Tuesday, 20 February 2007
The finalists in the 55th Australian Book Design Awards have been announced. See below for a full list of nominated titles (cover/internal designer and publisher listed in brackets). The winners will be announced at an awards ceremony...

Tuesday, 20 February 2007
Publisher and distributor Herron Books and remainder wholesaler Wiltshire Books are set to merge on 1 March.‘Both businesses have a strong background in value books and it is a natural...

Tuesday, 20 February 2007
Funtastic has been approached by a potential takeover bidder, believed to be a private equity group.Funtastic ‘has only just commenced considering the proposal' from the unnamed bidder and ‘has had...

Tuesday, 20 February 2007
The 2007 Perth Writers' Week, part of the Perth International Arts Festival, begins on Thursday 22 February.Offering ‘a full week of insightful conversation and the opportunity to connect with favourite...

Tuesday, 20 February 2007
Two Australian writers have been nominated for the Bram Stoker Awards, a key international prize for horror authors presented by the US-based Horror Writers' Association.Stephen King expert Rocky Wood has...

Tuesday, 20 February 2007
Literary agent Jenny Darling writes: ‘It is with much sadness I am writing to let you know that Elizabeth Jolley passed away last week.‘I had the privilege of working with...

Tuesday, 13 February 2007
Among stories added to our Around the World blog in the past week:Wal-Mart faces lawsuit from two million womenTime Warner adds $530 million to Lagardere's bottom lineFour publishers take half...

Tuesday, 13 February 2007
Advanced Marketing Services (AMS), the US-based parent company of Australian distributor Bookwise, has entered into a letter of agreement with book distributor Baker & Taylor to allow B&T to purchase the...

Tuesday, 13 February 2007
The annual Overstock and Remainders Fair (OARF), facilitated by Bookwise Australia, was this year held in Melbourne at the Rydges Hotel on 11 and 12 February. The third OARF, which...

Tuesday, 13 February 2007
Trade events coming up over the next week, as shown on our events calendar, include: the Writers at Como festival, which runs from Friday 16 to Sunday 18 February; and...

Tuesday, 13 February 2007
More than 1000 library and information professionals gathered in Sydney from January 30 until 1 February for Online, the biennial conference examining the future of the industry. Conference convenor Kay...

Tuesday, 13 February 2007
Two of Australia's leading library bodies have combined to launch a special promotion for Valentine's Day, highlighting Australians' dedication to libraries.Public Libraries Australia and ALIA are holding Library Lovers Day...

Tuesday, 13 February 2007
Speculation has been mounting in recent weeks over a possible takeover bid for Pearson, parent company of Penguin and Pearson Education. A Reuters report on 17 January 2007 noted that...

Tuesday, 13 February 2007
‘Small technical issues' that have emerged in the final development of DataPage have delayed the service's launch in Australia and put back the proposed launch of the TitlePage service in...

Tuesday, 13 February 2007
The Tenderness of Wolves (Quercus) by first-time writer Stef Penney has won the 2006 Costa Book of the Year in the UK, formerly the Whitbread Book of the Year. Also...

Tuesday, 13 February 2007
The finalists in the annual New Zealand Post Book Awards have been announced. The 2007 finalists are: Picture book: Kiss! Kiss! Yuck! Yuck! (Kyle Mewburn, Ali Teo and John O'Reilly,...

Tuesday, 13 February 2007
Australian publisher Hardie Grant Egmont and its sister company Egmont UK have announced they will be setting up a New Zealand sales and marketing operation. The New Zealand operation will...

Tuesday, 13 February 2007
Children's and young adult writer Ken Catran has been announced as the winner of the 2007 Storylines Margaret Mahy Medal, New Zealand's most prestigious award for children's writers. Catran, who...

Tuesday, 13 February 2007
Novelist and short story writer James George has been announced as the 2007 Buddle Findlay Sargeson Fellow in New Zealand. The fellowship honours New Zealand author Frank Sargeson and includes...

Tuesday, 13 February 2007
The Asialink Literature Program has announced the writers who will be awarded grants and residencies as part of Asialink Literature Residency Program, which offers Australian writers the opportunity to experience...

Tuesday, 13 February 2007
The annual Perth Words & Ideas Festival, part of the Perth International Arts Festival, will be held from 22 February to 28 February. Beginning with a schools day on the...

Tuesday, 13 February 2007
Scholastic has announced the appointment of Ken Jolly AM, formerly managing director of Scholastic Australia, to the position of chairman, Scholastic Australia and New Zealand. Jolly, who held the position...

Tuesday, 13 February 2007
The change to 13-digit ISBNs on 1 January 2007 was accompanied by rule changes to the use of ISBNs. Among these, it is now forbidden to reuse an ISBN, even...

Tuesday, 13 February 2007
The Cambridge Information Group (CIG), parent company of library resource provider CSA (and of WBN's publisher Thorpe-Bowker), has announced the finalisation of its acquisition of ProQuest Information and Learning. The...

Tuesday, 13 February 2007
The first shot has been fired in this year's Harry Potter price showdown with Dymocks announcing it will sell J K Rowling's Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Bloomsbury) for...

Tuesday, 13 February 2007
Further to last week's story about the partnership between Global Books in Print (GBiP) and Microsoft's Live Search Books program, Microsoft has provided more details on how Live Search Books...

Tuesday, 13 February 2007
There's an eclectic mix of new titles in this week's top 10 bestsellers: some crime fiction, some crime nonfiction and a new diet book (no, it's not the CSIRO Total...