News sections | Books+Publishing

Rights People to represent Affirm Press kids list

Wednesday, 5 December 2018
Affirm Press has engaged international agency Rights People to represent its kids list. Affirm sales and marketing director Keiran Rogers says he is anticipating more international rights sales as a...

$20k unpublished manuscript award launched for WA young writers

Wednesday, 5 December 2018
Fremantle Press is partnering with social-purpose organisation the Fogarty Foundation to launch an unpublished manuscript award for young writers in Western Australia, worth $20,000. The biennial award, called the Fogarty Literary...

Online store for self-published kids’ books runs as pilot project

Tuesday, 4 December 2018
A new online store for self-published Australian picture books has launched as a pilot project. Self-published author Suzanne Barton launched the retail pilot, called Top Indie Kids’ Books, as a...

Frey wins Bad S-x in Fiction Award

Tuesday, 4 December 2018
US author James Frey has received the 2018 Bad S-x in Fiction Award, the Literary Review’s annual prize for ‘poorly written, perfunctory or redundant passages of sexual description in modern fiction’....

PRH sells ‘Kensy and Max’ series to US in four-book deal

Tuesday, 4 December 2018
Penguin Random House Australia (PRH) has sold North American rights to Jacqueline Harvey’s children’s book series ‘Kensy and Max’ to Kane Miller Publishers. The four-book deal was brokered by Rights...

Findlay to edit ‘Growing Up Disabled in Australia’

Monday, 3 December 2018
Blogger and appearance activist Carly Findlay will edit the forthcoming anthology Growing Up Disabled in Australia, to be published by Black Inc. in 2020. Black Inc. is seeking first-person submissions that...

Bad S-x in Fiction Award 2018 shortlist announced

Monday, 3 December 2018
In the UK, the Literary Review has announced the Bad S-x in Fiction Award shortlist for 2018. The seven shortlisted books are: Scoundrels: The Hunt for Hansclapp (Major Victor Cornwall & Major Arthur St John...

‘Deep Time Dreaming’ wins John Mulvaney Book Award

Monday, 3 December 2018
Billy Griffiths’ Deep Time Dreaming: Uncovering Ancient Australia (Black Inc.) has won the John Mulvaney Book Award, which recognises significant contributions to the publication of Australian archaeology. Deep Time Dreaming,...

Charts this week

Monday, 3 December 2018
Top 10 Bestsellers Index Title Author Imprint 1 The Meltdown Jeff Kinney Puffin 2 Past Tense Lee Child Bantam 3 Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald - Original Screenplay J...

Christmas predictions: Katy Downey from the Leaf Bookshop in Ashburton

Friday, 30 November 2018
In the lead-up to Christmas, the busiest time of year on the bookselling calendar, Books+Publishing is asking booksellers across the country to predict their biggest sellers and 'surprise sellers'. In...

Big Sky sells UK rights to ‘Frederick Whirlpool VC’

Friday, 30 November 2018
Big Sky Publishing has sold UK rights to Alan Leek's history book Frederick Whirlpool VC to UK military history publisher Pen & Sword. Leek's book tells the true story of Frederick...

Rooney wins novel of the year at 2018 Irish Book Awards

Thursday, 29 November 2018
The winners of the 2018 Irish Book Awards have been announced. Chosen from shortlists announced in October, the winners include: Novel of the year Normal People (Sally Rooney, Faber) Popular...

Copyright Agency awards record $240,000 in fellowships

Thursday, 29 November 2018
The Copyright Agency’s Cultural Fund has awarded a total of $240,000 for three fellowships. Melbourne writer Jeff Sparrow was awarded the $80,000 author fellowship for his project 'Thinking Differently: Other...

Podcast spotlight: The New Zealand Society of Authors (NZSA) Oral History Podcast

Wednesday, 28 November 2018
Launched in late 2018, the New Zealand Society of Authors (NZSA) Oral History podcast delves into the organisation's archives, sharing authors' stories of 'fighting institutions, government—and sometimes, each other—to advocate...

RiP Sandra Eterović

Wednesday, 28 November 2018
Melbourne-based illustrator Sandra Eterović has died. Eterović graduated from the University of Melbourne with Honours in Art History in 1992 and was the recipient of the Dwight Final Examination Prize in...

Kate Richards’ ‘Fusion’

Wednesday, 28 November 2018
‘Part fairytale, part Australian Gothic thriller, Fusion is contemporary Australian literature at its finest and deserves multiple readings—an ideal selection for book clubs.’ ... Read Jacqui Davies’ full review here.

Alice Grundy on the Chinese children’s book industry

Wednesday, 28 November 2018
‘In a country where 20 million babies are born in a year and there are around 3000 bookshops in Shanghai alone, children’s book publishing is booming—and there’s room for growth.’—Brio...

Pasifika dual-language resources win NZ award

Wednesday, 28 November 2018
In New Zealand, a series of books published by the Ministry of Education (MoE) to help Pasifika children with literacy has won the Pacific Service Excellence Award, as part of...

Netflix to adapt Dahl classics into animated series

Wednesday, 28 November 2018
Netflix has secured the rights to adapt many of Roald Dahl's works for screen, including Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, The BFG, Matilda and George’s Marvellous Medicine (all Puffin). It also has plans to create a...

Berbay acquires middle-grade series by Louise Park

Wednesday, 28 November 2018
Berbay Publishing has acquired world rights to a three-book middle-grade fiction series by Australian children's author Louise Park. The first book in the series, titled Grace's Castle, is a fast-paced time-slip adventure...