QLAs move to BWF; a “strong year” for PRH locally as global earnings down; CBCA shortlists announced
In news this week, the Queensland Literary Awards (QLAs) will become part of the Brisbane Writers Festival for the foreseeable future; Penguin Random House Australia (PRH) reports “a strong year” as parent company Bertelsmann reports earnings were down 4.7% for the publisher globally; the Australian Publishers Association has launched its second Australian Publishing Industry Workforce Survey on Diversity and Inclusion, in partnership with the University of Melbourne; and Create NSW has announced the establishment of an affordable residencies program in Sydney’s Rocks precinct.
Awards
In awards news, the Children’s Book Council of Australia (CBCA) has announced the shortlist for the 2026 CBCA Book of the Year Awards; and the winners of the 2026 Newcastle Poetry Prize and the inaugural MidnightSun Picture Book Prize were announced.
Rights news
Masobe Books has acquired Nigerian rights for 5 books by African-Australian author Eugen Bacon, in a deal brokered in partnership with Bacon’s US publisher Tricia Reeks of Meerkat Press and local publisher Barry Scott of Transit Lounge; Upswell Publishing has acquired world rights to My Grandfather’s Ghost, a narrative nonfiction title by Louis Nowra; Simon & Schuster has acquired The Damned by Matt Rogers; and Bakers Lane Books has acquired world rights to the novel Swimming Backwards by Helen Jones.
Events
The Newcastle Writers Festival ran from 27 to 29 March; the Word on the Waves Writers Festival 2026 program has been launched; and the Australian Booksellers Association has released the program for its 2026 conference, to run from 13 to 15 June in Canberra. (See more events.)
International news
In the UK, Publishers Association CEO Dan Conway has responded to the discontinuation of Mia Ballard’s novel Shy Girl over suspected AI use and its cancellation in the US.
Award announcements in the UK include the winner of the 2026 Waterstones Children’s Book Prize, the shortlist for the 2026 Women’s Prize for Nonfiction and the shortlist for the International Booker Prize.
Books+Publishing features
Local publishers respond to the cancelled publication of Mia Ballard’s novel Shy Girl. Australian rights managers and literary agents explain why they are heading to Bologna Children’s Book Fair, despite cancelled flights and rising costs.
B+P spoke to Raymond Tan about You’re Welcome!: A Baking Celebration with a Southeast Asian Twist (written with Audrey Payne), a “joyful, generous cookbook – one to pore over, plan from and build celebrations around”. Tan also recommends Good Cooking Every Day by Julia Busuttil Nishimura (Plum): “It feels incredibly warm and generous, and there’s a real sense of ease and confidence in the way she approaches food.”
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Category: This week’s news
