Zadie Smith, Curtis Sittenfeld to appear at inaugural Broadside feminist festival
17 September 2019
The Wheeler Centre has announced a two-day feminist ideas festival, Broadside, to be held at the Melbourne Town Hall from 9–10 November. UK author Zadie Smith, US novelist Curtis Sittenfeld,...
Black Inc. sells Glover’s ‘The Last Man in Europe’ to UK
17 September 2019
Black Inc. has sold UK and Commonwealth rights (ex ANZ) to Dennis Glover’s novel The Last Man in Europe to Edinburgh-based independent publisher Polygon. Glover’s novel, about the writing of...
Parrett’s ‘There Was Still Love’ sold to UK
17 September 2019
Martin Shaw of Alex Adsett Publishing Services has sold UK and Commonwealth rights to Favel Parrett’s third novel, There Was Still Love (Hachette), to Francine Toon at Sceptre, Hodder &...
Ngaio Marsh Award 2019 winners announced
16 September 2019
New Zealand writer Fiona Kidman has won the Ngaio Marsh Award for Best Crime Novel for This Mortal Boy (RHNZ Vintage). The story recreates the life of young Belfast immigrant...
A&U, Wavesound to partner on audiobooks
16 September 2019
The majority of new Allen & Unwin titles will be produced as audiobooks under a new partnership between the publisher and Wavesound. The co-publishing program will initially see A&U and...
Environment Award for Children’s Literature 2019 winners announced
16 September 2019
The Wilderness Society has announced the winners of the 2019 Environment Award for Children’s Literature. The winners are: Picture fiction The All New Must Have Orange 430 (Michael Speechley, Viking)...
Walker acquires Neridah McMullin picture book
16 September 2019
Walker Books Australia has acquired world rights to a new picture book by Neridah McMullin called The Drover. Based a true story, the book follows a young female drover as...
Boost to events, reader pledges for this year’s Australian Reading Hour
13 September 2019
Australian Reading Hour (ARH) has registered 240 events—more than double the number held last year—to be held as part of this year’s campaign, taking place next Thursday 19 September. More...
Prime Minister’s Literary Awards 2019 shortlists announced
13 September 2019
The shortlists for the 2019 Prime Minister’s Literary Awards have been announced. The shortlisted titles in each category are: Fiction A Stolen Season (Rodney Hall, Picador) Beautiful Revolutionary (Laura Elizabeth...
BWF: YA, women authors top bestsellers
13 September 2019
The State Library of Queensland (SLQ) bookshop recorded a 5.9 percent growth in sales at the Brisbane Writers Festival (BWF) bookstore from the previous year, thanks to ‘the strong six-day...
Clarke, Dovey among Sidney Myer Creative Fellowship recipients
12 September 2019
Writers Maxine Beneba Clarke and Ceridwen Dovey are among nine artists to be awarded 2019 Sidney Myer Creative Fellowships, each worth $160,000 over two years. Clarke is the author of...
Dechian wins 2019 ABR Elizabeth Jolley Short Story Prize
12 September 2019
Victoria-based writer Sonja Dechian has won the Australian Book Review’s (ABR) 2019 Elizabeth Jolley Short Story Prize for her story ‘The Point-Blank Murder’. The judges said of the winning story: 'At...
The Children’s Bookshop to close in November
11 September 2019
The Children’s Bookshop in the Sydney suburb of Beecroft will close at the end of November. The shop opened in 1971 and has been owned by Paul Macdonald for the...
MWF reports strong box office takings; Ben Folds tops bestseller chart
11 September 2019
Melbourne Writers Festival (MWF) expects to tally total ticket sales of more than $600,000 for its 2019 program, the second festival under artistic director Marieke Hardy. According to preliminary data,...
Walker to distribute new UK children’s publisher in ANZ
11 September 2019
A new UK-based independent children’s publisher will launch in 2020, with Walker Books Australia to handle local distribution. Australian ex-pat Rachel Williams and colleague Jenny Broom will launch Magic Cat...
