Miles Franklin 2026 longlist announced
Wednesday, 20 May 2026
The longlist for the 2026 Miles Franklin Literary Award has been announced. Longlisted titles for the $60,000 prize are: Discipline (Randa Abdel-Fattah, University of Queensland Press) I Want Everything (Dominic...
Macdonald wins 2026 Pixie O’Harris Award
Wednesday, 20 May 2026
Paul Macdonald has been named as the recipient of the 2026 Pixie O’Harris Award in the Australian Book Industry Awards (ABIA). The outgoing president of the Children’s Book Council of...
Fox wins 2026 Lloyd O’Neil Award
Wednesday, 20 May 2026
Mem Fox has been named as the recipient of the 2026 Lloyd O’Neil Award in the Australian Book Industry Awards (ABIA). Fox has written more than 40 books for children,...
Commonwealth Short Story Prize 2026 regional winners announced
Wednesday, 13 May 2026
The winners for the 2026 Commonwealth Short Story Prize regional categories have been announced. Chosen from a shortlist of 6, the winner for the Pacific region is Holly Ann Miller...
Blake Poetry Prize 2026 winner announced
Wednesday, 13 May 2026
Chen Wang has won the 69th Blake Poetry Prize, worth $5000, for his poem “The Woman Who Refused the Kingdom of Forgetting”. Chen Wang is a Melbourne-based medical student whose...
Palka joins Better Reading
Wednesday, 13 May 2026
Better Reading has appointed Natika Palka as head of marketing and growth. Palka was previously head of marketing and publicity at Thames & Hudson Australia. In the newly created role...
Allen & Unwin acquires Ryan’s “Eleven”
Wednesday, 13 May 2026
Allen & Unwin (A&U) has acquired world rights to Eleven: We Burn Them in the Sun by Christian Ryan. The narrative nonfiction title about cricket is “a hugely creative work...
Staheli establishes peer-support group for early-career editors
Wednesday, 6 May 2026
Book editor Jessica Staheli has announced the establishment of the Young Book Editors Association Melbourne (YBEA). Staheli, who works at Dean Publishing, said the informal group currently has 6 members...
Wilson tops bestsellers at Sorrento Writers Festival
Wednesday, 6 May 2026
Sorrento Writers Festival has reported 23,000 tickets sold at the box office for its 2026 program, which hosted 230 authors and guests, and 175 events across 10 venues in the...
Silvey pleads guilty, some charges dropped
Wednesday, 6 May 2026
Author Craig Silvey has pleaded guilty to possessing and distributing child exploitation material, the ABC reported yesterday. Silvey appeared in Fremantle Magistrates Court on Tuesday, pleading guilty to two charges. Two...
Wakefield acquires Lenoir-Jourdan’s “Saltblood”
Wednesday, 6 May 2026
Wakefield Press has acquired ANZ rights to the debut YA novel Saltblood by Nicole Lenoir-Jourdan, via Martin Shaw of Shaw Literary. Described by the publisher as “Puberty Blues meets Looking...
Byron Writers Festival 2026 first authors announced
Wednesday, 29 April 2026
Byron Writers Festival, which will run in Byron Bay, NSW from 14 to 16 August 2026, has made its first author announcement, ahead of the full 2026 program release. Australian...
Affirm Press acquires Byrt’s “Dying Days”
Wednesday, 29 April 2026
Simon & Schuster imprint Affirm Press has acquired world rights to spy novel Dying Days by Aotearoa New Zealand author Anthony Byrt, via Nadine Rubin Nathan at High Spot Literary. Dying...
Rabah wins 2026 Calibre Essay Prize
Wednesday, 29 April 2026
The Australian Book Review (ABR) has announced Sahar Rabah as the 2026 winner of the $10,000 Calibre Essay Prize for her essay “Between Reality and Dreams”. “Between Reality and Dreams”...
HarperCollins acquires Johnston nonfiction title “Fifty Beating Wonders”
Wednesday, 22 April 2026
HarperCollins has acquired ANZ rights to the nonfiction title Fifty Beating Wonders by Michelle Johnston, via Martin Shaw at Shaw Literary. Publisher Catherine Milne said, “This is the book that...
