Books in the media this week
Friday, 26 June 2026
A round-up of books being reviewed and discussed in key media this week, updated as information becomes available. National The Bookshelf, ABC Radio National Arborescence (Rhett Davis, Hachette) Lost Lambs...
ANZL responds to “Guardian” top 100 novels with Southern Hemisphere Fiction 100 list
Thursday, 25 June 2026
The Academy of New Zealand Literature Te Whare Mātātuhi o Aotearoa (ANZL), a writer-led initiative developed to support and promote contemporary Aotearoa New Zealand writers, has released a list of...
Happy MF shortlist day
Wednesday, 24 June 2026
The Miles Franklin shortlist is out; Text is moving in with Penguin Random House; Sophie Higgins joins the Indigenous Literacy Foundation board; there’s a new edition of the Books Without...
Who is Evercreech? The micro publisher shortlisted for the Miles Franklin with its first book
Wednesday, 24 June 2026
Evercreech Editions is a micro press established in Lutruwita/Tasmania by author, editor, bookseller and writing teacher Adam Ouston, and My Heart at Evening by Konrad Muller, shortlisted for the 2026...
Anna Battese recommends
Tuesday, 23 June 2026
There are so many incredible Australian kids’ books out there, which makes this question so hard to answer! I'm going to be a terrible cheat and give you my just-read...
Anna Battese on “The Grey Beret’s Guide to Surviving the Odds”
Tuesday, 23 June 2026
Anna Battese is a Melbourne-based children’s author whose debut middle-grade novel The Grey Beret’s Guide to Surviving the Odds (Simon & Schuster Australia, August) is the first in a planned...
Neale Daniher’s message lives on
Friday, 19 June 2026
Following the death of the Australian Rules football player, author and FightMND co-founder, Neale Daniher’s personal development title The Power of Choice (Macmillan) has climbed up the Australian writer bestseller...
Books in the media this week
Friday, 19 June 2026
A round-up of books being reviewed and discussed in key media this week, updated as information becomes available. National The Bookshelf, ABC Radio National Awake Awake (Fiona Mozley, John Murray)...
NielsenIQ: Local sales up $14 million for the year to date
Wednesday, 17 June 2026
Book sales in the local market are up so far in 2026, representing $14 million more in sales for the first quarter of 2026 compared with 2025, with adult fiction...
OverDrive partners with ILF on digital First Languages children’s books
Wednesday, 17 June 2026
OverDrive has partnered with the Indigenous Literacy Foundation (ILF) to bring First Languages children’s books to more readers through the library book app Libby and student reading app Sora. Languages...
Inflation, closed doors, horror, but the mood was up at the 2026 ABA conference
Wednesday, 17 June 2026
More than one graph shown at this year’s Australian Booksellers Association (ABA) annual conference in Canberra showed inflation steeply outpacing book sales. Yet the mood of the conference was positive...
Kate Foster recommends
Tuesday, 16 June 2026
One book I can’t get out of my head, which I read last year, is How to Sail to Somewhere by Ashleigh Barton. Ashleigh writes in such a tender, accessible...
Kate Foster on “A River I Must Be”
Tuesday, 16 June 2026
Kate Foster is a Gold Coast–based, bestselling and award-winning children’s author whose latest middle-grade novel in verse, A River I Must Be (HarperCollins Publishers), follows an autistic year 7 student...
Elle Kennedy’s ice skating romance takes over heatseekers chart
Friday, 12 June 2026
Top 10 bestsellers The Deal (Elle Kennedy, Piatkus) (combined editions) Yesteryear (Caro Claire Burke, 4th Estate) The Divorce (Freida McFadden, Poisoned Pen Press) The Mistake (Elle Kennedy, Piatkus) The Score (Elle...
Book Club – this month’s reads
Friday, 12 June 2026
Looking for your next great group read? Our monthly Book Club rounds up new release titles perfect for sparking conversation and perhaps even some debate. From compelling fiction to thought-provoking...
Books in the media this week
Friday, 12 June 2026
A round-up of books being reviewed and discussed in key media this week, updated as information becomes available. National The Bookshelf, ABC Radio National How to Love the World (Ilka...
PRH has a winner
Thursday, 11 June 2026
The winner of the Penguin Literary Prize has been announced; as have the recipients of this year’s Neilma Sidney travel fund; 2 former Big Fivers have launched a new author-support...
Has the number of bookshops in Australia really halved? Probably not, but we should still be worried
Wednesday, 10 June 2026
It’s a dramatic and depressing statistic: that in the decade to 2023, the number of bookshops in Australia roughly halved; but it’s also based on unverified data and unlikely to...
So very many books
Wednesday, 10 June 2026
New ISBN data show the number of books being published in Australia is booming (but published by whom?); the Book Awards for Children and Young Adults 2026 shortlists have been...
Visiting International Publishers on commercial fiction trends in Indonesia, Italy and France
Wednesday, 10 June 2026
As part of the Visiting International Publishers (VIPs) program, Writing Australia held an industry forum and networking lunch at the State Library of NSW in Sydney on 20 May. The...
New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults 2026 shortlists announced
Wednesday, 10 June 2026
The shortlists for the 2026 New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults have been announced. The shortlists in each category, chosen from 159 entries, are: BookHub Picture Book...
King’s Birthday Honours
Tuesday, 9 June 2026
Industry figures are on the King’s Birthday Honours list; Kaye Wright has landed at Woodslane; The Good Sea (Vannessa Hearman, Melbourne University Press) tops the NT Writers Festival bestsellers list;...
Anna Fienberg, Datsun Tran on 2026 IBBY Honour List
Tuesday, 9 June 2026
IBBY Australia has announced its 2026 selection for the biennial IBBY Honour List: for writing, Anna Fienberg’s Picasso and the Greatest Show on Earth (Allen & Unwin, 2023), and for illustration,...
Books in the media this week
Friday, 5 June 2026
A round-up of books being reviewed and discussed in key media this week, updated as information becomes available. National The Bookshelf, ABC Radio National Land (Maggie O’Farrell, Tinder Press) A...
Junior Book Club – this month’s reads
Friday, 5 June 2026
Searching for your next great read to share with kids? Our Junior Book Club highlights new titles each month that are perfect for classrooms, libraries and family reading time. From...
Fiction Over Reality on bookshop life in Queensland’s Wellington Point
Wednesday, 3 June 2026
Late last year, new bookstore Fiction Over Reality opened in the seaside suburb of Wellington Point in Queensland. Owner Aimee Boyd spoke with Books+Publishing about the first months of operation and...
Allen & Unwin acquires Zoe Foster Blake’s “Group Chat”
Monday, 1 June 2026
Allen & Unwin (A&U) has acquired ANZ rights to Group Chat by Zoë Foster Blake, in a deal brokered by Tara Wynne at Curtis Brown. Described by the publisher as “part...
Pantera Press acquires “The Curator” by Jonathan Butler
Monday, 1 June 2026
Pantera Press has acquired world rights to “gripping true crime investigation” The Curator by Jonathan Butler. Part murder mystery, part queer history, and part portrait of Melbourne’s art world, the...
ABC Radio National countdown to focus on Australian books
Thursday, 28 May 2026
This year, ABC Radio National’s annual Top 100 Books Countdown will focus on the theme “Australian books”, both fiction and nonfiction. The ABC said the countdown’s definition of Australian was...
There’s a lot happening at Thames & Hudson
Wednesday, 27 May 2026
Simon & Schuster Australia is rejoining HarperCollins New Zealand for field sales representation in Aotearoa; Thames & Hudson (T&H) has made some staff changes; the ALS Gold Medal shortlist has...
