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A&U acquires Urquhart ultramarathon story

Photograph of Donna Urquhart wearing fur hood with snow googles on her forehead Thursday, 2 April 2026
Allen & Unwin (A&U) has acquired world rights to ultramarathon runner Donna Urquhart’s as yet untitled story about her Guinness World Record Antarctic run in January 2024, written with journalist...

DANZ Children’s Book Award 2026 longlists announced

DANZ logo Thursday, 2 April 2026
The 2026 longlists for the Australian School Library Association (ASLA) DANZ (Diversity in Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand) Children’s Book Award have been announced. The longlisted titles in each category...

Words on the Waves 2026 program announced

Wednesday, 1 April 2026
The program for the Words on the Waves Writers Festival, to run from 27 May to 1 June on the NSW Central Coast, has been announced. The festival’s opening address,...

Rights round-up 

Wednesday, 1 April 2026
Sales Nonfiction Black Inc. has sold Polish rights to The Shortest History of China (Linda Jaivin) and The Shortest History of India (John Zubrzykc) to Copernicus; and Russian rights to...

Read the latest Publishers Weekly 

Wednesday, 1 April 2026
Books+Publishing partners with US trade news magazine Publishers Weekly to provide our subscribers with exclusive access to the weekly digital edition of PW magazine. View the current edition.

The Wild Unknown (Emily Gale, Text) 

Tuesday, 31 March 2026
In The Wild Unknown by Emily Gale (Outlaw Girls), the year is 2045, and Eddie’s world is completely run by technology. From household devices to classroom support systems and the...

A Single Witness (Christine Balint, Spinifex) 

Tuesday, 31 March 2026
Christine Balint's gripping historical fiction, A Single Witness, is based on the true story of Anna Maria Bonon, a girl from a poor 1750s Italian rural village who works in a...

The Secrets of Strangers (Jess Kitching, S&S) 

Tuesday, 31 March 2026
Despite brimming with suspects, lies and a cast of clichéd small-town characters, The Secrets of Strangers by Jess Kitching (The Life Experiment) is anything but a stereotypical “cosy crime” novel....

Every Wild Soul (Katherine Johnson, HarperCollins) 

Tuesday, 31 March 2026
Eco-literature has been booming in recent years, thanks largely to writers including James Bradley, Richard Flanagan, Tim Winton, Charlotte Wood and Donna Cameron. Winner of the inaugural Australian Fiction Prize,...

Newcastle Poetry Prize 2026 winners announced

Tuesday, 31 March 2026
The Hunter Writers’ Centre has announced the winners of the 2026 Newcastle Poetry Prize. The winners in each category are: First place ($15,000) Greg McLaren for “Late Sonnets” Second place ($3000)...

Nigerian publisher Masobe Books acquires 5 books by Bacon

Tuesday, 31 March 2026
Othuke Ominiabohs, founder and publisher of Masobe Books, has acquired Nigerian rights for five books by African-Australian author Eugen Bacon, in a deal brokered in partnership with Bacon’s US publisher...

Upswell acquires Nowra’s “My Grandfather’s Ghost”

Louis Nowra Tuesday, 31 March 2026
Upswell Publishing has acquired world rights to My Grandfather’s Ghost, a narrative nonfiction title by Louis Nowra, via Natalie Stewart, HLA Management. Describing My Grandfather’s Ghost, Nowra said, “On 12...

Aaron wins 2026 Waterstones Children’s Book Prize

Monday, 30 March 2026
In the UK, Huw Aaron has won the 2026 Waterstones Children’s Book Prize, worth £5000 (A$9657), for Sleep Tight, Disgusting Blob (Puffin), reports the Bookseller. Aaron’s is the second picture book...

S&S acquires Rogers’s “The Damned”

Photograph of Matt Rogers in front of a window, arms folded Monday, 30 March 2026
Simon & Schuster Australia (S&S) has acquired The Damned by Matt Rogers. Described as a “heart-pounding new thriller”, The Damned follows the author’s 2025 thriller The Forsaken and again features ex-assassin Logan...

Newcastle Writers Festival kicks off tomorrow

Newcastle Writers Festival Thursday, 26 March 2026
Newcastle Writers Festival (NWF) runs from 27 to 29 March, with an opening night event featuring London-based Australian author Kathy Lette, who will reflect on “her writing career, resilience, and...

ABA 2026 conference program announced

Thursday, 26 March 2026
The Australian Booksellers Association (ABA) has released the program for its 2026 conference, to run from 13 to 15 June at in Canberra at the QT hotel (pictured). Sessions at...

Bakers Lane acquires Jones’s “Swimming Backwards”

Photograph of Helen Jones Thursday, 26 March 2026
Bakers Lane Books has acquired world rights to the novel Swimming Backwards by Helen Jones. Swimming Backwards, which was shortlisted for the publisher’s inaugural Fearless Prize, tells the story of grieving...

Women’s Prize for Nonfiction 2026 shortlist announced

The 2026 Women’s Prize for Nonfiction Judging Panel Thursday, 26 March 2026
In the UK, the shortlist for the 2026 Women’s Prize for Nonfiction, worth  £30,000 (A$57,702) has been announced. The six shortlisted titles are: The Finest Hotel in Kabul: A People’s History...

Rights round-up 

Wednesday, 25 March 2026
Sales Fiction Jane Novak Literary Agency has sold various rights to Prima Facie (Suzie Miller, Picador), with Greek rights to Antipodes, Estonian rights to Hea Lugu and Japanese rights to...

Text acquires Szubanski memoir

Photograph of Magda Szubanski Wednesday, 25 March 2026
Text Publishing has announced the acquisition of the memoir I Can’t Tell You But I Will by Magda Szubanski. Szubanski is a comedian, actor and LGBT rights advocate. Her previous memoir,...

 

 

 

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