Weekly news | Books+Publishing

OzCo report: more Australians reading for pleasure

Wednesday, 26 August 2020
The number of Australians reading for pleasure has increased over the three years to 2019, according to the Australia Council’s fourth National Arts Participation Survey, while a Covid-19-specific survey commissioned...

Hardie Grant, RMIT announce new narrative nonfiction prize

Wednesday, 26 August 2020
Hardie Grant Books and RMIT Writing and Publishing have established a new biennial developmental prize for narrative nonfiction. Open to published and unpublished Australian writers, the Spark Prize offers $2000...

RWA awards 2020 winners announced

Wednesday, 26 August 2020
The winners of the 2020 Romance Writers of Australia (RWA) Romantic Book of the Year awards, known as the Ruby Awards, have been announced. The winners include: Contemporary romance The...

Synchronicity Australia options FitzGerald’s ‘Ash Mountain’ for screen

Wednesday, 19 August 2020
Synchronicity Australia, the new Melbourne-based arm of Glasgow production company Synchronicity Films, has acquired screen rights to Helen FitzGerald's forthcoming novel Ash Mountain (Affirm, March 2021). Affirm Press described Ash Mountain...

Hachette announces paid summer internship program

Wednesday, 19 August 2020
Hachette Australia has announced it will run a new annual paid internship program ‘for anyone interested in a career in publishing’. The Hachette Australia Summer Internship Program will run for...

Report finds people reading more books due to Covid-19

Wednesday, 19 August 2020
A new research report from GlobalWebIndex (GWI) has found 20% of Australians and 26% of New Zealanders surveyed are reading more books due to Covid-19. The coronavirus-focused market research report...

Transit Lounge acquires Papathanasiou’s ‘The Stoning’

Wednesday, 19 August 2020
Transit Lounge has acquired world English rights to debut crime fiction novel The Stoning by Peter Papathanasiou, via Martin Shaw from Shaw Literary. Canberra-based Papathanasiou, who published his memoir Little...

Auckland booksellers enter stage three lockdown

Wednesday, 12 August 2020
In New Zealand, Auckland bookshops have entered stage three lockdown for at least three days as the country responds to four new cases of Covid-19 contracted from an unknown source....

CBCA Book Week 2020 postponed to October

Wednesday, 12 August 2020
This year's CBCA Book Week, which usually runs in late August during term three, will now take place in term four, from October 17–23. The rescheduled dates are due to...

Shortlists for 2020 NSW Premier’s History Awards announced

Wednesday, 5 August 2020
The State Library of NSW (SLNSW) has announced the shortlists for the 2020 NSW Premier’s History Awards, worth $15,000 each. The shortlisted works in each category are: Australian history prize...

Queensland Literary Awards 2020 shortlists announced

Wednesday, 5 August 2020
The shortlists for the 2020 Queensland Literary Awards have been announced. The shortlisted titles in each category are: Queensland Premier's Award for a Work of State Significance ($25,000) Heartland:...

HarperCollins acquires Mattinson’s ‘We Were Not Men’

Wednesday, 5 August 2020
HarperCollins has acquired ANZ rights to Campbell Mattinson's debut novel We Were Not Men, from Tara Wynne at Curtis Brown. ‘It only took the first 22 pages of this novel—which...

Byron Writers Fest releases digital program, Langton delivers 2020 Thea Astley Address

Wednesday, 5 August 2020
The annual Byron Writers Festival (BWF) Thea Astley Address, presented by Marcia Langton this year, will be available as a podcast, and the festival is offering free digital sessions in...

Wakefield acquires Parker’s ‘Endo Days’

Wednesday, 5 August 2020
Wakefield Press has acquired world rights to journalist Libby Trainor Parker’s debut nonfiction book, which has the working title Endo Days: Life, love and laughs with endometriosis. Endo Days is...

A&U, THA staff return to full-time hours

Wednesday, 29 July 2020
Allen & Unwin (A&U) and Thames & Hudson Australia (THA) have confirmed their staff have returned to full-time hours. In early April A&U announced its ‘precautionary’ decision to temporarily reduce...

Furphy Literary Award 2020 winners announced

Wednesday, 29 July 2020
The winners of the inaugural Furphy Literary Award have been announced. Ruby Todd won the $15,000 open category for her short story ‘Awakening’, chosen from a shortlist announced in early...

Aurealis Awards 2019 winners announced

Wednesday, 29 July 2020
The winners of the 2019 Aurealis Awards, presented for science fiction, fantasy and horror writing in Australia, have been announced. The winners in each category are: Best science fiction novel...

Transit Lounge acquires Jach’s ‘Travelling Companions’

Wednesday, 29 July 2020
Transit Lounge has acquired world English-language rights to Antoni Jach’s fourth novel, Travelling Companions. Publisher Barry Scott said the novel is ‘charming, amusing and philosophical. Solitary travellers and a couple...

Federal government extends JobKeeper, cuts rate

Wednesday, 22 July 2020
The federal government has revealed changes to its JobKeeper wage subsidy scheme, with the program to be extended beyond its original September end-date—albeit at a lower rate. From 28 September,...

Shortlist for inaugural Matilda Children’s Literature Prize announced

Wednesday, 22 July 2020
HarperCollins Australia has announced the shortlist for the inaugural Matilda Children’s Literature Prize. The three shortlisted manuscripts are: 'Exposed' by Sandy Bigna, about a teenager who starts having strange flashbacks...