ARA Historical Novel Prize 2025 longlists announced
Wednesday, 3 September 2025
The Historical Novel Society Australasia (HNSA) has announced the longlists for the 2025 ARA Historical Novel Prize. Longlisted titles are: Adult category All the Bees in the Hollows (Lauren Keegan,...
Rights round-up
Wednesday, 3 September 2025
Sales Children’s/YA Penguin Random House has sold traditional Chinese rights to Boys Do Cry (Gus Worland) to ACME Publishing in Taiwan. Scholastic has sold simplified Chinese rights to The Wonderful...
Time to Write announces Paragraph Fellowship shortlist
Wednesday, 3 September 2025
Time to Write has announced the shortlist for the 2025 Paragraph Fellowship, worth $25,000. The six shortlisted writers and the working titles of their entries are: Alan Fyfe for ‘The...
Hill’s ‘The Desert Knows Her Name’ to be adapted for film
Wednesday, 3 September 2025
Playwright, filmmaker and Wotjobaluk and Ngarrindjeri woman Tracey Rigney has acquired film rights to The Desert Knows Her Name (Affirm, 2024) by Lia Hills. Rigney acquired the rights through her...
Last One Out (Jane Harper, Macmillan)
Tuesday, 2 September 2025
When 21-year-old Sam Crowley disappears in Carralon Ridge, his footprints are found scattered around three abandoned houses. Five years later, his mother, Ro, returns to town for the annual memorial...
Confetti and the Rainbow Garden (Shane Jenek, illus Dylan Finney, Pantera)
Tuesday, 2 September 2025
Confetti and the Rainbow Garden is a heartwarming debut picture book written by drag artist and LGBTQI+ advocate Shane Jenek, also known as Courtney Act, and illustrated by Dylan Finney....
Eggshell (Olivia De Zilva, Espresso)
Tuesday, 2 September 2025
Tender yet unsparing, Olivia De Zilva’s debut young adult novella, Eggshell, is a piercing meditation on adolescence, grief and belonging. Set in Adelaide’s working-class suburbs, Eggshell centres Kira, a mixed-race...
What Have They Done to Liza McLean? (Amy Doak, Penguin)
Tuesday, 2 September 2025
Set in an elite private school with dark secrets, What Have They Done to Liza McLean? is a fast-paced murder mystery by Amy Doak (Eleanor Jones Is Not a Murderer)....
Gravity Let Me Go (Trent Dalton, HarperCollins)
Tuesday, 2 September 2025
Gravity Let Me Go is Trent Dalton’s fourth work of fiction, and it doesn’t disappoint, once again drawing readers deep into a raw and chaotic world that is both unsettling...
The Rot (Evelyn Araluen, UQP)
Tuesday, 2 September 2025
In The Rot, Evelyn Araluen returns with a blistering follow-up to her Stella Prize–winning debut, Dropbear, proving once again her unmatched ability to splice lyrics, theory, memory and critique. This...
The Long Night (Christian White, Affirm)
Tuesday, 2 September 2025
Christian White’s The Long Night is a tense psychological thriller driven by a chilling kidnapping premise. Nineteen-year-old Em is abducted in a moment of vulnerability following what should have been...
The Australian Wars (ed by Rachel Perkins, Stephen Gapps, Mina Murray & Henry Reynolds, A&U)
Tuesday, 2 September 2025
The Australian Wars is a collection of essays edited by Rachel Perkins, Stephen Gapps, Mina Murray and Henry Reynolds that outlines the horrific frontier wars between 1788 and 1930. The...
RMIT announces new non/fictionLab Graphic Storyteller Fellowship
Tuesday, 2 September 2025
RMIT has announced the inaugural non/fictionLab Graphic Storyteller Fellowship, a new fellowship for ‘established artists working broadly in the field of comics – graphic novel, manga, cartooning, nonfiction comics or...
Neale wins 2025 Janet Frame Prize
Tuesday, 2 September 2025
Ōtepoti Dunedin novelist and poet Emma Neale has won the 2025 Janet Frame Prize, worth NZ$10,000. Neale is a freelance editor for publishers in Aotearoa New Zealand and Australia, as...
2025 Grieve Project longlist announced
Tuesday, 2 September 2025
The Hunter Writers’ Centre has announced the longlist for the 2025 Grieve Project, an annual competition for writing on grief and loss. Among longlisted entrants are: Poetry Anne Benjamin for...
