News sections | Books+Publishing

Marketing to the gatekeepers: Karys McEwen on marketing books for young people

Wednesday, 20 November 2019
In her final column for Junior, Karys McEwen explores what works (and what doesn’t) when marketing children’s literature to the people actually purchasing books—adults. When it comes to marketing literature to...

‘Heads and Tails: Insects’ wins CICLA for Best International Picture Book

Wednesday, 20 November 2019
John Canty's picture book Heads and Tails: Insects (Berbay) has won an award for Best International Picture Book at the Chen Bochui International Children’s Literature Awards (CICLA) in China. Heads...

Broadside festival: Garner tops bestsellers

Wednesday, 20 November 2019
More than 16,000 people attended the inaugural Broadside festival on 9–10 November at the Melbourne Town Hall. Run by the Wheeler Centre, the festival featured international guests including UK author...

Canada’s $100k Giller Prize awarded to Ian Williams’ ‘Reproduction’

Wednesday, 20 November 2019
Canadian writer Ian Williams has been announced as the 2019 winner of the C$100,000 (A$111,400) Giller Prize for his novel Reproduction (Random House Canada). Williams is assistant professor of poetry...

Affirm acquires novel, memoir from two Varuna fellowship recipients

Tuesday, 19 November 2019
Affirm Press has acquired world rights to two books that grew out of manuscripts developed at Varuna, the Writers House, as part of the publisher’s mentorship award. Katherine Arguile’s debut...

HarperCollins launches new prize for YA, middle-grade

Tuesday, 19 November 2019
HarperCollins Children’s Books Australia has launched a new prize for middle-grade and young adult fiction and nonfiction, called the Matilda Children’s Literature Prize. The winner of the annual prize will...

Voss Literary Prize 2019 shortlist announced

Tuesday, 19 November 2019
The shortlist for the 2019 Voss Literary Prize has been announced. The shortlisted titles are: Book of Colours (Robyn Cadwallader, Fourth Estate) The Making of Martin Sparrow (Peter Cochrane, Viking)...

Publishers Weekly

Monday, 18 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...

Horne Prize 2019 shortlist announced

Monday, 18 November 2019
The shortlist for the $15,000 Horne Prize for narrative nonfiction has been announced. The shortlisted writers are: Claire G Coleman for ‘Hidden in Plain Sight’, on the prolonged suffering of...

De Zilva wins 2019 Deakin University Nonfiction Prize

Monday, 18 November 2019
Olivia De Zilva has won the 2019 Deakin University Nonfiction Prize for ‘Let’s Eat 食飯!’. De Zilva described ‘Let’s Eat 食飯!’ as ‘an ode to my wonderful family’. ‘Let’s Eat...

Kat Muscat Fellowship increases to $5000

Monday, 18 November 2019
The value of Express Media's annual Kat Muscat Fellowship has increased from $3000 to $5000. The fellowship, named in honour of the late writer and Voiceworks editor Kat Muscat, offers...

Albiston wins 2019 Patrick White Award

Monday, 18 November 2019
Melbourne-based poet Jordie Albiston has been named the winner of the $20,000 Patrick White Literary Award for 2019. The annual award was established by Patrick White using the proceeds of...

Charts this week

Monday, 18 November 2019
Top 10 bestsellers Index Title Author Imprint 1 Bluey: The Beach Bluey Puffin 2 Bluey: Time to Play! Bluey Puffin 3 Bluey: Fruit Bat Bluey Puffin 4 Diary of a...

Text acquires new Lohrey novel

Friday, 15 November 2019
Text Publishing has acquired world rights to Amanda Lohrey’s new novel The Labyrinth, via Lyn Tranter of Australian Literary Management. The Labyrinth returns to the setting of Lohrey’s 2008 novella...

The Lifted Brow wins Best Original Nonfiction at Stack Awards

Friday, 15 November 2019
The Lifted Brow (TLB) has won the award for Best Original Nonfiction at the 2019 international Stack Awards, which recognise the year's best independent magazine publishing. The nonfiction category recognises...

‘Her Mother’s Daughter’ wins Nib Literary Award

Thursday, 14 November 2019
Nadia Wheatley’s Her Mother's Daughter (Text) has won the Waverley Council’s Mark and Evette Moran Nib Literary Award for 2019. Wheatley’s ‘multi-layered’ memoir is a portrait of ‘a fraught marriage...

‘Ducks, Newburyport’ wins 2019 Goldsmiths Prize

Thursday, 14 November 2019
In the UK, Lucy Ellmann has won the £10,000 (A$18,800) Goldsmiths Prize for her eighth novel Ducks, Newburyport (Text). Chosen from a shortlist of six, Ducks, Newburyport follows the internal monologue of...

Open access a ‘laughable’ model for UWA Publishing

Wednesday, 13 November 2019
'Open access has an important role to play in academic publishing, but it is laughable to claim UWA Publishing’s cultural impact can simply be replaced through open access.'—academic Emmett Stinson...

New decade, new nonfiction: 2020 nonfiction preview

Wednesday, 13 November 2019
New books by Bruce Pascoe, Julia Baird, Melissa Davey and Miranda Tapsell are among next year’s most anticipated releases. Sarah Farquharson rounds up the best locally authored nonfiction to look...

‘Overland’ Fair Australia Prize 2019 shortlists announced

Wednesday, 13 November 2019
Literary journal Overland has announced the shortlists for this year’s Fair Australia Prize. To view all the shortlisted authors and their projects, click here. Sponsored by the United Workers Union...

Hessom Razavi announced as ABR’s Behrouz Boochani fellow

Wednesday, 13 November 2019
Perth-based writer and doctor Hessom Razavi has been announced as the recipient of the Australian Book Review's (ABR) $10,000 Behrouz Boochani Fellowship. As part of the fellowship Razavi will make...

Rights round-up

Wednesday, 13 November 2019
Sales Nonfiction Allen & Unwin has sold rights to Pain and Prejudice (Gabrielle Jackson) to Piatkus in the UK and Greystone Books in North America (see news). Black Inc. has sold...

Nobody knows: Justin Ractliffe on using data to better understand reading habits

Wednesday, 13 November 2019
In this opinion piece, based on his Copyright Agency publisher fellowship report, Penguin Random House Australia publishing director Justin Ractliffe argues that while it's difficult to predict consumers' reading habits,...