Creative Aus participation survey; SWF director steps down; King’s Birthday Honours
Creative Australia has released the results of the most recent National Arts Participation Survey; Sydney Writers’ Festival artistic director Ann Mossop will step down from her role; former Leading Edge member services manager Kaye Wright has joined distributor Woodslane; University of Queensland Press (UQP) sales and distribution manager Kirsty Wilson has resigned from the role in protest at the decision of the University of Queensland to cancel the picture book Bila; Rhiza Press has acquired Riveted Press; Annie’s Books on Peregian has relocated; ticket sales at this year’s NT Writers Festival were lower than expected; the Big Day of Books Perth will take place on 20 June; and the 2026 Willy Lit Fest will run from 12 to 14 June under the theme of “reflections”.
Awards
The recipients of the 2026 King’s Birthday Honours have been announced; IBBY Australia has announced its 2026 selection for the biennial IBBY Honour List; MARION has announced the shortlists for the 2026 ACT Literary Awards; UQP has announced Lenny Robinson as the winner of the 2026 UQP Quentin Bryce Award; and the recipients of the 2026 NZSA Ngā Kaituhi Māori Mentorship program and Kupu Kaitiaki manuscript assessment program have been announced.
Rights
UQP has acquired world rights to Tim Loveday’s debut poetry collection; Simon & Schuster has acquired a guide to ADHD by psychiatrist Kieran Kennedy; and Allen & Unwin has acquired world rights to a biography by Andrew Bailey and an official history of Split Enz.
International news
Julia Elliott has won this year’s Carol Shields Prize for Fiction; Jamaican writer Diana McCaulay has won the Royal Society of Literature (RSL) Ondaatje Prize; and US-based publishing company Wiley has bought UK-based Emerald Publishing from Cambridge Information Group.
Features
We hear from new bookshop Fiction Over Reality on bookshop life in Queensland’s Wellington Point.
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Category: The week that was
