Megan Rogers recommends
Wednesday, 15 March 2023
The last book I read and loved was Migrations by Charlotte McConaghy (Penguin). I’d been wanting to read it for years but didn’t get a chance until after I’d finished...
Megan Rogers on ‘The Heart is a Star’
Wednesday, 15 March 2023
Megan Rogers' debut novel, The Heart is a Star (HarperCollins, May), centres on a middle-aged anaesthetist, Layla, who is juggling her career, family and love life when she must travel to Tasmania...
Christmas 2022: sales up, supply problems ease
Wednesday, 8 March 2023
Books+Publishing received feedback from representatives of 53 bookshops around Australia for its annual Christmas survey. According to booksellers, there was a bump in book sales in the lead-up to Christmas...
B D Lovell recommends
Tuesday, 28 February 2023
The Age of Miracles by Karen Thompson Walker (Scribner) is probably the last book that I really loved, even though I read it several years ago. It is a YA...
B D Lovell on ‘Between Worlds’
Tuesday, 28 February 2023
B D Lovell's new speculative verse novel Between Worlds (UWAP) follows Earth's first mission to begin the process of colonising Mars. Our reviewer Stefen Brazulaitis says this 'tale of space exploration...
Baby boom: The growth of children’s and young adult market
Wednesday, 22 February 2023
In our latest genre spotlight Books+Publishing takes a look at the children’s and young adult category. Children’s and young adult (CYA) titles have been driving the growth of the Australian book market in...
Books in the media this weekend: 18–19 February
Friday, 17 February 2023
A round-up of the books being reviewed and mentioned in key media this coming weekend. National The Saturday Paper Credo: Selected essays (Imants Tillers, Giramondo) O'Leary of the Underworld (Kate...
Dinalie Dabarera recommends
Wednesday, 15 February 2023
I recently finished reading Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner (Picador), which very poignantly deals with some themes similar to those in my own book, like family, culture and...
Dinalie Dabarera on ‘Quiet Time with My Seeya’
Wednesday, 15 February 2023
Dinalie Dabarera's debut picture book Quiet Time with My Seeya tells a gentle story of the relationship between a young child and her Sinhalese grandpa. 'This mutual love and tenderness...
Strong season for publishers as sales top pre-pandemic figures
Wednesday, 15 February 2023
BookTok drove sales of US titles, print delays were a challenge and, looking ahead, 'pricing will finally be going up', but for most publishers, Christmas 2022 was a good one....
Books in the media this weekend, 11–12 February
Friday, 10 February 2023
A round-up of the books being reviewed and mentioned in key media this coming weekend. National The Saturday Paper A Country of Eternal Light (Paul Dalgarno, Fourth Estate) The Matchmaker...
Doris Brett recommends
Tuesday, 7 February 2023
I have been re-reading Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons (Penguin). I first read, and loved it, as a teenager. It is a sharply written, laugh-out-loud-on-the-tram novel, satirising the doom-and-gloom,...
Doris Brett on ‘Philomella and the Impossible Forest’
Tuesday, 7 February 2023
Philomella and the Impossible Forest is Doris Brett's first fiction book for children. A 'playful take on the classic quest story' the middle-grade novel follows Philomella who stumbles upon a forest...
Books in the media this weekend, 4–5 February
Friday, 3 February 2023
A round-up of the books being reviewed and mentioned in key media this coming weekend. National The Saturday Paper Is Mother Dead (Vigdis Hjorth, Verso) The Passion of Private White...
Editors and trauma: Why we need an industry framework
Tuesday, 31 January 2023
Camilla Cripps's research finds that the vast majority of editors have worked with traumatic material and 60% report having trauma disclosed to them by an author, yet the industry does...
Dominic Smith on ‘Return to Valetto’
Tuesday, 24 January 2023
Return to Valetto (A&U, March) is Seattle-based Australian expat Dominic Smith's sixth novel. Set in a fictional semi-abandoned Italian town, the book excavates the town's mysteries and explores the lives of the...
Dominic Smith recommends
Tuesday, 24 January 2023
I was late in coming to Kim Scott’s That Deadman Dance (Picador), which won the Miles Franklin in 2011. I loved it for its ability to give the colonial settling...
Books in the media this weekend, 28–29 January
Tuesday, 24 January 2023
A round-up of the books being reviewed and mentioned in key media this coming weekend. National The Saturday Paper Bad Cree (Jessica Johnson, Scribe) Little Plum (Laura McPhee-Browne, Text) Too...
Books in the media this weekend, 21–22 January
Friday, 20 January 2023
A round-up of the books being reviewed and mentioned in key media this coming weekend. National The Saturday Paper Abandon Every Hope (Hayley Singer, Upswell) All the Rage (Paulie Stewart,...
Books in the media this weekend,14–15 January
Friday, 13 January 2023
A round-up of the books being reviewed and mentioned in key media this coming weekend. ACT The Canberra Times Art is Life (Jerry Saltz, Ilex Press) The Complete Guide to...
Best of the best books of 2022
Wednesday, 11 January 2023
Across five major ‘best books of 2022’ articles published late last year, over 120 individual titles were mentioned by Australian critics, authors and book industry figures as their favourite reads...
Credit for the edit?
Wednesday, 7 December 2022
Should editors come out from behind the curtain? Alice Grundy ponders the benefits of a more visible role for publishing's 'invisible menders'. Having worked in publishing for 15 years, a...
Rich encounters: Terri-ann White on the Sharjah International Book Fair
Wednesday, 7 December 2022
Each year the Sharjah International Book Fair brings publishing professionals to the United Arab Emirates through its fellowship program. Terri-ann White of Upswell Publishing, who attended in 2022, reports on...
Books in the media this weekend, 3–4 December
Friday, 2 December 2022
A round-up of the books being reviewed and mentioned in key media this coming weekend. National The Saturday Paper Admissions: Voices within mental health (ed by David Stavanger, Radhiah Chowdhury...
Authors survey: Indie publishing, satisfaction up; income ‘remains challenging’
Wednesday, 30 November 2022
Macquarie researchers Jan Zwar, Paul Crosby and David Throsby have released the findings of the team’s National Survey of Australian Book Authors, following on from a similar 2015 survey and...
Elfy Scott recommends
Tuesday, 29 November 2022
Gina Rushton’s The Most Important Job in the World (Macmillan) is a remarkable book (and I’m not just saying this because she was one of the brilliant journalists who I...
Elfy Scott on ‘The One Thing We’ve Never Spoken About’
Tuesday, 29 November 2022
Known for her accessible reporting on complicated issues, journalist and presenter Elfy Scott investigates complex mental health conditions in her debut book The One Thing We've Never Spoken About (Pantera,...
Books in the media this weekend, 26–27 November
Friday, 25 November 2022
A round-up of the books being reviewed and mentioned in key media this coming weekend. National The Saturday Paper Chokepoint Capitalism (Rebecca Giblin & Cory Doctorow, Scribe) The God of No...
Christmas predictions 2023: Amplify Bookstore
Wednesday, 23 November 2022
In the lead-up to Christmas, the busiest time of year on the bookselling calendar, Books+Publishing is asking booksellers across the country to predict their biggest sellers and surprise sellers. In this final...
Books on parade: 2023 children’s and young adult preview
Wednesday, 23 November 2022
From crowd favourites to debut authors, next year brings an exciting list of titles for children and young adult readers, with books on climate change, history and nature taking centre...
