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In brief 

Tuesday, 12 June 2007
RFID roll-out in librariesAll public libraries in the ACT and a number in Victoria are moving quickly to implement RFID technology. The ACT Library and Information Service received $1.6 million...

Vella awarded Beatrice Davis fellowship 

Tuesday, 12 June 2007
Colette Vella, editorial manager at Murdoch Books, has been awarded 2007 Beatrice Davis Editorial Fellowship. The fellowship, which was announced at the Sydney Writers' Festival on 1 June, recognises editors...

Auslit adds ‘Black Words’ section 

Tuesday, 12 June 2007
Auslit, the research network created by several Australian universities and the National Library of Australia to promote Australian literature, has announced the creation of ‘Black Words', a new section of...

Ditmar awards 

Tuesday, 12 June 2007
The Ditmar Awards for science fiction were presented last weekend in Melbourne at the Convergence 2 conference.Among the winners are:novel: The Pilo Family Circus (Will Elliot, ABC Books)novella/novelette: ‘The Devil...

Griffin Poetry Prize announced 

Tuesday, 12 June 2007
The winners of this year's Griffin Poetry Prize were announced at an awards ceremony in Toronto on 6 June. Scar Tissue by US author Charles Wright (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)...

‘The Arrival’ wins WA Premier’s Prize 

Tuesday, 12 June 2007
Shaun Tan's The Arrival (Hachette Livre Australia) has been named winner of the Premier's Prize in this year's WA Premier's Book Awards, announced on 8 June. Tan's graphic novel, which...

‘Half of a Yellow Sun’ wins Orange Prize 

Tuesday, 12 June 2007
Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie has received this year's Orange Broadband Prize for Fiction, worth £30,000 (A$67,000), for her novel Half of a Yellow Sun (HarperCollins). The novel, which is...

SLV fellowships 

Tuesday, 12 June 2007
The State Library of Victoria has announced the recipients of its annual Creative Fellowships, this year worth a total of $165,000. The Fellowships allow writers, artists, historians and others to...

Ligare gets private equity partner 

Tuesday, 12 June 2007
Ligare, which is the third-largest book-printing company in Australia, has announced that it has secured a private equity partner, with New Zealand-based Knox Partners taking a majority shareholding in the Sydney-based...

Forthcoming events 

Tuesday, 12 June 2007
Trade events coming up over the next week, as shown on our events calendar, include:International Booksellers Federation Conference, Cape Town, 13-16 JuneCape Town Book Fair, 16-19 JuneABA Annual Conference, 17-19...

Quotation of the week 

Tuesday, 5 June 2007
‘There's always certain politics among writers.'Wendy Were, SWF artistic director, on the reported tension between some of this year's Festival guests. 

Around the world 

Tuesday, 5 June 2007
Among the stories added to our Around the World blog this week:US book sales ‘struggling', says ‘NY Times'BookSurge steps up PoD effortsIPA criticises UN Human Rights CouncilOprah picks ‘Middlesex'Trade needs...

Clive James, Dave Eggers to open MWF 

Tuesday, 5 June 2007
The Melbourne Writers Festival has announced authors Clive James and Dave Eggers will launch this year's festival on Friday 24 August. James will discuss his latest work Cultural Amnesia (Picador) in the...

In brief 

Tuesday, 5 June 2007
LP author missingAustralian travel writer Clem Lindenmeyer, who has written a number of books for Lonely Planet, has gone missing in Tibet. He is now the subject of a search...

New name for DA Trade 

Tuesday, 5 June 2007
DA Information Services has announced that its trade distribution arm will be renamed Central Book Services.Central Book Services will ‘focus on effective trade marketing and bookseller services,' according to a...

979-prefix ISBNs on the way in 2008 

Tuesday, 5 June 2007
The International ISBN Agency has announced that it expects that ISBNs with a 979 prefix will begin to be issued in the second quarter of 2008.All 13-digit ISBNs issued to...

SWF wraps up 

Tuesday, 5 June 2007
The Sydney Writers' Festival (SWF) has wrapped up for another year, with new festival director Wendy Were concluding that her first program had ‘been successful on every level.'Attendances at this...

BEA ‘one of the best ever’ 

Tuesday, 5 June 2007
Brendan Gullifer reports:Organisers of Book Expo America (BEA) 2007 are hailing it as one of their best events ever.Despite New York sweltering in 30-plus degree heat and high humidity, early...

Bestsellers this week 

Tuesday, 5 June 2007
The battle of the non-believers heats up this week with chart newcomer Christopher Hitchens muscling in on Richard Dawkins' territory. Hitchens' case against organised religion God Is Not Great is one of the highest new entries, while Dawkins,...

Forthcoming events 

Tuesday, 5 June 2007
Trade events coming up over the next week, as shown on our events calendar, include:State Library of Victoria's ‘All about Books' Week, which runs from 3-9 JuneDymocks Literary Foundation Great...

RiP Lynne Wilding 

Tuesday, 5 June 2007
Linda Funnell writes: ‘Much-loved author Lynne Wilding passed away on Saturday after a long battle with cancer. In characteristic style she dealt with her illness with courage and good spirits,...

RiP Max Ell 

Tuesday, 5 June 2007
Ernie Mason, former managing director of Random House, writes: ‘Max Ell passed away on Thursday 24 May after a short battle with cancer.Max was one of the old school and...

Serdiuk new director of Aurealis Awards 

Tuesday, 5 June 2007
Ron Serdiuk, owner and manager of Brisbane's Pulp Fiction bookshop, has been appointed awards director for the Aurealis Awards--Australia's leading speculative fiction awards. Serduik, who said he wanted to make...

Henderson joins HarperCollins 

Tuesday, 5 June 2007
HarperCollins has announced that Fiona Henderson, currently publisher at Hachette Livre Australia and formerly publishing director at Random House, will take up the newly created full-time role of consulting publisher...

RiP Trevor Craker 

Tuesday, 5 June 2007
Former Thames & Hudson sales manager Trevor Craker, an ‘Australophile' who was instrumental in establishing the Australian branch of the business, has died at the age of 89. Craker personally...

Montana NZ Book Awards shortlist announced 

Tuesday, 5 June 2007
The shortlist of finalist titles in the Montana New Zealand Book Awards has been announced. The shortlisted titles are: FictionThe Cowboy Dog (Nigel Cox, Victoria University Press); The Fainter (Damien...

Copyright Council responds to digital copyright concerns 

Tuesday, 5 June 2007
The Australian Copyright Council has released a new book Technology, Contracts and Paracopyright, in response to the concerns of those using copyright material that usage is becoming increasingly restricted. ‘Gaining...