A&U acquires Barry’s “The Big Steal”

Allen & Unwin (A&U) has acquired ANZ rights to nonfiction title The Big Steal by journalist Paul Barry, direct from the author.

The Big Steal recounts the story of Sanjeev Gupta, “a fast-talking billionaire” who bought the bankrupt steelworks in Whyalla, South Australia in 2017. Calling the town his “spiritual home”, he promised to invest billions of dollars in a “mega green steel plant that will decarbonise the industry and help save the planet,” said the publisher. “Eight years later, his dreams are in ruins, his promises unfulfilled. He has thousands of creditors and billions of dollars in unpaid debts. His global empire is collapsing.”

Barry is a Walkley Award-winning investigative journalist. In addition to his extensive work in television, notably on Four Corners and Media Watch, he is the author of multiple books, including The Rise and Fall of Alan Bond (Bantam Australia) and Breaking News: Sex, Lies and the Murdoch Succession (A&U).

Barry said, “This is the incredible story of the meteoric rise and fall of an entrepreneur which will leave you asking: how on earth do people like Gupta get away with it?”

Publisher Elizabeth Weiss said, “From one of Australia’s best investigative journalists comes this cracking story of how politicians, the media and some of the biggest banks in the world were fooled by one man.”

A&U plans to publish The Big Steal in September 2026.

Category: Local news Rights and acquisitions