BRTD enterprise agreement, ABA ICYMI campaign, Newbery, Caldecott winners
Thursday, 27 January 2022
In news this week, following industrial action in November last year, workers and management at Sydney bookshop Better Read Than Dead have signed an enterprise agreement, which has been submitted...
New appointments at HarperCollins and Bloomsbury, Hazel Rowley shortlist
Wednesday, 19 January 2022
HarperCollins has announced the appointment of Michelle Weisz as publishing director of HarperCollins Australia’s children’s books division. Weisz replaces Cristina Cappelluto, who has joined Bloomsbury Australia as managing director. The...
PMLA winners, ACCC lodges case against Booktopia
Wednesday, 12 January 2022
Late last year, the winners of the 2021 Prime Minister’s Literary Awards were announced. Amanda Lohrey, who won the fiction prize for her novel The Labyrinth, was also named the...
Paterson to lead Atlantic Books Australia, VPLAs shortlists
Wednesday, 8 December 2021
Pan Macmillan publishing director Cate Paterson is leaving the company to lead Atlantic Book Australia, a new division of Allen & Unwin. In other moves news, Louise Adler will leave...
Engaged readers driving book sales, latest awards news
Wednesday, 1 December 2021
A new survey by Australia Reads has found that engaged readers were driving the growth in book sales during the pandemic. In other news, ADS has announced it is working...
NZ book sales up, National Book Award winners
Wednesday, 24 November 2021
Since Auckland and Waikato emerged from lockdown, New Zealand print book sales are up 4% on value on the same time in 2020, while year-to-date sales are up 17%. The...
Supply chain chaos, Melbourne Prize for Literature winners
Wednesday, 17 November 2021
Booksellers on Australia’s east coast are reporting serious delivery delays, missing deliveries and damaged stock, with reports that the problems are particularly acute in Queensland. The ABA will hold its...
Jordan wins Richell Prize, ‘The Promise’ wins 2021 Booker Prize
Wednesday, 10 November 2021
This week the Australian Society of Authors alerted authors and publishers that the decision by the National Library of New Zealand to donate more than 400,000 books to the Internet...
Parliamentary inquiry into the arts, US DoJ seeks to block PRH, S&S deal
Thursday, 4 November 2021
A parliamentary inquiry has made a slate of recommendations to support Australia’s cultural and creative industries, including a review of PLR/ELR schemes, minimum thresholds of local content and increased funding...
Record-breaking week for book sales, PMLAs shortlists
Wednesday, 27 October 2021
Australian book sales for the week ending 16 October broke the 10-year average BookScan weekly sales record for this time of year, as New South Wales booksellers were finally able...
Laguna wins Colin Roderick Literary Award, new paid internship recipients
Wednesday, 20 October 2021
Sofie Laguna has won the $20,000 Colin Roderick Literary Award and the H T Priestley Medal for her novel Infinite Splendours (A&U), while the Australia Council released the long-awaited results of...
Agius to head Welbeck ANZ, NSW bookstores reopen
Wednesday, 13 October 2021
Bernadette Agius has been named as the inaugural managing director of Welbeck ANZ, while Juliet Rogers has been appointed managing director of Echo Publishing. After a long lockdown, retail in...
Canberra Writers Festival cancelled, Open Book internship pilot to run in 2022
Wednesday, 6 October 2021
After an initial postponement, the Canberra Writers Festival has announced the event will not go ahead in 2021, due to ongoing Covid outbreaks in the ACT. Open Book, a new...
New Readings shop, McKay wins Arthur C Clarke Award
Wednesday, 29 September 2021
Melbourne bookseller Readings will open a new shop—the chain’s eighth—in the Emporium shopping complex in the Melbourne CBD. In other retail news, performing arts specialist Book Nook has been saved...
Love Your Bookshop Day, Varuna Residential Fellowships
Wednesday, 22 September 2021
The Australian Booksellers Association has announced details about this year’s Love Your Bookshop Day celebrations on 9 October, which will take place online ‘so that everyone can engage from wherever...
