Copyright Agency relaunches industry grants
Monday, 25 August 2025
The Copyright Agency has announced the launch of the Publishing Fellowships – an updated extension of its previous Publishing Industry Career Development grants (PICD), which were paused during the pandemic....
Sanders wins the 2025 NZSA Shaw Writer’s Award
Monday, 25 August 2025
The New Zealand Society of Authors Te Puni Kaituhi O Aotearoa (NZSA) has announced Cristina Sanders as the winner of the 2025 NZSA Shaw Writer’s Award, worth NZ$5000. Sanders is...
Atlantic Books acquires Grey’s next novel
Monday, 25 August 2025
Atlantic Books Australia, a division of Allen & Unwin, has acquired UK/ANZ rights to Start at the End by Emma Grey, in a two-book deal brokered by Anjanette Fennell at Key...
RWA announces Ruby Award 2025 winners
Monday, 25 August 2025
Romance Writers of Australia (RWA) has announced the winners of the 2025 Romantic Book of the Year Awards, known as the Ruby Awards. Chosen from shortlists announced in June, the...
World Kid Lit Reading Challenge Award
Thursday, 21 August 2025
WorldKidLit has announced a new award for schools ‘to promote international and inclusive reading’, said organisers. Running through September and open internationally, the award aims to encourage reading, connect young...
Two Australian libraries named among world’s most beautiful
Thursday, 21 August 2025
Two Australian libraries have been named in the ten most beautiful libraries in the world for 2025, as announced by 1000 Libraries magazine. In second place, the State Library of...
ILF Day theme announced
Thursday, 21 August 2025
The Indigenous Literacy Foundation (ILF) has announced ‘Strength In Our Stories: For Now & Future Generations’ as the 2025 Indigenous Literacy Day (ILD) theme and Grinj det K’Taun Krok! (Grinch...
Bendigo Writers Festival updates; NZ Book Awards for Children and Young Adults; festival programs launched
Thursday, 21 August 2025
Industry news this week featured heavily on the Bendigo Writers Festival, which ran a truncated program 15–18 August 2025 after 50 authors and the festival bookshop withdrew in protest of...
Rights round-up
Wednesday, 20 August 2025
Sales Fiction Arndell has sold Dutch rights to four titles by TL Swan (The Stopover, The Takeover, The Casanova and The Do-Over) to SVM Publishing. Penguin Random House has sold...
Papercuts Comics Festival announces program
Wednesday, 20 August 2025
Papercuts Comics Festival has announced its 2025 program, running 12–14 September in Adelaide. Artists appearing include Alice Lam, Chad Molyneux, Evie ‘YEEVZ’ Hilliar, Molly Hunt, Nicola Scott and Robin Tatlow-Lord....
S&S acquires Kitching’s next thriller
Wednesday, 20 August 2025
Simon & Schuster Australia (S&S) has acquired world rights to thriller novel The Secrets of Strangers by Jess Kitching, in a deal brokered by Daniel Pilkington at the Pilkington Agency....
Keeperton acquires Belan’s debut
Wednesday, 20 August 2025
Keeperton has acquired world rights to debut novel The Line by Jeremy Belan, in a two-book deal. The Line is a coming-of-age story following Eddie, who is caught between two...
Australian Political Book of the Year 2025 longlist announced
Wednesday, 20 August 2025
The 2025 longlist for the Australian Political Book of the Year has been announced. Longlisted titles are: The Assassination of Neville Wran (Milton Cockburn, Connor Court) Broken Heart: A True...
Read the latest Publishers Weekly
Wednesday, 20 August 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.
Mad Mabel (Sally Hepworth, Macmillan)
Tuesday, 19 August 2025
Few people suspect an elderly woman or a little girl of murder, which is what makes Mad Mabel such a deliciously enjoyable read. Sally Hepworth’s latest novel begins with a...
For No Mortal Creature (Keshe Chow, Penguin)
Tuesday, 19 August 2025
For No Mortal Creature by Keshe Chow (The Girl with No Reflection) is a romantic fantasy inspired by Inception and Wuthering Heights, but the story it tells is unique and...
