Book Club – this month’s reads
Friday, 10 July 2026
Looking for your next great group read? Our monthly Book Club rounds up new release titles perfect for sparking conversation and perhaps even some debate. From compelling fiction to thought-provoking...
Tim Ayliffe on “Web of Spies”
Wednesday, 8 July 2026
Bestselling crime author Tim Ayliffe’s children’s debut Web of Spies (S.I.G.M.A. #1) (Affirm Kids, September) is a middle-grade novel about a boy whose search for answers about his missing father...
Tim Ayliffe recommends
Wednesday, 8 July 2026
There are so many great Australian writers on the scene right now. Chris Hammer’s Legacy (Allen & Unwin) demonstrates why he’s an author at the height of his powers. While...
Junior Book Club – this month’s reads
Friday, 3 July 2026
Our Junior Book Club highlights new titles each month that are perfect for classrooms, libraries and family reading time. From fun and imaginative adventures to books that spark curiosity and...
“Even before the digital revolution, around 80% of books did not recoup the publisher’s investment”: Nathan Hollier on Australia’s history of rushed publishing
Wednesday, 1 July 2026
The argument that we are publishing books too quickly raises perennial questions about the nature of an industry with commercial but also cultural dimensions, and the obligation that publishers have...
“One of the last true immersive experiences”: QBD CEO Nick Croydon on the future of books
Wednesday, 1 July 2026
In this speech, delivered at the QBD conference in June, QBD CEO Nick Croydon makes the case for the future of books, as the bookselling chain celebrates 150 years in...
John A Scott on “The Boy Who Loved Dolls”
Tuesday, 30 June 2026
John A Scott’s latest novel, The Boy Who Loved Dolls (Puncher & Wattman, September), is a literary mystery that blends surrealism, film theory, myth and psychological suspense. Books+Publishing reviewer Alex...
John A Scott recommends
Tuesday, 30 June 2026
I read increasingly less these days. My concentration isn’t what it used to be – and neither are my eyes. Having said that, early in 2025 I received a call...
Who is Evercreech? The micro publisher shortlisted for the Miles Franklin with its first book
Wednesday, 24 June 2026
Evercreech Editions is a micro press established in Lutruwita/Tasmania by author, editor, bookseller and writing teacher Adam Ouston, and My Heart at Evening by Konrad Muller, shortlisted for the 2026...
Anna Battese recommends
Tuesday, 23 June 2026
There are so many incredible Australian kids’ books out there, which makes this question so hard to answer! I'm going to be a terrible cheat and give you my just-read...
Anna Battese on “The Grey Beret’s Guide to Surviving the Odds”
Tuesday, 23 June 2026
Anna Battese is a Melbourne-based children’s author whose debut middle-grade novel The Grey Beret’s Guide to Surviving the Odds (Simon & Schuster Australia, August) is the first in a planned...
Inflation, closed doors, horror, but the mood was up at the 2026 ABA conference
Wednesday, 17 June 2026
More than one graph shown at this year’s Australian Booksellers Association (ABA) annual conference in Canberra showed inflation steeply outpacing book sales. Yet the mood of the conference was positive...
Kate Foster recommends
Tuesday, 16 June 2026
One book I can’t get out of my head, which I read last year, is How to Sail to Somewhere by Ashleigh Barton. Ashleigh writes in such a tender, accessible...
Kate Foster on “A River I Must Be”
Tuesday, 16 June 2026
Kate Foster is a Gold Coast–based, bestselling and award-winning children’s author whose latest middle-grade novel in verse, A River I Must Be (HarperCollins Publishers), follows an autistic year 7 student...
Book Club – this month’s reads
Friday, 12 June 2026
Looking for your next great group read? Our monthly Book Club rounds up new release titles perfect for sparking conversation and perhaps even some debate. From compelling fiction to thought-provoking...
Has the number of bookshops in Australia really halved? Probably not, but we should still be worried
Wednesday, 10 June 2026
It’s a dramatic and depressing statistic: that in the decade to 2023, the number of bookshops in Australia roughly halved; but it’s also based on unverified data and unlikely to...
Visiting International Publishers on commercial fiction trends in Indonesia, Italy and France
Wednesday, 10 June 2026
As part of the Visiting International Publishers (VIPs) program, Writing Australia held an industry forum and networking lunch at the State Library of NSW in Sydney on 20 May. The...
Junior Book Club – this month’s reads
Friday, 5 June 2026
Searching for your next great read to share with kids? Our Junior Book Club highlights new titles each month that are perfect for classrooms, libraries and family reading time. From...
Fiction Over Reality on bookshop life in Queensland’s Wellington Point
Wednesday, 3 June 2026
Late last year, new bookstore Fiction Over Reality opened in the seaside suburb of Wellington Point in Queensland. Owner Aimee Boyd spoke with Books+Publishing about the first months of operation and...
The changing shape of the pathway: The entry to entry-level roles in publishing
Wednesday, 27 May 2026
Nonie Trainor is completing their Work Integrated Learning at Books+Publishing as a second-year student of the Master of Writing and Publishing program at RMIT University. During this period, Nonie is...
“I can almost hear the em-dashes”: Impressions from MWF opening night
Wednesday, 20 May 2026
Nonie Trainor is completing their Work Integrated Learning at Books+Publishing as a second-year student of the Master of Writing and Publishing program at RMIT University. Trainor attended the Athenaeum theatre...
Susannah Bowen: “It’s frustrating to not have a central place for customers to go to buy a book if they prefer to support local”
Wednesday, 20 May 2026
Australian Booksellers Association (ABA) CEO Susannah Bowen has been visiting a lot of bookseller members since she was appointed to the role in October last year. Books+Publishing caught up with...
Chris Ames on “I Made This Just for You”
Tuesday, 19 May 2026
Chris Ames is a Melbourne-based writer originally from California whose debut short story collection, I Made This Just for You (Ultimo), was already generating attention before publication, having won the...
Chris Ames recommends
Tuesday, 19 May 2026
Why We Are Here by Briohny Doyle. It’s technically about the heaviest material possible – an honest look at grief during the pandemic – yet due to the skill and...
Book Club – this month’s reads
Friday, 15 May 2026
Looking for your next great group read? Our monthly Book Club rounds up new release titles perfect for sparking conversation and perhaps even some debate. From compelling fiction to thought-provoking...
Walking the literary and literal landscape: Introducing the 2026 VIPs
Wednesday, 13 May 2026
This year, 12 publishing professionals from 8 different countries will base themselves in Sydney, Gadigal Country, from 18 to 22 May (alongside the Sydney Writers’ Festival) for the Visiting International...
Maria Takolander recommends
Tuesday, 12 May 2026
Jennifer Mills’ Salvage (Picador, 2025) is a clear-eyed imagining of a climate-ravaged future and of the self-destructive dream of autonomy – the idea that we can be independent of an...
Maria Takolander on “The End of Romance”
Tuesday, 12 May 2026
In The End of Romance, Finnish Australian author Maria Takolander imagines a dystopian world in which boys are conscripted to the army at 16, never to return. Takolander spoke with...
Junior Book Club – this month’s reads
Friday, 8 May 2026
Searching for your next great read to share with kids? Our Junior Book Club highlights new titles each month that are perfect for classrooms, libraries and family reading time. From...
Words and numbers: The reality of entry-level roles in publishing
Wednesday, 6 May 2026
Nonie Trainor is completing their Work Integrated Learning at Books+Publishing as a second-year student of the Master of Writing and Publishing program at RMIT University. In the first of two...
