‘I do, in fact, belong here’: Looking back and forward with the 2024 Open Book interns
Wednesday, 4 December 2024
First run as a pilot program offering two internships in 2022, the Open Book paid internship program is a joint sector initiative that aims to foster cultural and linguistic diversity...
Lucashenko wins Nib; APA, ASA, Copyright Agency welcome AI recommendations; McGuire wins Richell Prize
Wednesday, 4 December 2024
The Federal Government’s Select Committee on Adopting Artificial Intelligence has released its final report, with recommendations on consultation, fair remuneration and transparency among those welcomed by Copyright Agency, the Australian...
Ampersand Prize 2024 shortlist announced
Wednesday, 4 December 2024
Hardie Grant Children’s Publishing (HGCP) has announced the shortlist for the 2024 Ampersand Prize. The shortlisted titles are: ‘I Love a Good Murder’ by Rahnia Collins, a YA crime novel...
Pung awarded 2024 Alice Literary Award
Wednesday, 4 December 2024
Alice Pung has won the Alice Literary Award, presented by the Society of Women Writers in Australia. In Pung’s acceptance speech, the author said: ‘What an honour it is, to...
The Humongous Humdingle Family and the Tiny House (Michelle Wilson, illus PJ Reece, EK Books)
Tuesday, 3 December 2024
In The Humongous Humdingle Family and the Tiny House, Michelle Wilson introduces readers to the eight human members of the multi-generational Humdingle family, and their many pets, who all live...
Books in the media this weekend, 30 November to 1 December
Friday, 29 November 2024
A round-up of the books being reviewed and mentioned in key media this coming weekend. This week’s round-up will be updated as information becomes available. National The Saturday Paper Mean...
Number of publishing start-ups using AI explodes
Thursday, 28 November 2024
Spines, a startup technology company founded in 2021 that published its first titles this year, is ‘offering the use of AI to proofread, produce, publish and distribute books’, reports the...
Lucashenko wins 2024 Nib Literary Award
Thursday, 28 November 2024
Melissa Lucashenko has won the Waverley Council’s 2024 Mark and Evette Moran Nib Literary Award, worth $40,000, for her novel Edenglassie (UQP). The judging panel, comprising publisher Julia Carlomagno, poet Jamie...
New year 2025 preview: Fiction
Wednesday, 27 November 2024
Unpublished manuscript prizes, hotly contest auctions, agents, slush piles, or authors wooed from rival publishing houses—wherever they came from, these are the fiction titles publishers are excited about for 2025....
Three Boys Gone (Mark Smith, Macmillan)
Tuesday, 26 November 2024
Award-winning writer Mark Smith is a familiar name on the young adult shelves, with his acclaimed Winter trilogy finding its way onto school lists nationwide. Venturing into fiction for adult...
‘Praiseworthy’ longlisted for Climate Fiction Prize
Monday, 25 November 2024
Alexis Wright’s Praiseworthy (Giramondo) has been longlisted for the inaugural Climate Fiction Prize. Chair of judges Madeleine Bunting said Praiseworthy ‘makes you giddy, plunging you into a distinctive form of...
‘Leading Wellbeing’ wins book of the year at the Australian Business Book Awards
Thursday, 21 November 2024
The winners of the 2024 Australian Business Book Awards have been announced. The winners are: Book of the year Leading Wellbeing (Fleur Heazlewood, Major Street) Communications and sales Self-Promotion Without...
‘Flawed Hero’ wins 2024 Australian Political Book of the Year
Thursday, 21 November 2024
Chris Masters has won the 2024 Australian Political Book of the Year Award for the book Flawed Hero: Truth, Lies and War Crimes (A&U). Prize judges said Flawed Hero ‘addresses...
Bergmoser’s ‘The Hunted’ to be adapted for screen
Tuesday, 19 November 2024
Writer and director John Michael McDonagh, with Film Constellation and CAA Media Finance, will adapt The Hunted, a novel by Gabriel Bergmoser (HarperCollins), for film in Australia in 2025. The...
Lloyd, Hart to launch Pink Shorts Press
Tuesday, 19 November 2024
Co-founders Margot Lloyd and Emily Hart have announced the establishment of new publishing venture Pink Shorts Press, which will launch in Adelaide during Adelaide Writers' Week in March 2025. Lloyd...
