News | Books+Publishing

The winning ticket: The literary prize sales effect

Tuesday, 3 July 2018
Nielsen Book associate director Julie Winters talks to Jackie Tang about the sales effect of Australia’s biggest literary prizes. How much does a literary award affect a book’s sales? It’s...

Your store: a round-up of retailing news, tips and titbits

Tuesday, 3 July 2018
Bespoke book displays Brisbane’s Avid Reader won the annual Best Business Idea Award at the Leading Edge Books conference in March for the second year in a row. This year’s...

Leading the way: Lee Walker on her career journey

Tuesday, 3 July 2018
Oxford University Press director of School Publishing Lee Walker reflects on 26 years in the publishing industry and what she hopes to achieve as the newly appointed president of the...

For the love of poetry: Looking beyond Instapoetry

Tuesday, 3 July 2018
Angela Elizabeth finds out how local publishers are committing to poetry beyond the ‘Instapoetry’ trend. ‘Poetry is the medium of the moment,’ proclaimed UK National Poetry Day executive director Susannah...

Cover new ground: Rejacketing a children’s book series

Tuesday, 3 July 2018
Nathania Gilson asks publishers and booksellers about the art of rejacketing a children’s book series. When Tristan Bancks, co-creator and author of the Tom Weekly junior-fiction series, was presented with...

Back to the drawing board: Publishing local board books

Tuesday, 3 July 2018
Danielle Binks explores the rising demand for homegrown board books. In her Ten Commandments for reading aloud with children, author Mem Fox’s number-one rule is: ‘Spend at least ten wildly...

Inaugural Shoalhaven Readers’ & Writers’ Festival announces program

Tuesday, 3 July 2018
A new readers’ and writers’ festival will be held in Nowra, in the Shoalhaven region of the NSW south coast, on Saturday, 4 August 2018. The inaugural one-day festival will...

Kenyan writer Onjerika wins 2018 Caine Prize for African Writing

Tuesday, 3 July 2018
Kenyan writer Makena Onjerika has won the 2018 Caine Prize for African Writing for her short story ‘Fanta Blackcurrant’, first published in the spring 2017 issue of quarterly British literary...

Five delegates receive OzCo funding to attend Shanghai book fair

Tuesday, 3 July 2018
The Australia Council has announced the five Australian publishing recipients it is sponsoring to attend the China Shanghai International Children’s Book Fair (CCBF) in November. The five delegates are: Jacinta...

‘Mr Bambuckle’s Remarkables’ sold to US in three-book deal

Tuesday, 3 July 2018
Penguin Random House Australia (PRH) has sold North American rights to Tim Harris’ children’s book series ‘Mr Bambuckle’s Remarkables’ (illus by James Hart, Random House) to Sourcebooks in a three-book...

‘Alpacas with Maracas’ to be read for 2019 National Simultaneous Storytime

Tuesday, 3 July 2018
Matt Cosgrove’s picture book Alpacas with Maracas (Koala Books) has been chosen for the Australian Library and Information Association’s (ALIA) National Simultaneous Storytime next year. National Simultaneous Storytime will take...

Regency Media acquires Five Mile

Monday, 2 July 2018
Former Bonnier Publishing Australia children’s imprint Five Mile has been acquired by local electronic media and distribution business Regency Media. Under Regency Media ownership, the new iteration of Five Mile...

Pengelly buys ‘Books+Publishing’; Tang steps down as EIC

Monday, 2 July 2018
Thorpe-Bowker general manager Gary Pengelly has started a new company, Books and Publishing Pty Ltd, and has purchased the Books+Publishing business from a local subsidiary of its US-based parent company,...

Environment Award for Children’s Literature 2018 shortlist announced

Monday, 2 July 2018
The Wilderness Society has announced the shortlist for the 2018 Environment Award for Children’s Literature. The shortlisted books in each category are: Picture fiction Can You Find Me? (Gordon Winch,...

PRH India buys Hindi-language publisher Hind Pocket Books

Monday, 2 July 2018
Penguin Random House India has acquired Hind Pocket Books, one of the oldest and best-known Hindi-language publishers in India, reports the Bookseller. Established in 1958, Hind Pocket Books predominantly publishes...

ABC Books signs gardening book by Costa Georgiadis

Monday, 2 July 2018
ABC Books has acquired the first book by landscape architect and Gardening Australia host Costa Georgiadis. The as-yet-untitled gardening book will possess Georgiadis’ ‘unique, inimitable and delightful approach to nurturing...

Higgins appointed GM of Dymocks Books

Monday, 2 July 2018
Dymocks has announced that Sophie Higgins, current head of marketing and merchandise, has been promoted to the role of Dymocks Books general manager, effective from 1 July. In her new...

Hachette signs FitzSimons for six-book deal

Monday, 2 July 2018
Hachette Australia has signed a six-book deal with author Peter FitzSimons. Negotiated directly with FitzSimons, the six-book deal will begin with Mutiny on the Bounty, which tells the story of...

S&S, Gibbs partner with Fairfax on ‘Good Food Guide’

Monday, 2 July 2018
Simon & Schuster Australia (S&S) and former Lantern publishing director Julie Gibbs will partner with Fairfax Media to publish the 2019 edition of the Good Food Guide. Released in October...

Slam poets to represent Australia in the US

Monday, 2 July 2018
Four Melbourne-based slam poets will compete in the US National Poetry Slam in August this year. Poet Tenda McFly, the winner of a slam event held during the inaugural Melbourne...

Royal Society of Literature admits 40 fellows under the age of 40

Friday, 29 June 2018
In the UK, the Royal Society of Literature (RSL) has appointed 40 new fellows as part of its 40 Under 40 initiative, which aims to ‘welcome a new generation of writers...

New ‘Books+Publishing’ reviews out now

Friday, 29 June 2018
Books+Publishing’s latest Reviews newsletter contains five reviews of books publishing in September. Reviewer Simon McDonald gave 4.5 stars to Stephanie Bishop’s third novel, Man Out of Time (Hachette), describing it as 'a...

Hinkler and Bookoli launch mass-market UK publisher

Friday, 29 June 2018
Melbourne-based children’s publisher Hinkler Books and UK children’s publisher Bookoli are launching a new mass-market publisher based in the UK. Curious Universe UK, which is the result of a 50-50...

WA Prem’s Book Awards returns to annual cycle in 2019

Friday, 29 June 2018
The Western Australian Premier’s Book Awards will return to an annual format, beginning in 2019. The decision was announced by the Minister for Culture and the Arts David Templeman at...

Govt to offer $48 million ‘innovation fund’ for regional and small publishers

Friday, 29 June 2018
The federal government has established a new fund for regional publishers, small publishers and content providers that produce ‘public-interest journalism with an Australian perspective’. The Regional and Small Publishers Innovation...