Local news | Books+Publishing

Inside the Australian and New Zealand book industry

Friday, 24 April 2026
Rosemarie Milsom has been appointed director of Adelaide Writers’ Week (AWW). Milsom, the founding director of Newcastle Writers Festival (NWF), replaces Louise Adler, whose resignation in January was a response...

Araluen cuts ties with UQP after reports publisher will pulp picture book

Thursday, 23 April 2026
Stella Prize-winning Goorie and Koori poet Evelyn Araluen has announced she will terminate projects and contracts she holds with University of Queensland Press (UQP), after it was reported the publisher...

Melbourne Books acquires Holdsworth memoir “Smack Talk”

Thursday, 23 April 2026
Melbourne Books has acquired world rights to memoir Smack Talk: Turning Grief into a Movement by Australian father Wayne Holdsworth. According to the publisher, the book is a “deeply personal...

“Pissants” to be adapted for television

Thursday, 23 April 2026
Filmmakers Jesse Laurie and Lewis Mulholland have optioned television rights to Pissants by Brandon Jack (Summit Books), via Alice Cottrell on behalf of the Jane Novak Literary Agency. Laurie, a...

HarperCollins acquires Johnston nonfiction title “Fifty Beating Wonders”

Wednesday, 22 April 2026
HarperCollins has acquired ANZ rights to the nonfiction title Fifty Beating Wonders by Michelle Johnston, via Martin Shaw at Shaw Literary. Publisher Catherine Milne said, “This is the book that...

Bakers Lane acquires Strauss’s “Holding Space”

Wednesday, 22 April 2026
Bakers Lane Books has acquired world rights to the nonfiction title Holding Space by Gina Strauss. The publisher described Holding Space as a “hybrid memoir and professional guide offering reflections...

Lai’s “Cannon” shortlisted for Carol Shields Prize for Fiction

Wednesday, 22 April 2026
Australian cartoonist Lee Lai, who currently lives in Canada, has been shortlisted for the US$150,000 (A$209,673) Carol Shields Prize for Fiction for the graphic novel Cannon (Giramondo). The full 2026...

PANZ to host AWF festival director speed dating event, copyright workshop

Wednesday, 22 April 2026
The Auckland Writers Festival Waituhi o Tāmaki (AWF) and the Publishers Association of New Zealand Te Rau o Tākupu (PANZ) will host an event to connect publishers and international festival...

NSW Literary Awards 2026 shortlists announced

Tuesday, 21 April 2026
The shortlists for the 2026 NSW Literary Awards have been announced. The shortlisted works in each category are: Christina Stead Prize for Fiction ($40,000) Cure (Katherine Brabon, Ultimo) Arborescence (Rhett...

Crema new owner of Robinsons

Tuesday, 21 April 2026
Denis Crema is the new owner of the Robinsons Bookshop chain. Founded by Philip and Moira Robinson, the Robinsons business began as a local bookshop in the Melbourne suburb of...

Magabala, the Book Show warn of fraudulent emails

Tuesday, 21 April 2026
Radio National and publisher Magabala Books have each warned creators about fraudulent emails being sent to authors. Magabala said an email from someone claiming to be a Magabala editor had...

Saunders illustrations win at Bologna Illustrators Exhibition

Tuesday, 21 April 2026
Australian illustrator Lauren Saunders is among the winning illustrators at Bologna Children’s Book Fair (BCBF) Illustrators Exhibition. A jury selected Saunders’s illustration set of 5 artworks as a winning entry,...

A&U acquires Jenkins’s “Bad Neighbours”

Tuesday, 21 April 2026
Allen & Unwin (A&U) has acquired ANZ rights to forthcoming crime novel Bad Neighbours by Joanna Jenkins via Gaby Naher of The Naher Agency. Featuring Ruth Dawson, the main character...

Publisher of Patterson memoir to be revealed in “coming weeks”

Monday, 20 April 2026
A memoir by Simon Patterson, the estranged husband of murderer Erin Patterson, has been acquired by an as-yet-unnamed publisher, reported the Guardian. Patterson’s spokesperson, Jessica O’Donnell, told Guardian Australia that...

Local authors longlisted for 2026 CWA Daggers

Monday, 20 April 2026
Local authors Sam Guthrie, Laura McCluskey, Zoë Rankin and Jennifer Trevelyan are among those whose works have been longlisted for the UK Crime Writers’ Association’s (CWA) 2026 Dagger Awards. Guthrie,...

State Library of NSW releases research showing benefits of libraries

Monday, 20 April 2026
The State Library of NSW has released new research highlighting the social value and community benefits of libraries. Key findings from the report, released in late March 2026, include: People...

Bloomsbury reorganises its global publishing business

Thursday, 16 April 2026
Bloomsbury is reorganising its global business, with a new structure coming into effect on 1 June 2026, affecting an estimated 55 roles across the UK and US. Locally, Bloomsbury’s Asia-Pacific...

HGCP acquires “Sagittarius Rising”

Thursday, 16 April 2026
Hardie Grant Children’s Publishing (HGCP) has acquired world rights to children’s chapter book Sagittarius Rising by author Maxine Beneba Clarke and illustrator Jade Goodwin. Senior publisher Chren Byng said, “For...

ABIA 2026 business award shortlists announced

Wednesday, 15 April 2026
Books+Publishing, in partnership with the Australian Publishers Association, has announced the 2026 business award shortlists for the Australian Book Industry Awards (ABIAs). The shortlistees in each category are: Bookshop of...