APA, UniMelb funding ‘baseline’ survey on diversity and inclusion in publishing workforce
Wednesday, 24 November 2021
The Australian Publishers Association (APA) and the University of Melbourne are jointly funding a research survey to provide data on diversity and inclusion in the publishing industry workforce in Australia....
Hardie Grant acquires Age Against the Machine book
Wednesday, 24 November 2021
Hardie Grant Books has acquired world print, ebook and audio rights to journalists Melissa Doyle and Naima Brown’s book How to Age Against the Machine, in a deal negotiated by...
Pause on east coast consignments as trade works to mitigate XL supply issues
Wednesday, 17 November 2021
Book distributors Alliance Distribution Services (ADS) and Harper Entertainment Distribution Services (HEDS) have informed booksellers of a pause on stock going into XL Express's Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne depots, as...
Better Read union members recommence work bans
Wednesday, 17 November 2021
Retail and Fast Food Workers Union (RAFFWU) members at bookshop Better Read Than Dead (BRTD), in the inner-Sydney suburb of Newtown, have recommenced industrial action, with RAFFWU stating BRTD management...
Brumby Sunstate acquires JB Books
Wednesday, 17 November 2021
Book wholesaler Brumby Sunstate has announced the acquisition of South Australian wholesale distributor and publisher JB Books. Brumby Sunstate said the JB Books warehouse would be relocating ‘to integrate with...
Hachette opens Melbourne, Brisbane ‘working hubs’
Wednesday, 10 November 2021
Hachette Australia has established ‘working hubs’ for its employees based in Melbourne and Brisbane. At the Melbourne hub on Little Collins Street members of Hachette’s publishing, product, marketing and publicity...
Australia’s online presence popular at Frankfurt
Wednesday, 10 November 2021
The Australian Publishers Association (APA) has reported that its Books From Australia website and virtual stand recorded a 200% increase on page views during the week of the Frankfurt Book Fair...
Hardie Grant appoints Harry, Epa
Wednesday, 10 November 2021
Hardie Grant Books has appointed Michael Harry as publisher and Rushani Epa to the newly created role of commissioning editor, both publishing into the categories of food and wine, design,...
HQ acquires Hearst novel in two-book deal
Wednesday, 10 November 2021
HQ has acquired world rights to a forthcoming novel by Elise Hearst, as part of a ‘hotly contested’ two-book deal brokered by Sarah McKenzie Literary Management. According to the publisher,...
Jordan wins 2021 Richell Prize
Thursday, 4 November 2021
Simone Amelia Jordan has won the 2021 Richell Prize for Emerging Writers for her memoir manuscript ‘Tell Her She’s Dreamin’’. An Australian journalist, writer, host and media consultant, Jordan founded...
Onus on Australian rights holders to opt out of Internet Archive donation
Thursday, 4 November 2021
The Australian Society of Authors (ASA) is alerting Australian authors and publishers that the decision by the National Library of New Zealand (NLNZ) to donate more than 400,000 books to...
NZ Prime Minister’s Awards for Literary Achievement 2021 announced
Thursday, 4 November 2021
Creative New Zealand has announced the winners of the 2021 Prime Minister’s Awards for Literary Achievement, worth NZ$60,000 (A$57,634) each. Award-winning poet, fiction writer, screenplay editor and teacher Anne Kennedy...
APA residential editorial program to run in 2022, offer First Nations scholarships
Thursday, 4 November 2021
The Australian Publishers Association (APA) has announced its Residential Editorial Program (REP) will run again in 2022 ‘after two years of COVID delays’. For the first time two scholarships are...
Moriarty, de Kretser, Allende among first AWW guests
Wednesday, 27 October 2021
Adelaide Writers' Week (AWW), which runs as part of Adelaide Festival, has announced the first guests for its 2022 festival, to take place 5–10 March at the Pioneer Women’s Memorial...
A&U acquires debut middle-grade novel ‘A Girl Called Corpse’
Wednesday, 27 October 2021
Allen & Unwin (A&U) has acquired ANZ rights to A Girl Called Corpse: An Elston-Fright tale, the debut middle-grade novel by Reece Carter. The book was acquired by A&U children’s...
