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LEB to hold 2020 conference in Brisbane

Monday, 21 October 2019
Leading Edge Books (LEB) will hold its annual conference on 22–24 March at the Sofitel Brisbane Central. The conference program for Sunday, 22 March includes member forums, a keynote presentation,...

US$75k Cundill History Prize 2019 finalists announced

Friday, 18 October 2019
The three finalists for the Cundill History Prize have been announced. Chosen from a shortlist of eight, the finalists are: Reckonings: Legacies of Nazi persecution and the quest for justice (Mary...

Walkley Book Award 2019 longlist announced

Friday, 18 October 2019
The Walkley Book Award longlist for 2019 has been announced. The longlisted titles are: Rusted Off: Why country Australia is fed up (Gabrielle Chan, Vintage) Banking Bad (Adele Ferguson, ABC Books) The Hunt...

‘Dark Emu’ to be adapted for TV documentary series

Friday, 18 October 2019
Bruce Pascoe’s book Dark Emu (Magabala) will be adapted as a television documentary series by Blackfella Films, a Sydney-based documentary production company founded by Rachel Perkins. Screen Australia has announced...

Windy Hollow makes first North American sale

Thursday, 17 October 2019
Independent children’s publisher Windy Hollow has sold North American rights to the picture book Ivy Bird (Tania McCartney, illus by Jess Racklyeft) to Blue Dot Books. Ivy Bird introduces younger...

Self-published ‘Dinner Detectives’ series to be adapted for TV

Thursday, 17 October 2019
Last year, Australian children’s book creators Yves Stening and Nigel Buchanan won a pitching competition at the world’s biggest children’s entertainment industry event, MIPJunior, for their self-published picture-book series ‘Dinner...

Children’s books honoured at environment awards

Thursday, 17 October 2019
Three children’s books with environmental themes have been honoured at the Wilderness Society’s Environment Award for Children’s Literature. They are: the picture book The All New Must Have Orange 430...

Noni moves to PRH after eight-way auction

Thursday, 17 October 2019
Penguin Random House Australia (PRH) has acquired ANZ rights to a new series from YA author Lynette Noni titled 'The Prison Healer'. Rights were acquired in an eight-way auction via...

Self-published books in the US grew by 40% in 2018

Thursday, 17 October 2019
Self-publishing in the US grew by 40% in 2018, according to a report published by Bowker. In total 1.68 million print and ebooks were self-published in 2018, up from 1.19...

‘Supper Club’ wins 2019 Not the Booker

Thursday, 17 October 2019
English writer Lara Williams has won the Guardian’s 2019 Not the Booker Prize for her debut novel Supper Club (Hamish Hamilton). For the second year running, the judges overruled the public...

Publishing in a time of political instability

Wednesday, 16 October 2019
'As publishers we should be publishing political books from the left, from the right, from the centre. It's important we’re not retreating back to publishing the sort of liberal books...

Owners of The Hobart Bookshop to retire

Wednesday, 16 October 2019
The owners of The Hobart Bookshop, Christopher Pearce and Janet Grecian, have decided to retire after almost 30 years of owning the business. In the early 1970s, after graduating with...

Australian Reading Hour seeking ambassadors for 2020

Wednesday, 16 October 2019
The Australian Reading Hour (ARH) is seeking submissions from agents, authors and publishers for ambassadors for the 2020 ARH event, which will take place on 17 September. Children’s ambassadors for...

Brisbane libraries ban Extinction Rebellion protestors

Wednesday, 16 October 2019
Brisbane's LNP City Council has banned Extinction Rebellion activists from using the city's libraries to plan protests, reports the Brisbane Times. Lord mayor Adrian Schrinner put forward an 'urgency motion'...

Scribe acquires book on Hong Kong protest movement

Wednesday, 16 October 2019
Scribe publisher Henry Rosenbloom has acquired world rights to City on Fire: The fight for Hong Kong by Antony Dapiran, an Australian writer and lawyer who has lived in Hong...

UK governments to give £250m funding boost to libraries

Wednesday, 16 October 2019
In the UK, the government has announced £250 million (A$464.7m) in funding for libraries, museums and other cultural projects, reports the Arts Newspaper. The funding injection comes after years of...

Jan Richards to receive ALIA’s H C L Anderson Award

Wednesday, 16 October 2019
The Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA) will present the H C L Anderson award to Central West Libraries NSW manager Jan Richards. Richards will be presented with the award...

Benjamin Law to give Colin Simpson Memorial Lecture 2019

Wednesday, 16 October 2019
The Australian Society of Authors (ASA) is delighted to announce Benjamin Law will present the Colin Simpson Memorial Lecture 2019: Stories from the Margins. Growing up, Benjamin Law rarely read,...

ABA Sales Rep of the Year Awards

Wednesday, 16 October 2019
The Australian Booksellers Association (ABA) has opened entries for both its New South Wales and Victorian Sales Rep of the Year Awards. Booksellers have the opportunity to acknowledge the great...

ABA booksellers and publishers Christmas parties

Wednesday, 16 October 2019
The Australian Booksellers Association (ABA) invites booksellers and publishers to attend Christmas parties in Melbourne, Sydney and Adelaide. Victorian party Date: Monday, 11 November, 6:30pm to 8:30pm Location: Grub, 87...

Bookshop for sale

Wednesday, 16 October 2019
After 30 years in the trade, the iconic Hobart Bookshop is for sale. Owners Christopher Pearce and Janet Grecian are retiring and offer this rare opportunity to acquire both a...

Editors NSW: Editing for accessibility

Wednesday, 16 October 2019
Editors NSW is running a meeting on editing for accessibility with freelance editor Julie Ganner. The presentation will discuss: the term 'print disability' and some of the ways in which readers...

Change for Sounds True

Wednesday, 16 October 2019
Publisher: Sounds True Old distributor: NewSouth Books New distributor: Alliance Distribution Service Changeover date: 30 November 2019 Returns cut-off: 1 December 2019