ILD 2023: Over 300,000 tune in for music-filled celebration
Tuesday, 12 September 2023
Last Wednesday, 6 September, was Indigenous Literacy Day (ILD)—the annual event hosted by the Indigenous Literacy Foundation (ILF) to celebrate First Nations peoples’ storytelling and raise funds to support literacy...
Dymocks customers warned about data breach
Monday, 11 September 2023
Dymocks has warned its customers of a potential data breach, after the retailer’s cybersecurity experts found evidence of discussions about Dymocks customer records being available on the dark web. In...
Beverley McWilliams on ‘Spies in the Sky’
Wednesday, 6 September 2023
Beverley McWilliams is a children's writer based in South Australia who loves sharing history with children. Books+Publishing reviewer Karys McEwen describes her new book, Spies in the Sky (Pantera, November),...
Stan adaptation of ‘Scrublands’ sold to BBC
Wednesday, 6 September 2023
A four-part adaptation of Scrublands (Chris Hammer, A&U) has been acquired by the BBC from Abacus Media Rights, which has international distribution rights for the series, and will screen on...
Stager to take over Riverbend Books
Tuesday, 5 September 2023
Riverbend Books owner, and founder of the Indigenous Literacy Foundation, Suzy Wilson has sold Riverbend to Fiona Stager, co-owner of Brisbane's Avid Reader bookshop. Wilson—who founded Riverbend Books in 1998...
Ned Kelly Awards 2023 winners announced
Monday, 4 September 2023
The Australian Crime Writers Association (ACWA) has announced the winners of the 2023 Ned Kelly Awards. The 2023 winners are: Best debut crime fiction Wake (Shelley Burr, Hachette) Best crime...
Meet the publishers: new small presses to watch
Wednesday, 30 August 2023
The pandemic: book buyers rediscovered their love of reading, authors made use of lockdowns to write, but for some, it was all about publishing. Here, we profile five publishers launched...
Readings New Australian Fiction Prize 2023 shortlist announced
Tuesday, 29 August 2023
Readings has announced the shortlist for the 2023 Readings New Australian Fiction Prize. This year’s six shortlisted books are: Time and Tide in Sarajevo (Bronwyn Birdsall, Affirm) A Country of...
Readings Young Adult Prize 2023 shortlist announced
Thursday, 24 August 2023
Readings has announced the shortlist for the 2023 Readings Young Adult Book Prize. This year’s six shortlisted books are: Dancing Barefoot (Alice Boyle, Text) Spice Road (Maiya Ibrahim, Hodderscape) Completely...
NewSouth acquires Clift autobiographical novel
Thursday, 24 August 2023
NewSouth Publishing has acquired world rights to Charmian Clift’s unfinished novel The End of the Morning, via Jane Novak Literary Agency. The autobiographical novel about a young woman coming of...
117% increase in sales for NZ CYA Book Awards titles
Thursday, 24 August 2023
Nielsen BookScan figures showed a 117% increase in sales of shortlisted books from the New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults in the week of the winner announcement,...
Hachette acquires Terakes short story collection
Wednesday, 23 August 2023
Hachette Australia has acquired world rights to a debut short story collection from Australian actor Zoe Terakes, to be titled Eros: Queer myths for lovers. The collection, which will feature...
Celebrating imperfections and connections at BookUp 2023
Wednesday, 23 August 2023
The annual BookUp conference for 2023, presented by the Australian Publishers Association (APA), was held at the State Library Victoria, Melbourne, on Wednesday 16 August, with wide-ranging sessions inviting participants to...
Redundancies at PRHNZ, CBCA Awards, Langshaw named 2023 Rising Star
Wednesday, 23 August 2023
Fiction publisher Harriet Allan is among three redundancies of senior staff announced at Penguin Random House New Zealand, according to Newsroom.co.nz; Ubud Writers & Readers Festival has announced its full...
