Weekly news | Books+Publishing

2017 WestWords Varuna writers in residence announced

Friday, 15 September 2017
Western Sydney youth literature centre WestWords has announced the recipients of the 2017 Western Sydney Residential Program, run in partnership with Varuna, the Writers House in the Blue Mountains. This...

Shortlists for Tasmanian Premier’s Literary Prizes announced

Friday, 15 September 2017
The shortlists for the Tasmanian Premier’s Literary Prizes have been announced. The shortlisted works and their authors are: Tasmania Book Prize for the best book with Tasmanian content in any...

Australian bestsellers in August: Young, Pape top fiction, nonfiction charts

Friday, 15 September 2017
Colombiano, the debut novel by Rusty Young, author of the bestselling nonfiction book Marching Powder, has debuted in the monthly Australian fiction bestsellers chart in first place. Young’s novel was ahead...

Brotherhood of St Laurence to award two women’s writing scholarships; expands Hope Prize pool to $17,500

Thursday, 14 September 2017
The Brotherhood of St Laurence will award two Women’s Writing Career Development Scholarships, worth $5,000 each, as part of its second Hope Prize short story competition. Women writers who enter...

Text acquires new Gail Jones, Craig Sherborne titles

Wednesday, 13 September 2017
Text has acquired world rights to new books by Gail Jones and Craig Sherborne. Jones’ new novel, The Death of Noah Glass, is about a recently deceased art historian, Noah...

First recipients of Writers Victoria’s women of colour development series announced

Wednesday, 13 September 2017
The inaugural recipients of Writers Victoria’s opportunities for women writers of colour and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women have been announced. The recipients of bursaries to attend Writers Victoria...

Subbed In to launch three poetry titles this month

Wednesday, 13 September 2017
Sydney literary organisation Subbed In is launching its first series of books at an event in Sydney on 23 September. Subbed In has been hosting regular reading series for emerging...

Purcell receives top awards at AWGIEs for ‘The Drover’s Wife’

Tuesday, 12 September 2017
Playwright Leah Purcell has received the top two writing honours at the Australian Writers’ Guild’s annual AWGIE Awards, for The Drover’s Wife (Currency Press), a retelling of Henry Lawson’s short...

NYWF 2017 program launched

Tuesday, 12 September 2017
The full program for the 2017 National Young Writers’ Festival (NYWF) has been announced. The festival, which runs from 28 September to 1 October in Newcastle, will include 113 writers,...

Authors for Asylum Twitter campaign raises over $13,000

Tuesday, 12 September 2017
Australian writers have raised $13,143.84 for the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre (ASRC) by auctioning off various items as part of the ‘Authors for Asylum’ Twitter campaign. The campaign ran from...

Savage appointed director of Writers Victoria

Tuesday, 12 September 2017
Angela Savage has been appointed director of Writers Victoria, effective from 25 September. Savage’s appointment follows the departure of Kate Larsen, who served as director since March 2013. The current acting...

Writers, literary orgs among latest OzCo funding recipients

Tuesday, 12 September 2017
Thirty-two writers and literary organisations are among the recipients of the latest Australia Council grants round, which awarded $6.1 million to 221 projects. Grants in the literary category were worth...

Inaugural Boundless festival launches program

Tuesday, 12 September 2017
The full program has been launched for the inaugural Boundless festival for Indigenous and culturally diverse writers. Ellen van Neerven, Julie Koh, Michael Mohammed Ahmad, Benjamin Law, Sarah Ayoub and...

PRH acquires new Tim Winton novel for March 2018

Monday, 11 September 2017
Penguin Random House (PRH) has acquired ANZ rights to a new Tim Winton novel, The Shepherd’s Hut, to be published in March 2018. Literary agency Jenny Darling also sold UK...

Melbourne writers, literary organisations receive council arts grants

Monday, 11 September 2017
Several writers and literary organisations have received a share of about $800,000 in funding from Melbourne City Council. Among the recipients are Australian Poetry, for its Melbourne Eco! Slam; poetry...

Monash University Publishing to publish contemporary Australian literature series

Monday, 11 September 2017
Monash University Publishing will launch a new series of literary criticism in 2018 focusing on contemporary Australian writers. The press will publish two volumes in the ‘Contemporary Australian Writers’ series...

Wilson wins 2017 Miles Franklin Literary Award for ‘Extinctions’

Friday, 8 September 2017
Josephine Wilson has won the 2017 Miles Franklin Literary Award for her novel Extinctions (UWA Publishing). Wilson was named as the winner at an event at the State Library of...

Line-up for Bundaberg’s WriteFest announced

Friday, 8 September 2017
The program for WriteFest 2017, running in Bundaberg from 6-8 October, has been announced. Author Arnold Zable headlines the festival program, joining other guests including Aleesah Darlison, Helena Pastor, Cindi...

Academy of the Humanities, communications firm to deliver arts advocacy program

Thursday, 7 September 2017
The Australian Academy of the Humanities (AAH) and communications firm Newgate have been chosen to deliver a $1.65m program that will champion investment and return in arts and culture. As...

Audiobooks added to Kobo app

Thursday, 7 September 2017
Kobo has added an audiobook service to its smartphone and tablet app, with a monthly one-book membership costing $12.99. The service launched on 6 September in Australia. Members can also...

Berbay launches junior fiction series

Thursday, 7 September 2017
Berbay Publishing will release its first junior fiction series, ‘Norton’, in 2018, by Melbourne writer and illustrator John Dickson. The series focuses on seven-year-old Norton, who is ‘finding his way...

WestWords and Pinerolo announce recipients of illustrator residency

Wednesday, 6 September 2017
Delene White and Sadami Konchi have been selected for the 2017 WestWords / Pinerolo Illustrators in Residence program, aimed at extending emerging illustrators’ knowledge of ‘picture book creation and design,...

Reni Eddo-Lodge tops MWF bestseller chart; keynotes sell out

Wednesday, 6 September 2017
This year’s Melbourne Writers Festival (MWF) attracted ‘big, diverse audiences for important conversations on race, identity, politics and feminism’, reports CEO and artistic director Lisa Dempster. Attendance figures are still...