Bookselling during the ‘new normal’
1 July 2020
The financial effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on Australian booksellers are varied, but the sense that bookselling is about more than simply selling books has been highlighted, with booksellers finding...
Witnessing the future: Kate Mildenhall on ‘The Mother Fault’
1 July 2020
The Mother Fault (S&S, September), Kate Mildenhall's genre-bending follow-up to her 2016 debut Skylarking (Black Inc.), portrays a 'spine-tingling vision of a future Australia—eerie in its potential realism' as seen...
Community cup: Rawah Arja on ‘The F Team’
24 June 2020
Rawah Arja is a writer and teacher from Punchbowl, Sydney. In her debut YA novel The F Team (Giramondo, September), which is set in her home suburb, Arja explores family,...
Career Path: Middle Grade Mavens
24 June 2020
Pamela Ueckerman and Julie Grasso are two self-described ‘author mums’ and the hosts of the podcast Middle Grade Mavens. They review children’s books, interview industry experts and discuss all things...
Every unhappy family: S L Lim on ‘Revenge’
17 June 2020
S L Lim's second novel Revenge: Murder in Three Parts (Transit Lounge, September) follows teenage Yannie, who is bound by familial obligations to care for her parents instead of going...
The Wheeler Centre’s Next Chapter
11 June 2020
Two years after the Wheeler Centre established its The Next Chapter writers scheme, books by two of its inaugural fellows—Adam Thompson and Evelyn Araluen—have been acquired by the University of Queensland Press. As applications...
Behind closed doors: Victoria Hannan on ‘Kokomo’
3 June 2020
Kokomo (Hachette, August), the debut novel from Melbourne writer Victoria Hannan, is an intergenerational saga that centres on Mina and her mother Elaine, and their neighbours the Chengs. Reviewer Ellen...
Into the unknown: Zana Fraillon on ‘The Lost Soul Atlas’
27 May 2020
The Lost Soul Atlas (Lothian, July), Zana Fraillon's return to the middle-grade genre, is a dual-narrative fable that follows Twig's quest through the Afterlife and his memories of his former...
The magic of bricks-and-mortar
27 May 2020
As Covid-19 restrictions are relaxed and stores begin to reopen, long-time sales rep Mandy Wildsmith argues that bricks-and-mortar bookshops are here to stay. Nineteenth-century Melbourne entrepreneur E W Cole was...
Tourist trap: Luke Horton on ‘The Fogging’
20 May 2020
Luke Horton's debut novel The Fogging (Scribe, July) follows two Australian academics as their relationship breaks down while on holiday in Bali. Reviewer David Little described The Fogging as 'a...
Making connections: Cath Moore on ‘Metal Fish, Falling Snow’
13 May 2020
Cath Moore's debut YA novel Metal Fish, Falling Snow (Text, July) is an 'astonishingly original, heartfelt and funny' exploration of self-acceptance, identity and belonging, says reviewer Jacqui Davies. She spoke to...
Browsing online: how has book buying changed during the pandemic?
11 May 2020
Isolation, lockdown and the closure of physical bookstores have resulted in a massive spike in online retail. Books+Publishing investigates what book buying looks like during Covid-19 and asks whether the...
Will Covid-19 permanently change the book industry?
29 April 2020
As booksellers and publishers innovate their businesses in response to the Covid-19 lockdown, Books+Publishing's columnist Veronica Sullivan looks at which of their measures are only temporary, and which may be...
In our nature: Robbie Arnott on ‘The Rain Heron’
1 April 2020
The Rain Heron (Text, June), Robbie Arnott's follow-up to his 2018 debut Flames, blurs the line between reality and myth as its isolated protagonist is drawn to a soldier on...
Ten rules for successful remote working
1 April 2020
Pantera Press CEO Alison Green has extensive experience in working from home. Here, she shares her 10 rules for WFH success in a time of social distancing, explaining that ‘it's...
CYL may be gone but YA can still thrive through grassroots advocacy
25 March 2020
In her first op-ed as Junior columnist for 2020, Adele Walsh investigates the vacuum left by the shuttering of the Centre for Youth Literature last year, and what can be...
Australian bookshops respond to Covid-19
18 March 2020
Australian booksellers, like many retailers, are facing a big challenge right now. At this stage some shops have moved to online only, but many stores remain open and are trying...
‘Knowing your worth’: The UK publication highlighting female leadership in publishing
4 March 2020
The FLIP is a monthly newsletter that publishes interviews with women who are leading the way in the UK book industry. Andrea Hanke spoke with co-founder Ella Horne about the...
The elephant in the room: Chris Flynn on ‘Mammoth’
28 February 2020
Chris Flynn’s third novel Mammoth (UQP, May) handles an ambitious conceit and makes it work, according to reviewer Brad Jefferies. Narrated by the fossil of a 13,000-year-old mammoth, the novel...
The bookseller’s dilemma: What bookstores won’t stock
26 February 2020
As conversations proliferate about cultural appropriation in literature, debates about whether—and how—bookstores should stock controversial books have been renewed. In her first column for 2020, Books+Publishing's new columnist Veronica Sullivan...
Why are booksellers leaving Leading Edge?
26 February 2020
A number of Australia’s most prominent independent booksellers are leaving Leading Edge Books in favour of a new buying group set up by the Australian Booksellers Association. Sarah Farquharson reports....
How did international book markets perform in 2019?
19 February 2020
Representatives from trade publications in the UK, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Sweden and China have shared insights with Books+Publishing on how their respective markets fared in 2019. Across the regions,...
Fullers Bookshop celebrates 100 years of Hobart bookselling
12 February 2020
This year marks the 100-year anniversary of Fullers Bookshop in Hobart, which was opened by Bill Fuller, his wife Frances and Jim Boa on 16 February 1920. The shop was...
Making readers for life: Ursula Dubosarsky on her plans as Australian Children’s Laureate
12 February 2020
Prolific children’s author Ursula Dubosarsky has been chosen as the Australian Children’s Laureate. She spoke with Sarah Farquharson about her plans for her two-year term as laureate. What are you...
‘Changes start small’: Behind the union push at PRH
5 February 2020
Elena Gomez was part of a core team of editorial and publicity staff at Penguin Random House Australia (PRH) who initiated collective bargaining with their employer last year, resulting in...
‘Books that matter and books that sell’: Industry predictions for 2020
30 January 2020
A rise in books tackling climate change and sustainability, personal development and wellbeing titles, and ‘uplifting’ fiction and nonfiction are all predicted by senior figures from across the book trade. Books+Publishing...
Pre-Christmas bestsellers: children’s book sales not enough to counter weak adult fiction and nonfiction sales
22 January 2020
Despite a Bluey-led boost to children’s book sales, the value of the Australian book market fell by over four percent, year-on-year, in the 10-week pre-Christmas period, with weaker adult fiction...
#AuthorsForFireys raises hundreds of thousands for bushfire relief
15 January 2020
The #AuthorsForFireys campaign closed on the evening of Saturday 11 January, raising an estimated hundreds of thousands of dollars for bushfire relief across the nation, according to reports from the...
What we’ll be reading in 2020
11 December 2019
Books+Publishing editors Sarah Farquharson and Kelsey Oldham share the books they're most looking forward to reading in 2020. Sarah Farquharson: Like many others, I was beside myself to learn that...
Book bites: Starting 2020 on the right note
11 December 2019
Mischa Parkee, teacher and children’s specialist at Sydney’s Better Read Than Dead, shares her top children's picks for the new year. What better way to bring in the new year...
