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A&U acquires second Spencer novel 

Thursday, 10 October 2024
Allen & Unwin (A&U) has acquired ANZ rights to Broke Road, the second novel from Matthew Spencer, via Catherine Drayton at InkWell Management Literary Agency. Broke Road is set in the...

Australian Political Book of the Year Award 2024 longlist

Wednesday, 9 October 2024
The longlist for the 2024 Australian Political Book of the Year Award has been announced. The longlisted titles are: The Odd Couple: The Australia-America Relationship (Allan Behm, Upswell) Quarterly Essay...

Kitching, Pickens shortlisted in Laurel Prize

Wednesday, 9 October 2024
Aotearoa New Zealand poets Megan Kitching and Robyn Maree Pickens are among those shortlisted for the annual UK nature and environmental poetry award, the Laurel Prize. The shortlisted titles are:...

HarperCollins acquires Ablett memoir 

Photograph of Jordan Ablett Wednesday, 9 October 2024
HarperCollins has acquired world rights to ‘inspirational memoir’ One Day at a Time by Jordan Ablett. ‘On a quiet Melbourne afternoon in the eerie early days of the pandemic, young...

US audiobook fiction up 61.8% in July

Wednesday, 9 October 2024
In the US, Publishers Weekly (PW) reports that digital audio sales jumped significantly in the month of July, compared to the same time the previous year, based on total sales...

Affirm acquires Brownlee rom-com 

Wednesday, 9 October 2024
Affirm Press has acquired ANZ rights to Victoria Brownlee’s foodie rom-com novel, Eat Your Heart Out, via Linwood Messina Literary Agency. Eat Your Heart Out follows six competing food writers...

Lewis to leave Hardie Grant 

Wednesday, 9 October 2024
Hardie Grant group director, people and culture Troy Lewis is leaving Hardie Grant after seven years to explore other opportunities. Having joined as maternity cover for then Hardie Grant Books...

Dymocks: Changes to website, loyalty program and flagship store 

Tuesday, 8 October 2024
Dymocks will this week roll out ‘a multimillion-dollar new website project’ that will provide ‘stronger search capabilities, a more streamlined check-out process, more delivery options and personalised recommendations,’ reports the...

UK summer paperback fiction sales up 10%

Tuesday, 8 October 2024
In the UK, paperback fiction sales for the 12 weeks from 30 June were up about 10% on the same period in 2023, reports the Bookseller. Bolstered by the success...

Derby wins 2024 CLNZ/NZSA Writers’ Award

Tuesday, 8 October 2024
Mark Derby has won the 2024 Copyright Licensing New Zealand (CLNZ) and the New Zealand Society of Authors (NZSA) Te Puni Kaituhi O Aotearoa (PEN NZ Inc) Writers’ Award, worth...

Booksellers Aotearoa NZ launches buying group 

Tuesday, 8 October 2024
Booksellers Aotearoa New Zealand is offering members access to a new service—a book buying group. Beginning with 26 members, the buying group provides access to an online ordering portal, which...

Shawline enters liquidation 

Monday, 7 October 2024
Shawline Publishing, which recently rebranded as New Found Books, has entered liquidation. At a general meeting of the members of the company on 3 October, it was resolved that the...

Rollback on diverse publishing ‘breathtakingly swift’

Monday, 7 October 2024
Storymix founder Jasmine Richards told the Bookseller’s Children’s Conference in a keynote in the UK on 30 September that the championing of diverse stories in publishing amid the Black Lives Matter...

Hachette acquires Harry middle-grade verse novel 

Photograph of Pip Harry Monday, 7 October 2024
Hachette Australia has acquired ANZ rights to Pip Harry’s middle-grade verse novel Drift, via agent Benython Oldfield at Zeitgeist Agency. According to the author, Drift tells the story of Nate and...

HarperCollins acquires three Ringland books 

Photograph of Holly Ringland Monday, 7 October 2024
HarperCollins Australia has acquired ANZ rights to three new books by Holly Ringland, via Benython Oldfield at Zeitgeist Agency. The first book scheduled for release under the deal is a...

Smith to join Wheeler Centre as head of programming 

Gene Smith, Credit Leah Jing McIntosh Thursday, 3 October 2024
The Wheeler Centre (TWC) has announced the appointment of Gene Smith as head of programming ‘following an extensive search’. Smith, who was most recently head of programming of the Emirates...

Untapped releases findings report 

Thursday, 3 October 2024
Untapped: The Australian Literary Heritage Project has released a new report on project findings. Titled Untapped Potential: Results from the Australian Literary Heritage Project and written by project members Paul...

A&U acquires Gorry memoir 

Thursday, 3 October 2024
Allen & Unwin (A&U) has acquired world rights to Katrina Gorry: A Matildas Hero’s Story of Football, Motherhood and Breaking Down Barriers, written by Katrina Gorry with Robert Wainwright, in...

Goldsmiths Prize 2024 shortlist announced

Thursday, 3 October 2024
In the UK, the shortlist for the 2024 Goldsmiths Prize, worth £10,000 (A$19,268), has been announced. The shortlisted novels are: All My Precious Madness (Mark Bowles, Galley Beggar Press) Tell...

Booktopia to build podcast studio, loyalty program 

Booktopia logo Wednesday, 2 October 2024
Booktopia is building a podcast studio to create ‘exclusive audio content’ for its customers, alongside a loyalty program, reports the Australian. New owner Shant Kradjian told the masthead that the...

Hardie Grant launches Figment imprint 

Wednesday, 2 October 2024
Hardie Grant is launching Figment—a new, dedicated graphic novel imprint, which will begin publishing in 2025. One of the first graphic novel imprints in Australian trade publishing, Figment will be led...

ARA Historical Novel Prize shortlists announced

Wednesday, 2 October 2024
The Historical Novel Society Australasia (HNSA) has announced the shortlists for the 2024 ARA Historical Novel Prize. Shortlisted titles, selected from longlists announced last month, are: Adult The Unearthed (Lenny...

Paice wins ACU Poetry Prize

Wednesday, 2 October 2024
Kiama-based poet and author Christine Paice has won the $10,000 Australian Catholic University (ACU) Prize for Poetry for a poem about the death of her mother. The winning poem, ‘Gabriel...