Inside the Australian and New Zealand book industry

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Emma Pei Yin on ‘When Sleeping Women Wake’ 

Tuesday, 20 May 2025
Canberra-based, British-born Hong Kong-Chinese writer and editor Emma Pei Yin’s debut novel, When Sleeping Women Wake (Hachette, June), is set in 1940s Hong Kong and follows three women whose lives...

Emma Pei Yin recommends 

Tuesday, 20 May 2025
I have been so deep in research for When Sleeping Women Wake that I haven’t read much Australian fiction over the past few years. The most memorable Australian fiction I...

Enamoured Books opens in Auckland 

enamoured books logo Tuesday, 20 May 2025
Enamoured Books, Aotearoa New Zealand's first dedicated romance bookshop, opened in Auckland in May of 2025. Founder Ruby Wallace spoke with Books+Publishing about her vision for the shop. Why did you...

Publishing industry hopeful following Federal Election 

Wednesday, 14 May 2025
With the landmark results of the 3 May federal election, questions have arisen about the future of the literary sector. Following the Books Create Australia election campaign, B+P reached out to the Australian Publishers...

Jasmin McGaughey recommends 

Tuesday, 13 May 2025
I’m currently reading the First Nations Classics out with UQP, and I’ve been loving every book from the series. There are about 16 books published, with 4 more coming in the...

Jasmin McGaughey on ‘Moonlight and Dust’ 

a portrait of Jasmin McGaughey Tuesday, 13 May 2025
Jasmin McGaughey is a Torres Strait Islander and African American author and editor, and the writer behind Ash Barty’s Little Ash series. Her new young adult novel, Moonlight and Dust...

Creative Australia’s VIPs – a very important program 

Creative Australia VIPs 2025 logo Wednesday, 7 May 2025
Creative Australia’s Visiting International Publishers (VIPs) program began in 1998, and has since welcomed 307 international guests to Australia from 30 countries. Books+Publishing publishing director Kate Cuthbert spoke with Creative...

Mother’s Day recommendations from B+P reviewers 

Friday, 2 May 2025
In the lead-up to Mother’s Day, one of the busiest book-buying times of the year, Books+Publishing reviews editor Jess Lomas looks at some reviewer favourites from April and May with...

Global Book Crawl a ‘success’ in Australia 

logo for Global Book Crawl Thursday, 1 May 2025
From 21 to 27 April, bookstores in the Blue Mountains, Hobart, Melbourne, Mornington Peninsula, Newcastle, Sydney and North East Victoria took part in the Australian arm of the Global Book...

Marija Peričić on ‘Foreign Country’ 

Tuesday, 22 April 2025
Marija Peričić’s first novel, The Lost Pages (A&U), won the Australian/Vogel’s Literary Award in 2017. Her ‘lyrical and haunting’ third novel, Foreign Country (Ultimo, July) is a work ‘vivid and...

Thomas Vowles recommends 

Tuesday, 15 April 2025
Losing Face by George Haddad. He knows something about the complicated nature of the human soul. I can’t wait to see what he does next.

Thomas Vowles on ‘Our New Gods’ 

Tuesday, 15 April 2025
Melbourne-based screenwriter and author Thomas Vowles makes his novel debut with Our New Gods (UQP, June), a ‘twisty and menacing’ psychological literary thriller set in Melbourne’s queer scene that is...

ABDA 2025 shortlists announced 

ABDA shortlist logo Wednesday, 9 April 2025
The shortlists for the 2025 Australian Book Design Awards, presented by the Australian Book Designers Association (ABDA), have been announced. Shortlisted works in each category are: Best designed commercial fiction...

Laura Elvery recommends 

Wednesday, 19 March 2025
Australian Gospel by Lech Blaine – a book that is completely fascinating, heartbreaking, measured and fair. There’s a pace and a clarity in Lech’s writing that is so refreshing.

BorrowBox: ‘User experience is everything’

Wednesday, 19 March 2025
In the lead-up to the 2025 Australian Book Industry Awards (ABIAs), Books+Publishing is in conversation with the event's major sponsors about the status of the industry, what excites them about the...

Laura Elvery on ‘Nightingale’ 

Tuesday, 18 March 2025
Brisbane-based writer Laura Elvery (Ordinary Matter) makes her novel debut with Nightingale (UQP, May), a fictional reimagining of the life of Florence Nightingale. Books+Publishing reviewer Kate Dunphy describes it as...

Australian Book Design Awards 2025 longlists announced

Thursday, 6 March 2025
The longlists for the 2025 Australian Book Design Awards, presented by the Australian Book Designers Association (ABDA), have been announced. The longlisted titles in the first three categories, and the emerging...

Books+Publishing reviews gain support from Cultural Fund

books and publishing logo Wednesday, 5 March 2025
In 2025 for the first time, Books+Publishing’s pre-publication reviews program is being supported by the Copyright Agency’s Cultural Fund. This is the ideal time to revisit the reviews, their purpose,...