Aus publishers attend Frankfurt virtually for second year
Wednesday, 20 October 2021
The 2021 Frankfurt Book Fair begins today, with publishers and authors attending the five-day event in-person or virtually through Frankfurt’s digital rights platform. At the annual opening press conference, Börsenverein...
NSW bookshops reopen, Dymocks unveils flagship store refurbishment
Wednesday, 20 October 2021
On 11 October in New South Wales, non-essential retail, including bookshops, opened for fully vaccinated customers for the first time since the state went into lockdown in June. New state...
Scribe acquires Marson nonfiction book
Wednesday, 20 October 2021
Scribe has acquired a nonfiction book about sexual violence by ACT-based prosecutor Katrina Marson. World rights (ex North America) were acquired from Grace Heifetz at Left Bank Literary. The as...
PRH Melbourne office moves to Southbank
Wednesday, 13 October 2021
Penguin Random House (PRH) has announced its Melbourne office is moving. The publisher will move from its current location at 707 Collins Street in Melbourne’s Docklands precinct to a new...
Scribble’s ‘I am the Subway’ wins World Illustration Award
Wednesday, 13 October 2021
I am the Subway by Kim Hyo-eun, translated by Deborah Smith and published in English by Scribble, has won the professional children’s publishing category in the 2021 World Illustration Awards....
Milnes appointed ILF COO
Wednesday, 13 October 2021
The Indigenous Literacy Foundation (ILF) has announced the appointment of Mike Milnes to the newly created position of chief operating officer (COO). Milnes will take on responsibilities previously held by...
Hachette acquires Collier debut memoir
Wednesday, 13 October 2021
Hachette has acquired world rights to Inconceivable, a memoir by Alexandra Collier, in a deal brokered by Sharne McGee at Liberty Artist Management. Inconceivable chronicles Collier’s decision to join ‘the...
Monash Publishing appoints Carlomagno publisher
Wednesday, 6 October 2021
Monash University Publishing has announced the appointment of Black Inc. publisher Julia Carlomagno to the newly created role of publisher, as Monash Publishing moves ‘away from largely scholarly output towards...
Transit Lounge acquires Fyfe novel ‘T’
Wednesday, 6 October 2021
Transit Lounge has acquired world rights to T, a novel by Perth-based author Alan Fyfe. T is about ‘people living on the economic margins and the epidemic of meth addiction’....
Text moves offices
Wednesday, 6 October 2021
After 17 years at Swann House in Melbourne’s CBD, Text Publishing has moved. The publisher told Books+Publishing the move around the corner to Royal Bank Chambers at 287 Collins Street...
HarperCollins acquires Molloy’s ‘You Made Me This Way’
Wednesday, 29 September 2021
HarperCollins Australia has acquired ANZ rights to You Made Me This Way by journalist Shannon Molloy, in a deal brokered by Pippa Masson of Curtis Brown. Propelled by Molloy’s own...
Crime novel ‘The Whispering’ wins 2021 Banjo Prize
Wednesday, 29 September 2021
HarperCollins Australia has announced Veronica Lando as the winner of the 2021 Banjo Prize for her ‘hauntingly atmospheric mystery’ manuscript The Whispering. Lando’s crime novel was selected from a shortlist...
Voss Literary Prize 2021 longlist announced
Wednesday, 29 September 2021
The longlist for the 2021 Voss Literary Prize, awarded to the best novel published in Australia in the previous year, has been announced. The longlisted titles are: The Rain Heron...
Jennings wins British Fantasy Award for Best Newcomer
Wednesday, 29 September 2021
Kathleen Jennings has won the Best Newcomer category in the 2021 British Fantasy Awards for her Australian gothic novel Flyaway (Picador). Jennings’ debut novel, chosen out of a shortlist of...
$100k Historical Novel Prize shortlists announced
Wednesday, 22 September 2021
The Historical Novel Society Australasia (HNSA) has announced the shortlists for 2021 ARA Historical Novel Prize. The novels shortlisted in the adult category are: Bila Yarrudhanggalangdhuray, River of Dreams (Anita Heiss,...