New distribution centre for Booktopia, QLA winners
Wednesday, 15 September 2021
Booktopia has secured a new warehousing and distribution space in Sydney’s South West, with the facility to provide increased capacity in time for Christmas. The program for the inaugural Ubud...
RISE funding for Australia Reads, latest awards
Wednesday, 8 September 2021
The Australia Reads campaign and ALIA’s Online Storytime initiative are among the latest recipients of the federal government’s RISE funding. A new bookshop, The Chestnut Tree, has opened in Melbourne’s...
Booktopia yearly results, latest award winners
Wednesday, 1 September 2021
Booktopia has posted revenue growth of 35% and a 125% rise in profit for the 2021 financial year—its first full year results as an ASX-listed company. In other news, Brisbane Writers Festival...
CBCA winners, MWF live events cancelled
Wednesday, 25 August 2021
The winners of this year’s CBCA Book of the Year Awards were announced last Friday. In other awards news, the recipients of the Sydney Opera House Mentorship for Diverse Emerging...
Lockdowns hit sales, Nielsen ebook sales tracking service
Wednesday, 18 August 2021
Recent lockdowns across several states have led to year-on-year declines in both value and volume of print books, according to Nielsen Book Australia. Nielsen has also launched a new ebook...
S&S stands by Zonfrillo, Dyer to step down from AWW
Wednesday, 11 August 2021
Simon & Schuster is standing by celebrity chef Jock Zonfrillo’s memoir Last Shot following a profile of Zonfrillo published in Good Weekend. Jo Dyer will step down as director of Adelaide...
MWF program, latest award winners
Wednesday, 4 August 2021
Melbourne Writers Festival has revealed this year’s program, which runs from 3–12 September. Meanwhile, Writing NSW and the NT Writers Centre, as well as the NSW Central Coast’s Words on...
Welbeck to launch Australian subsidiary, Booker Prize longlist
Wednesday, 28 July 2021
Independent UK publisher Welbeck is establishing a new standalone Australian subsidiary in partnership with Booktopia, with aims to publish 50 local titles a year. The NT Writers Festival has launched...
Lohrey wins Miles Franklin, Hardie Grant buys out founding investor
Wednesday, 21 July 2021
Amanda Lohrey has won this year’s Miles Franklin Literary Award for her seventh novel, The Labyrinth. Hardie Grant has bought out founding investor Associated Media Investments (AMI), introduced a new board,...
Sharp steps down from SWF; new head of sales, publicity manager for Hachette
Wednesday, 14 July 2021
Chrissy Sharp has stepped down as the CEO of Sydney Writers' Festival after three years with the organisation, with Brooke Webb and Michael Williams to lead next year’s festival. At...
Local authors recognised overseas, new Perth indie bookshop
Wednesday, 7 July 2021
Two local authors have been recognised in overseas awards: Michael Robotham won the CWA Steel Dagger for best thriller for his novel When She Was Good, while Laura Jean Mckay’s The...
Union action at bookshops, Pilkington departs Hachette
Wednesday, 30 June 2021
A majority of staff at the Readings bookselling chain have voted to negotiate an Enterprise Bargaining Agreement, while in Sydney, union members at Better Read Than Dead are undertaking a...
Miles Franklin shortlist, Booksellers’ Choice award winners
Wednesday, 23 June 2021
Last week the shortlist for the 2021 Miles Franklin Literary Award was announced, while the Australian Booksellers Association announced the winners of its Booksellers’ Choice awards, with The Little Bookroom’s...
Queen’s Birthday Honours, Williams to step down at ILF
Thursday, 17 June 2021
A number of authors and publishing industry figures have been recognised in this year’s 2021 Queen’s Birthday Honours. Corrie Perkin’s My Bookshop in the Melbourne suburb of Hawksburn is set...
MUP profit up 19%, Fogarty Literary Award winner
Wednesday, 9 June 2021
Following its move to increase its focus on scholarly publishing, MUP has reported an operating profit increase of 19%. In other news, Spineless Wonders has launched a new imprint that...





