Inside the Australian and New Zealand book industry

Image. Advertisement:

Weekly news >

‘Sorrow and Bliss’ to be adapted for screen 

Wednesday, 10 February 2021
US production company New Regency has acquired the film and television rights to Meg Mason’s 2020 novel Sorrow and Bliss in a deal brokered by Casarotto Ramsay and HarperCollins Australia....

Nat’s What I Reckon wins 2020 Booktopia FAB Award

Wednesday, 3 February 2021
Un-cook Yourself: A ratbag's rules for life by YouTube cooking star Nat’s What I Reckon (Ebury) has won the $5000 Booktopia Favourite Australian Book (FAB) Award for 2020. The author...

Thames & Hudson Australia revenue up 47% in 2020 

Wednesday, 3 February 2021
Thames & Hudson Australia (THA) has reported a 47% increase in revenue in 2020, with overall sales of $17.6 million, as ‘consumer price barriers appeared to come down’ during the...

New Zealand market down 0.3% in 2020 

Thursday, 28 January 2021
New Zealand’s book sales fell by less than 1% in 2020, despite a sustained hard lockdown for almost five weeks from late March, in which the nation’s booksellers were unable...

Full Adelaide Writers’ Week program announced

Thursday, 28 January 2021
The full program has been announced for Adelaide Writers’ Week (AWW), which features a total of 147 guests and runs from Saturday, 27 February to Thursday, 4 March 2021. In...

Saleh wins 2021 Peter Porter Poetry Prize

Thursday, 28 January 2021
The Australian Book Review (ABR) has announced Sara M Saleh as the winner of the 2021 Peter Porter Poetry Prize, for her poem ‘A Poetics of Fo(u)rgetting’. The judges said of...

S&S acquires Allira Potter nonfiction title 

Thursday, 28 January 2021
Simon & Schuster Australia (S&S) has acquired world rights to a book by psychic Allira Potter. Potter, a Yorta Yorta woman, incorporates Indigenous practices and First Nations knowledge into her...

Indie Book Awards 2021 shortlists announced

Wednesday, 20 January 2021
Leading Edge Books has announced the shortlists for the 2021 Indie Book Awards. The shortlisted titles in each category are: Fiction All Our Shimmering Skies (Trent Dalton, HarperCollins) The Living Sea...

A&U acquires Xu memoir ‘You’re So Brave’ 

Wednesday, 13 January 2021
Allen & Unwin (A&U) has acquired ANZ rights to Vicky Xu’s memoir You’re So Brave at auction, from Benython Oldfield of Zeitgeist Agency. A&U described the book as ‘a coming-of-age...

Open Book publishing internship to launch in 2021

Wednesday, 9 December 2020
A new paid internship aimed at increasing cultural diversity in the Australian publishing workforce will launch in 2021 with funding support from the Australia Council and the Copyright Agency’s Cultural...

ALIA to run digital storytime pilot in 2021

Wednesday, 9 December 2020
Australian publishers can opt to have new or backlist titles included in an Online Storytime pilot being run by the Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA) in 2021. The one-year...

Indie Book Awards 2021 longlists announced

Wednesday, 9 December 2020
Leading Edge Books has announced the longlists for the 2021 Indie Book Awards. The longlisted titles in each category are: Fiction The Tolstoy Estate (Steven Conte, Fourth Estate) All Our...

Online SPN conference a ‘great success’ 

Wednesday, 2 December 2020
The Small Press Network’s (SPN) ninth Independent Publishing Conference was held online on 26–27 November, with organisers hailing the event a ‘great success’. SPN general manager Tim Coronel told Books+Publishing...

Walker acquires Uhlmann picture book 

Wednesday, 2 December 2020
Walker Books Australia has acquired world rights to author and journalist Chris Uhlmann's debut picture book The Useless Tune, via Jeanne Ryckmans at the Cameron Creswell agency, Cameron’s Management. The Useless...

Red Ventures acquires Lonely Planet 

Wednesday, 2 December 2020
Red Ventures has announced it has acquired Lonely Planet from NC2 Media for an undisclosed amount. Red Ventures, a platform of digital businesses including US-based travel website The Points Guy,...

Hardie Grant Children’s launches new illustrated imprint

Wednesday, 25 November 2020
Hardie Grant Children's Publishing (HGCP) has announced the creation of Bright Light, a new illustrated imprint that will publish 20 titles a year exploring privilege, race, equality, the environment, bodies...

Booktopia, Amazon Australia to use robots for fulfilment 

Wednesday, 25 November 2020
Booktopia and Amazon will implement the use of robots in their Australian fulfilment centres in 2021. Booktopia announced it will trial autonomous robots at its Lidcombe Distribution Centre in Sydney...

Wright resigns from PRH 

Wednesday, 25 November 2020
Penguin Random House Australia (PRH) head of trade sales Kaye Wright has resigned after almost 12 years in the role. Wright told Books+Publishing the role was ‘my most favoured in...

Giggs shortlisted for ALA Andrew Carnegie Medal

Wednesday, 18 November 2020
Australian writer Rebecca Giggs has been shortlisted for the American Library Association's (ALA) 2021 Andrew Carnegie Medal for nonfiction for Fathoms: The world in the whale (Scribe). Giggs's consideration of whales...

Walkley Book Award 2020 shortlist announced

Wednesday, 11 November 2020
The Walkley Book Award shortlist for 2020 has been announced. The shortlisted titles are: We Can’t Say We Didn’t Know (Sophie McNeill, ABC Books) Fallen (Lucie Morris-Marr, A&U) The Altar Boys (Suzanne Smith,...

Gay YA rom-com wins 2020 Ampersand Prize

Wednesday, 11 November 2020
Hardie Grant Children's Publishing (HGCP) has announced that Auckland teacher and writer Helen Valley has won the 2020 Ampersand Prize for her YA novel Tim Te Maro and the Subterranean...

Riwoe wins inaugural $50k ARA Historical Novel Prize

Wednesday, 11 November 2020
Brisbane writer Mirandi Riwoe has won the $50,000 ARA Historical Novel Prize for Stone Sky Gold Mountain (UQP). Selected from more than 185 entries and a shortlist of three announced in...

Chowdhury releases Beatrice Davis Editorial Fellowship report

Wednesday, 11 November 2020
Penguin Random House Australia senior audio producer and commissioning editor Radhiah Chowdhury has released her Beatrice Davis Editorial Fellowship report on the experiences and perspectives of BAME (Black, Asian and...