Saleh and Treloar joint winers of 2024 Barbara Jefferis Award
Thursday, 14 November 2024
Australian Society of Authors (ASA) has announced joint winners for the 2024 Barbara Jefferis Award: Sara M Saleh for Songs for the Dead and the Living (Affirm) and Lucy Treloar...
Booktopia announces staff appointments
Thursday, 14 November 2024
Online bookseller Booktopia has announced a number of staff appointments, following the acquisition of the business by digiDirect owner Shant Kradjian. Sophie Higgins, among whose previous roles is the position...
Booktopia Group insolvent since at least 31 January; entities put into liquidation
Wednesday, 13 November 2024
Booktopia Group Limited creditors have voted in favour of the resolution that Booktopia Group Limited—and associated entities Booktopia Pty Ltd, Making I. T. Better Pty Ltd, and Virtual Lifestyles Pty...
Sophie Clark on ‘Cruel Is the Light’
Tuesday, 12 November 2024
Tasmanian-based author Sophie Clark went from working for the Australian Senate to being a member of the Pitch Wars class of 2021. Her debut novel, Cruel Is the Light (Penguin,...
Wong receives Burr/Tatham Trust Award
Tuesday, 12 November 2024
Alison Wong is the recipient of the NZ$35,000 Burr/Tatham Trust Award, which is one of eight 2024 Laureate Awards presented by the Arts Foundation Te Tumu Toi to ‘celebrate and...
Pinkham to step down as Hardie Grant Publishing group managing director
Monday, 11 November 2024
Hardie Grant CEO Sandy Grant has announced that Hardie Grant Publishing group managing director Julie Pinkham is leaving her role at the end of 2024, moving to a non-executive advisory...
Heifetz, Gilliatt, McGuire, Slater form a4 Literary; Booktopia administrators call second creditor meeting; Walkley Book Award shortlist announced
Wednesday, 6 November 2024
Grace Heifetz, Tom Gilliatt, Michaela McGuire and Rebecca Slater have announced the creation of new literary agency a4 Literary. This follows news of the upcoming dissolution of Left Bank Literary,...
Australian Political Book of the Year Award 2024 shortlist announced
Thursday, 31 October 2024
The shortlist for the 2024 Australian Political Book of the Year Award has been announced. Shortlisted titles, selected from a longlist announced earlier this month, are: Quarterly Essay #93: Bad...
Ali Gripper on ‘Saltwater Cure’
Tuesday, 29 October 2024
Sydney-based, award-winning journalist Ali Gripper has contributed features to some of Australia's leading newspapers and magazines. Her first biography, The Barefoot Surgeon (A&U, 2018), told the story of Nepalese eye...
Bancroft awarded 2024 Lady Cutler Award
Monday, 28 October 2024
Bronwyn Bancroft is the recipient of the 2024 Lady Cutler Award, a biennial award presented by the New South Wales branch of the Children’s Book Council of Australia (CBCA) for distinguished...
SPN to wind up unless new board formed, Shawline liquidation affects hundreds, ‘Edenglassie’ wins Roderick Literary Award
Wednesday, 23 October 2024
The board of the Small Press Network has informed members that it will apply to Consumer Affairs Victoria to terminate the organisation in 30 days, unless a new board is...
Robert Manne: A Political Memoir (Robert Manne, La Trobe)
Tuesday, 22 October 2024
In 2024, amid widespread political polarisation, Robert Manne’s memoir, Robert Manne: A Political Memoir: Intellectual Combat in the Cold War and the Culture Wars, offers an interesting read. As one...
Nix wins best novel at 2024 Ditmar Awards
Tuesday, 22 October 2024
The winners of the 2024 Ditmar Awards were announced on 7 October, as part of the Australian national science fiction convention ‘Conflux 18’ in Canberra. The winning works include: Best novel The...
Books in the media this weekend, 19–20 October
Friday, 18 October 2024
A round-up of the books being reviewed and mentioned in key media this coming weekend. National The Saturday Paper The Burrow (Melanie Cheng, Text) Rapture (Emily Maguire, (A&U) Uses of...
James awarded 2024 ASA Medal
Wednesday, 16 October 2024
The Australian Society of Authors (ASA) has announced Ann James is the recipient of the 2024 ASA Medal. Established in 2003, the ASA Medal is awarded annually to an Australian...
