News sections | Books+Publishing

The Wakes (Dianne Yarwood, Hachette)

Tuesday, 17 January 2023
When Clare’s husband tells her one night that he’s unhappy, she’s not sure what to do—but helping her new friend Louisa start a funeral catering business is the last thing...

Judgement Day (Mali Waugh, Macmillan)

Tuesday, 17 January 2023
Mali Waugh’s debut novel opens with an omniscient narrator observing that there were no signs or omens that family court judge Kaye Bailey was to be murdered that day. Due...

Affirm Press Mentorship Award 2023 winners announced

Tuesday, 17 January 2023
Affirm Press and Varuna, the National Writers’ House have announced the winners of the 2023 Affirm Press Mentorship Award. The winners are: Anne Andrew for ‘Blood Quilt’ Zoe Downing for...

Ultimo Press acquires Campbell debut in two-book deal

Monday, 16 January 2023
Ultimo Press has acquired world rights to Lowbridge, a debut crime novel by Canberra author Lucy Campbell, as part of a two-book deal, via Martin Shaw of Shaw Literary in...

Read the latest Publishers Weekly

Monday, 16 January 2023
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.

Foster’s ‘The Hush’ optioned for TV

Friday, 13 January 2023
Producer Clark Peterson and his company Story and Film, Inc. have optioned Sara Foster’s 2021 thriller The Hush (HarperCollins) for development as a television series, ‘in a competitive situation’, according...

Hazel Rowley fellowship 2023 shortlist announced

Friday, 13 January 2023
Writers Victoria has announced the shortlist for the 2023 Hazel Rowley Literary Fellowship, worth $20,000. The nine shortlisted writers and their projects are: Diane Bell (ACT), for ‘The Queen and...

Hachette acquires Adams debut fantasy ‘Tonight, I Burn’

Thursday, 12 January 2023
Hachette Australia has acquired ‘dark and decadent’ debut fantasy Tonight, I Burn by Aotearoa New Zealand-based author Katharine J Adams. Australian rights were acquired by Hachette Australia head of children’s...

Christmas Press acquires second Kelleher middle-grade novel

Thursday, 12 January 2023
Christmas press has acquired world rights to The Cave, an upper middle-grade novel by Victor Kelleher, via Margaret Connolly of Margaret Connolly and Associates. Described by Christmas Press publishing director...

Rights round-up

Wednesday, 11 January 2023
Sales Fiction Affirm Press has sold the following rights to The Bookbinder of Jericho (Pip Williams, April): North American (Ballantine), UK (Chatto), Slovak (Vydavatelstvo Motyl), Taiwanese (Business Weekly), Finnish (Into...

Vale Robert Adamson

Wednesday, 11 January 2023
Australian poet, publisher and editor Robert Adamson has died, aged 79. Born in Sydney and raised in Neutral Bay, NSW, Adamson was known as the ‘poet of the Hawkesbury River’...

Vale Wendy Jenkins

Wednesday, 11 January 2023
Long-time Fremantle Press editor, writer and manuscript assessor Wendy Jenkins has died, aged 70. Jenkins spent 40 years at Fremantle Press, formerly known as Fremantle Arts Centre Press, before retiring...

PMLAs 2022 winners, 2023 Indie Book Awards longlists, VPLAs shortlists

Wednesday, 11 January 2023
The winners of the 2022 Prime Minister’s Literary Awards were announced in December, along with the longlists for the 2023 Indie Book Awards and shortlists for the 2023 Victorian Premier’s...

Affirm acquires Lord debut YA spec-fic

Wednesday, 11 January 2023
Affirm Press has acquired world rights to Anomaly, the debut young adult novel by Sydney-based writer Emma Lord. Described by the publisher as Tomorrow When the War Began meets The...

Temperance (Carol Lefevre, Wakefield)

Tuesday, 10 January 2023
Award-winning author Carol Lefevre’s latest novel, Temperance, is the touching story of a woman attempting to make sense of a childhood memory. The book begins in 1963 in South Australia,...

Downtown Sewertown (Tull Suwannakit, Ford St)

Tuesday, 10 January 2023
CBCA notable author-illustrator Tull Suwannakit has crafted his picture book Downtown Sewertown to depict a refugee experience. It is also a cautionary tale about the environment. A mouse, fox, rabbit...

The Wish Sisters #1: The Party Wish (Allison Rushby, illus by Karen Blair, UQP)

Tuesday, 10 January 2023
The Party Wish is the first book in the middle-grade series The Wish Sisters by Allison Rushby. At just under 100 pages it follows Flick and baby Birdie, who discover...

Law to adapt Pung’s ‘One Hundred Days’ for screen

Tuesday, 10 January 2023
Black Inc. has sold screen rights to Alice Pung's novel One Hundred Days to author and screenwriter Michelle Law, in a deal made by Black Inc. international director Sophy Williams. Pung’s...

Mascara, Varuna residency winners announced

Tuesday, 10 January 2023
The winners of the inaugural Mascara Varuna Writers’ and Editors’ Residency have been announced. The successful writers and their manuscripts are: Timmah Ball, for experimental nonfiction collection 'Blue Print for Another World'...