Collicott wins 2025 Margaret Mahy Illustration Prize
Monday, 1 September 2025
Emma Collicott has been named the winner of the 2025 Margaret Mahy Illustration Prize, announced by the Margaret Mahy Estate, Hachette Aotearoa New Zealand and Little Moa. The judging panel...
A&U acquires Milligan’s second novel
Monday, 1 September 2025
Allen & Unwin (A&U) has acquired world rights to Shellybanks by Louise Milligan, via Jeanne Ryckmans at Key People Literary Management. Returning to the world of Milligan’s debut Pheasants Nest, Shellybanks centres...
Full program announced for Ubud 2025
Monday, 1 September 2025
Ubud Writers & Readers Festival (UWRF) has announced the full line-up for its 2025 festival program, themed ‘Aham Brahmasmi: I Am The Universe’, which will run 30 October to 2 November...
Readings 2025 Children’s Fiction Prize
Monday, 1 September 2025
Readings has announced the shortlist for the 2025 Readings Children's Fiction Prize. The shortlisted titles are: Big Trouble with Angry Chairs (Lachlann Carter & Douglas Holgate, HGCP) Brightest Wild (Tania...
Readings 2025 Young Adult Prize shortlist
Monday, 1 September 2025
Readings has announced the shortlist for the 2025 Readings Young Adult Prize, for the best new contribution to Australian young adult literature. This year’s six shortlisted books are: Aisle Nine...
WestWords Varuna Emerging Writers Residency 2025 recipients
Monday, 1 September 2025
Varuna, the National Writers' House has announced the recipients of the 2025 WestWords Varuna Emerging Writers Residency. The four recipients are: Jasmine Baker for work on multiple projects including poetry,...
Fyfe wins ‘Book of the Year’ at 2025 WA Premier’s Book Awards
Monday, 1 September 2025
The winners of the 2025 Western Australian Premier’s Book Awards have been announced. The awards, presented on 29 August at the State Library of Western Australia, included four new categories...
Ditmar Awards ballot announced
Thursday, 28 August 2025
The Ditmar subcommittee has announced the Ditmar Award ballot for works celebrating Australian science fiction. The shortlisted works include: Best Novel Blood Covenant (Alan Baxter, Cemetery Dance Publications) The Escher...
Northern Territory Literary Awards 2025 shortlists announced
Thursday, 28 August 2025
The Northern Territory Literary Awards 2025 shortlists have been announced. Chosen from over 240 entries, the shortlisted writers are: Brown’s Mart Theatre ($1000) Jada Alberts for ‘Black light’ Ryanna Clayton...
Allen appointed Dymocks CEO; Ruby Award winners revealed; Blue Mountains Writers’ Festival program announced
Wednesday, 27 August 2025
In local news this week, Dymocks announced the appointment of David Allen as its new CEO, effective from Monday 8 September; editorial agency yinfluence announced an expansion from a solo...
Rights round-up
Wednesday, 27 August 2025
Sales Fiction Arndell has sold Hungarian rights to The Do-Over and Miles Ever After by TL Swan to Maxim Hungary. Nonfiction Black Inc. has sold German rights to The Shortest...
Roche wins 2025 Moth Short Story Prize
Wednesday, 27 August 2025
The Moth magazine has announced Australian author Clare Roche as the winner of the 2025 Moth Short Story Prize for ‘(Un)Tethered’. Roche will receive €3,000 (A$5376), and ‘(Un)Tethered’ will be...
International Literary Programmers Roundtable set to return to Melbourne
Wednesday, 27 August 2025
The Melbourne City of Literature office has announced that its International Literary Programmers Roundtable initiative will return in 2026. In this fifth iteration of the program, six participants from literary...
Danger Awards 2025 shortlists announced
Wednesday, 27 August 2025
The BAD Sydney Crime Writers Festival has announced the shortlists for the 2025 Danger Awards. Shortlisted titles in each category are: Debut crime fiction What I Would Do to You...
Readings 2025 New Australian Fiction Prize shortlist announced
Wednesday, 27 August 2025
Readings has announced the shortlist for the 2025 Readings New Australian Fiction Prize. This year’s six shortlisted books are: The Confidence Woman (Sophie Quick, A&U) Edenhope (Louise Le Nay, Text)...
