Folio Books announces closure
3 August 2021
The owners of Brisbane bookshop Folio Books have announced it will not reopen ‘for the foreseeable future’. Folio Books, which opened in Elizabeth Street in 1979, was most recently located...
Melbourne bookshops create new initiative to attract customers
3 August 2021
Over the next four months, seven bookshops in the City of Melbourne will select a new book by a Victorian author and offer 25 percent off the cover price, in...
Suckling steps down from Copyright Agency; SLV CEO Torney to depart library
3 August 2021
The Copyright Agency has announced that Adam Suckling will be stepping down as CEO, following his decision to not renew his contract for another three-year term. Copyright Agency board chair...
Fuller wins 2020 ACT Book of the Year for ‘Ghost Bird’
3 August 2021
Lisa Fuller has won the 2020 ACT Book of the Year award for her debut young adult novel Ghost Bird (UQP). The 2020 award was delayed due to Covid-19. Fuller,...
Ultimo acquires Kassab’s ‘Australiana’ in two-book deal
3 August 2021
Ultimo Press has acquired world rights to two books by Yumna Kassab, in a deal brokered by Martin Shaw from Shaw Literary. Drawing from Kassab’s time teaching in rural Australia,...
Age Book of the Year 2021 shortlist announced
2 August 2021
The shortlist for the revived Age Book of the Year has been announced. The seven works of fiction in the running for the $10,000 prize are: The Rain Heron (Robbie...
McIntosh’s DCI Jack Hawksworth series optioned for TV
2 August 2021
Fremantle Australia has acquired the exclusive screen rights to Fiona McIntosh's DCI Jack Hawksworth crime series. The series consists of the novels Bye Bye Baby, Beautiful Death and Mirror Man, which...
Writers centres, Words on the Waves, Poetry in Action among latest RISE funding recipients
2 August 2021
The federal government’s Restart Investment to Sustain and Expand (RISE) fund has announced its latest funding recipients on 30 July. Writing NSW receives $222,000 for a new digital hub, which...
UQP acquires Fraillon’s middle-grade novel ‘The Way of Dog’
30 July 2021
The University of Queensland Press (UQP) has acquired world rights to Zana Fraillon’s ‘inventive’ middle-grade novel The Way of Dog. Told in verse from the perspective of a dog called...
Affirm acquires Levin manifestation guide ‘Make YOU Happen’
30 July 2021
Affirm has acquired personal development title Make YOU Happen: Figure out who you are, what you need (and why you already have it) by Jordanna Levin. A sequel to Levin’s...
Boyle wins 2021 Text Prize for ‘Dancing Barefoot’
30 July 2021
Victorian writer and teacher Alice Boyle has won the 2021 Text Prize for her YA novel Dancing Barefoot. According to Text, Dancing Barefoot is 'a story about finding love, figuring out...
Kuracca Prize 2021 winner announced
30 July 2021
The winner and runners up in the inaugural Kuracca Prize for Australian Literature have been announced. Chosen from a longlist of 12 authors, Adam Brannigan won the $5000 prize for...
PRH acquires Chadderton middle-grade graphic novel
29 July 2021
Penguin Random House (PRH) Australia has acquired world rights to the contemporary middle-grade graphic novel Oh, Brother by Adelaide author-illustrator Georgina Chadderton. Rights were acquired in a joint deal between PRH...
New FNAWN writers residency, masterclasses
29 July 2021
The First Nations Australia Writers Network (FNAWN) has developed a new writers residency with the Regional Council of Goyder in South Australia. Due to current recent and ongoing Covid-19 lockdowns,...
MWF 2021 full program launched
29 July 2021
The program for the 2021 Melbourne Writers Festival (MWF), which will run from 3–12 September, has been announced. In its 35th year, MWF will bring together celebrated figures in fiction,...
RAFFWU reports in principle agreement with BRTD
28 July 2021
Better Read Than Dead (BRTD) management and members of the Retail and Fast Food Workers Union (RAFFWU) at the Newtown bookshop have reached an in principle agreement following union members’...
Ned Kelly Awards 2021 shortlists announced
28 July 2021
The Australian Crime Writers Association (ACWA) has announced the shortlist for the 2021 Ned Kelly Awards. The shortlisted titles in each category are: Best crime fiction Consolation (Garry Disher, Text)...
QBD Books to open new WA store
28 July 2021
QBD Books has announced it will be opening a new store in the Perth suburb of Midland. The new store is part of QBD's plan to continue its national expansion,...
New Collins store Our Bookshop to open in Hawksburn
28 July 2021
Collins Booksellers has announced the establishment of Our Bookshop in Hawksburn, Melbourne. The new store will be located in the former premises of My Bookshop, which owner Corrie Perkin recently...
NT Writers Fest launches 2021 program, new residency for NT writers
27 July 2021
The program for the 2021 NT Writers Festival (NTWF), which will be held at the Olive Pink Botanic Garden in Mparntwe/Alice Springs from 26–29 August, has been announced. Storytellers from...
Taylor, Wasley receive 2022 KSP residencies
27 July 2021
The Katharine Susannah Prichard (KSP) Writers’ Centre in the Perth Hills has announced Josephine Taylor as its 2022 Emerging Writer-in-Residence and Sasha Wasley as its Established Writer-in-Residence. KSP’s residency program...
Mary Gilmore Award 2021 shortlist announced
27 July 2021
The shortlist for the 2021 Mary Gilmore Award, for the best first book of poetry published in the previous year, has been announced. The shortlisted books are: Cadaver Dog (Luke...
Ubud Writers & Readers Festival and Writing WA announce partnership festival
26 July 2021
Writing WA and the Ubud Writers & Readers Festival (UWRF) have announced a partnership to bring the literary festival to Perth. The inaugural Ubud Writers & Readers Festival Perth will...
Davitt Awards 2021 shortlists announced
26 July 2021
Sisters in Crime Australia has announced the shortlists for the 2021 Davitt Awards for the best crime books by Australian women. The titles shortlisted in each category are: Adult crime...
Furphy Literary Award 2021 shortlists announced
23 July 2021
The shortlists for this year’s Furphy Literary Award has been announced. The shortlisted stories and writers in the open category are: ‘in vitro’ by Christine Fontana ‘Oranges’ by Thomas Alan...
Wakefield acquires Bellamy memoir ‘that perfectly suits our times’
23 July 2021
Wakefield Press has acquired world rights to a memoir about mental illness, queerness and Jewish identity by Archer online editor Roz Bellamy. Mood, which was longlisted for the Kill Your...
Welbeck to establish Sydney subsidiary in Booktopia partnership
23 July 2021
Welbeck Publishing Group (WPG), the UK-based company established by former Quarto Group CEO Marcus Leaver and former Bonnier Zaffre CEO Mark Smith, has announced it will establish a new standalone...
Scarlet Stilettos offer record prize money in 2021
22 July 2021
Sisters in Crime Australia's annual Scarlet Stiletto Awards are offering a record $11,910 in prize money this year. The competition, for short crime and mystery stories by women writers, has...
Affirm acquires Cox’s ‘So Many Beats of the Heart’
22 July 2021
Affirm Press has acquired world rights to a novel by Perth-based journalist Carrie Cox via Lyn Tranter at Australian Literary Management. So Many Beats of the Heart is ‘a wonderfully...
S&S acquires two McAlister rom-coms
22 July 2021
Simon & Schuster Australia has acquired UK and Commonwealth rights to two adult novels by Jodi McAlister, author of the YA series 'Valentine', via Alex Adsett from Alex Adsett Literary....
