Tuesday, 10 March 2015
Big international fiction releases are dominating the bestsellers chart, with three new titles making it into the top 10 in their first week. While American Sniper (film tie-in) (Chris Kyle,...

Tuesday, 10 March 2015
Thomas Keneally is the recipient of the 2015 Australia Council Award for Lifetime Achievement in Literature.The award, formerly known as the Writers’ Emeritus Award, recognises ‘the achievements of eminent literary...

Tuesday, 10 March 2015
Kylie Scott was named Favourite Australian Romance Author for the second year in a row at the 2014 Australian Romance Readers Awards in Canberra on 7 March.Scott also won awards for...

Tuesday, 10 March 2015
New Zealand publishing house Craig Potton Publishing has changed its name to Potton & Burton to ‘reflect the increasingly diverse range of New Zealand books’ it publishes.Robbie Burton, co-owner and...

Tuesday, 10 March 2015
An IbisWorld report has projected that bricks-and-mortar bookstores will record an average annual revenue decline of 8.3% in the five years from 2009-10 to 2014-15, according to Inside Retail.The same report projects a 5.9%...

Tuesday, 10 March 2015
writingWA has released two tablet apps based on illustrated stories by Indigenous writers, as part of its Project 360 initiative.Mamang is based on the picture book of the same name by...

Thursday, 5 March 2015
The Copyright Agency has announced that CEO Murray St Leger will leave the company in July.St Leger, a former managing director of McGraw-Hill Australia and former president of the Australian...

Wednesday, 4 March 2015
‘Newman condemned himself to being published outside of Queensland when he axed the Awards. Perhaps his future memoir will reflect on this with the benefit of hindsight’—Macquarie University creative writing...

Wednesday, 4 March 2015
Please note that, due to the public holiday on Monday in Victoria, South Australia, Tasmania and the ACT, the next Weekly Book Newsletter will be published on Thursday 12 March.The deadline for classifieds and...

Wednesday, 4 March 2015
Andrew Burrell has won the 2014 Ashurst Business Literature Prize for his book Twiggy: The High Stakes Life of Andrew Forrest (Black Inc.).Burrell was presented with the $30,000 prize at an event in...

Tuesday, 3 March 2015
The Brisbane Writers Festival (BWF) has appointed a new festival director and acting CEO for 2015.Julie Beveridge replaces current festival director and CEO Kate Eltham, who is taking maternity leave from mid-March. Beveridge has...

Tuesday, 3 March 2015
Pearson has recorded £4.9bn (A$9.7bn) in sales in 2014, down 4% or £195m (A$386m) from 2013, according to its unaudited financial results. Profits are up 1% over the same period to £720m (A$1.42bn)....

Tuesday, 3 March 2015
A petition against the WA government’s decision to cut funding and move the WA Premier’s Book Awards to a biennial format has been launched online.The petition, which is addressed to Liberal premier...

Tuesday, 3 March 2015
Caroline Baum has won the 2015 Hazel Rowley Literary Fellowship.Baum, a freelance journalist, broadcaster and editorial director of Booktopia, was announced as the winner at the Adelaide Writers Festival on 4 March. Writers...

Monday, 2 March 2015
Tasmania-based literary magazine Island has announced it will form a ‘literary partnership’ with Hobart’s Museum of Old and New Art (MONA).The partnership initially involves the magazine being promoted by the...

Monday, 2 March 2015
The West Australian newspaper will cut its Tuesday-edition book coverage by 50%, reducing the double-page spread to a single page.In a statement, writingWA said it was ‘dismayed’ to learn about...

Monday, 2 March 2015
American Sniper (Chris Kyle, Scott McEwen & Jim DeFelice, HarperCollins) is back at number one this week as last week’s number one, The Ruby Circle (Richelle Mead, Viking), drops to...

Monday, 2 March 2015
The finalists for the 2014 Aurealis Awards, presented for science-fiction, fantasy and horror writing in Australia, have been announced.Among the categories are:Fantasy novel Fireborn (Keri Arthur, Hachette) This Shattered World...

Monday, 2 March 2015
The Copyright Agency has established nine fellowships ‘to support innovation in writing, publishing and copyright research’, worth $120,000 annually.The first round of fellowships consist of four Publisher Fellowships, worth $10,000 each,...

Monday, 2 March 2015
Four books by Australian authors have been selected for the 2015 United States Board of Books for Young People (USBBY) list of Outstanding International Books for children and young adults.The...

Friday, 27 February 2015
Canberra’s ‘experimental’ writers’ festival Noted has launched its first program.The program is divided into three streams—live, digital and professional development—and features a range of emerging writers and artists.The live stream...

Thursday, 26 February 2015
Melbourne-based publisher and literary magazine the Lifted Brow has announced the shortlist for its Prize for Experimental Nonfiction.The shortlisted works are: Sophia O’Rourke for ‘Flaming June: Still Life and the Anthroposcene’ Scott...

Thursday, 26 February 2015
The University of Queensland Press (UQP) has declined to publish former Queensland premier Campbell Newman’s memoir, citing Newman’s axing of the Queensland Premier’s Literary Awards as the reason, reports the...