Tuesday, 1 September 2009
New Zealand author Eleanor Catton is on the longlist for the Guardian First Book Award, worth £10,000 (A$19,300), for The Rehearsal (Granta). The award honours debut books of all genres...

Tuesday, 1 September 2009
The winners of the 2009 Ned Kelly Awards were announced on Friday 28 August, during the Melbourne Writers Festival. Best first fiction went to Nick Gadd for Ghostlines (Scribe). Best...

Tuesday, 1 September 2009
Crime writer, forensic anthropologist and academic Kathy Reichs' 206 Bones comes number one this week in the Highest New Entries chart. The White Queen by Philippa Gregory comes in at...

Tuesday, 1 September 2009
Trade events coming up over the next week, as shown on our events calendar, include: Indigenous Literacy Day, 2 SeptemberDigital Publishing Forum--workshop, forum and awards, Auckland, 3 SeptemberBeijing International Book...

Tuesday, 1 September 2009
Thomas Keneally's fervour for Australian history has resulted in what will be a three-volume series entitled 'Australians'. The first volume Australians: Origins to Eureka has just hit bookshop shelves and,...

Tuesday, 1 September 2009
Author and journalist Dominick Dunne has died, aged 83. His books include, An Inconvenient Woman and A Season in Purgatory. Too Much Money: A Novel, is scheduled for publication in...

Tuesday, 1 September 2009
Author and illustrator Karla Kuskin has died, aged 77. She wrote many books for children including Soap Soup; In the Middle of the Trees and  Moon, Have You Met My...

Tuesday, 1 September 2009
Senator Ted Kennedy has died, aged 77. As well as his forthcoming memoir True Compass, Kennedy wrote various other titles including Decisions for a Decade: Policies and Programs for the...

Tuesday, 1 September 2009
Author and editor Fred Brenchley has died, aged 67. One of his best known books was Stoker's Submarine.

Tuesday, 1 September 2009
Sheila Lukins, co-author of The Silver Palate Cookbook and The New Basics Cookbook has died, aged 66.

Tuesday, 1 September 2009
Authors on tour from September to November: September Jeb Brugmann, UQP, (Welcome to the Urban Revolution) Joris Luyendijk, Scribe (Fit to Print) Phillip Karl, Cadmos (Twisted Truths of Modern Dressage)...

Tuesday, 25 August 2009
The Australian Publishers Association (APA) and Australian Booksellers Association (ABA) are continuing their lobbying efforts in Canberra ahead of an expected Cabinet decision on the Productivity Commission's recommendations within coming...

Tuesday, 25 August 2009
As reported in a WBN Special Bulletin last Friday, the Melbourne Writers Festival (MWF) added to its line-up a special debate on the Productivity Commission report and on the pros...

Tuesday, 25 August 2009
Books Alive 2009 starts today, 26 August, and runs to 30 September. A free guide, 50 Books You Can't Put Down, has been distributed to booksellers nationwide. Cheryl Akle, Books...

Tuesday, 25 August 2009
Readings' 40th anniversary was celebrated on Monday night at Experimedia in the State Library of Victoria. Alongside the celebrations, Readings has launched an anthology--Readings and Writings: 40 Years in Books--a collection of...

Tuesday, 25 August 2009
Among the many stories added to our Around the World blog in the past week:Bologna dates changeSony teams with US indies; announces Epub support with new wireless E-readerGoogle settlement: privacy...

Tuesday, 25 August 2009
The New Zealand Society of Authors (PEN NZ Inc.) is demanding action from the NZ government on the Google Book Settlement as the 4 September deadline for rightsholders to ‘opt...

Tuesday, 25 August 2009
‘It's a nonsense to use the music industry as a shining example of what happens if you introduce parallel imports. Oh, and a warning if you think subsidies will help:...

Tuesday, 25 August 2009
Earth, published by Millenium House, has been named the world's most detailed atlas, winning both the Best Book Based Award and the Best Overall Map Product (the Graham Stanton Award),...

Tuesday, 25 August 2009
The winners of the 9th annual Sisters in Crime Davitt Awards have been announced. The Davitt Awards are for the best crime novels and true crime books by Australian women,...

Tuesday, 25 August 2009
Melbourne bookseller Leanne Hall has won the 2009 Text Prize for Young Adult and Children's Writing, with her debut novel This is Shyness, announced on Sunday at the Melbourne Writers...

Tuesday, 25 August 2009
Steven Amsterdam was announced as the overall winner of the 36th Age Book of the Year Award at the opening of the Melbourne Writers Festival on Friday night, for Things...

Tuesday, 25 August 2009
The winners of this year's Children's Book Council of Australia (CBCA) awards have been announced. The winning and honour books are: Book of the Year: Older Readers Tales from Outer...

Tuesday, 25 August 2009
The ‘red edged’ version of the ever-popular Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer has been released, and that, it seems, is enough reason to propel it to the top of both...

Tuesday, 25 August 2009
Rob McMenemy, senior vice president of Egmont UK, USA and Hardie Grant Egmont (HGE) in Australia, and member of the HGE board, has been appointed as the new regional manager...

Tuesday, 25 August 2009
Trade events coming up over the next week, as shown on our events calendar, include: CBCA Book Week, 22-28 AugustLu Rees Archives of Australian Children's Literature exhibition, Canberra, 26-27 AugustEdinburgh...

Tuesday, 25 August 2009
A plethora of Irvine Welsh's old tales--from magazines, articles, out-of-print anthologies and the like--have been brought together to make a new book of old stories, entitled Reheated Cabbage. All manner...

Tuesday, 25 August 2009
The longlist for the third annual Inky Awards has been announced by the State Library of Victoria's Centre for Youth Literature, via its youth reading website insideadog.com.au. The Inkys are Australia's...