WBN feature | Books+Publishing

Inside the Australian and New Zealand book industry

Tuesday, 1 October 2024
Prolific illustrator Sophie Beer’s debut middle-grade novel, Thunderhead (November, A&U Children’s), was inspired by her own experience with a brain tumour that resulted in hearing loss. Books+Publishing reviewer Clare Millar...

Inga Simpson on ‘The Thinning’

Tuesday, 24 September 2024
Novelist and nature writer Inga Simpson's sixth novel, The Thinning (November 2024, Hachette), imagines a potential future through an astronomical lens. Books+Publishing reviewer Ana Brawls describes the book as 'an...

Shannon Martinez on ‘Vegan Italian Food’

Tuesday, 17 September 2024
Chef and restaurateur Shannon Martinez is a pioneer in her industry, bringing vegan cooking to the masses through her books and restaurants, including Smith + Daughters. Her latest cookbook, Vegan...

Michelle de Kretser on ‘Theory & Practice’

Tuesday, 10 September 2024
Two-time Miles Franklin winner Michelle de Kretser’s latest novel, Theory & Practice (November 2024, Text), is a combination of fiction, memoir and essay set in St Kilda, Melbourne, in 1986....

‘A service we wish to recommit to and double down on’: Shant Kradjian on Booktopia’s distribution services, staffing, and plans to rebuild trust

Tuesday, 3 September 2024
Shant Kradjian, owner of digiDirect, is the new owner of Booktopia, which began trading again last week. With plans ‘to restore Booktopia with a back-to-basics strategy’, Kradjian says his team...

Alyson O’Brien on literacy and trade publishing: ‘It’s lucky for a manuscript for the very young to even make it to an acquisitions meeting’

Wednesday, 28 August 2024
A year ago, when former Bright Light publisher Alyson O'Brien moved from commercial publishing to Raising Literacy Australia, she thought her commercial experience would add value to the organisation; she...

David Dyer on ‘This Kingdom of Dust’

Tuesday, 27 August 2024
David Dyer’s debut novel, The Midnight Watch (Penguin, 2016), focused on the ship that witnessed the Titanic’s distress rockets but failed to respond. His sophomore novel, This Kingdom of Dust...

Returning to BookUp in 2024

Wednesday, 21 August 2024
The annual BookUp conference for 2024, presented by the Australian Publishers Association (APA), was held at the State Library Victoria, Melbourne, on Wednesday 7 August, with wide-ranging sessions inviting participants to contemplate...

Yin on ‘The Conscious Style Guide’

Wednesday, 14 August 2024
Karen Yin is an award-winning writer and editor. She created the Conscious Style Guide, a resource website for writers, editors and others interested in conscious language, as well as the...

Rochelle Siemienowicz on ‘Double Happiness’

Tuesday, 13 August 2024
Rochelle Siemienowicz is a Melbourne-based author, journalist and film critic. Her debut fiction novel, Double Happiness (MidnightSun, October 2024), ‘explores the intricacies, challenges and taboos surrounding polyamory and ethical non-monogamy’, according...

Andrew Krakouer & Jacqueline Dinan on ‘My Dad’s Gone Away’

Tuesday, 6 August 2024
In the unique new picture book My Dad’s Gone Away (Magabala, October 2024), authors Andrew Krakouer, a Minang (Nyoongar) and Inggarda (Yamatji) man and former AFL player, and Jacqueline Dinan,...

Meet the Rising Stars: Tessa Feggans

Tuesday, 6 August 2024
The Australian Publishers Association (APA) Rising Star award recognises an emerging talent in Australian publishing who has spent less than 10 years in the industry. In the lead-up to the...

Lauren Stewart on BookNet Canada

Wednesday, 31 July 2024
Lauren Stewart, president and CEO of BookNet Canada, will present a keynote at the Australian Publishers Association's BookUp conference in Melbourne on 7 August. Ahead of this appearance, Stewart spoke...

Meet the Rising Stars: Yasmin Smith

Wednesday, 31 July 2024
The Australian Publishers Association (APA) Rising Star award recognises an emerging talent in Australian publishing who has spent less than 10 years in the industry. In the lead-up to the...

Mentoring matters: Arpita Das on the myths, realities and importance of mentoring

Tuesday, 30 July 2024
Arpita Das will appear at the Australian Publishers Association's BookUp conference in Melbourne in August as a keynote speaker. Das is the founder and publisher of the New Delhi–based independent...

Hasib Hourani on ‘rock flight’

Tuesday, 30 July 2024
Hasib Hourani is a Lebanese-Palestinian writer, editor, arts worker and educator living on Wangal Country in Sydney. His debut book, rock flight (Giramondo, September 2024), is a 'structurally experimental long-form poem...

Tinsel time: Christmas 2024 children’s books

Wednesday, 24 July 2024
Books+Publishing asked publishers to highlight their key local children’s and young adult titles releasing in time for Christmas 2024. From heartfelt picture books on social issues to everything a child...

Arnold opens Ladyhawke bookshop in Ivanhoe

Wednesday, 24 July 2024
After a ‘three-year sunny accident’ in Queensland, editor and bookseller Alison Arnold sold The Junction Bookstore in Noosa Junction and returned to Melbourne. Arnold spoke to Books+Publishing about the new...

Meet the Rising Stars: Rebecca Allen

Wednesday, 24 July 2024
The Australian Publishers Association Rising Star award recognises an emerging talent in Australian publishing who has spent less than 10 years in the industry. In the lead-up to the winner announcement...

Tigest Girma on ‘Immortal Dark’

Tuesday, 23 July 2024
Tigest Girma, an Ethiopian writer and teacher based in Melbourne, draws richly from East African history and cultures and blends Black stories with dark and fantastical elements. Books+Publishing reviewer Stefen...

Tinsel time: Christmas 2024 nonfiction

Wednesday, 17 July 2024
Following on from last week's life writing highlights, publishers are looking forward to a colourful range of new nonfiction books that will enliven kitchens, inform conversations, inspire reflections, and maybe...

Meet the Rising Stars: Katherine Rajwar

Wednesday, 17 July 2024
The Australian Publishers Association Rising Star award recognises an emerging talent in Australian publishing who has spent less than 10 years in the industry. In the lead-up to the winner announcement...

Christopher Cheng on ‘Dragon Folding’

Tuesday, 16 July 2024
Christopher Cheng is a Sydney-based, award-winning children's author of over 40 fiction and nonfiction titles. His latest picture book, Dragon Folding (illus Lucia Masciullo, Puffin, September 2024), shows readers 'how...

Tinsel time: Christmas 2024 biographies and memoirs

Wednesday, 10 July 2024
From a soccer superstar to familiar faces in children's entertainment, and an equally wide range of non-celebrity (but far from ordinary) stories, Books+Publishing rounds up the local adult biography and...

Robbie Egan: ‘A centralised ecommerce platform … would be transformative’

Wednesday, 10 July 2024
Robbie Egan is CEO of BookPeople, the Australian Booksellers Association. Here, he argues that the mainstream media’s 'gloom and doom' narrative following Booktopia’s entry into voluntary administration has been 'quarantined...