News | Books+Publishing

ABA booksellers of the year 2018 finalists announced

Wednesday, 23 May 2018
The finalists for the 2018 Australian Booksellers Association (ABA) booksellers of the year awards have been announced. The finalists for Bookseller of the Year are: Paul MacDonald (The Children's Bookshop)...

Viskic, Clark longlisted for UK Dagger awards

Tuesday, 22 May 2018
Emma Viskic has been longlisted in two categories in the UK Crime Writers’ Association (CWA) 2018 Dagger awards for her novel Resurrection Bay (Echo). Viskic’s novel is one of 10...

Nebula Awards 2017 winners announced

Tuesday, 22 May 2018
In the US, the winners of the 2017 Nebula Awards, presented in 2018, have been announced. The Stone Sky (N K Jemisin, Orbit) was awarded Best Novel, and was chosen...

Inaugural digital participants announced for 2018 Hardcopy program

Tuesday, 22 May 2018
The ACT Writers Centre has announced the inaugural participants of the new digital stream of its professional development program, Hardcopy, which will focus on fiction manuscripts this year. The seven...

Forbes inducted into ABDA hall of fame

Tuesday, 22 May 2018
Book designer Alison Forbes has been announced as the 2018 inductee into the Australian Book Design Hall of Fame. Forbes was the first full-time independent book designer in Australia, with...

Transit Lounge sells rights to Rawson’s ‘From the Wreck’ to Picador UK

Tuesday, 22 May 2018
Melbourne-based independent publisher Transit Lounge has sold world English-language rights (ex-ANZ) to Jane Rawson's 2017 novel From the Wreck. Picador UK associate publisher Ravi Mirchandani acquired rights to the literary speculative-fiction...

Canadian publishing industry ‘suffering real-time damage’ due to Copyright Act

Monday, 21 May 2018
In Canada, representatives of the Association of Canadian Publishers (ACP) and the Writers’ Union of Canada have urged the Canadian government to ‘fix [the] marketplace’ in a review of the...

‘Just Another Week in Suburbia’ optioned for TV

Monday, 21 May 2018
Melbourne-based writer Les Zig’s literary novel Just Another Week in Suburbia (Pantera) has been optioned for film by Australian production company Truce Films. Zig signed the deal last month with...

‘Netflix for books’ launches in Australia

Monday, 21 May 2018
A new ebook and audiobook membership service has launched in Australia, after launching in the UK last November. Using a membership-based model, Bookchoice allows users to download up to eight...

Porter wins inaugural Michael Gifkins Prize

Monday, 21 May 2018
Auckland-based writer Ruby Porter has won the inaugural Michael Gifkins Prize for an unpublished novel for her novel Attraction. Chosen from a shortlist of three, Attraction centres on an unnamed...

Waterstones backtracks on unbranded store plans for Edinburgh

Friday, 18 May 2018
British bookshop chain Waterstones has backtracked on plans to open one of its unbranded stores in a district of Edinburgh that is already home to an independent bookshop, following an outcry...

MWF reveals Weinstein journalist Ronan Farrow as first guest

Friday, 18 May 2018
Melbourne Writers Festival (MWF) has announced that investigative journalist Ronan Farrow—whose reporting on allegations against Harvey Weinstein was central to the momentum of the #MeToo movement—will appear at this year’s...

Affirm’s Varuna Mentorship Award made more accessible for low-income earners

Friday, 18 May 2018
Affirm Press has announced changes to its mentorship program with Varuna the National Writers House, in order to make the award more accessible for low-income earners. This year, entrants with...

Magarey Medal 2018 shortlist announced

Friday, 18 May 2018
The Association for the Study of Australian Literature (ASAL) and the Australian Historical Association (AHA) have announced the shortlist for the 2018 Magarey Medal for Biography. The shortlisted titles are:...

Textbook authors sue Cengage over subscription service

Thursday, 17 May 2018
In the US, two authors have filed a federal lawsuit against educational publisher Cengage, alleging that the company’s new subscription service will improperly cost them sales and royalty payments, reports Publishers Weekly....

Rose resigns from PRH

Thursday, 17 May 2018
Penguin Random House senior literary editor Meredith Rose has resigned from the company, following the departure of PRH Literary publishing director Ben Ball earlier this week. Rose confirmed her resignation...

Cowley awarded Order of New Zealand

Thursday, 17 May 2018
Children's author Joy Cowley has been awarded the Order of New Zealand, which recognises outstanding service to the state and people of the country. Described as one of New Zealand’s...

Authors create #SelfPubIsHere campaign to amplify self-publisher voices

Thursday, 17 May 2018
A number of self-published Australian authors, including Dionne Lister, A B Patterson and Lisa Fleetwood have pledged their support for a campaign to have self-publishing recognised and included in Australian...

Eight winners announced for ALA’s public relations award

Wednesday, 16 May 2018
The American Library Association (ALA) has announced eight winners of the John Cotton Dana Library Public Relations Award, which recognises marketing and public relations excellence by libraries. The eight winners...

Fire in the belly: Laura Kroetsch on Dark Mofo’s Dark and Dangerous Thoughts program

Wednesday, 16 May 2018
Former Adelaide Writers’ Week director Laura Kroetsch's move into a new role as the curator of Dark Mofo's Dark and Dangerous Thoughts symposium has seen her programming with a 'more philosophical...

Podcast spotlight: Future Perfect (the EWF podcast)

Wednesday, 16 May 2018
Future Perfect is a podcast produced by the Emerging Writers' Festival (EWF) that asks storytellers about 'what they do, how they do it, and why'. Season 1 launched in the...

New ‘Books+Publishing’ reviews out now

Wednesday, 16 May 2018
Books+Publishing’s latest Reviews newsletter contains six reviews of books publishing in July. Christian White's debut novel, the 2017 Victorian Premier’s Literary Prize-winning The Nowhere Child (Affirm, July), received four and a half stars...