Bakers Lane acquires Strauss’s “Holding Space”
Wednesday, 22 April 2026
Bakers Lane Books has acquired world rights to the nonfiction title Holding Space by Gina Strauss. The publisher described Holding Space as a “hybrid memoir and professional guide offering reflections...
Lai’s “Cannon” shortlisted for Carol Shields Prize for Fiction
Wednesday, 22 April 2026
Australian cartoonist Lee Lai, who currently lives in Canada, has been shortlisted for the US$150,000 (A$209,673) Carol Shields Prize for Fiction for the graphic novel Cannon (Giramondo). The full 2026...
PANZ to host AWF festival director speed dating event, copyright workshop
Wednesday, 22 April 2026
The Auckland Writers Festival Waituhi o Tāmaki (AWF) and the Publishers Association of New Zealand Te Rau o Tākupu (PANZ) will host an event to connect publishers and international festival...
Messy Press wins Bologna Prize for Oceania
Wednesday, 15 April 2026
Aotearoa New Zealand children’s publisher Messy Press has won the 2026 Bologna Prize for the Best Children’s Publishers of the Year in the Oceania region, announced as part of the...
The Age Book of the Year 2026 shortlists announced
Wednesday, 15 April 2026
The shortlists for the 2026 Age Book of the Year awards have been announced. Shortlisted works in each category are: Fiction Fierceland (Omar Musa, Penguin) The Immigrants (Moreno Giovannoni, Black Inc.) Out of the...
Ball appointed UQP publishing director
Wednesday, 15 April 2026
University of Queensland Press (UQP) has announced the appointment of Ben Ball as publishing director “after an extensive recruitment process”. Ball takes over from Madonna Duffy who was appointed UQP...
ALIA National Conference 2026 program announced
Wednesday, 8 April 2026
The Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA) will hold its national conference on 11 to 14 May 2026 at Rosehill Gardens in Sydney. ALIA has decided not to have an...
Cultivate mentorship 2026 winners announced
Wednesday, 8 April 2026
Writing NSW has announced the winners of the 2026 Cultivate Mentorship Program for First Nations and Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Emerging Writers. Developed by Writing NSW to “help build equity...
A&U acquires Keane’s “Seize the Moment”
Wednesday, 8 April 2026
Allen & Unwin (A&U) has acquired world rights to Seize the Moment, a nonfiction title by Bernard Keane. According to the publisher, the book examines “how Australia can prosper in...
Pink Shorts acquires Adameitis’s “Australianarama”, De Zilva’s “Sick Note”
Wednesday, 8 April 2026
Pink Shorts Press has acquired world rights to Australianarama: A Campendium of Kitsch by artist and designer Stavroula Adameitis, also known as Frida Las Vegas, and poetry collection Sick Note...
O’Loughlin wins inaugural MidnightSun Picture Book Prize
Wednesday, 1 April 2026
Penny O’Loughlin has won the inaugural MidnightSun Picture Book Prize for her manuscript The Battle of the Beast. MidnightSun said The Battle of the Beast “impressed the judges with its...
Words on the Waves 2026 program announced
Wednesday, 1 April 2026
The program for the Words on the Waves Writers Festival, to run from 27 May to 1 June on the NSW Central Coast, has been announced. The festival’s opening address,...
Australian Government opens consultation on next National Cultural Policy
Wednesday, 25 March 2026
The Australian Government has opened consultation to hear views on developing the next National Cultural Policy, 3 years after the launch of the 5-year policy Revive. The consultation process invites submissions...
Copyright: APA, ASA oppose expansion of exceptions; Aus material “being ripped off by foreign players,” says minister
Wednesday, 25 March 2026
Industry bodies the Australian Publishers Association (APA), Australian Society of Authors (ASA) and Copyright Agency are among a coalition of creator representatives to have released a joint statement warning against...
Text acquires Szubanski memoir
Wednesday, 25 March 2026
Text Publishing has announced the acquisition of the memoir I Can’t Tell You But I Will by Magda Szubanski. Szubanski is a comedian, actor and LGBT rights advocate. Her previous memoir,...





