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Bloomsbury Spark acquires first Australian novel

Monday, 29 September 2014
Bloomsbury Australia has acquired the first novel by an Australian to be published under its ebook-only Bloomsbury Spark imprint. Vanessa Barnevald’s young adult novel This is Your Afterlife is the...

Sparrow to leave ‘Overland’

Monday, 29 September 2014
Literary journal Overland has announced that editor Jeff Sparrow will leave the role at the end of 2014. As previously reported by Books+Publishing, Sparrow was recently awarded a Sidney Myer...

City of Sydney increases SWF sponsorship

Monday, 29 September 2014
The City of Sydney has increased its funding to the Sydney Writers’ Festival.The city will provide $360,000 in cash and $110,000 in in-kind support each year for the next three years....

‘Overland’ Story Wine Prize winner announced

Friday, 26 September 2014
The winner of Overland’s inaugural Story Wine Prize has been announced. ‘That inward eye’ by Leah Swann has won the $3000 prize and will be published on the label of a Story...

New name for Tasmania’s Ten Days on the Island festival

Friday, 26 September 2014
Tasmania’s biennial arts festival Ten Days on the Island has been renamed the Tasmanian International Arts Festival.Artistic director David Malacari told the ABC that the new name better describes the...

Patterson gives grants to 73 UK indie bookstores

Friday, 26 September 2014
More than £130,000 (A$241,280) has been allocated to 73 independent bookshops in the UK and Ireland in the first round of UK grants funded by author James Patterson, reports the...

Amazon launches Kindle Unlimited in the UK

Thursday, 25 September 2014
Two months after Amazon launched its ebook subscription service Kindle Unlimited in the US, the service has arrived in the UK. According to the Bookseller, none of the UK’s major...

Amazon planning crowd-sourced publishing program

Wednesday, 24 September 2014
Amazon is planning to launch a crowd-sourced publishing program, reports the Bookseller. The retailer has told authors who self-publish using Kindle Direct Publishing that they will be invited to submit...

CHASS Australia Book Prize 2014 shortlist announced

Wednesday, 24 September 2014
The Council for the Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences (CHASS) has announced the 2014 Australia Book Prize shortlist. The prize, worth $3500, is part of the CHASS Australia Prizes program,...

Penguin Random House Canada distribution to merge

Wednesday, 24 September 2014
Distribution for Penguin Canada books will move from Pearson Canada’s warehouse in Newmarket, Ontario, to Random House’s Canada warehouses, reports Publishers Weekly. The move is expected to take place in...

ALIA releases report into education and employment trends

Wednesday, 24 September 2014
The Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA) released its first public report into education and employment trends in the library sector at its national conference on 18 September. The ALIA...

Over 700 attend ALIA National Conference 

Wednesday, 24 September 2014
More than 700 library professionals attended this year’s Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA) national conference, which was held in Melbourne from 15 to 19 September.ALIA CEO Sue McKerracher told...

International library news

Wednesday, 24 September 2014
EU rules on the right of libraries to digitise books for ‘reading points’The European Union’s Court of Justice has ruled that ‘Member States may authorise libraries to digitise, even without...

Shaun Tan exhibition to travel to regional areas 

Wednesday, 24 September 2014
An exhibition based on Shaun Tan’s book The Lost Thing (Hachette) will tour nine regional centres from 2015 to 2017, after the Australia Council for the Arts awarded the Australian...

Tulba wins $20,000 2014 Kathleen Mitchell Award

Wednesday, 24 September 2014
Majok Tulba has been announced as the winner of this year’s Kathleen Mitchell Award for young novelists.Tulba won the $20,000 award for his debut novel Beneath the Darkening Sky (Hamish...

Quote of the week

Wednesday, 24 September 2014
‘I welcome a review of Australia’s competition policies but hope that international postage and GST on imports are given as much weight, if not more, than the removal of import...

Penguin Random House NZ announces new leadership team 

Wednesday, 24 September 2014
Penguin Random House New Zealand has announced a number of appointments to its leadership team.Carrie Welch, general manger of sales and business development at Penguin NZ, will take on the...

WA Premier’s Book Awards 2014 winners announced

Tuesday, 23 September 2014
The winners of this year’s Western Australian Premier’s Book Awards were announced by Premier Colin Barnett on 23 September.Richard Flanagan was awarded the $25,000 Premier’s Prize for Narrow Road to...

Canadian ebook sales plateau

Tuesday, 23 September 2014
In Canada, digital publisher BookNet has ‘paused’ its consumer survey on ereading because of a plateau in ebook sales, reports Publishers Weekly. ‘The numbers we’re hearing for ebook unit sales is...