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Charts this week 

Monday, 2 December 2019
Top 10 bestsellers Index Title Author Imprint 1 Wrecking Ball Jeff Kinney Puffin 2 Bluey: The Beach Bluey Puffin 3 Bluey: Fruit Bat Bluey Puffin 4 Bluey: Time to Play!...

Room on our Rock wins Charlotte Huck Award in US

Friday, 29 November 2019
In the US, Room on our Rock (Kate & Jol Temple, illus by Terri Rose Baynton, Scholastic) has won the NCTE Charlotte Huck Award for outstanding fiction for children. Room...

Sales wins 2019 Walkley Book Award

Friday, 29 November 2019
Journalist and author Leigh Sales has won the 2019 Walkley Book Award for Any Ordinary Day (Hamish Hamilton). Any Ordinary Day describes how tragedy and loss can affect people. Judges...

‘The Strays’ to be adapted into six-part drama series

Thursday, 28 November 2019
Emily Bitto’s Stella Prize-winning novel The Strays (Affirm) will be adapted into a six-part drama series as a co-production of See Pictures and Apogee Pictures. Beatrix Christian (Picnic at Hanging...

Costa Book Awards 2019 shortlists announced

Thursday, 28 November 2019
In the UK, the shortlists for the 2019 Costa Book Awards have been announced. Shortlisted for the Costa Novel Award are: Middle England (Jonathan Coe, Viking) Confession with Blue Horses...

Rights round-up 

Wednesday, 27 November 2019
Sales Fiction Linda Kaplan of Kaplan DeFiore Agency has sold the following international rights to The Dictionary of Lost Words (Pip Williams, Affirm): UK and Commonwealth rights (ex ANZ) to...

The gift of being underrated 

Wednesday, 27 November 2019
‘This is what fuels a fiction writer: the ongoing life of the ideas we love. The saddest thing about a book failing to reach an audience is not the wound...

O’Brien awarded £40k David Cohen Prize for Literature

Wednesday, 27 November 2019
Irish novelist Edna O'Brien has been awarded the £40,000 (A$75,800) David Cohen Prize for Literature, which recognises a living writer from the UK or Ireland's lifetime achievement in literature. O'Brien...

Clark wins Sisters in Crime Scarlet Stiletto Award 2019

Tuesday, 26 November 2019
The winners of the 2019 Scarlet Stiletto Awards, presented by Sisters in Crime, have been announced. Melbourne-based writer and former Herald Sun books editor Blanche Clark won the $1500 first...

Dr Karl awarded UNESCO Kalinga Prize

Monday, 25 November 2019
The United Nations has awarded Karl Kruszelnicki, popularly known as Dr Karl, the UNESCO Kalinga Prize for the Popularisation of Science at the World Science Forum in Budapest, Hungary. He...

Matt Okine’s debut novel to be adapted for film

Monday, 25 November 2019
Sydney-based production company Aquarius Films has acquired film rights to comedian Matt Okine’s debut novel Being Black 'N Chicken, & Chips (Hachette), reports the Sydney Morning Herald. Principal producer Angie...

Charts this week 

Monday, 25 November 2019
Top 10 bestsellers Index Title Author Imprint 1 Wrecking Ball: Diary of a Wimpy Kid 14 Jeff Kinney Puffin 2 Bluey: The Beach Bluey Puffin 3 Bluey: Time to Play!...

Publishers Weekly 

Monday, 25 November 2019
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 for a limited time. This...

Black Inc. sells ‘The Motivation Hoax’ to UK

Friday, 22 November 2019
Black Inc. has sold UK and Commonwealth rights (ex ANZ) to James Adonis’ The Motivation Hoax: A smart person’s guide to inspirational nonsense (Nero) to The History Press. The History Press,...

‘Songwoman’ wins 2019 Most Underrated Book Award

Friday, 22 November 2019
Ilka Tampke’s second novel Songwoman (Text) has won the Small Press Network’s (SPN) Most Underrated Book Award (MUBA) for 2019. Songwoman is a sequel to Tampke’s debut novel Skin (Text), published...

Recipients of $150k The Next Chapter initiative announced

Thursday, 21 November 2019
The Wheeler Centre has announced the 10 recipients of the 2019 Next Chapter grants for developing writers, worth $15,000 each. The 2019 recipients are: Arthur Bolkas (nonfiction, VIC) Racheal Oak...

Rights round-up 

Wednesday, 20 November 2019
Sales Fiction Spinifex Press has sold Japanese-language rights to The Screaming of the Innocent (Unity Dow) to Eiiji Press and Italian-language rights to Edition le Assassine. University of Western Australia...

ABC Books acquires Tilley memoir in six-figure deal 

Wednesday, 20 November 2019
ABC Books has acquired world rights to radio broadcaster Tom Tilley’s coming-of-age memoir Speaking in Tongues, in a six-figure deal via the Fordham Company. Tilley will step down as host...