Christmas Press acquires new Kelleher middle-grade novel
6 December 2021
Christmas Press has acquired world rights to Wanderer, a new novel by Victor Kelleher, in a deal brokered by Margaret Connolly of Margaret Connolly and Associates. For upper middle-grade readers,...
Paterson to head new Atlantic Books division at A&U
6 December 2021
Allen & Unwin (A&U) has announced the establishment of a new division, Atlantic Books Australia, to be led by Cate Paterson. Paterson, who will join A&U as publishing director of...
The Next Chapter 2022 recipients announced
3 December 2021
The Wheeler Centre has announced the recipients of the 2021 Next Chapter grants for developing writers, worth $15,000 each. The 10 recipients are: Jumaana Abdu Jose da Costa Josie/Jocelyn Deane...
Dymocks Melbourne hires security after alleged check-in assault
3 December 2021
Dymocks Collins Street, in Melbourne’s CBD, has hired professional security after an alleged assault on a staff member working as a Covid-19 marshal. ABC Online reports the member of staff...
Adler appointed AWW director
3 December 2021
Louise Adler has been appointed director of Adelaide Writers’ Week (AWW), taking over from Jo Dyer who announced earlier this year that the 2022 event would be her last. Adler,...
Stout wins MidnightSun cover design competition
2 December 2021
Abby Stout has been named the winner of MidnightSun’s 2021 book cover design competition. The competition, which ran during October, encouraged Australian designers to submit cover design concepts for two...
UQP acquires new Lucashenko novel ‘Edenglassie’
2 December 2021
The University of Queensland Press (UQP) has acquired world rights to a new novel by 2019 Miles Franklin winner Melissa Lucashenko in ‘a major, competitive deal’ brokered by Alex Adsett...
McLean donates $1 million to Stella Prize
2 December 2021
Sydney-based philanthropist Paula McLean, a long-time patron of the Stella Prize, has committed a gift of up to $1 million to the prize’s Stella Forever Fund, which aims to secure...
SPN conference 2021: ‘stimulating, diverse and accessible’
1 December 2021
The 10th annual Small Press Network (SPN) Independent Publishing Conference was held online on 25–27 November. The 2021 conference ran entirely online for the second year running, but returned to...
‘The Underdogs’ series sells to North America
1 December 2021
Hardie Grant Children’s Publishing (HGCP) has sold North American rights to ‘The Underdogs’ series by Kate and Jol Temple (illus by Shiloh Gordon) to Razorbill, an imprint of Penguin Random...
Hammer, Jubelin joint 2021 Danger Prize winners
1 December 2021
Trust (Chris Hammer, A&U) and I Catch Killers (Gary Jubelin with Dan Box, HarperCollins) have jointly won the 2021 Danger Prize. Administered by the BAD: Sydney Crime Writers Festival, the...
Ultimo acquires new Henry-Jones novel
1 December 2021
Ultimo Press has acquired ANZ rights to Eliza Henry-Jones’s latest novel Salt and Skin, in a deal brokered by Pippa Masson of Curtis Brown. Salt and Skin follows a troubled...
Young wins first prize in Scarlet Stiletto Awards 2021
30 November 2021
Sisters in Crime Australia has announced the winners of the 2021 Scarlet Stiletto Awards. Canberra-based, first-time crime writer Hayley Young won first prize and receives $1500 for her outback police...
Angry Robot acquires Gold Coast BookTokker debut
30 November 2021
UK publisher Angry Robot has acquired world, translation and audio rights to Ledge, the adult fantasy debut by Australian BookTokker Stacey McEwan, via Amy Collins of Talcott Notch Literary Agency....
SPN Book of the Year 2021 winners announced
29 November 2021
The Small Press Network (SPN) has announced the joint winners of the 2021 SPN Network Book of the Year Award (BOTY). The winning books, both essay collections, are: Echoes (Shu-Ling...
‘Still Life’ named Dymocks 2021 Book of the Year
29 November 2021
UK author Sarah Winman’s novel Still Life (Fourth Estate) has been named Dymocks Book of the Year for 2021. In 1944, over one night in a ruined wine cellar of...
S&S acquires Wright biography
29 November 2021
Simon & Schuster (S&S) has acquired world rights to the biography of Australian surfer Owen Wright. In 2015 Wright was on the brink of a world title only to have...
New survey: Engaged readers behind pandemic book sales
26 November 2021
A national survey by Australia Reads has found 75% of Australians read at least one book a year, with 25% indicating they had not read or listened to a book...
Walkley Book Award 2021 longlist announced
26 November 2021
The Walkley Book Award longlist for 2021 has been announced. The longlisted titles are: Toxic: The rotting underbelly of the Tasmanian salmon industry (Richard Flanagan, Penguin) Red Zone: China’s challenge...
ADS adds carriers, staff, says booksellers can ‘start to expect high volumes’
26 November 2021
Australian Distribution Services (ADS) has announced it is working with ‘multiple carriers’ and has added staff to work through supply congestion in the lead up to Christmas. The distributor said...
Aus picture books chosen for IFLA catalogue
25 November 2021
Ten Australian picture books have been selected for the third edition of the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) World Picture Books exhibit, which will be launched at...
‘Amnesia Road’ wins 2021 Nib Literary Award
25 November 2021
Luke Stegemann's book Amnesia Road: Landscape, violence and memory (NewSouth) has won Waverley Council’s $20,000 Mark and Evette Moran Nib Literary Award. Amnesia Road is a literary examination of historic violence...
APA, UniMelb funding ‘baseline’ survey on diversity and inclusion in publishing workforce
24 November 2021
The Australian Publishers Association (APA) and the University of Melbourne are jointly funding a research survey to provide data on diversity and inclusion in the publishing industry workforce in Australia....
Hardie Grant acquires Age Against the Machine book
24 November 2021
Hardie Grant Books has acquired world print, ebook and audio rights to journalists Melissa Doyle and Naima Brown’s book How to Age Against the Machine, in a deal negotiated by...
Ober wins 2021 French HiP prize
23 November 2021
Jules Ober has won the 2021 Histoires Photographiques (HiP) prize for best photography book in the youth category with the French version of Jacqueline: A soldier’s daughter (Le Seuil Jeunesse)....
Wheeler Centre to host free series on representation in publishing
23 November 2021
The Wheeler Centre, Spread the Word and the Melbourne City of Literature Office have partnered to created a free online event series exploring power, representation and diversity in publishing in...
NZ book sales up as Auckland retail reopens
22 November 2021
Since bricks-and-mortar booksellers in Auckland and Waikato reopened for in-store trading following almost four months of lockdown, New Zealand print book sales are up in value on the same period...
O’Hanlon wins Varuna/NEWC Fellowship
22 November 2021
James O’Hanlon has won the 2021 Varuna/New England Writers’ Centre (NEWC) Fellowship for his manuscript ‘I Love Spiders’. O’Hanlon receives a one week writing residency at Varuna, The National Writers’...
McDermid, Weiden to headline Terror Australis festival
22 November 2021
The program has been announced for this year’s Terror Australis Readers and Writers Festival, which is running as a digital event from 27–28 November under the theme ‘CSI: Tasmania’. Among...
Scribner acquires Chingaipe’s ‘Black Convicts’
19 November 2021
Scribner Australia has acquired ANZ rights to Black Convicts: How slavery shaped colonised Australia by journalist, filmmaker and author Santilla Chingaipe, via Grace Heifetz of Left Bank Literary. Based on...
