Inside the Australian and New Zealand book industry

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Around the World: round-up 

Tuesday, 8 August 2006
In news from our ‘Around the World' blog this week: a US-based print-on-demand publisher has lost a long-running defamation case; toy maker Fisher-Price is developing a bank of downloadable children's stories for...

Vic SocEds awards life membership to Yowell 

Tuesday, 8 August 2006
At its recent annual general meeting, the Society of Editors (Victoria) presented Jackie Yowell with an award for honorary life membership in recognition of her outstanding services to the editing...

ASA joins ‘book banning’ protests 

Tuesday, 8 August 2006
The Australian Society of Authors (ASA) has joined the chorus of voices protesting plans by the Attorney-general, Philip Ruddock, to tighten the classification regime for books.In a letter sent to...

Bestsellers this week 

Tuesday, 1 August 2006
With Father's Day only a month away, several blokey titles have crept into this week's bestseller charts. The blokiest of them all is Conn and Hal Iggulden's The Dangerous Book...

RiP Nigel Cox 

Tuesday, 1 August 2006
New Zealand writer Nigel Cox died on Friday 28 July.Victoria University Press writes: One of New Zealand's best writers, Nigel was recognised at the Montana New Zealand Book Awards on...

RiP David Gemmell 

Tuesday, 1 August 2006
UK fantasy writer David Gemmell died on Friday 28 July, two weeks after undergoing heart bypass surgery, according to his publisher Random House. Gemmell was a prolific writer whose works...

MWF program released 

Tuesday, 1 August 2006
The official program of the Age Melbourne Writers Festival (MWF) has been released, appearing online and as a supplement in the Age newspaper on 29 July. The Festival’s traditional opening...

BWF program announcements 

Tuesday, 1 August 2006
In the lead up to the release of the official festival program in the Australian newspaper on 5 August, the Brisbane Writers Festival has released details of what attendees can...

Bookwise won’t become Bluefin 

Tuesday, 1 August 2006
Advanced Marketing Services (AMS), parent company of Bookwise International in Australia and New Zealand, has launched a new division, Bluefin Global Logistics, to provide ‘third-party logistics' services to clients in...

Aussie wins second romance award 

Tuesday, 1 August 2006
Australian romance author Marion Lennox has won her second Rita award, with Romance Writers of America members voting her novel Princess of Convenience (Harlequin Mills & Boon) the best traditional...

Random acquisition causes job loss at BBC Worldwide 

Tuesday, 1 August 2006
Following the announcement from Random House Australia that it will now represent BBC Books in Australia as part of the Random House Group portfolio, BBC Worldwide confirmed that it would...

NZ: New board of Booksellers elected 

Tuesday, 1 August 2006
The 2006/07 board of Booksellers New Zealand was elected at the board's annual general meeting, held at the New Zealand Booksellers Conference in Auckland on 23 July 2006. The directors...

Industry awards 

Tuesday, 1 August 2006
As announced in a WBN special bulletin last Friday, last week saw the presentation of both the inaugural Australian Book Industry Academy (ABIA) awards and the Australian Awards for Excellence...

Books Alive, alive! 

Tuesday, 1 August 2006
The ABIA awards dinner last week also saw the official launch of the 2006 Books Alive campaign by Senator Rod Kemp, the Minister for Arts and Sport.The distribution of 2.5...

APA objects to A-G’s book censorship plans 

Tuesday, 1 August 2006
Australian Publishers Association (APA) CEO Maree McCaskill has written to Attorney-general Philip Ruddock and to all state attorneys-general expressing ‘grave concern' about plans to tighten regulations governing the Classification Review...

Canadians seek Aussie publisher 

Tuesday, 1 August 2006
The Canadian Consulate General, in conjunction with the Australia Council (OzCo), is funding the pilot of an Australian/Canadian publisher exchange as an extension of OzCo's successful Visiting International Publisher program.The...

Retail Technology Expo to showcase RFID 

Tuesday, 1 August 2006
The 2006 Retail Technology Expo, to be held in Melbourne in September, will showcase radio frequency identification (RFID) technology.Visitors to the expo will be given electronic name badges incorporating RFID...

Maguire’s ‘Beast’ on Dylan Thomas Prize longlist 

Tuesday, 1 August 2006
Emily Maguire's debut novel Taming the Beast (Brandl & Schlesinger) has been included on the longlist for the inaugural Dylan Thomas Prize.Named in honour of the Welsh poet, the £60,000 (A$140,000)...

DOI updates 

Tuesday, 1 August 2006
The International Digital Object Identifier Foundation, which manages the worldwide Digital Object Identifier (DOI) registry, has announced a number of fresh milestones.A DOI is a unique identifier (similar to an...

Booksurge Australia closes, but welcome BookPOD 

Tuesday, 1 August 2006
Print-on-demand (PoD) company BookSurge Australia has now ceased trading, but its former business development manager Michael Blair has established a new business called BookPOD.‘BookPOD will provide digital short-run printing and...

Peter Field new chief executive Penguin UK 

Tuesday, 25 July 2006
Peter Field, chief executive of Pearson Australia Group, has been appointed to the position of chief executive of Penguin UK. Field, who has been with Pearson and Penguin in Australia...

Bestsellers this week 

Tuesday, 25 July 2006
This week's top 10 bestsellers look an awful lot like last week's: same titles, different order. But it won't be long before Pirateology breaks through--surely. Hovering at number 11, the latest title in the popular...

Around the world: round-up 

Tuesday, 25 July 2006
In news from overseas this week Waterstone's parent company HMV confirms Simon Fox as its new CEO, Amazon moves into the world of online infotainment and rumours abound that Apple...

Airmail changes anger booksellers 

Tuesday, 25 July 2006
Australia Post's decision to scrap its international economy air service, effective 4 September, has surprised and angered booksellers. ‘There was no warning, and absolutely no consultation,' Barbara Cullen, chief executive of the Australian...

J C Burke wins Family Therapists’ Award 

Tuesday, 25 July 2006
J C Burke has been awarded the annual Australian Family Therapists' Award for Children's Literature for The Story of Tom Brennan (Random House). Mother's Day by Anne Brooksbank (Puffin Books)...

A simultaneous ‘Good Night’ 

Tuesday, 25 July 2006
Good Night, Me by Andrew Daddo, with illustrations by Emma Quay (Hachette) has been chosen as the book for this year's National Simultaneous Storytime. National Simultaneous Storytime is organised by...

‘Australian’ focuses on book industry 

Tuesday, 25 July 2006
The Australian newspaper is showing a great deal of interest in the book industry of late.The week before last, it caused a minor storm of its own by submitting a...

The first ‘First Tuesday Book Club’ 

Monday, 24 July 2006
The inaugural episode of ABC TV's new book show, The First Tuesday Book Club, will screen next Tuesday night, 1 August, at 10pm.The show will be hosted by Jennifer Byrne...