Rights round-up
Wednesday, 8 November 2023
Sales Fiction Penguin Random House has sold Italian translation rights to Kind Of, Sort of, Maybe... But Probably Not (Imbi Neeme) to Editrice Nord in Italy; Czech translation rights for...
BookPeople sees ‘notable uptick’, higher average value with new gift cards
Wednesday, 8 November 2023
Earlier this year, BookPeople launched its new gift cards program, selling digital and physical cards that can be redeemed at member bookshops and Collins and Dymocks shops across Australia. The...
Danger Awards 2023 winners announced
Friday, 3 November 2023
The winners of the 2023 Danger Awards have been announced at the BAD Sydney Crime Writers Festival. Novelist Chris Hammer, who took out the award for best crime fiction, has...
Books in the media this weekend, 4–5 November
Friday, 3 November 2023
A round-up of the books being reviewed and mentioned in key media this coming weekend. National The Saturday Paper The In-Between (Christos Tsiolkas, A&U) Faking It (Toby Walsh, La Trobe)...
Australian Reading Hour to end
Thursday, 2 November 2023
Australia Reads will retire its annual Australian Reading Hour event in favour of 'a practical, unified, and year-round approach to advocating for reading in Australia'. In a statement, Australia Reads...
AI, Spotify, high/low fiction: Australian impressions of Frankfurt
Wednesday, 1 November 2023
AI dominated conversations at this year's Frankfurt Book Fair, according to Australians in attendance. 'A day didn’t pass at the book fair without a conversation about AI, the good, the...
Lim, Sworder on 2024 IBBY Honour List
Tuesday, 31 October 2023
IBBY Australia has announced its 2024 selection for the biennial IBBY Honour List: for writing, Rebecca Lim’s Tiger Daughter (A&U, 2021), and for illustration, Zeno Sworder’s My Strange Shrinking Parents...
Savva’s Bulldozed wins Australian Political Book of the Year
Thursday, 26 October 2023
Niki Savva has won the 2023 Australian Political Book of the Year award for her book Bulldozed (Scribe). Bulldozed was announced as the winner at an event at the National...
Master, Liang, Lien win 2023 Readings Prizes
Wednesday, 25 October 2023
Readings has announced Maryam Master, Ann Liang, and Tracey Lien as the 2023 winners of the Readings Prizes at an event at Readings Emporium, Melbourne, on 25 October. The winning...
BookHub and Your Bookstore: New connections between ANZ booksellers and readers
Wednesday, 25 October 2023
Since Bookshop.org and before, local brick-and-mortar stores have been pondering how best to reach online shoppers in the local market. Could the recently launched BookHub and Your Bookstore websites in...
UQP acquires Gíslason nonfiction book
Wednesday, 25 October 2023
UQP has acquired world rights to Running with Pirates, a nonfiction book from Kári Gíslason, via Grace Heifetz of Left Bank Literary. With dual narratives separated by thirty years, Running...
What do teens want to read? Six key insights from the Deakin University Teen Reading research team
Wednesday, 18 October 2023
On 4 October in Melbourne, the Deakin University Teen Reading research team presented a preview of their final report for the project ‘Discovering a “Good Read”: Cultural pathways to reading...
Booksellers Aotearoa New Zealand launches BookHub
Wednesday, 18 October 2023
Booksellers Aotearoa New Zealand (BSANZ) has launched a consumer-facing centralised website called BookHub for book sales from bricks and mortar bookstores in that market. The new BookHub site follows a...
Newcastle Poetry Prize 2023 shortlist announced
Wednesday, 11 October 2023
The Hunter Writers’ Centre has announced the 2023 shortlist for the $15,000 Newcastle Poetry Prize, with several poets reaching the shortlist with more than one entry. Shortlisted poets include: Eileen...
Pickard appointed OUP ANZ general manager
Wednesday, 11 October 2023
OUP ANZ has announced that former operations director Selina Pickard is returning to the organisation in the role of general manager. At OUP, Pickard was previously a digital and creative...
