Tuesday, 29 May 2007
New Zealand author Lloyd Jones' Mister Pip, (Text) has won this year's Commonwealth Writers' Prize. The prize for best book, worth £10,000 (A$24,000), was announced at the Calabash Literary Festival...

Tuesday, 29 May 2007
Australian author Matthew Reilly, who will appear at this week's Sydney Writers' Festival, has sold a TV pilot to Sony. The television show, called Literary Superstars, will focus on the...

Tuesday, 29 May 2007
Trade events coming up over the next week, as shown on our events calendar, include:Sydney Writers' Festival, which runs until 3 JuneBookExpo America in NY, which runs from 31 May...

Tuesday, 29 May 2007
Among the stories added to our Around the World blog this week:Inaugural London literature festival announcedMcDonalds seeks to redefine ‘McJob'Famous Polish author ‘outed' as communist spyFirst A4 colour e-paper unveiledNew...

Tuesday, 22 May 2007
'The book conveys an insidious hopelessness even in the midst of remarkable natural beauty [...] People with nicknames like Fox and Bird and Darkie drink themselves to unnecessary deaths or...

Tuesday, 22 May 2007
ABC Enterprises has announced it will close its audio book production department, citing a review that ‘clearly showed the business has not been profitable in recent years and was not...

Tuesday, 22 May 2007
Random House Australia has announced it will publish the next two books by Kathy Lette, whose most recent novel How to Kill Your Husband (And Other Handy Household Hints) was...

Tuesday, 22 May 2007
Reader's Feast Bookstore has partnered with on-demand publisher BookPOD to publish Emantiel's Eye--a fantasy novel by Melbourne Year 11 student Aviva Kidd which won the bookstore's ‘Kids Write Books' competition....

Tuesday, 22 May 2007
Editors will likely be able to sit an exam to receive accreditation by the Institute of Professional Editors (IPEd) in the first quarter of 2008, according to the institute's accreditation...

Tuesday, 22 May 2007
Among the stories added to our Around the World blog this week:Pearson to acquire eCollegeWomen's publishing prize to Macmillan director'Stumbling on Happiness' takes out science prizeIPA newsCussler loses one legal...

Tuesday, 22 May 2007
The issue of how authors, agents and publishers negotiate contracts for digital rights is coming to the fore.In the most recent example, author and agent bodies in the US have...

Tuesday, 22 May 2007
Trade events coming up over the next week, as shown on our events calendar, include:Queensland Premier's Book Awards application closing date on 25 May Yogyakarta trivia afternoon in Melbourne on...

Tuesday, 22 May 2007
The Australian Society of Authors (ASA) has rejected the recent proposal by the Federal Attorney-General, Philip Ruddock, to change classification guidelines to include ‘works that advocate terrorism.'The ASA has expressed...

Tuesday, 22 May 2007
The Secret continues to dominate the bestsellers charts despite a rash of negative publicity. The p-word has reared its ugly head with reports that Aussie author Vanessa J Bonnette has...

Tuesday, 22 May 2007
The board of 67-year-old independent literary magazine Meanjin has recommended that Melbourne University Publishing (MUP) take over its administration and distribution.Meanjin was founded in Brisbane by Clem Christesen in 1940...

Tuesday, 22 May 2007
Marcia Stenson's Illustrated History of the South Pacific has been named Book of the Year in the 2007 New Zealand Post Book Awards. New Zealand's premier children's book awards were...

Tuesday, 22 May 2007
@Source has announced that it will change its name to Ice Water Press, effective from 1 July.The move is designed ‘to reflect the focus on its own publishing, which has...

Tuesday, 22 May 2007
Rodney Martin from Era Publications writes: ‘On 10 May 2007, Hans Mincham, teacher, scientist, musician, conservationist and author, passed away peacefully, aged 95, in the presence of his family.Thus ended...

Tuesday, 15 May 2007
Among the stories added to our Around the World blog in the past week:Sharemarket pundit recommends Borders/B&N mergerUS bookstore sales fall againAmazon launches podcast networkUK publishers refuse support for digital task...

Tuesday, 15 May 2007
The Dymocks Literacy Foundation is calling for submissions from charities that wish to benefit from its radio-thon with Radio 2UE, designed to raise money for charities to purchase books. The...

Tuesday, 15 May 2007
Masters v Akerman over 'Jonestown' Jonestown author Chris Masters has accused Piers Akerman, columnist for the Daily Telegraph newspaper, of attempting to 'nobble' his chances of wining the NSW Premier's Literary Award,...

Tuesday, 15 May 2007
Following the sale of Harcourt Education to Pearson, reported in last week's WBN, the ownership of New Zealand-based Reed Publishing may also be set to change. Booksellers Brief, published by Booksellers New...

Tuesday, 15 May 2007
M J Hyland's Carry me down (Text) is among the six novels shortlisted for the biennial £10,000 (A$23,000) Encore Award for a second novel.The other contenders are:Sacred Games (Vikram Chandra,...

Tuesday, 15 May 2007
The winners of the 2007 Kibble and Dobbie Awards have been announced by prize administrator Perpetual.Deborah Robertson (pictured) is the winner of the $20,000 Kibble Award for Women Writers for...

Tuesday, 15 May 2007
The University of Melbourne has announced the prize money for its Kate Challis RAKA Award and the Peter Blazey Fellowship has ‘almost tripled' in value. The Kate Challis RAKA Award...

Tuesday, 15 May 2007
The fourth Emerging Writers' Festival will take place in Melbourne from Friday 25 May to Sunday 27 May, offering ‘panels, performances, readings and workshops featuring the best Australian writers you...

Tuesday, 15 May 2007
Michael Fraser, chief executive of the Copyright Agency Limited (CAL) has retired from the position after 21 years to establish his own consultancy on copyright and rights management matters. Fraser...

Tuesday, 15 May 2007
The Thomson Corporation has announced the sale of its higher education, careers and library reference assets, which include Thomson Learning Australia, in a US$7.75 billion (A$9.32 billion) deal with private...

Tuesday, 15 May 2007
As announced in this classified in today's WBN, Penguin will be the Australian publisher of Tim Winton's new novel Breath, due for release in 2008. There had been speculation that Winton, currently published by Pan...