Affirm acquires VPLA 2023 unpublished manuscript winner
Wednesday, 22 February 2023
Affirm Press has acquired world rights to One Divine Night by Mick Cummins, the winner of the 2023 Victorian Premier’s Literary Award (VPLA) for an unpublished manuscript, in a deal...
Betts, Di Lorenzo drive 48% local publishing growth at S&S
Wednesday, 22 February 2023
Simon & Schuster Australia (S&S) has recorded a ‘record year of sales, profit, and market share’, according to managing director Dan Ruffino, who told Books+Publishing that 2022 was the ‘third...
Linwood Messina sells ‘The Dreaming Path’ to HarperOne
Wednesday, 22 February 2023
Gregory Messina of Linwood Messina Literary Agency has sold world English rights (ex ANZ) to Paul Callaghan’s The Dreaming Path: Indigenous thinking to change your life written with Uncle Paul...
VIPs 2023 in-person program to run alongside SWF
Tuesday, 21 February 2023
The Australia Council has announced the Visiting International Publishers (VIPs) program will return this year as an in-person program, for the first time since 2019. The 2023 VIPs program will...
Ultimo acquires Yankovich debut book on friendship in ‘heated auction’
Wednesday, 15 February 2023
Ultimo Press has acquired UK/Commonwealth rights to Gyan Yankovich’s debut work of nonfiction Just Friends. Rights were acquired in a ‘heated auction’ in a deal agented by Rach Crawford at...
Transit Lounge acquires Cameron literary thriller
Wednesday, 15 February 2023
Transit Lounge has acquired world rights to The Rewilding, the second novel by Donna M Cameron, via Fiona Johnson at Beyond Words Literary Agency. ‘The Rewilding captures the essence of...
King joins HarperCollins as nonfiction publisher
Wednesday, 15 February 2023
HarperCollins Australia has appointed Georgia Frances King to the role of publisher, commissioning nonfiction for the ABC Books and HarperCollins imprints. King replaces Jude McGee, who left HarperCollins in December...
Kenny joins Affirm Press; Stannard completes sales team
Wednesday, 8 February 2023
Affirm Press has announced Paul Kenny has joined the company on a permanent basis. Kenny takes on the new role of product and data manager and will also fill the...
AWW 2023 program released; short story fest 2023 dates
Wednesday, 8 February 2023
Adelaide Writers Week (AWW) has announced the full program for its 2023 festival, which includes a total of 160 literary guests and 130 sessions across six days from Saturday, 4...
Huntley to leave Booktopia
Wednesday, 8 February 2023
Booktopia head of customer experience Alex Huntley is leaving his role after almost a decade with the business. 'I’ve chosen to say goodbye as part of Booktopia’s sad but necessary...
De Kretser shortlisted for 2023 Folio Prize
Wednesday, 1 February 2023
Michelle de Kretser has been shortlisted for the UK’s Rathbones Folio Prize. De Kretser is shortlisted in the fiction category for her novel Scary Monsters (A&U). The titles shortlisted for...
PRH acquires Rieden bio of Quentin Bryce
Wednesday, 1 February 2023
Penguin Random House Australia (PRH) has acquired ANZ rights to an authorised biography of Quentin Bryce by Juliet Rieden in a deal agented by Fiona Inglis at Curtis Brown. The...
New UQP initiative seeking titles on sustainability
Wednesday, 25 January 2023
University of Queensland Press (UQP) has announced Stories for the Future, a new initiative which aims to seek out new titles that advocate for environmental sustainability. Driven by UQP editors...
Daleng leaves Booktopia
Wednesday, 25 January 2023
Booktopia chief marketing officer (CMO) Steffen Daleng will leave the company as part of a restructure that will see 30–40 redundancies made. Daleng leaves after four-and-a-half years in the role....
Enache shortlisted for Novel Prize
Wednesday, 18 January 2023
Fitzcarraldo Editions, Giramondo and New Directions have announced the shortlist for the Novel Prize, a biennial international award for a book-length work of literary fiction. The shortlisted writers, selected from...
