Jane Curry: What makes a good author?
18 April 2019
In her first opinion column of the year, Ventura Press founder Jane Curry shares her thoughts on the traits that make a successful author. Writing is a solitary and fiercely...
Middle-grade in demand at Bologna; kindness and environmental themes among new trends
17 April 2019
Australian publishers have reported an ‘upbeat’ Bologna Children’s Book Fair (1-4 April), with middle-grade books continuing to dominate the market, and kindness and environmental themes emerging as new trends. Books...
A love letter to the Centre for Youth Literature: Zhana Maticevski-Shumack on the closure of CYL
17 April 2019
State Library Victoria's controversial announcement in early March that it was 'retiring' the Centre for Youth Literature (CYL) was met with backlash from across the literary community. In this opinion...
Meet the ABIA Rising Stars 2019: Sam Cooney
17 April 2019
The Australian Book Industry Awards’ (ABIA) Rising Star of the Year is awarded to an emerging talent in Australian publishing who has spent less than 10 years in the industry....
Meet the ABIA Rising Stars 2019: Mark Campbell
16 April 2019
The Australian Book Industry Awards’ (ABIA) Rising Star of the Year is awarded to an emerging talent in Australian publishing who has spent less than 10 years in the industry....
Meet the ABIA Rising Stars 2019: Catriona Murdie
15 April 2019
The Australian Book Industry Awards’ (ABIA) Rising Star of the Year is awarded to an emerging talent in Australian publishing who has spent less than 10 years in the industry....
Meet the ABIA Rising Stars 2019: Ella Chapman
12 April 2019
The Australian Book Industry Awards’ (ABIA) Rising Star of the Year is awarded to an emerging talent in Australian publishing who has spent less than 10 years in the industry. In this...
Meet the ABIA Rising Stars 2019: Alice Wood
11 April 2019
The Australian Book Industry Awards’ (ABIA) Rising Star of the Year is awarded to an emerging talent in Australian publishing who has spent less than 10 years in the industry....
The prize is right: Authors on winning an unpublished manuscript prize
10 April 2019
How does winning an unpublished manuscript prize affect the careers of debut authors? Jackie Tang talks to two recent winners. It’s difficult to ignore the sheer number of unpublished manuscript...
LBF ‘as busy as ever’; Australians report interest in ‘uplifting nonfiction’ and self-help for kids
27 March 2019
Australian publishers attending the 2019 London Book Fair (LBF) reported an interest in ‘uplifting or inspiring nonfiction’ and ‘self-development, self-esteem, resilience and mental health books for children and adolescents’, among...
The author next door: Stocking self-published books
19 March 2019
Kelsey Oldham talks to booksellers about stocking self-published books. Most Australian bookshops acknowledge that stocking self-published books is important—in theory. In practice, however, store policies are often opaque or ad-hoc,...
University presses in Australia: ‘remarkable, robust and flourishing’
19 March 2019
After disruptions at Melbourne University Publishing (MUP) and a glut of mainstream media coverage about the state of scholarly publishing in Australia, Sarah Farquharson spoke to the country’s other university...
Tales of the unexpected: Events at Riverbend Books
19 March 2019
Events manager Vicky Tosh shares the joys and hiccups of managing author events at Brisbane’s Riverbend Books. Before I was hired at Riverbend Books, I had never worked in a...
Waging battles: Author income in Australia
19 March 2019
The book industry begins with authors. They toil for hours to release their ideas on the page, but each day they also struggle with making ends meet. Elizabeth Flux looks...
The ASA: The story so far
19 March 2019
The Australian Society of Authors is the professional association for Australiaʼs authors and illustrators. CEO Juliet Rogers shares some history and future plans of the organisation. Once upon a time,...
Unlikely heroes: R W R McDonald on ‘The Nancys’
19 March 2019
R W R McDonald’s debut novel The Nancys (A&U in June) was highly commended in the 2017 Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards unpublished manuscript prize. Reviewer Fiona Hardy spoke to the author...
Editor’s picks: What we’re reading
19 March 2019
Andrew Wrathall: I enjoyed Claire G Coleman’s style of turning the narrative on its head to make readers see things from another perspective in Terra Nullius (Hachette), so I’m looking...
Generational exchange: Melanie Cheng on ‘Room for a Stranger’
19 March 2019
Melanie Cheng’s debut novel Room for a Stranger (Text, May) follows the unlikely friendship between an elderly Australian woman and an international student from Hong Kong. Reviewer Carody Culver spoke...
Local voices on the global stage: International rights sales of Indigenous-authored books
19 March 2019
Are we entering a growth period for international rights sales of Indigenous-authored books for young people? Sarah Farquharson reports. Two recent international rights successes for children’s books by Indigenous authors—Ambelin...
Karys McEwen: Why you should meet your heroes
19 March 2019
In her first column for 2019, high school library manager Karys McEwen argues that young people have much to gain from interacting with authors in person—but authors need to be...
No place like home: Kelly and Kennedy on ‘Wilam: A Birrarung Story’
19 March 2019
Aunty Joy Murphy, Andrew Kelly and Lisa Kennedy’s picture book Wilam: A Birrarung Story (Black Dog, April) follows Bunjil (wedge-tailed eagle) as he travels along Birrarung (Yarra River) to the...
How it feels to write: Helena Fox on ‘How it Feels to Float’
19 March 2019
Helena Fox’s YA debut How it Feels to Float (Pan, May) is a ‘perfect, surreal exploration of mental illness and grief’, writes reviewer Bec Kavanagh. She spoke to the author....
Book bites: Diversify your reading
19 March 2019
YA specialist and primary school teacher Mischa Parkee shares her top picks for forthcoming children’s titles. I have been positively overwhelmed by the growing number of inclusive and diverse children’s...
Living the fantasy: Lynette Noni’s career path
14 March 2019
Lynette Noni’s YA fantasy series ‘The Medoran Chronicles’ has cemented her status as one of Australia’s favourite writers. She shares her journey towards becoming a bestselling author. I never wanted...
Speech: Helen Garner accepts the OzCo Award for Lifetime Achievement in Literature
6 March 2019
Earlier this week, Helen Garner was honoured with the Australia Council Award for Lifetime Achievement in Literature at a ceremony in Sydney. The following is her acceptance speech, republished in...
Australian market overview
28 February 2019
For the past few years the Australian retail book market has been posting marginal growth (‘flat is the new up’ is a common catch-cry). In 2018, Nielsen BookScan reported that...
A new hope for un-real fiction: Rose Michael on speculative fiction
20 February 2019
The realist stranglehold on Australian publishing may be loosening, as publishers and prize panels become more open to speculative fiction, writes Rose Michael. At the end of last year I...
Winter Institute 2019: Staff engagement, tech tools and ‘surviving the political divide’
13 February 2019
Jay Lansdown, owner of Sydney bookshop The Constant Reader and vice-president of the Australian Booksellers Association, attended this year’s Winter Institute, an annual conference held by the American Booksellers Association, which...
Learning to be brave: Anna Walker on ‘Lottie and Walter’
7 February 2019
Anna Walker’s Lottie and Walter (Picture Puffin, March) tells the story of a little girl who is scared to get in the water, but who finds courage in a singing walrus...
Podcast spotlight: The Wheeler Centre podcast
12 December 2018
Established in 2010, The Wheeler Centre (TWC) podcast features full recordings of talks hosted in TWC building in Melbourne. TWC senior digital editor Jon Tjhia has been working on the...
