’ named Sainsbury’s Children’s Book of the Year 2019

Friday, 30 August 2019
UK supermarket chain Sainsbury’s has announced the winners of its 2019 Children’s Book Awards. The overall prize for children’s book of the year was awarded to My Pet Star (Rosalind...

‘The Ruin’ to be adapted for film by Colin Farrell’s new production company

Thursday, 29 August 2019
A screen adaptation of Dervla McTiernan’s debut crime novel The Ruin (HarperCollins) is in development by a new production company run by Irish actor Colin Farrell, reports Deadline. Farrell’s Chapel...

UQP acquires new poetry collection by Ellen van Neerven

Thursday, 29 August 2019
UQP has acquired world rights to Ellen van Neerven’s second poetry collection, Throat. Throat is described by the publisher as 'a collection of poems about whiteness, climate change, extinctions; about...

ASA to track publishing, appearances fees for authors

Thursday, 29 August 2019
The Australian Society of Authors (ASA) has launched rates trackers to record how much authors and illustrators are being paid for publishing agreements and event appearances. The ASA is asking...

Fremantle sells ‘Antarctica’ picture book to US

Wednesday, 28 August 2019
Fremantle Press has sold US rights to Moira Court’s forthcoming picture book Antarctica to Massachusetts-based children’s publisher Charlesbridge. ‘Charlesbridge’s roots are in nature nonfiction, which is what attracted them to...

State Library of Queensland grant recipients announced

Wednesday, 28 August 2019
The State Library of Queensland has announced the recipients of nearly $900,000 in state government grants, to fund Queensland public library initiatives. Close to $400,000 has been awarded to 16...

Puffin grants in New Zealand

Wednesday, 28 August 2019
As part of Puffin’s upcoming 80th anniversary, the publisher offered grants valuing up to NZ$5000 each to bookstores to fund initiatives to get kids reading. Brad Jefferies chatted to three...

Book designer spotlight: Ngaio Parr

Wednesday, 28 August 2019
Independent designer and illustrator Ngaio Parr has worked with publishers including Penguin, Thames & Hudson, Hachette, Hardie Grant and Pantera Press. ‘I’m a little different to most book designers in...

Banjo Prize 2019 shortlist announced

Wednesday, 28 August 2019
HarperCollins has announced the shortlist for the 2019 Banjo Prize for an unpublished work of commercial fiction. The shortlisted manuscripts are: ‘Beware of Dogs’ (Elizabeth Flann) ‘Nina and Pearl’ (Fleur...

Bad Sydney Crime Writers Festival announces Danger Prize shortlist

Wednesday, 28 August 2019
The Bad Sydney Crime Writers Festival has announced the shortlist for this year’s Danger Prize, awarded for the best book, film, podcast or TV drama about Sydney and crime. Two...

Blue Mountains’ Turning Page Bookshop for sale

Wednesday, 28 August 2019
The Turning Page Bookshop in the Blue Mountains suburb of Springwood is for sale. Annie Sharkey and Alan Crooks have owned the store for 11 years, and are the business's...

Royal Society 2019 Science Book Prize shortlist announced

Wednesday, 28 August 2019
In the UK, the Royal Society has announced the shortlist for the 2019 Science Book Prize for popular science books written for a non-specialist audience. The shortlisted books are: Invisible...

Yang charged with espionage in Beijing

Tuesday, 27 August 2019
Chinese-Australian writer and former Chinese diplomat Yang Hengjun has been formally charged with espionage in Beijing, reports the Guardian. Yang has been detained in China since January, after being arrested while travelling...

Inaugural Terror Australis Festival program launched

Tuesday, 27 August 2019
The program for the inaugural Terror Australis Readers and Writers Festival, which runs in various locations in Tasmania’s Huon Valley from 31 October to 3 November, has been announced. With...

Text acquires new Grenville novel

Tuesday, 27 August 2019
Text has acquired world rights to a new novel by Kate Grenville called A Room Made of Leaves. Following Australian pastoralist and merchant Elizabeth Macarthur, the novel ‘picks apart ideas...

NZ Book Trade Industry Awards 2019 winners announced

Monday, 26 August 2019
The winners of the 2019 New Zealand Book Trade Industry Awards were announced in Auckland on 23 August. The winners in each category are: Bookshop of the year Unity Books,...

US publishers sue Audible for copyright infringement

Monday, 26 August 2019
In the US, the Association of American Publishers (AAP) has filed a lawsuit against Audible in a bid to stop its Captions program, which transcribes audio to text alongside its...

Best wins 2019 Thomas Shapcott Prize

Monday, 26 August 2019
Poet Luke Best has won the 2019 Thomas Shapcott Poetry Prize for his manuscript ‘Cadaver Dog’. Best receives $2000 and a publishing contract with University of Queensland Press (UQP), which...

McDougall wins Special Book Award of China

Monday, 26 August 2019
Australian translator and academic Bonnie Suzanne McDougall has won a Special Book Award of China at the Beijing International Book Fair (BIBF). McDougall was awarded the prize for her work...

Springer Nature and Projekt DEAL strike ‘world’s largest transformative open access agreement’

Friday, 23 August 2019
Springer Nature and German university consortium Projekt DEAL have signed a memorandum of understanding on what the organisations are calling the ‘world's largest transformative open access agreement’, reports the Bookseller....