NSW Literary Awards 2026 shortlists announced
Tuesday, 21 April 2026
The shortlists for the 2026 NSW Literary Awards have been announced. The shortlisted works in each category are: Christina Stead Prize for Fiction ($40,000) Cure (Katherine Brabon, Ultimo) Arborescence (Rhett...
Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction 2026 shortlist announced
Tuesday, 21 April 2026
The shortlist for the 2026 Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction has been announced, reports the Bookseller. The shortlisted titles are: Benbecula (Graeme Macrae Burnet, Text) The Matchbox Girl (Alice...
A&U acquires Jenkins’s “Bad Neighbours”
Tuesday, 21 April 2026
Allen & Unwin (A&U) has acquired ANZ rights to forthcoming crime novel Bad Neighbours by Joanna Jenkins via Gaby Naher of The Naher Agency. Featuring Ruth Dawson, the main character...
Local authors longlisted for 2026 CWA Daggers
Monday, 20 April 2026
Local authors Sam Guthrie, Laura McCluskey, Zoë Rankin and Jennifer Trevelyan are among those whose works have been longlisted for the UK Crime Writers’ Association’s (CWA) 2026 Dagger Awards. Guthrie,...
Klassen wins Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award
Monday, 20 April 2026
Canadian illustrator and picture book artist Jon Klassen has won the 2026 Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award, worth 5 million SEK (A$761,000). Klassen’s breakout book, I Want My Hat Back (Walker...
Oliver wins €6000 Moth Poetry Prize
Thursday, 16 April 2026
English poet Adam Oliver has won the €6000 (A$9900) Moth Poetry Prize for “Shazaya”. The annual international prize for a single unpublished poem, now in its 15th year, is sponsored...
HGCP acquires “Sagittarius Rising”
Thursday, 16 April 2026
Hardie Grant Children’s Publishing (HGCP) has acquired world rights to children’s chapter book Sagittarius Rising by author Maxine Beneba Clarke and illustrator Jade Goodwin. Senior publisher Chren Byng said, “For...
Ingram: “Forecasting demand has become more challenging for retailers”
Wednesday, 15 April 2026
In the lead-up to the 2026 Australian Book Industry Awards (ABIAs), Books+Publishing is inviting the event’s major sponsors to share little-known facts about their organisations, their top tips for booksellers and publishers,...
ABIA 2026 business award shortlists announced
Wednesday, 15 April 2026
Books+Publishing, in partnership with the Australian Publishers Association, has announced the 2026 business award shortlists for the Australian Book Industry Awards (ABIAs). The shortlistees in each category are: Bookshop of...
Walsh’s “God AI” sells into North America, UK, India
Wednesday, 15 April 2026
Black Inc. has sold North American, UK, Indian subcontinent and audio rights to God AI: Boom or Doom? What to Expect When Machines Outsmart Us (Toby Walsh, La Trobe University...
SWF responds to bookseller criticism, Shakthidharan wins Windham-Campbell Prize, Stella shortlist announced
Wednesday, 15 April 2026
The Sydney Writers’ Festival (SWF) has stated that it is “supportive, on a case-by-case basis, of an in-store bookshop event with under 50 attendees”, responding to bookseller criticism of its...
The Age Book of the Year 2026 shortlists announced
Wednesday, 15 April 2026
The shortlists for the 2026 Age Book of the Year awards have been announced. Shortlisted works in each category are: Fiction Fierceland (Omar Musa, Penguin) The Immigrants (Moreno Giovannoni, Black Inc.) Out of the...
Hans Christian Andersen Award 2026 winners announced
Wednesday, 15 April 2026
Children’s writer Michael Rosen, from the UK, and illustrator Cai Gao, from China, have been named the winners of the 2026 IBBY (International Board on Books for Young People) Hans...
Rights round-up
Wednesday, 15 April 2026
Sales Fiction Bold Type Agency has licensed Serbian language rights in Black Rock, White City by AS Patrić (on behalf of Transit Lounge), Bulgarian language rights in Last Shot by Emma...
Read the latest Publishers Weekly
Wednesday, 15 April 2026
Books+Publishing partners with US trade news magazine Publishers Weekly to provide our subscribers with exclusive access to the weekly digital edition of PW magazine. View the current edition.
