Fed govt to propose copyright reforms, Williams appointed interim SWF artistic director

The federal government will propose reforms to Australia’s copyright laws in exposure draft legislation it expects to release later this year, and former Wheeler Centre director Michael Williams has been appointed interim artistic director of the Sydney Writers’ Festival.

The National Centre for Australian Children’s Literature has produced a new, freely accessible database of children’s books by and about Australia’s First Nations peoples. Meanwhile, next year’s National Simultaneous Storytime will take place on the International Space Station; UK publisher Boldwood is releasing local author Fiona Higgins’ next novel in Australia in an ‘innovative’ partnership with Booktopia’; and six Australians and four New Zealanders are among the 34 children whose artworks will illustrate the forthcoming UK edition of J K Rowling’s The Ickabog.

In awards news, Samera Kamaleddine has won HarperCollins Australia’s inaugural Matilda Children’s Literature Prize, Mykaela Saunders was named the winner of the 2020 ABR Elizabeth Jolley Short Story Prize, and the MUBA has been renamed the SPN Book of the Year Award. Overseas, Michael Robotham has been shortlisted for the CWA Gold Dagger, and the winners of the NZ Book Awards for Children and Young Adults have been announced.

In international news, a new report found digital sales growth endured post-Covid in the German-language market.

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Category: This week’s news