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O’Malley wins 2025 CLNZ/NZSA Writers’ Award

a portrait of Vincent O'Malley. He is bald and wears glasses. Wednesday, 15 October 2025
Vincent O’Malley has won the 2025 Copyright Licensing New Zealand (CLNZ) and the New Zealand Society of Authors (NZSA) Te Puni Kaituhi O Aotearoa (PEN NZ Inc) Writers’ Award, worth...

Rights round-up 

Wednesday, 15 October 2025
Sales Fiction Penguin Random House has sold French rights to Sonatine and German rights to Ullstein to Everyone in This Bank Is a Thief (Benjamin Stevenson); Czech rights to The...

‘17 Years Later’ to be adapted for TV 

the book cover of 17 years later, featuring an image of a large house behind tall gates Wednesday, 15 October 2025
Bruna Papandera and Made Up Stories have acquired television rights to JP Pomare’s novel 17 Years Later (Hachette, 2024). The adaptation will be directed and executive-produced by John Polson (Elementary),...

Transit Lounge acquires Hawthorn’s next novel

An image of Sarah Hawthorn. Sarah stands in front of a fence and greenery. Wednesday, 15 October 2025
Transit Lounge has acquired world rights to High Land, a novel by Sarah Hawthorn, via Sally Bird at Calidris Literary Agency. According to the publisher, High Land follows Annie, who...

Scribe acquires Woollett nonfiction debut

a portrait of Laura Elizabeth Wollett. She has long black hair and red lipstick Wednesday, 15 October 2025
Scribe has acquired world rights to Hell Days, Laura Elizabeth Woollett’s nonfiction debut. Blending memoir, true crime, medical research, interviews, and cultural analysis, Hell Days investigates premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD), a hormonal...

Read the latest Publishers Weekly 

Wednesday, 15 October 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.

Riveted Press acquires Hargreaves’s middle-grade fantasy trilogy

A portrait of Cody Hargreaves. Tuesday, 14 October 2025
Riveted Press has acquired world rights to middle-grade fantasy trilogy The Sterling Brothers by debut author Cody Hargreaves. The first instalment, The Ostrich Dilemma, features estranged twin brothers who must overcome their lifelong...

PRH acquires Timms’s debut crime novel

A portrait of Nicolas Timms standing in front of a brick wall. Tuesday, 14 October 2025
Penguin Random House Australia (PRH) has acquired ANZ rights to The Lineup, a crime fiction debut by Nicholas Timms. PRH commercial fiction publisher Beverley Cousins acquired the novel via Daniel...

Bragg science writing prize shortlist announced

Tuesday, 14 October 2025
The shortlist for this year’s UNSW Press Bragg Prize for Science Writing has been announced. Shortlisted pieces are: “The Unexpected Poetry of PhD Acknowledgements” by Tabitha Carvan “The Night I...

Barnes wins inaugural Bundyi Writing Prize

An image of Shannon Barnes. Monday, 13 October 2025
Bundyi Publishing has announced Shannon Barnes as the winner of the inaugural Bundyi Writing Prize for her mixed-genre novel Strangelands. Barnes wins a $10,000 cash prize, manuscript development, and a...

Affirm acquires Lewis’s debut nonfiction

A portrait of Bron Lewis. She is a red-haired woman wearing a green sequined dress Monday, 13 October 2025
Affirm Press has acquired world rights to I’m Not Mad (Anymore), a debut piece of nonfiction from Bron Lewis, in a deal brokered by Bec Sutherland of Jubilee St Management....

Melbourne Books acquires Buckrich history

A portrait of Judith Buckrich. She is a blonde woman with pale skin and glasses Monday, 13 October 2025
Melbourne Books has acquired world rights to Fitzroy North: People, Place, Protest by Judith Buckrich. “[Beginning with] the local Aboriginal communities prior to European colonisation, Fitzroy North: People, Place and Protest reveals...

Krasznahorkai wins 2025 Nobel Prize for Literature

Friday, 10 October 2025
Hungarian author László Krasznahorkai has won the 2025 Nobel Prize in Literature for “his compelling and visionary oeuvre that, in the midst of apocalyptic terror, reaffirms the power of art”....

Cleary wins A&U NZ Fiction Prize

An image of Anne Cleary and text announcing her as the 2025 Fiction Prize winner. Thursday, 9 October 2025
Allen & Unwin Aotearoa New Zealand (A&U NZ) has announced Tauranga writer Anne Cleary as the winner of the 2025 Fiction Prize for her entry Apple Man. According to the...

Bakers Lane Books acquires McLean’s nonfiction

A profile image of Robert McLean. Thursday, 9 October 2025
Bakers Lane Books has acquired world rights to The Town Like No Other by Robert McLean. The Town Like No Other tells the story of Broken Hill, a ‘world-class mining centre that...

Rights round-up 

Wednesday, 8 October 2025
Sales Nonfiction Black Inc. has sold Lithuanian rights to The Shortest History of the World (David Baker) to Obuolys. Children’s/YA UQP has sold North American rights to Kid (Peter Carnavas) to Groundwood Books....

Windeyer awarded 2025 Writing NSW Varuna Fellowship

An author portrait of Kirsty Windeyer, who stands in front of an abstract artwork Wednesday, 8 October 2025
Writing NSW has announced Kirsty Windeyer as the winner of its 2025 Varuna fellowship for her novel manuscript ‘You Fix It’. Judges praised Windeyer's work for its ‘compelling synopsis, gripping...

A&U acquires Bailey’s sixth novel

Wednesday, 8 October 2025
Allen & Unwin (A&U) has acquired world rights to Click, the sixth novel from Sarah Bailey, in a deal brokered by Lyn Tranter at Australian Literary Management. ‘Click is a taut...

Nature Writing Prize shortlist revealed

island magazine logo Wednesday, 8 October 2025
Literary journal Island has announced the shortlist for the 2025 Nature Writing Prize. Shortlisted writers and their pieces are: Frankey Chung-Kok-Lun for ‘Menura Novahollandiae’ Rosalee Kiely for ‘Habitat’ Bridget Webster for ‘Like...

HarperCollins acquires new Heyman fiction

A portrait of Kathryn Heyman. She is wearing a black shirt and smiling. Wednesday, 8 October 2025
HarperCollins has acquired world rights to Circle of Wonders, a novel by Kathryn Heyman. The novel follows Roni over the course of a lunar month. ‘Roni has lived with breast...