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Read the latest Publishers Weekly 

Wednesday, 17 December 2025
Books+Publishing is partnering with US trade news magazine Publishers Weekly to provide our subscribers with exclusive access to the weekly digital edition of PW magazine. View the edition here.

BookPeople invites booksellers to Midsumma Pride March

Friday, 12 December 2025
BookPeople, the Australian Booksellers Association, has invited booksellers, publishers and book industry friends to march alongside members of the association at Midsumma Pride March in Melbourne on 1 February 2026....

GenreCon 2026 announces new venue

Friday, 12 December 2025
The Queensland Writers Centre (QWC) has announced that next year’s GenreCon, the QWC’s annual conference for genre writers, will be held at Brisbane’s Thomas Dixon Centre. QWC said, “To meet...

Poetry in Translation Prize shortlist announced

An image of Fitzcarraldo Editions, Giramondo and New Directions logos. Friday, 12 December 2025
Publishers Fitzcarraldo Editions, Giramondo and New Directions have announced the shortlist for the inaugural Poetry in Translation Prize. Chosen from 259 submissions in more than 55 languages, the shortlisted titles...

Magabala acquires Liddle’s “gritty” poetry debut

Friday, 12 December 2025
Magabala has acquired world rights to the experimental poetry collection Damn Good Television by debut Jabirr Jabirr author and musician Loki Liddle. Described as “gritty, bloodsoaked and unsentimental”, Liddle’s debut...

Vale Madeleine Wickham (Sophie Kinsella)

Sophie Kinsella Friday, 12 December 2025
UK author Madeleine Wickham, known by her pen name Sophie Kinsella, has died, aged 55. Penguin Random House writes: Madeleine, known to everyone as Maddy, wrote her first novel under...

2026 Faber Writing Scholarships announced

Photos of seven authors, whose names are given in caption below. Thursday, 11 December 2025
The Faber Writing Academy (FWA) has named the recipients of the 2026 Faber Writing Scholarships. The recipients are: Paff Evara (to attend Writing a Creative Nonfiction), a Black lesbian writer...

Affirm acquires Lim’s new novel

Photo of Rebecca Lim. Thursday, 11 December 2025
Affirm Press has acquired world rights to Rebecca Lim’s latest novel, The Graduate, via Annabel Barker Agency. The novel follows graduate Fei Fei Chou, a quiet misfit in a prestigious...

Rights round-up 

Wednesday, 10 December 2025
Sales Fiction HarperCollins Australia has sold world (ex ANZ) rights to Lonely Mouth (Jacqueline Maley), On the Edge (Kate Horan) and The Love Contract (Steph Vizard). The company has also sold...

UQP acquires Wyld’s third novel

Photo of KA Ren Wyld. Wednesday, 10 December 2025
University of Queensland Press (UQP) has acquired world rights to KA Ren Wyld’s new novel, Whichway Shimmering Dust. This multi-generational novel follows an Aboriginal girl and a sentient willy-willy who...

Arts Queensland Poetry Award winners announced

Queensland Writers Centre logo Wednesday, 10 December 2025
The Queensland Writers Centre (QWC) has announced the winners of this year’s Arts Queensland Poetry Awards. The winners in each category are: Oodgeroo Noonuccal Prize for Indigenous Poetry Winner ($3500...

A&U acquires Silvey and Acton’s latest Runt story

Photo of Craig Silvey and Sara Acton. Wednesday, 10 December 2025
Allen & Unwin (A&U) has acquired ANZ rights to Craig Silvey and Sara Acton’s Annie and Runt from Lesley Thorne at Aitken Alexander Associates and Margaret Connolly at Margaret Connolly &...

Read the latest Publishers Weekly 

Wednesday, 10 December 2025
Books+Publishing is partnering with US trade news magazine Publishers Weekly to provide our subscribers with exclusive access to the weekly digital edition of PW magazine. View the edition here.

Meltdown (Lauren Novak, HarperCollins) 

Tuesday, 9 December 2025
Meltdown is a heavily researched yet highly accessible examination of “mum rage”, the gendered term the book uses to describe anger experienced in motherhood, exploring why it happens and how...

Red Star Rebels (Amie Kaufman, A&U Children’s) 

Tuesday, 9 December 2025
Amie Kaufman is a well-known name in young adult speculative fiction, particularly for the bestselling Starbound and Illuminae Files series (co-authored with Megan Spooner and Jay Kristoff respectively). Red Star...

Romeo v Juliet (RA Spratt, Penguin) 

Tuesday, 9 December 2025
Bestselling author RA Spratt’s Romeo v Juliet is a light-hearted time-travelling comedy that will appeal to older middle-grade and younger YA audiences aged 12 and up. When 16-year-old Selby, a...

My Brother Otto (Ingrid Laguna, Text) 

My Brother Otto Tuesday, 9 December 2025
In My Brother Otto, Ingrid Laguna (Edie Tells a Lie) explores the emotional upheaval of welcoming and losing a new sibling. Quinn is 11 years old and happy being an...

Two Tongues (Maria van Neerven, UQP) 

Tuesday, 9 December 2025
Two Tongues is a memoir of language and memory told through poetry. Mununjali woman from the Yugambeh nation Maria van Neerven structures the collection in three chronological parts, tracing her...

Bugger (Michael Mohammed Ahmad, Hachette) 

The cover of "Bugger" by Michael Mohammed Ahmad. Tuesday, 9 December 2025
Bugger by Michael Mohammed Ahmad (The Lebs, The Tribe) is a heart-wrenching investigation into child sex abuse. Its protagonist, Hamoodi, is an isolated 10-year-old who adores Power Rangers and lives...

The Sisterhood Rules (Kathy Lette, Aria) 

The cover of "The Sisterhood Rules" by Kathy Lette. Tuesday, 9 December 2025
Bawdy, cheeky and resoundingly “punny”, Kathy Lette’s latest romp, The Sisterhood Rules, is 100% on brand. Twin sisters Isabel and Verity have been estranged for five years, ever since Verity...

A&U acquires third Rose McHugh Mystery novel

Joan Sauers Tuesday, 9 December 2025
Allen & Unwin (A&U) has acquired world rights to Murder at Thornwood Park, the third book in Joan Sauers’s Rose McHugh Mystery series. Murder at Thornwood Park is “for readers who...

Indie Book Awards 2026 longlists announced

Tuesday, 9 December 2025
The longlist for the 2026 Indie Book Awards has been announced. The longlisted titles in each category are: Fiction Lyrebird (Jane Caro, A&U) Gravity Let Me Go (Trent Dalton, Fourth...

Peter Porter Poetry Prize 2026 longlist announced

ABR logo Tuesday, 9 December 2025
Australian Book Review (ABR) has announced the longlist for the 2026 Peter Porter Poetry Prize. The longlisted poets are: J Andros (United States) Jamil Badi (Vic.) Daragh Byrne (NSW) Elena Croitoru-Reed...

Bakers Lane acquires Coomer’s “Ravensbourne”

Head and shoulders photo of Amy Coomer. Tuesday, 9 December 2025
Bakers Lane Books has acquired world rights to Ravensbourne, a young adult novel by Amy Coomer, in a deal brokered by agent Belinda Bolliger. Ravensbourne follows 17-year-old Maisie McDevitt as...

UWAP acquires McWilliams’s “Bandoola”

Photo of author Beverley McWilliams. Monday, 8 December 2025
UWA Publishing (UWAP) has acquired world rights to Bandoola, a middle-grade historical fiction novel by Beverley McWilliams, following an Australian Society of Authors’ Virtual Literary Speed Dating event in March...