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Mary Gilmore Award winner announced 

Thursday, 10 July 2014
Even in the Dark by Rose Lucas (UWA Publishing) has won the Mary Gilmore award for poetry.The biennial award, worth $500, recognises a first book of poetry published in the...

New office, staff changes at Scribe UK 

Wednesday, 9 July 2014
Scribe has relocated its UK office and announced several staff changes.The UK office, which opened in early 2013, is now located at 2 John Street in Clerkenwell in a ‘listed...

HarperCollins launches direct-to-consumer website

Wednesday, 9 July 2014
In the US, HarperCollins has launched a new website with direct-to-consumer sales of print books, ebooks and audiobooks, reports the Publishers Weekly. The new design will be rolled out to HarperCollins’...

New Harry Potter story published on Pottermore

Wednesday, 9 July 2014
A new Harry Potter story published on the Pottermore website offers a glimpse into the lives of 30-something Harry Potter and his friends, reports the Bookseller. The 1500-word story was...

Pick-a-WooWoo wins small business award 

Wednesday, 9 July 2014
WA-based Pick-a-WooWoo Publishing has won the South West Small Business of the Year Award for its excellence in the field of self-publishing, reports the West Australian. Founder and director Julie-Ann...

Smashwords releases 2014 ebook sales survey

Wednesday, 9 July 2014
Self-publishing platform Smashwords has released its 2014 indie ebook sales survey based on the company’s sales data, reports Publishers Weekly. The survey reveals that readers prefer longer ebooks priced between US$2.99 (A$3.18)...

Quote of the week

Wednesday, 9 July 2014
‘Contemporary poetry—especially the Australian brand—is making a s-x-charged, sweary and confronting comeback thanks to a host of young poets intent on challenging the status quo’—Koren Helbig reports on the Australian...

Simmons joins ‘Books+Publishing’

Wednesday, 9 July 2014
Hilary Simmons has joined the team at Books+Publishing as assistant editor. Simmons is a graduate of professional writing and editing and a former bookseller. She has worked in an editorial...

Valerie Parv Award finalists announced 

Wednesday, 9 July 2014
The finalists for the 2014 Valarie Parv Award, presented by Romance Writers of Australia (RWA) for an unpublished manuscript, have been announced. This year’s finalists are: Rowena Candlish, Karina Coldrick,...

UK literary festival offers profit share to authors 

Tuesday, 8 July 2014
In the UK, the Chipping Norton Literary Festival has announced that it will split its profits with authors in lieu of paying appearance fees, reports the Bookseller. The festival, which...

SLV Creative Fellowships announced

Tuesday, 8 July 2014
The State Library of Victoria (SLV) has announced the recipients of its 2014-15 Creative Fellowships. Each of the creative fellowships is funded for three months with a grant of $12,500....

Stinson appointed lecturer at Newcastle Uni 

Tuesday, 8 July 2014
Author and academic Emmett Stinson has been appointed lecturer in English literature at the University of Newcastle. Stinson was previously lecturer in publishing and communications at the University of Melbourne. He is...

Black Inc. acquires first YA novel 

Tuesday, 8 July 2014
Black Inc. will publish its first YA novel in October.Nona and Me by Clare Atkins is the story of a friendship between Rosie, a white girl, and Nona, an Aboriginal...

SLQ announces Technology Trendsetter grants 

Tuesday, 8 July 2014
Fourteen Technology Trendsetter grants have been announced by the State Library of Queensland (SLQ) as part of the Online Public Access in Libraries (OPAL) program.The grants, worth $200,000 in total,...

International library news 

Tuesday, 8 July 2014
Above the Seas partners with Kenyan library service to build 13 new librariesAbove the Seas, an organisation that supports libraries in the developing world, is working with the Kenya National...

Bestsellers this week 

Monday, 7 July 2014
John Green’s The Fault in Our Stars (Penguin) is at the top of the bestsellers chart for the fourth week in a row, ahead of Minecraft: The Official Construction Handbook (4)...

Five Islands Press launches poetry prize 

Monday, 7 July 2014
Five Islands Press has launched the Ron Pretty Poetry Prize. Named after the Australian poet who founded Five Islands Press in 1986, the prize awards $5000 to a single poem...

Walton selected for Frankfurt Fellowship Program 

Monday, 7 July 2014
Zoe Walton, publisher of children’s and young adult books at Random House Australia, has been selected for the 2014 Frankfurt Fellowship Program, which this year focuses exclusively on those working...

Twitter experiments with buy buttons

Monday, 7 July 2014
Twitter has been experimenting with buy buttons on shared product webpages, reports Mashable. However, the company has not yet officially announced the new function, which would allow businesses to display a product, such...

Celebrate Reading conference announces author line-up 

Monday, 7 July 2014
The Celebrate Reading National Conference, which will be held at the Literature Centre in Fremantle, WA, from 31 October to 1 November, has announced its author line-up. Each year the conference alternates between children’s literature and YA literature,...

Frank O’Connor 2014 shortlist announced

Monday, 7 July 2014
The titles shortlisted for the 2014 Frank O’Connor International Short Story Award have been announced. The shortlisted titles are: Young Skins (Colin Barrett, Vintage Digital); All the Rage (A L...

Affirm, Writers Vic and RMIT launch new writing prize

Monday, 7 July 2014
Affirm Press, Writers Victoria and RMIT have announced a new prize for RMIT students.The WRAP Synopsis Prize is open to final-year students at RMIT undertaking either Professional Writing and Editing or the...

Wiley results: print only 29% of revenue 

Monday, 7 July 2014
Wiley Australia’s K-12 schools business recorded revenue of US$27.229 million (A$29.107 million) for the financial year ended 30 April.This was down three percent from $US28.081 million ($30.019 million) on the...

McBride wins Desmond Elliott Prize 2014

Friday, 4 July 2014
Irish author Eimear McBride’s A Girl is a Half-formed Thing (Text) has won the £10,000 (A$18,350) Desmond Elliott Prize 2014. Chair of judges Chris Cleave said the debut novel is...