Thursday, 23 November 2006
If you haven't yet discovered all the useful new features of the online WBN, why not grab hold of a FREE copy of Weekly Book Newsletter for Dummies?Written by the...

Tuesday, 21 November 2006
It's a case of too many memoirs, too few titles. This week there are two books in the top 10 bestsellers that share the same title. Peter Cosgrove's My Story...

Tuesday, 21 November 2006
In news from our Around the World blog this week: a new audiobook device with built in player due in the UK in April; Howard Davies named chair of judges...

Tuesday, 21 November 2006
The 2007 Gourmand world cookbook awards will be held next year in Beijing from 4 April to 8 April. The five-day event includes cookbook exhibitions, conferences and masterclasses, with the...

Tuesday, 21 November 2006
A group of investors led by Ripplewood Holdings has agreed to acquire Reader's Digest (RDA), subject to shareholder approval, in a sale expected to close in the first quarter of...

Tuesday, 21 November 2006
As reported in last week's WBN, the Australia Council's literature board has announced a total of $2.1 million worth of grants to writers around Australia and a further $980,000 to...

Tuesday, 21 November 2006
As widely reported in the mainstream media, Rupert Murdoch, whose News Corp media company owns HarperCollins, has announced the cancellation of plans to publish If I Did It, a book...

Tuesday, 21 November 2006
Nicholas Marland has been named the winner in the ‘words' category of this year's Qantas Spirit of Youth Awards (SOYAs). Marland, whose ‘darkly humorous' writing has been published in Voiceworks...

Tuesday, 21 November 2006
As the festive season approaches, the Events Calendar is rapidly filling up with book festivals, book launches and, of course, Christmas parties. Events coming up over the next week include:...

Tuesday, 21 November 2006
Footprint Books has acquired fellow distributor Astam Books. From 7 December 2006, most publishers’ lists that were available from Astam Books will be distributed by Footprint Books, including MIT Press,...

Tuesday, 21 November 2006
Publishers/distributors are asked to advise WBN of their Christmas closing dates by 4 December. A full list will appear once only in WBN on 6 December, listing each company's last...

Tuesday, 21 November 2006
American economist and Nobel Prize-winner Milton Friedman has died of heart failure at the age of 94. The best known of Friedman's many published works are Capitalism and Freedom (University...

Tuesday, 21 November 2006
Children's book author and illustrator Ursula Moray Williams has died at the age of 95. Williams was best known for her classic children's book Adventures of the Little Wooden Horse...

Tuesday, 21 November 2006
BOOKSELLER+PUBLISHER magazine has commenced work on a special report into technology and innovation in the book industry, to be published in March 2007.The report will focus on how technology can...

Monday, 20 November 2006
Your Summer Holiday - Booked!, a summer fiction promotional sampler, will be distributed to participating booksellers next week.Produced by BOOKSELLER+PUBLISHER magazine and designed by award-winning designer Ellie Exarchos, the 16-page colour...

Monday, 20 November 2006
Anthologist John Leonard (who edited Seven Centuries of Poetry in English; Australian Verse, an Oxford Anthology; New Music; and Contemporary Australian Poetry) has announced the establishment of the John Leonard...

Monday, 20 November 2006
Copyright Agency Limited (CAL) has announced the launch of digical, a forum for online discussion about key issues on copyright issues for writers, publishers and all rightsholders.‘digical comes at a...

Sunday, 19 November 2006
As reported in a WBN Special Bulletin on Monday, John Wiley & Sons has entered into a ‘definitive agreement' to buy Blackwell Publishing, at a cost of £572 million (A$1.35...

Wednesday, 15 November 2006
The inaugural $60,000 Melbourne Prize for Literature, the most valuable literary award in Australia, was awarded to Helen Garner at a well-attended ceremony at Melbourne's Federation Square last week.The prize, which...

Tuesday, 14 November 2006
In news from our Around the World blog this week: the winner of Canada's prestigious Giller Prize; a 'challenging' year for UK indie (and Text Publishing's partner) Cannongate; HarperCollins figures...

Tuesday, 14 November 2006
Writers Peter Temple (The Broken Shore, Text) and Laurie Duggan (The Passenger, UQP) have been named as the recipients of this year's Australia Council Fellowship awards--each worth $90,000--in the latest...

Tuesday, 14 November 2006
The Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee on the Copyright Amendment Bill has released its report. A link to the report can be found here. Ian McDonald, senior legal officer...

Tuesday, 14 November 2006
The Australian Society of Authors (ASA) has raised concerns that publishers are claiming an unfair cut of copyright earnings, in the wake of significant increases in copying, scanning and downloading...

Tuesday, 14 November 2006
The new copyright exceptions proposed by the government were the topic of discussion at Copyright Society function held on 7 November in Sydney, where speakers Libby Baulch, executive officer of...