The Community Publishing Research Project
Wednesday, 11 October 2023
The Community Publishing in Regional Australia project team comprises academic researchers Beth Driscoll, Kim Wilkins, Sandra Phillips and Alexandra Dane. With funding from the Australian Research Council, the project runs...
HarperCollins signs Rogers follow-up in two-book deal
Thursday, 5 October 2023
HarperCollins Publishers Australia has acquired ANZ rights to a new novel, The Anatomy of Tears, from Megan Rogers—author of The Heart Is a Star—in a two-book deal brokered by Benython...
Amplify Bookstore’s summer picks
Wednesday, 4 October 2023
Amplify Bookstore is an independent online bookseller specialising in books by Black, Indigenous and People of Colour (BIPOC) authors, founded by Jing Xuan Teo and Marina Sano. Here, they share their top...
Angourie Rice and Kate Rice on ‘Stuck Up & Stupid’
Tuesday, 3 October 2023
Angourie Rice is an actor renowned for her roles in international feature films and television series; she also showcases her literary talents by writing, producing and hosting The Community Library...
From literary memoir to survival in a broken world: Australian nonfiction at Frankfurt
Tuesday, 3 October 2023
From literary memoir to survival in a broken world, from bookshop dogs to Sam Kerr's World Cup journey, these are the nonfiction titles publishers are most looking forward to pitching...
Local titles selling overseas
Tuesday, 3 October 2023
Since the industry last gathered for a major rights fair, titles from Australian publishers have continued to sell into international markets, with a range of new and established authors’ works...
Introducing Key People
Tuesday, 3 October 2023
Earlier this year, publishing professionals Lou Johnson and Jeanne Ryckmans set up a new literary agency, Key People Literary Management. With a connection going back to their time as colleagues...
2023 Ditmar Award winners announced
Monday, 2 October 2023
The winners of the 2023 Ditmar Awards were announced on 30 September, as part of the 2023 Australian National Science Fiction Convention in Canberra. These awards recognise achievement in Australian...
Volume symposium: Australia Reads on building a reading nation
Wednesday, 27 September 2023
Last Thursday, 21 September, over 1000 people tuned in to Australia Reads’ Volume symposium, on the theme ‘Building a Reading Nation’. In the context of declining literacy and reading rates,...
The Last Devil to Die debuts at first place
Monday, 25 September 2023
Top 10 bestsellers The Last Devil to Die (Richard Osman, Viking) The 169-Storey Treehouse (Andy Griffiths & Terry Denton, Pan) Holly (Stephen King, Hodder) Fourth Wing (Rebecca Yarros, Hachette) Things...
Books in the media this weekend, 23–24 September
Friday, 22 September 2023
A round-up of the books being reviewed and mentioned in key media this coming weekend. National The Saturday Paper Frank Moorhouse: A life (Catherine Lumby, A&U) Me, Her, Us (Yen-Rong...
Sport and sportspeople in Australian youth literature
Wednesday, 20 September 2023
Former bookseller Georgia Strobel recently undertook research into how sport and sportspeople are represented in Australian children's literature. Here, she shares her findings. Earlier this year I was lucky enough...
Federal judge blocks Texas book rating law
Wednesday, 20 September 2023
In the US, a federal judge has officially blocked Texas’s controversial book rating law, HB 900, from taking effect, reports Publishers Weekly. The 59-page opinion and order is a victory...
ARA Historical Novel Prize longlists announced
Thursday, 14 September 2023
The Historical Novel Society Australasia (HNSA) has announced the longlists for the 2023 ARA Historical Novel Prize. Featuring ‘a vast tapestry of settings and eras’, this year’s longlisted titles are:...
Hawker Brownlow authors move to Amba Press
Wednesday, 13 September 2023
Independent Australian educational publisher Amba Press has announced that it will republish a number of Australian authors formerly published by Hawker Brownlow Education (HBE). In an announcement posted to LinkedIn,...
