Tonelli appointed Walker Books publisher, Global Book Crawl a local success, Pulitzer Prize winners announced

Headlining local news this week, Walker Books announced the appointment of Eve Tonelli to the role of publisher, Australia and New Zealand.

Meanwhile, in a surfeit of awards news this week, the 2025 Pulitzer Prize winners were announced, with Percival Everett and Marie Howe among those named in the book categories. Winners were also revealed for the Aurealis Awards; Fresh Off the Books: The Pasifika Australian Literary Initiative; and the Edgar Allan Poe Awards, the latter of which features Australian crime writer Sulari Gentill.

And, for the first time since 2022, the ASA and Arts Tasmania announced the launch of a Tasmanian writing and illustration mentorship program, which will support 16 writers and illustrators living in the southernmost state.

Shortlists were also announced for the Age Book of the Year awards, and in the UK, for the CrimeFest Awards, which includes Aotearoa New Zealand author Tom Baragwanath among those in the running for the debut novel award.

Over in the United States, New York-based online fiction writing school The Novelry has launched a US$100,000 (A$155,276) competition, called The Next Big Story, which is open to writers from several countries including Australia (but not Aotearoa).

And, in local acquisitions news from this week, WestWords Books has acquired world rights to Swallow by Alexandria Burnham and Sing to Me by Jelena Curic, both of which are debut novels; UWA Publishing acquired world rights to The Warrumbar, Willian J Byrne’s debut adult fiction novel; Eagle Books (an imprint of Christmas Press) and Roffo Court Press (in the UK) jointly acquired world rights to Life and Breath, a collection of short stories for upper middle-grade/YA readers by Ursula Dubosarsky; Melbourne Books acquired world rights to Full Corset and Stockings: A History of Women’s Cricket by Craig Horne; Allen & Unwin acquired world rights to Trip in a Van’s Bucket List Experiences by Bec and Justin Lorrimer; and Text Publishing acquired Amanda Lohrey’s next novel, Capture.

If you’re up to date on the news, catch up on this week’s features from Books+Publishing, including a wrap of the Australian arm of the Global Book Crawl, which spanned bookstores in the Blue Mountains, Hobart, Melbourne, Mornington Peninsula, Newcastle, Sydney and North East Victoria; a list of some favourite reads from our reviewers ahead of Mother’s Day; the final instalment of our series featuring the finalists for the ABDA Deb Brash Emerging Designer of the Year Award – an interview with illustrator and graphic designer Emi Chiba; Creative Australia head of literature Wenona Byrne and several Australian publishers discussing the VIPs program; and, courtesy of the Conversation, an essay from Alice Grundy on ‘the rising costs and shrinking margins of Australian books‘.

Elsewhere in bookish news, publications both local and further afield shared takes on the plagiarism claims against baker Brooke Bellamy; among them, Daniela Simone shared an explainer in the Conversation about the nuances of intellectual property in recipe writing, noting: ‘The legal position is far from clear. While you cannot copyright a recipe itself, you might be able to protect the specific way it is expressed.’ Also in the Conversation, Lauren Samuelsson contextualised the controversy, writing that the allegations ‘join a long tradition of cookbook scandals – from Belle Gibson to bone broth formula’.

Meanwhile, also in the Conversation, Julian Novitz responded to news that a UK publisher plans to focus on books by men, exploring demographics in prizes, sales, and reader engagement, as well as social and cultural questions around toxic masculinity and the place of literary fiction.

And, in overseas awards news reported by our UK counterpart Book Brunch, the winners of the 2025 Fortnum & Mason Food and Drink Awards, the 2025 Writers of the Future Awards and the 2025 Sports Book Awards have also been announced, alongside the longlist for the Wilbur Smith Adventure Writing Prize, which spans ‘historical epics to contemporary page-turners’, according to prize organisers.

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Category: This week’s news