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Forster joins Curtis Brown 

Tuesday, 14 November 2006
Clare Forster, previously publisher--books for adults at Penguin, has joined Curtis Brown, Australia's largest literary agency. The agency, which is based in Sydney, described Forster as ‘one of the most...

‘Asbestos House’ wins Westfield/Waverly Library award 

Tuesday, 14 November 2006
Gideon Haigh's Asbestos House (Scribe) is the winning title in this year's Westfield/Waverly Library award for literature, worth $15,000, which recognises ‘research undertaken for the outstanding works by Australian writers...

Henderson to leave Random House 

Tuesday, 14 November 2006
Fiona Henderson, head of publishing for the Bantam and Doubleday imprints at Random House, has announced her resignation. As reported in WBN last week, Jane Palfreyman, executive publisher at Random...

Temple wins Colin Roderick Award 

Tuesday, 14 November 2006
Peter Temple's crime novel The Broken Shore (Text) has been named the winner of the 2006 Colin Roderick Award for the best Australian book of the year, winning the author...

Marsden sells two million Tomorrows 

Tuesday, 14 November 2006
Publisher Pan Macmillan yesterday presented author John Marsden with an award in recognition of the fact that his ‘Tomorrow' series has now sold two million copies and become the highest...

2006 YABBAs announced 

Tuesday, 14 November 2006
The winning titles in this year's YABBAs (Young  Australian Best Book Awards) were announced this morning. Dougal the Garage Dump Bear (Matt Dray, Penguin) was named best picture book; Selby's...

Bestsellers this week 

Tuesday, 14 November 2006
Two new sequels to those popular Australian dieting and cleaning bibles flank this week's top 10. At number one is The CSIRO Total Wellbeing Diet Book 2; at 10 is...

Forthcoming events 

Tuesday, 14 November 2006
Trade events coming up over the next week, as shown on our events calendar, include: the Asialink Yogyakarta Fundraiser on 16 November; the free-trade seminar for Australian businesses (Melbourne session)...

RiP Nick Vine Hall 

Tuesday, 14 November 2006
Pat Woolley from Wild & Woolley writes: Nick Vine Hall, the doyen of family history researchers in Australia, has died of cancer, aged 62. Among his 35 books, Tracing Your...

RiP Liz (Betty) Collins 

Tuesday, 14 November 2006
Australian journalist and author Liz Collins has died at the age of 85. Her early published work includes the novels The Second Step and The Copper Crucible. Later in her...

RiP Lucilla Andrews 

Tuesday, 14 November 2006
British author Lucilla Andrews, best known for her ‘hospital fiction' romances (also published under the pseudonyms Diana Gordon and Joanna Marcus), has died of lung cancer at the age of...

RiP Ernestine Carey 

Tuesday, 14 November 2006
Ernestine Carey, co-author of the bestselling memoir Cheaper by the Dozen (various imprints), among other books, has died at the age of 98.

Aussie and NZ authors make IMPAC Award longlist 

Tuesday, 14 November 2006
A number of books by Australian and New Zealand authors have been included in the 138-title longlist for the 2007 IMPAC Dublin Literary Award.Geraldine Brooks (March, HarperCollins), Brian Castro (The...

Macquarie Dictionary cuts ties with Macquarie University 

Tuesday, 14 November 2006
The Macquarie Dictionary and Macquarie Library, the Macmillan-owned company that publishes it, have left Macquarie University after more than 25 years and moved to the University of Sydney.According to recent...

Kiwi authors in France 

Tuesday, 14 November 2006
French literary festival Les Belles Étrangères is focusing on New Zealand this year. The 2006 festival, which runs from 13 to 26 November, will include the participation of 12 New...

Fitzpatrick prize for Spinifex author 

Tuesday, 14 November 2006
Juggling Truths by Unity Dow (Spinifex) has been named runner-up in South Africa's Percy FitzPatrick Award.‘This is the fourth international award our authors have had in the last six months,'...

Patrick White award to Lurie 

Tuesday, 14 November 2006
Morris Lurie has been announced as the recipient of the 2006 Patrick White Award.The award, which is worth $25,000, is presented each year to a writer whose work the award...

Walkley finalists 

Tuesday, 14 November 2006
The finalists for this year’s Walkley Award for Best Nonfiction Book were announced last week. The three finalists are Neil Chenoweth for Packer’s Lunch (Allen & Unwin), Tim Flannery for...

Tiffany makes Guardian first book award shortlist 

Tuesday, 14 November 2006
Carrie Tiffany's Everyman's Rules for Scientific Living (Picador) is one of five books in the running for the UK's Guardian First Book Award.The award, worth £10,000 (A$24,000) was established in...

Another award for Flannery 

Tuesday, 14 November 2006
In the US, Tim Flannery has just been announced as the winner of the 2006 Lannan Literary Award for Nonfiction, in recognition of his ‘significant contributions to English-language literature.'For more...

Media Extra: What’s hot 

Sunday, 12 November 2006
Another Aussie expat dominated the book media this weekend on the back of a newly released memoir. Art critic and author Robert Hughes notched up five mentions across radio and print...

Around the World: Round-up 

Tuesday, 7 November 2006
In news from our Around the World blog this week Martina Cole helps the UK market to its biggest week this year; reports O J Simpson is set to publish...

Campion Ed buys Spectrum Bookshop 

Tuesday, 7 November 2006
Warren Stokes, owner of Spectrum Bookshop, said he was ‘very, very happy' with the deal that would see his business acquired by Campion Education. ‘I've worked here for 27 years...

Booksellers expect strong Christmas despite rate rise 

Tuesday, 7 November 2006
Derek Dryden, president of the Australian Booksellers Association (ABA), is expecting a ‘fantastic Christmas' for booksellers, despite today's decision by the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) to increase interest rates...

Industry bodies, Google, concerned about copyright amendments 

Tuesday, 7 November 2006
The Australian Booksellers Association (ABA), Australian Publishers Association (APA) and Australian Society of Authors (ASA) have issued a joint statement expressing concern at the ‘peremptory treatment of issues of vital...

Thomson Learning Australia unaffected by sale 

Tuesday, 7 November 2006
Following last week's report that the Thomson Corporation, US-based parent company of Thomson Learning, had arranged to sell NETg, the corporate education and training arm of its Thomson Learning division,...

Palfreyman to leave Random 

Tuesday, 7 November 2006
Jane Palfreyman has resigned from her position of executive publisher at Random House, effective 17 November. Palfreyman, who has held various senior publishing roles at the company over the past...

Removal of five-cent piece affects NZ booksellers 

Tuesday, 7 November 2006
Following the recent removal of the five-cent piece from New Zealand currency, Booksellers New Zealand has raised the concern of its members regarding five-cent price-points with magazine distributors Gordon & Gotch,...

New digital book standard 

Tuesday, 7 November 2006
The International Digital Publishing Forum (IDPF), the standards and trade organisation for digital publishing formerly known as Open eBook Forum, has announced the release of a new technical standard ‘to...