Inside the Australian and New Zealand book industry

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Prize Fighter (Future D Fidel, Hachette) 

Thursday, 31 May 2018
Isa Alaki is 10 years old, a budding engineer with a loving family in the Congolese city of Bukavu, when a rebel militia descends on his city, slaughtering his family and...

Noni takes three in Australian YA April charts

Thursday, 17 May 2018
The first book in Lynette Noni's 'Medoran Chronicles', Akarnae, has taken out top spot in the Australian YA bestsellers chart for April, with the second and third books in the...

Introducing Ford Street Publishing

Thursday, 17 May 2018
Paul Collins is the publisher at Ford Street Publishing, an industry stalwart and the author of ‘around 140’ books himself. Ford Street Publishing is a micro-press that releases all manner...

Random House acquires Elliot Perlman’s first kids’ book

Thursday, 17 May 2018
Random House Children’s Books has acquired the first children’s book by award-winning novelist Elliot Perlman (pictured). The Adventures of Catvinkle centres on the unlikely friendship between pampered house cat Catvinkle and Ula...

Australian ‘Own Voices’ snapped up

Wednesday, 16 May 2018
‘The last few years has seen an increased focus in the US and UK on diversity in children’s publishing, with the emphasis more and more being placed on Own Voices,’...

‘Nevermoor’ continues award-winning run

Wednesday, 16 May 2018
Nevermoor by Jessica Townsend (Lothian) continues its award-winning streak, earning the author three awards at the Australian Book Industry Awards (ABIAs) announced earlier this month. Nevermoor won the awards for...

Introducing Wild Dingo Press

Thursday, 10 May 2018
Wild Dingo Press launched its list with a commissioned biography by a refugee from Afghanistan, which went on to become an Australian bestseller. Last year the press took a chance...

Australia’s ‘Next Chapter’ in diverse publishing

Wednesday, 9 May 2018
What stops publishers publishing more diversely? The reported ‘trends’ at Bologna included a continuing focus on diverse voices in children’s literature, but what about in adult titles? A new initiative...

Girltopia (Hilary Rogers, Scholastic) 

Friday, 4 May 2018
Twelve-year-old Clara wakes up one day to a city where all the men and boys are afflicted by a mystery illness that leaves them unconscious and unresponsive but thankfully still...

Mercy Point (Anna Snoekstra, HarperCollins) 

Friday, 4 May 2018
Five teenagers living in a small town become anonymous online friends, without realising they hate each other in real life. The common thread they share is that they all believe...

Hive (A J Betts, Pan) 

Friday, 4 May 2018
Hayley is a beekeeper, content with her place in her small, rigid, underwater world ruled over by a shadowy council. But while her friend Celia dreams of marrying a ‘netter...

Cicada (Shaun Tan, Lothian)

Friday, 4 May 2018
Shaun Tan has done it again. Cicada is excellent. Although more distinctly a narrative picture book than some of his others, Cicada’s darkness breeds a rich subtext that will serve...

The Geography of Friendship (Sally Piper, UQP) 

Friday, 27 April 2018
The romantic notion that female friendships are made of irrevocable bonds that can sustain all manner of hardships and joy is at the centre of Sally Piper’s The Geography of...

The Peacock Summer (Hannah Richell, Hachette) 

Friday, 27 April 2018
Hannah Richell’s third novel, The Peacock Summer, is a vivid tale stretching across 50 years. It tells the story of Lillian and her granddaughter Maggie, set against the intimidating backdrop...

Boy Swallows Universe (Trent Dalton, Fourth Estate) 

Boy Swallows Universe cover Friday, 27 April 2018
The debut novel from award-winning journalist Trent Dalton is a harrowing coming-of-age tale set against the street-level drug trade in 1980s Brisbane. Boy Swallows Universe follows Eli Bell from ages...

The Nowhere Child (Christian White, Affirm Press)

Friday, 27 April 2018
Sammy Went was a toddler when she disappeared from her home in Kentucky 28 years ago. Kim Leamy is an Australian photography teacher living a fairly unremarkable life until a...

Introducing Quirky Kid Publishing

Thursday, 19 April 2018
Quirky Kid Publishing—the publishing arm of Sydney- and Wollongong-based child psychology clinic The Quirky Kid Clinic—has won the Educational Initiatives Award at the 2018 London Book Fair (LBF) International Excellence...

Meet new Australian voices at the Intersection

Thursday, 19 April 2018
‘Commentators have been pointing out for decades how the children’s and young adult literary landscape has largely reflected one dominant, homogeneous story of privilege and power that rarely admits “outsider”...