Touch Grass (Mary Colussi, Penguin)
Tuesday, 14 April 2026
Mary Colussi’s debut novel, Touch Grass, is the sharp and inventive winner of the 2025 Penguin Literary Prize. This work of speculative fiction takes readers into the not-too-distant future, where strawberries are...
Where the Heart Is (Shirley Marr, illus Michael Speechley, Walker)
Tuesday, 14 April 2026
In Where the Heart Is, Shirley Marr (Countdown to Yesterday) (with illustrations by Michael Speechley) crafts a wistful picture book for readers aged 3 to 6 that plays with the...
What’s That Splat? (Johanna Bell, illus Amelia Luscombe, Thames & Hudson)
Tuesday, 14 April 2026
What’s That Splat? is the picture-book equivalent of the famous Rorschach test – the psychological assessment that analyses a person’s response to a series of inkblots. Here, writer Johanna Bell...
Detention (Ralph Jackman, A&U)
Tuesday, 14 April 2026
Detention is a powerful memoir about Australia’s youth detention system, told from the perspective of a rookie teacher and his fight for the rights of some of our country's most...
The Palace of Lost Virtue (Anthea Hodgson, Penguin)
Tuesday, 14 April 2026
In The Palace of Lost Virtue, Anthea Hodgson follows her bestselling novel The War Nurses with a stirring work of historical fiction. Spanning 1898 to 1926, this new novel offers...
Song of the Shadow of a Seed (Luisa Mitchell, Fremantle)
Tuesday, 14 April 2026
For Whadjuk Nyungar writer Luisa Mitchell, seeds represent the longevity of the past and sustainability of the future. From seeds grow roots and trees, a living representation of connection to...
Cleopatra: The Girl Who Would Be King (Heroes in the Ancient World #1) (Jackie French, HarperCollins)
Tuesday, 14 April 2026
Bestselling author and historian Jackie French (Tigg and the Bandicoot Bushranger) tackles the question of what the Egyptian pharaoh Cleopatra was up to during her tween years in Cleopatra: The...
Weymouth wins inaugural Sherborne Prize for Travel Writing
Tuesday, 14 April 2026
In the UK, Adam Weymouth has won the inaugural £10,000 (A$19,043) Sherborne Prize for Travel Writing for Lone Wolf (Hutchinson Heinemann), reported the Bookseller. Weymouth’s account of a young wolf’s 1000-mile journey to the...
Regional shortlist released for 2026 Commonwealth Short Story Prize
Tuesday, 14 April 2026
One Aotearoa New Zealand writer and one Australian writer are among the finalists for the 2026 Commonwealth Short Story Prize. The works shortlisted for the Pacific region are: ‘Bitter Water...
ABA announces inaugural lifetime achievement award
Monday, 13 April 2026
The Australian Booksellers Association (ABA) has created a new Lifetime Achievement in Bookselling Award for “an individual who has given extraordinary and sustained service to bookselling in Australia”. According to...
Ena Noël Award 2026 winners announced
Monday, 13 April 2026
The Australian branch of the International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY) has announced the winners of the 2026 Ena Noël Award. The winners of the award are author...
Storylines Awards 2026 winners announced
Monday, 13 April 2026
The Storylines Trust has announced the 2026 winners of the Storylines Awards in Aotearoa New Zealand. The winners are: Margaret Mahy Medal and Lecture Award Tim Tipene Gaelyn Gordon Award...
Upswell acquires Anatolitis’s “Who’s Afraid of Australian Artists?”
Thursday, 9 April 2026
Upswell Publishing has acquired world rights for Who’s Afraid of Australian Artists? by Esther Anatolitis. Anatolitis will examine artistic practice, arts policy and political sentiment, framed by the voices of...
Dublin Literary Award 2026 shortlist announced
Thursday, 9 April 2026
The shortlist for the 2026 Dublin Literary Award has been announced. The shortlisted titles are: The Emperor of Gladness (Ocean Vuong, Vintage) Gliff (Ali Smith, Penguin General) In Late Summer (Magdalena Blažević, trans...
Shakthidharan among Windham-Campbell Prize 2026 winners
Thursday, 9 April 2026
Sydney playwright S Shakthidharan has won a 2026 Windham-Campbell Prize, worth US$175,000 (A$249,000). Shakthidharan was selected in the category of drama for his “ambition and scale, and his deep care...
