News sections | Books+Publishing

Books Alive expands to Palmerston North

Tuesday, 22 April 2025
This year, Books Alive will expand to Palmerston North, the fourth regional centre to participate in the Aotearoa New Zealand program. The one-day event currently runs in Christchurch, Wellington and...

Local authors on 2025 CWA Daggers longlists

Tuesday, 22 April 2025
Several Australia-based and Aotearoa New Zealand-based authors have been longlisted for the UK Crime Writers’ Association’s (CWA) 2025 Dagger Awards. The local longlisted authors are: Ian Fleming Steel Dagger Sanctuary...

A&U acquires The Australian Wars

Tuesday, 22 April 2025
Allen & Unwin (A&U) has acquired world rights to The Australian Wars, edited by Rachel Perkins, Stephen Gapps, Mina Murray and Henry Reynolds. The book will be drawn from Blackfella...

Bacon wins Nebula 2025 Kate Wilhelm Solstice Award

Thursday, 17 April 2025
The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association (SFWA) has announced Eugen Bacon as winner of the 2025 Kate Wilhelm Solstice Award. Created in 2008, the Kate Wilhelm Solstice Award is...

Winners announced, anthology launched for 2024 Newcastle Short Story Award

Thursday, 17 April 2025
The Hunter Writers' Centre (HWC) has announced Omar Musa and Lisa Lang as the winners of the 2024 Newcastle Short Story Award. Omar Musa, a Bornean-Australian author, visual artist, rapper...

Echo Publishing announces new Heather Morris novel

Thursday, 17 April 2025
Echo Publishing has acquired ANZ rights to The Wish, a contemporary novel by Heather Morris. The Wish is Morris's first contemporary novel, and introduces Jesse, a young teenager who, despite...

2025 Faber Writing Academy inaugural alumni award winners announced

Thursday, 17 April 2025
Faber Writing Academy (FWA) has announced Rachel Bonnar and Lawrence Parmenter as the inaugural winners of the 2025 FWA Alumni Award. In total, six graduates of FWA programs will win...

Rights round-up

Wednesday, 16 April 2025
Sales Fiction Jane Novak Literary Agency has sold French rights to Prima Facie (Suzie Miller, Picador) to L’Archipel, in conjunction with the Lora Fountain Agency. Nonfiction Wolf Literary and Alex...

NT Writers Festival program; Aurealis, Hugo finalists; Global Book Crawl destinations

Wednesday, 16 April 2025
Some event details were released this week – so have your calendars ready: The Northern Territory Writers Festival has announced its 2025 program, which will run 29 May–1 June on...

Hardie Grant acquires Wankernomics

Wednesday, 16 April 2025
Hardie Grant has acquired world rights to Wankernomics by comedians James Schloeffel and Charles Firth. Wankernomics is ‘the hilarious must-have handbook for anyone who has ever had to endure the buzzwords,...

Upswell acquires Vincent hybrid memoir/prose poem/history

Wednesday, 16 April 2025
Upswell Publishing has acquired world rights to Fourteen Ways of Looking, a 'hybrid memoir/prose poem/history' by Erin Vincent, with US rights sold to Deep Vellum and UK rights to CB...

Alliance Distribution Services: ‘We firmly believe that everyone should have access to reading’

Wednesday, 16 April 2025
In the lead-up to the 2025 Australian Book Industry Awards (ABIAs), Books+Publishing is in conversation with the event’s major sponsors about the status of the industry, what excites them about the future,...

Read the latest Publishers Weekly

Wednesday, 16 April 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.

The Brownout Murders (Luke C Jackson & Kelly Jackson, illus Maya Graham, Scribe)

Tuesday, 15 April 2025
The year is 1942, and Melbourne is a city consumed with fear in The Brownout Murders, a gripping historical graphic novel. With the threat of a Japanese attack looming, the...

Aurealis Awards 2024 finalists announced

Tuesday, 15 April 2025
The 2024 finalists for the Aurealis Awards, which recognise 'the achievements of Australian science fiction, fantasy and horror writers', have been announced. Awards are presented across 15 categories. The finalists...

2025 Speculate Prize for Emerging Writers longlist announced

Tuesday, 15 April 2025
The Emerging Writers' Festival (EWF), in partnership with RMIT, has announced the longlist for the 2025 Speculate Prize for Emerging Writers. The prize is open to any short work from...

PRH acquires Carter middle-grade series

Tuesday, 15 April 2025
Penguin Random House (PRH) Australia has acquired ANZ rights for Reece Carter's new middle-grade series The Nightmare League, in a six-publisher auction brokered by Gemma Cooper from Gemma Cooper Literary....

NT Writers Festival announces 2025 program

Tuesday, 15 April 2025
The Northern Territory Writers Festival (NTWF) has announced its 2025 program, which will run 29 May–1 June on Arrernte Country, Mparntwe/Alice Springs. Events will take place outdoors at the Olive...

Atria Books acquires debut Peppernell novel

Tuesday, 15 April 2025
Atria Books Australia has acquired world rights (ex North America) to poet Courtney Peppernell's debut novel, The Last Poem. 'Bestselling author and poet Wren Paisley is a mess after the...

Regional shortlist released for 2025 Commonwealth Short Story Prize

Tuesday, 15 April 2025
Three Aotearoa New Zealand writers and three Australian writers are among the finalists for the 2025 Commonwealth Short Story Prize. The writers shortlisted for the Pacific region are: ‘Crab Sticks...

2025 Calibre Essay Prize shortlist announced

Monday, 14 April 2025
The Australian Book Review (ABR) has announced the 2025 Calibre Essay Prize shortlist. Shortlisted essays include: ‘Tracing Threads’ (Anneke Bender, US) ‘Consolation of Clouds’ (Robin Boord, SA) ‘Inner World Supertramp’ (Chris...