Weekly news | Books+Publishing

Australian, NZ authors on 2019 Dublin Literary Award longlist

Wednesday, 21 November 2018
Fourteen books by Australian authors and six by New Zealand authors have been nominated for the 2019 International Dublin Literary Award. Longlisted books by Australian authors are: A Long Way...

Dymocks opens new store in Melbourne; regional WA store to close

Wednesday, 21 November 2018
Chain retailer Dymocks has opened a new store at Highpoint Shopping Centre, in Melbourne's inner west. The Highpoint store is the first Dymocks to open in a new location in...

Blake among 2019 Zev Birger Editorial Fellows to attend Jerusalem International Book Forum

Tuesday, 20 November 2018
Penguin Random House (PRH) publisher Cate Blake has been announced as one of 34 recipients of the Zev Birger Editorial Fellowship, a week-long professional seminar that focuses on ‘significant issues...

Tim’s Bookshop Canterbury to close

Tuesday, 20 November 2018
The Canterbury branch of family-owned independent bookstore Tim’s Bookshop, in Melbourne's eastern suburbs, will close in January 2019. Owner Tim Warmington told Books+Publishing: ‘It’s the usual story of ever-increasing costs...

Douglas-Kinghorn wins 2018 Scribe Nonfiction Prize

Monday, 19 November 2018
Zowie Douglas-Kinghorn has won the 2018 Scribe Nonfiction Prize for Young Writers for her entry ‘The Invisible Sea’. Douglas-Kinghorn was selected from a shortlist of nine writers and receives a cash...

Harry Cook’s debut YA novel acquired by Scottish small press

Monday, 19 November 2018
Scottish independent publisher Black & White Publishing has acquired world rights to the debut novel by Australian actor and LGBTQIA+ activist Harry Cook. A romance set in small-town Australia, Fin...

Chapman wins HGE Ampersand Prize for YA novel ‘What it Takes’

Friday, 16 November 2018
Sydney-based journalist Frances Chapman has won Hardie Grant Egmont’s (HGE) Ampersand Prize for an unpublished manuscript for her ‘vibrant’ YA novel, What it Takes. Chosen from nearly 200 submissions, What...

‘Invisible Boys’ wins T A G Hungerford Award

Friday, 16 November 2018
Perth-based YA writer Holden Sheppard has won the 2018 City of Fremantle T A G Hungerford Award for an unpublished manuscript for Invisible Boys, a YA novel about a group...

ABA announces 2018 Vic, NSW reps of the year

Friday, 16 November 2018
Mandy Wildsmith from Hardie Grant Books has been named Victorian Rep of the Year by the Australian Booksellers Association (ABA), while Simon Rannard from Penguin Random House (PRH) has been...

Lester wins $60,000 Melbourne Prize for Literature; Tumarkin wins Best Writing Award

Thursday, 15 November 2018
Children's author and illustrator Alison Lester has won the 2018 Melbourne Prize for Literature, presented every three years to a Victorian author ‘whose body of published work has made an...

UWAP announces 2019 Dorothy Hewett Award shortlist

Thursday, 15 November 2018
UWA Publishing has announced the shortlist for the 2019 Dorothy Hewett Award for an unpublished manuscript. The shortlisted authors and their works are: Angela Rockel for ‘Rogue Intensities’, a memoir...

Ventura sells ‘A Superior Spectre’ to the UK

Wednesday, 14 November 2018
Ventura Press has sold UK rights to Angela Meyer’s debut novel A Superior Spectre to Scottish publisher Saraband. Publisher Sara Hunt acquired rights at this year’s Frankfurt Book Fair via UK-based agency Abner...

A&U sells ‘The Mummy Bloggers’ to UK, Europe, India in two-book deal

Wednesday, 14 November 2018
Allen & Unwin (A&U) has sold English-language rights in the UK, Europe and India to The Mummy Bloggers (Holly Wainwright) to Legend Press in a two-book deal. A Sydney-based journalist...

Leading Edge to hold 2019 conference in Adelaide

Wednesday, 14 November 2018
Leading Edge Books (LEB) will hold its annual conference on 17-19 March at the Hilton Adelaide in South Australia. With the theme ‘making connections’, the conference program will incorporate the...

Copyright Agency launches legal action against universities

Wednesday, 14 November 2018
The Copyright Agency has lodged action in the Copyright Tribunal against Universities Australia, the peak body representing universities, over the terms of the licensing agreement for distributing content. Universities Australia,...

Scribe sells Giggs’ ‘Fathoms’ to US in record deal

Wednesday, 14 November 2018
Scribe has sold North American rights at auction to Rebecca Giggs’ forthcoming Fathoms: The World in the Whale to Simon & Schuster (S&S), in what publisher Henry Rosenbloom describes as...

Deborah Cass 2018 prize shortlist announced

Wednesday, 14 November 2018
The shortlist for Writers Victoria’s Deborah Cass Prize for emerging writers from migrant backgrounds has been announced. The shortlisted works are: ‘Bread of the dead’ by Shannon Anima (Canada) ‘The...

Voss Literary Prize 2018 shortlist announced

Tuesday, 13 November 2018
The shortlist for the 2018 Voss Literary Prize has been announced. The shortlisted titles are: No More Boats (Felicity Castagna, Giramondo) The Last Garden (Eva Hornung, Text) The Choke (Sofie Laguna, A&U) Storyland...

A&U acquires second Kitty Flanagan book

Tuesday, 13 November 2018
Allen & Unwin (A&U) has acquired ANZ and Oceania rights (including audio) to 488 Rules for Life by comedian Kitty Flanagan. A spoof of Jordan Peterson’s 12 Rules for Life...

Hunt awarded inaugural Boundless Indigenous Writer’s Mentorship

Tuesday, 13 November 2018
Barkindji writer Allanah Hunt has been awarded the inaugural Boundless Indigenous Writer’s Mentorship. Her winning manuscript, 'Forever and Ever', tells the story of a young woman reckoning with her unplanned...

Australian Family Therapists’ Award for children’s literature 2018 winners announced

Tuesday, 13 November 2018
The winners of the 2018 Australian Family Therapists’ Award for children’s literature have been announced. The winners are The Build-up Season by Megan Jacobson (Penguin) and Finding Nevo by Nevo...

Miami Book Fair/de Groot Prize winner announced; Australian writer among runners-up

Monday, 12 November 2018
The recipients of the inaugural Miami Book Fair/de Groot Prize for an unpublished novella have been announced. Californian writer, translator and poet Marci Vogel has won the prize for her...

KROC Awards 2018 winners announced

Monday, 12 November 2018
The winners of the 2018 Kids Reading Oz Choice (KROC) Awards, the children’s choice book awards for the Northern Territory, have been announced. The winning titles are: Picture storybooks Do...

Speech Pathology Australia book awards 2018 winners announced

Monday, 12 November 2018
The winners of the 2018 Speech Pathology Australia Book of the Year awards have been announced. Chosen from shortlists announced in July, the winning titles are: Birth to three years...

‘Florette’ named on 2018 NYT/NYPL Best Illustrated Children’s Books list

Friday, 9 November 2018
Melbourne-based writer and illustrator Anna Walker's picture book Florette (Viking) has been named as one of the New York Times (NYT)/New York Public Library's (NYPL) best illustrated children's books for 2018....

Environment Award for Children’s Literature 2018 winners announced

Friday, 9 November 2018
The Wilderness Society has announced the winners of the 2018 Environment Award for Children’s Literature. The winners are: Picture fiction Florette (Anna Walker, Viking) Fiction Wombat Warriors (Samantha Wheeler, UQP) Nonfiction...

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