Twelfth Planet Press launches ‘inclusive’ new imprint for pre-teens
19 August 2019
Independent genre publisher Twelfth Planet Press has launched a new imprint for pre-teen readers. The Titania imprint will specialise in ‘diverse stories for children in the 3–13 age range, with...
Moloney wins 2019 CBCA Nan Chauncy Award
16 August 2019
The Children’s Book Council of Australia (CBCA) has presented James Moloney with the 2019 CBCA Nan Chauncy Award for his contribution to Australian children’s literature. Moloney is the author of...
CBCA Awards 2019 winners announced
16 August 2019
The winners of this year’s Children’s Book Council of Australia (CBCA) Book of the Year Awards have been announced. The winning titles in each of the categories are: Older readers...
Storylines launches te reo Māori manuscript award
16 August 2019
Storylines Children’s Literature Charitable Trust has announced a new award for an unpublished manuscript written in te reo Māori, reports Booksellers NZ. The new award is named in honour of...
Affirm appoints Bell kids commissioning editor, Whelan editor
15 August 2019
Affirm Press has appointed senior editor Davina Bell as the new commissioning editor for its kids list. Assistant editor Meg Whelan has also been promoted to editor of the kids...
Rosenbloom selected for Shanghai Visiting International Publishers program
14 August 2019
Scribble publisher Miriam Rosenbloom has been awarded a Shanghai Visiting International Publishers fellowship to attend a specialist program alongside the Shanghai International Children’s Book Fair in November this year. The...
UQP appoints Hume as commissioning editor for children’s and YA
14 August 2019
The University of Queensland Press (UQP) has appointed Clair Hume as commissioning editor for children’s and young adult books. Hume, who joined Affirm Press in 2016 to launch the Melbourne-based...
Environment Award for Children’s Literature 2019 shortlist announced
14 August 2019
The Wilderness Society has announced the shortlist for the 2019 Environment Award for Children’s Literature. The shortlisted books in each category are: Picture fiction: More and More and More (Ian...
‘The Bomb’ named book of the year at 2019 NZ Book Awards for Children and YA
8 August 2019
The Bomb by author Sacha Cotter and illustrator Josh Morgan (Huia Publishers) has won the Margaret Mahy book of the year award, as well as the picture book award, at...
Taking control of your TBR pile: Mischa Parkee’s top picks for forthcoming children’s titles
31 July 2019
Mischa Parkee, primary school teacher and children’s specialist at Sydney’s Better Read Than Dead, shares her top picks for forthcoming children’s titles. There comes a time when any reader must...
All hands on deck: Inside The Little Bookroom with Michael Earp
31 July 2019
Situated in Melbourne’s inner north, The Little Bookroom is Australia’s oldest dedicated children’s bookshop. In his bookseller’s diary, children’s literature specialist Michael Earp reveals how a combination of experience, new ideas...
Lindfield Bookshop & Children’s Bookshop to close
30 July 2019
Lindfield Bookshop & Children’s Bookshop in Sydney’s North Shore will close at the end of August after 46 years of operation. Owner Scott Whitmont said it’s with ‘considerable sadness’ that...
Berbay to expand publishing program in 2020
29 July 2019
Melbourne-based children’s publisher Berbay Books will double its publishing list from eight to 16 titles in 2020, as well as publishing its first graphic novel, chapter book and junior fiction...
Holiday book haul: Junior Christmas 2019 preview
24 July 2019
Kelsey Oldham rounds up some local highlights from publishers’ 2019 Christmas lists. (See our adult fiction and nonfiction highlights here.) Aussie favourites Some of our most celebrated Australian children’s authors...
‘Stone Girl’ wins 2019 Readings YA book prize
23 July 2019
Eleni Hale has won the 2019 Readings Young Adult Book Prize for her novel Stone Girl (Penguin). Hale’s novel was chosen from a shortlist of six for the $3000 prize,...