Left Behind (Martine Kropkowski, Ultimo)
Tuesday, 19 August 2025
Martine Kropkowski’s Left Behind is a stunning depiction of the remote, wild and isolated beauty of K’gari, paired with a taut and insidious suspense that grabs you from the opening lines....
Naynay and the Mermaid (Tasma Walton, illus Charmaine Ledden-Lewis, Scholastic)
Tuesday, 19 August 2025
Naynay and the Mermaid is a beautifully told and visually striking picture book by accomplished actor and author Tasma Walton, a proud Boonwurrung woman from Melbourne. Naynay is asked to keep...
Riots (Fiona Skyring, UWA Publishing)
Tuesday, 19 August 2025
Renowned Australian historian Fiona Skyring returns with Riots, a captivating nonfiction book that unearths a chapter of ANZAC history rarely spoken of today. Skyring takes readers back to the turbulent...
Ningaloo: Australia’s Wild Wonder (Tim Winton, illus Cindy Lane, Fremantle)
Tuesday, 19 August 2025
Ningaloo, written by award-winning author Tim Winton and illustrated by Cindy Lane, is a beautifully designed nonfiction picture book about the Ningaloo Reef off the West Coast of Australia. Called...
Elizabeth Harrower: The Woman in the Watch Tower (Susan Wyndham, NewSouth)
Tuesday, 19 August 2025
In Elizabeth Harrower: The Woman in the Watch Tower, journalist and author Susan Wyndham offers a sympathetic and illuminating exploration of the life and work of one of post-war Australia’s...
The One Remaining (Paula McLean, Fearless Press)
Tuesday, 19 August 2025
Paula McLean’s The One Remaining is a quiet, affecting novel about memory, silence and the long shadow of a sister’s disappearance. When successful novelist Hilary Mason discovers a stack of...
Pryor awarded 2025 Curlew Regional Writer’s Grant
Tuesday, 19 August 2025
Writing NSW has announced Robyn Pryor as the recipient of the 2025 Curlew Regional Writer’s Grant, worth $1000. The grant helps a regional NSW writer ‘to participate in a one-day...
Queensland Poetry Awards prize money increases
Tuesday, 19 August 2025
The Queensland Writers Centre has announced increases in the value of its Queensland Poetry Awards, which has opened for entries this week. Award categories and their first-place cash prizes are:...
Northland Writers, Readers and Poets Festival announces program
Tuesday, 19 August 2025
The Northland Writers, Readers and Poets (WRAP) Festival will run 29–31 August in Kerikeri, Aotearoa New Zealand. Writers appearing at the festival include Fiona Kidman, Monty Soutar, Sherryl Clark, Cadence...
Dymocks Giving Day date, program announced
Tuesday, 19 August 2025
Dymocks has announced its 2025 Giving Day will take place on 21 August. Free in-store events will occur in Dymocks stores around the country, including Matt Cosgrove leading a storytime...
Global Book Crawl 2026 dates released
Tuesday, 19 August 2025
The 2026 Global Book Crawl (GBC) will take place on April 20–26. GBC is ‘a worldwide celebration of local (indie, bricks and mortar) bookshops and those who love them,’ said...
HQ acquires Inoon’s second novel
Tuesday, 19 August 2025
Harlequin Australia (HQ), a division of HarperCollins, has acquired world rights to The Sisters of Serendib by Ayesha Inoon, via Rochelle Fernandez at Alex Adsett Literary. ‘In 1990, a boat...
HarperCollins acquires debut novel from White
Tuesday, 19 August 2025
HarperCollins has acquired ANZ rights to Billie King, Outlaw, the debut novel by Shannon Kelly White, in a two-book deal via Anjanette Fennell at Key People Literary Management. Billie King,...
Ned Kelly Awards 2025 shortlists announced
Monday, 18 August 2025
The Australian Crime Writers Association has announced the 2025 Ned Kelly Awards shortlists. The shortlisted titles are: Best crime fiction 17 Years Later (JP Pomare, Hachette) Cold Truth (Ashley Kalagian...