Indie Book Awards 2023 shortlist announced
Wednesday, 18 January 2023
Leading Edge Books has announced the shortlists for the 2023 Indie Book Awards. The shortlisted titles in each category are: Fiction Limberlost (Robbie Arnott, Text) Horse (Geraldine Brooks, Hachette) Seeing...
BWF announces 2023 curators, Country of Focus
Wednesday, 18 January 2023
The Brisbane Writers Festival has announced the curators of its 2023 festival program. First Nations artist Daniel Browning, a descendent of the Bundjalung and Kullilli peoples of far northern New...
Release of issues paper kicks off copyright review
Wednesday, 11 January 2023
The Attorney-General’s Department has released an issues paper on copyright enforcement as part of a review into whether Australia’s current copyright enforcement regime is fit-for-purpose. Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus said the...
Affirm acquires Lord debut YA spec-fic
Wednesday, 11 January 2023
Affirm Press has acquired world rights to Anomaly, the debut young adult novel by Sydney-based writer Emma Lord. Described by the publisher as Tomorrow When the War Began meets The...
New category added to WA Prem’s awards
Wednesday, 7 December 2022
The Western Australian Premier's Book Awards has added a new category for the 2023 awards. The Premier's Prize for Book of the Year Award, worth $15,000, will be sponsored by...
Ultimo acquires Knight memoir
Wednesday, 7 December 2022
Ultimo Press has acquired world rights to the memoir Strange Little Girl by Melbourne-based writer, performer and zine maker Jess Knight. Described by the publisher as a ‘heart-warming, unapologetic and...
A&U, Voices from the Intersection mentorship recipients announced
Wednesday, 7 December 2022
Allen & Unwin (A&U) and Voices from the Intersection have announced the recipients of their partnership mentorship program for emerging children’s and YA own voices writers and illustrators. The successful...
Hachette Aotearoa launches Moa Press
Tuesday, 6 December 2022
Hachette Aotearoa has established a new imprint, Moa Press, which ‘aims to champion a diverse range of voices, representing a multitude of cultures and perspectives from within Aotearoa New Zealand’....
SPN conference 2022 ‘demonstrated breadth of Australian publishing’
Wednesday, 30 November 2022
The 11th annual Small Press Network (SPN) Independent Publishing Conference was held last week, 24–26 November, in a hybrid event taking place at Melbourne’s Wheeler Centre, the State Library Victoria...
Cornegé to leave UQP
Wednesday, 30 November 2022
University of Queensland Press (UQP) marketing and publicity manager Louise Cornegé has been appointed marketing and campaigns manager at the Conversation and will leave UQP on 15 December. Appointed in 2019,...
Hunterland joins Affirm sales team
Wednesday, 30 November 2022
Affirm Press has announced the appointment of Jane Hunterland as the publisher’s Queensland account manager. Hunterland, who comes to the role with 12 years’ experience as an account manager for...
Two Brabon novels to Ultimo
Wednesday, 30 November 2022
Ultimo Press has acquired ANZ and UK rights to two new novels by Katherine Brabon, in a deal via Clare Forster at Curtis Brown. In Body Friend, the narrator leaves...
Harry Hartog Penrith to open in April
Wednesday, 30 November 2022
Berkelouw Books will open a new Harry Hartog-branded store in Penrith in April 2023. The 750sqm Harry Hartog Penrith store will be located at 384 High Street Penrith, and will...
Pettit, Hawkins to join Affirm sales team
Wednesday, 23 November 2022
Affirm Press has announced the appointment of Priscilla Pettit and Christopher Hawkins as key account managers for NSW/ACT. Pettit has spent three years with Dymocks stores as assistant manager at...
Blake-Beckett Trust Scholarship 2022 shortlist announced
Wednesday, 23 November 2022
The Australian Society of Authors (ASA) has announced the 2022 Blake-Beckett Trust Scholarship shortlist. The shortlisted applicants, chosen by authors Shankari Chandran and Jennifer Mills, are: Ashley Hay for ‘The...