Heath wins 2023 Elizabeth Jolley Short Story Prize
Friday, 18 August 2023
Victorian writer Rowan Heath has won the 2023 Australian Book Review (ABR) Elizabeth Jolley Short Story Prize for their piece ‘The Mannequin’. Receiving a prize of $6000, Heath was shortlisted...
Pantera acquires Sharp nonfiction
Wednesday, 16 August 2023
Pantera Press has acquired world rights to Lost and Found: How to wander your way to a better life, a new nonfiction book by Tim Sharp, via Simone Landes at...
UQP to publish anthology by Autistic women and gender-diverse writers
Friday, 11 August 2023
UQP has acquired a new anthology of 25 personal essays from Autistic women and gender-diverse writers, to be co-edited by Autistic writers Jo Case and Clem Bastow and supported by...
Pitched at MIFF 2023
Wednesday, 9 August 2023
Publishers and agents returned to the Melbourne International Film Festival's book-to-screen rights sales event Books@MIFF again this year, with a diverse range of titles selected for on-stage pitching, followed by...
Meet the Rising Stars 2023: Tom Langshaw
Wednesday, 9 August 2023
The Australian Publishers Association Rising Star award recognises an emerging talent in Australian publishing who has spent less than 10 years in the industry. In the lead-up to the winner announcement at...
Books in the media this weekend, 5–6 August
Friday, 4 August 2023
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...
Lloyd, Sandiford join UQP
Thursday, 3 August 2023
University of Queensland Press (UQP) has appointed Kate Lloyd as sales and distribution manager, and Erin Sandiford as rights and contracts manager. Loyd was most recently sales and marketing manager...
Meet the Rising Stars 2023: Genevieve Nelsson
Wednesday, 2 August 2023
The Australian Publishers Association Rising Star award recognises an emerging talent in Australian publishing who has spent less than 10 years in the industry. In the lead-up to the winner announcement at...
Thank you Mark Rubbo, from a sales rep
Wednesday, 2 August 2023
Mark Rubbo retired as Readings MD on 28 July, after 50 years in the books business. Hardie Grant Books area manager, Victoria and Tasmania, Mandy Wildsmith reflects on working with...
Nib Literary Award 2023 longlist announced
Monday, 31 July 2023
The longlist for the 2023 Mark and Evette Moran Nib Literary Award, worth $40,000, has been announced. The longlisted titles are: An Intimate History of Evolution: The story of the...
Books in the media this weekend, 29–30 July
Friday, 28 July 2023
A round-up of the books being reviewed and mentioned in key media this coming weekend. National The Saturday Paper Birth Canal (Dias Novita Wuri, Scribe) Heat (Jeff Goodell, Black Inc.)...
We Know a Place (Maxine Beneba Clarke, Lothian)
Tuesday, 25 July 2023
Award-winning and well-loved writer for all ages, Maxine Beneba Clarke, celebrates the magic of bookshops in her latest title for younger readers. We Know a Place is an illustrated tribute to those...
Publishers flock to Threads
Tuesday, 25 July 2023
Meta, the owners of Instagram and Facebook, launched the new app Threads—a very similar platform to Twitter—on 5 July, gaining 100 million users in only five days, as those frustrated...
NZ book trade awards: Lamplight wins Bookshop of the Year, A&U wins Publisher of the Year
Monday, 24 July 2023
The winners of the Aotearoa Book Trade Industry Awards, held 24 July in Rotorua, have been announced. Auckland bookstore Lamplight Books won the Bookshop of the Year award. Judges described...
Meet the Rising Stars 2023: Eloise Plant
Thursday, 20 July 2023
The Australian Publishers Association Rising Star award recognises an emerging talent in Australian publishing who has spent less than 10 years in the industry. In the lead-up to the winner announcement at...
Big W pulls ‘Welcome to Sex’ from physical stores
Wednesday, 19 July 2023
Big W will stop selling the book Welcome to Sex: Your no-silly-questions guide to sexuality, pleasure and figuring it out (Melissa Kang & Yumi Stynes, HGCP) in physical stores, following...
