Inside the Australian and New Zealand book industry

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Weekly news >

Rights round-up 

Tuesday, 24 March 2009
In rights news this week: FictionHarperCollins has sold German rights to Frank Coates's The Last Maasai Warrior. Text has sold Brazilian rights to Kenneth Cook's Wake in Fright to Grua...

Australians at Bologna and London Book Fairs 

Tuesday, 17 March 2009
Bookseller+Publisher magazine continues to support Australian publishers attending the Bologna Children's Book Fair and the London Book Fair with our annual guide to Australian participants at these key international rights...

RiP Andrew Mason 

Tuesday, 17 March 2009
New Zealand editor Andrew Mason has died. Mason was literary editor of the Listener from 1981 to 1991, and worked for Bridget Williams Books. He edited many books including Michael...

Murdoch Books to publish children’s list 

Tuesday, 17 March 2009
Murdoch Books has announced it will be ‘branching out into the exciting world of children's book publishing', and will be sourcing illustrations for one of its forthcoming children's titles by...

Stager wins Johnno Award 

Tuesday, 17 March 2009
Fiona Stager, co-owner of Avid Reader Bookshop and president of the Australian Booksellers Association, has won the 2009 Johnno Award, administered by the Queensland Writers Centre (QWC). Stager has been...

Rights round-up 

Tuesday, 17 March 2009
In rights news this week: FictionAllen & Unwin has sold Commonwealth Writers' Prize South East Asia and Pacific region winner The Slap by Christos Tsiolkas to France and Lithuania; the next...

Quote of the week 

Tuesday, 17 March 2009
‘Let me be clear. Absolutely clear. Not one word spoken in that session, either from the panelists or from the audience, was new or innovative. The panel, well, we've all...

Australia Council announces new residencies program 

Tuesday, 17 March 2009
The Australia Council has announced a new initiative to support artists in creating residencies with non-arts businesses and industries. Connections Residency program is open to artists in all disciplines, including...

Mason Publishing Scholarship announced 

Tuesday, 17 March 2009
A new publishing scholarship has been announced in New Zealand. The scholarship, endowed by the late Andrew Mason, who died in January, is in memory of Mason and his father...

Battersby wins Shadows Award 

Tuesday, 17 March 2009
The Australian Shadows Award, Australia's top horror fiction award, has gone to Western Australian author Lee Battersby for his novelette ‘The Claws of Native Ghosts' (published in The Beast Within,...

Penguin author’s assets frozen by DPP 

Tuesday, 17 March 2009
The Western Australian Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) has frozen the assets of Kingsley Flett, the co-author of Shadow Warrior, which details the criminal activities of David Everett. The book...

Miles Franklin longlist announced 

Tuesday, 17 March 2009
The Miles Franklin Literary Award Longlist for 2009 has been announced. It consists of:Addition (Toni Jordan, Text)A Fraction of the Whole (Steve Toltz, Hamish Hamilton)Breath (Tim Winton, Hamish Hamilton)Fugitive Blue...

In brief 

Tuesday, 17 March 2009
Goodall and Brophy joint winners of 2009 Calibre PrizeJane Goodall and Kevin Brophy are the joint winners of this year's Calibre Prize for essay writing. A joint initiative of the...

Bestsellers this week 

Tuesday, 17 March 2009
Raymond E Feist's Wrath of a Mad God is number one in the Highest New Entries chart this week. It apparently contains the ‘cataclysmic end' to the ‘Darkwar' series. Unsurprisingly,...

Forthcoming events 

Tuesday, 17 March 2009
Trade events coming up over the next week, as shown on our events calendar, include: Somerset Celebration of Literature, Mudgeeraba, QLD, 16-20 MarchAustralian Copyright Council--2009 training program, Perth, 17-20 MarchAbu...

Giveaway for subscribers: free film tickets! 

Tuesday, 17 March 2009
Be one of first to see Elegy starring Penelope Cruz and Ben Kingsley, based on the book The Dying Animal by Philip Roth. As a special offer for WBN subscribers,...

Around the world 

Tuesday, 17 March 2009
Among the many stories added to our around the world blog in the past week:Ebook gift cards: a good idea made too complex?Ebook pricing: do customers or publishers set expecations?UK...

Around the World 

Tuesday, 10 March 2009
Among the stories added to our Around the World blog in the past week:Agents Twitter themselves into troubleBorders US cuts over 700 staffB&N buys FictionwiseAmazon launches Kindle app for iPhoneRandom...

APA survey: a bookseller responds 

Tuesday, 10 March 2009
In response to last week's story on the Australian Publishers Association (APA) survey of book prices, a bookseller writes ... ‘Using the same standards of "impartiality" I ran my own...

2009 Perth Writers Festival a ‘runaway success’ 

Tuesday, 10 March 2009
The Perth Writers Festival 2009 was a ‘runaway success', according to program manager Katherine Dorrington. 'We are thrilled with how successful this year’s Perth Writers Festival was', Dorrington told WBN....

Bestsellers this week 

Tuesday, 10 March 2009
The Secret Scripture by Sebastian Barry is this week’s ‘fastest mover’. Barry won the Costa Novel Award for this book which tells of a relationship between a psychiatrist and his...

Forthcoming events 

Tuesday, 10 March 2009
Trade events coming up over the next week, as shown on our events calendar, include: Somerset Celebration of Literature, Mudgeeraba, QLD, 16-20 March Australian Writers' Week, Beijing and Chengdu, China...

RiP Barbara Parker 

Tuesday, 10 March 2009
American author Barbara Parker has died, aged 62. She wrote 12 mystery novels, including Suspicion of Innocence.