Foulcher wins 2019 ACU poetry prize
11 September 2019
Canberra-based poet John Foulcher has won the 2019 Australian Catholic University (ACU) Prize for Poetry, worth $10,000, for his poem ‘Revising Casuarinas’. Geoff Page received $5000 as the runner-up for...
Hardie Grant Egmont to release new Billie B Brown books to celebrate 10 years
10 September 2019
Hardie Grant Egmont (HGE) will publish three new Billie B Brown books (Sally Rippin, illus by Aki Fukuoka) in April 2020, to celebrate the 10-year anniversary of the bestselling series....
‘Island’ magazine defunded; likely to cease publication
10 September 2019
Tasmanian literary journal Island magazine is likely to cease publication, after the magazine did not receive renewed funding from Arts Tasmania. On 7 September, Island announced it did not win...
Booktique Merimbula to close
10 September 2019
The owner of Booktique Merimbula on the New South Wales Far South Coast won’t renew the shop's lease from September. Hope Davis told Books+Publishing the town’s high rents, a challenging...
Australian Centre Literary Awards 2019 winners announced
10 September 2019
The winners of the University of Melbourne’s Australian Centre Literary Awards have been announced. Ellen van Neerven won the $15,000 Peter Blazey Fellowship, named in memory of journalist, author and...
Writers, literary orgs among latest OzCo funding recipients
9 September 2019
Twenty-seven writers and literary organisations are among the recipients of the latest Australia Council grants round, which awarded $6.2 million to 201 projects. Grants in the literature category were worth...
Richell Prize 2019 longlist announced
9 September 2019
Hachette Australia and the Emerging Writers’ Festival (EWF) have announced the longlist for the 2019 Richell Prize for emerging writers. The longlisted works are: ‘Where the Lost Boys Go’ (Sarah...
‘The Teacher’s Pet’ wins 2019 Danger Prize
9 September 2019
Australian journalist Hedley Thomas’ podcast The Teacher’s Pet has won the 2019 Danger Prize, awarded for the best book, film, podcast or TV drama about Sydney and crime. Open to...
Winners of the Ned Kelly Awards 2019 announced
9 September 2019
The Australian Crime Writers Association (ACWA) has announced the winners for this year’s Ned Kelly Awards for Australian crime writing. The winning titles in each category are: Best first fiction...
Vavilova wins 2019 Carmel Bird Digital Literary Award
9 September 2019
Tanya Vavilova has won the 2019 Carmel Bird Digital Literary Award for her short story collection Grub. Author and prize judge Moya Costello described Grub as ‘astonishingly outside of realism—vividly...
Three book retailers among Australia’s Top 500 private companies
6 September 2019
Three book retailers have made IBISWorld’s Top 500 Private Companies List, reports the Australian Financial Review (AFR). Book retailer The Co-Op and Australian Geographic ranked 378th, dropping from 330th spot in 2018....
Dymocks wins social responsibility award at 2019 National Retail Awards
6 September 2019
Dymocks has won the Social Responsibility Champion Award at the 2019 National Retail Awards. The chain retailer was awarded for its work in improving children’s literacy across Australia through its...
Meyer to leave Echo
5 September 2019
Echo publisher Angela Meyer is leaving the company to pursue a career in writing and freelance editing. Meyer joined Echo as commissioning editor in 2014 and was promoted to publisher...
‘The Trespassers’ TV adaptation in development
5 September 2019
A TV adaptation of Meg Mundell’s novel The Trespassers (UQP) is being developed by Triptych Pictures and production company Fremantle. The screen rights were optioned via Alex Adsett Publishing Services...
Educational Publishing Awards 2019 winners announced
5 September 2019
The Australian Publishers Association (APA) has announced the winners of the 2019 Educational Publishing Awards Australia (EPAA). For the second year in a row, Promoting Literacy Development was named Primary...