Wakefield sells debut YA novel to US
23 July 2019
Wakefield Press has sold world rights (ex ANZ) to debut novel Making Friends with Alice Dyson (Poppy Nwosu) to Walker Books US for a five-figure sum. Wakefield publisher Margot Lloyd...
‘The Big Bad Wolf’ tops June Australian children’s fiction bestsellers chart
19 July 2019
Aaron Blabey’s The Big Bad Wolf: The Bad Guys Episode Nine leads the Australian children’s fiction bestsellers chart in June, ahead of two titles by Anh Do, Movie Time! Hotdog!...
Inky Awards 2019 shortlists announced
19 July 2019
The shortlists for the 2019 Inky Awards have been announced. The awards are presented by State Library Victoria (SLV) for local and international fiction, poetry, anthologies and graphic novels written...
LoveOzYA relaunches with new committee
16 July 2019
Grassroots movement LoveOzYA is relaunching with a new committee and a 'reinvigorated mission'. According to a statement posted online, the LoveOzYA website was hacked earlier in the year but has...
Blabey tops NYT bestseller charts
9 July 2019
Aaron Blabey’s ‘The Bad Guys’ (Scholastic) has topped the New York Times weekly chart for bestselling children’s series. ‘The Bad Guys’, which has spent 37 weeks on the list, came...
‘Whitney and Britney Chicken Divas’ to be read for National Simultaneous Storytime 2020
9 July 2019
Lucinda Gifford's forthcoming picture book Whitney and Britney Chicken Divas (Scholastic, October) has been chosen for the Australian Library and Information Association’s (ALIA) National Simultaneous Storytime (NSS) 2020. Marking 20...
Black Inc. to publish ‘creative’ Thunberg bio; sells rights to S&S UK
9 July 2019
Black Inc. has sold world English-language rights (ex ANZ) to a ‘creative biography’ of climate change activist Greta Thunberg to Simon & Schuster Children’s UK. Pitched at middle-grade readers, Greta’s...
UK Society of Authors launches £5000 prize for illustrated children’s books
5 July 2019
In the UK, the Society of Authors (SoA) has launched the Queen's Knickers Award, a new £5000 (A$8950) prize for children’s illustrated books aimed at readers aged 0–7. Aimed at...
Hachette acquires middle-grade, YA novels by Binks
5 July 2019
Hachette Australia has acquired ANZ rights to a middle-grade novel, The Year the Maps Changed, and a yet to be titled YA novel by literary agent Danielle Binks. The two-book...
A writer’s life for me: Andrew Daddo on ‘Atticus Van Tasticus’
4 July 2019
Atticus Van Tasticus, Andrew Daddo and Stephen Michael King’s illustrated middle-grade adventure (Puffin, September), follows a 10-year-old whose grandma gifts him a pirate ship. Kelsey Oldham spoke with Daddo about...
Is YA okay?: The state of Australian young adult literature
3 July 2019
With reports from the UK showing a sharp decline in sales of YA fiction, Jackie Tang explores whether the Australian market is experiencing similar changes. When UK trade publication the...
Speech Pathology Australia book awards 2019 shortlists announced
3 July 2019
The shortlists for the 2019 Speech Pathology Australia Book of the Year Awards have been announced. The shortlisted titles in each category are: Birth to three years A Monster in...
Five Mile sells UK, US and Canadian rights to Love Your Body
3 July 2019
Five Mile has sold UK, US and Canadian rights to Jessica Sanders’ picture book Love Your Body (illus by Carol Rossetti) to the Quarto Group. With the latest deal, made...
Dr Karl returns to ABC Books in three-book deal
26 June 2019
ABC Books has acquired three new books by Dr Karl Kruszelnicki in a deal negotiated by Jeanne Ryckmans of the Cameron Creswell Agency. The deal marks Kruszelnicki’s move back to...
May bestsellers: ‘Alpacas with Maracas’ tops picture book chart
26 June 2019
Over one million children in schools, libraries and bookshops across Australia participated in this year’s National Simultaneous Storytime on 22 May, so it was no surprise to see the chosen...
