Weekly news | Books+Publishing

A&U acquires new historical fiction from Rose

Wednesday, 12 February 2025
Allen & Unwin (A&U) has acquired ANZ rights to A Great Act of Love by Heather Rose, via Gaby Naher of the Naher Agency. US rights have sold to Judy Clain...

2025 Bologna Best Children’s Publisher shortlist announced

Wednesday, 5 February 2025
The Bologna Prize for the Best Children’s Publishers of the Year shortlist has been announced. This year's Oceania shortlistees are: Affirm Press (Australia) Five Mile Press (Australia) Fremantle Press (Australia) Hardie Grant...

Pink Shorts Press acquires works by De Zilva, Cothren

Wednesday, 5 February 2025
New publishing venture Pink Shorts Press has announced its first acquisitions of new titles. The press, which plans to release books twice a year (March and August), previously announced it...

Hardie Grant Books acquires Nat Thaipun cookbook

Wednesday, 29 January 2025
Hardie Grant Books has acquired world print and ebook rights to Thai: Anywhere and Everywhere, the debut cookbook from MasterChef Australia 2024 winner Nat Thaipun, through Ben Liebmann of Understory....

Adelaide Writers’ Week full program announced

Wednesday, 29 January 2025
Adelaide Writers’ Week director Louise Adler today announced the full program for 2025 Adelaide Writers' Week (AWW), which will mark the 40th anniversary of the event. In a statement, Adler...

UQP sells rights to ‘Edenglassie’ to Oneworld

Wednesday, 29 January 2025
University of Queensland Press (UQP) has sold world English (ex ANZ) and audio rights to Melissa Lucashenko’s Edenglassie to Oneworld Publications. The deal was struck between UQP rights and contacts...

Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards 2025 shortlists announced

Wednesday, 29 January 2025
The Wheeler Centre has announced the shortlists for the 2025 Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards. The shortlisted and highly commended works in each category are: Fiction ($25,000) The Burrow (Melanie Cheng,...

PRH acquires Text Publishing

Wednesday, 22 January 2025
Text Publishing has announced it will become part of Penguin Random House Australia (PRH), effective immediately. In a statement, Text said the acquisition ‘includes all of Text Publishing’. However, Text...

Ethicool Books deregistered

Wednesday, 22 January 2025
Children’s publisher Ethicool Books has been deregistered. The publisher, which launched in 2020, was founded by Teigan Margetts with the intention of publishing books that ‘educate, entertain and encourage children...

Aniko Press acquires first title for publication

Wednesday, 22 January 2025
Aniko Press has acquired world rights to its first title – The Slip, a debut short story collection from Miriam Webster. ‘The Slip is a collection of 10 stories about...

Indie Book Awards 2025 shortlists announced

Wednesday, 15 January 2025
The shortlists for the 2025 Indie Book Awards have been announced. The shortlisted titles in each category are: Fiction Dusk (Robbie Arnott, Picador) Cherrywood (Jock Serong, Fourth Estate) The Ledge (Christian White, Affirm)...

NLA announces 2025 Fellows

Wednesday, 15 January 2025
The National Library of Australia (NLA) has announced its 2025 Fellows, awarded to local and international scholars. The recipients and their research projects are: NLA Fellowships Alexis Bergantz, ‘Whose Pacific?...

New independent publisher Spoor Books launches

Wednesday, 15 January 2025
In Aotearoa New Zealand, Erena and Balamohan Shingade have launched Spoor Books. Spoor Books is ‘an independent publisher, a community-oriented platform, and a bookshop featuring radical publishers from India and...

Leigh responds to petition on fixed-price book laws

Wednesday, 11 December 2024
Assistant Minister for Competition, Charities and Treasury Andrew Leigh has responded to a petition asking for Federal Parliament to introduce fixed-price laws for books in Australia. The petition, which attracted...

WeirDo, Wolf Girl to be adapted to screen

Wednesday, 11 December 2024
Two Anh Do series, WeirDo (Scholastic) and Wolf Girl (A&U), are being adapted to screen, reports the Age. The WeirDo series is being turned into a television series in partnership...

CLNZ Contestable Fund Grants 2024 recipients announced

Wednesday, 11 December 2024
Copyright Licensing New Zealand (CLNZ) has announced recipients of its Contestable Fund Grants, totalling NZ$75,000. The recipients are: Georgina Tuari Stewart (NZ$8220): for the publishing project ‘Ngā Kararehe o Aotearoa—he Mātauranga, he Matatika, development...

UQP sells world English rights to ‘Someone Like Me’

Wednesday, 11 December 2024
University of Queensland Press (UQP) has sold world English (ex ANZ) rights to Someone Like Me: An Anthology of Nonfiction by Autistic Writers (co-edited by Clem Bastow & Jo Case)...

Tu awarded 2025 BR Whiting Studio Residency

Wednesday, 11 December 2024
Jessie Tu has been awarded Creative Australia’s 2025 BR Whiting Studio Residency in Rome. Tu’s debut novel, A Lonely Girl Is a Dangerous Thing (A&U), was named literary fiction book...

Debenham wins 2024 Ampersand Prize

Wednesday, 11 December 2024
Michael Debenham’s Drowning for Beginners has won the 2024 Ampersand Prize for children’s and YA debut fiction. Hardie Grant Children’s Publishing (HGCP) publishing director Marisa Pintado said: ‘Michael’s compulsively readable...

Ampersand Prize 2024 shortlist announced

Wednesday, 4 December 2024
Hardie Grant Children’s Publishing (HGCP) has announced the shortlist for the 2024 Ampersand Prize. The shortlisted titles are: ‘I Love a Good Murder’ by Rahnia Collins, a YA crime novel...

Pung awarded 2024 Alice Literary Award

Wednesday, 4 December 2024
Alice Pung has won the Alice Literary Award, presented by the Society of Women Writers in Australia. In Pung’s acceptance speech, the author said: ‘What an honour it is, to...

Inaugural Australian Fiction Prize shortlist announced

Wednesday, 4 December 2024
The shortlist for the inaugural Australian Fiction Prize, presented by HarperCollins and the Australian, has been announced. The shortlisted manuscripts, chosen from almost 500 entries, are: ‘Blackswansong’ by Michael Burrows...