Miles Franklin Literary Award 2022 longlist announced
24 May 2022
The longlist for the 2022 Miles Franklin Literary Award, worth $60,000, has been announced. The 12 longlisted novels are: The Other Half of You (Michael Mohammed Ahmad, Hachette) After Story...
A&U acquires Gray debut novel ‘Green Dot’
24 May 2022
Allen & Unwin (A&U) has acquired ANZ rights to the novel Green Dot by Madeleine Gray, in a pre-empt deal brokered by Grace Heifetz at Left Bank Literary. UK rights...
Quilliam named ILF ambassador
24 May 2022
The Indigenous Literacy Foundation (ILF) has announced a new ILF ambassador, Aboriginal artist and adjunct professor Wayne Quilliam. A photographer, artist, filmmaker, author and cultural advisor, Quilliam has 30 years...
ABIA 2022 shortlists announced
23 May 2022
The shortlists for the 2022 Australian Book Industry Awards (ABIA) have been announced. The shortlisted books in each category are: General fiction book of the year When Things Are Alive...
Fijian writer Rokonadravu wins Commonwealth Short Story Prize Pacific category
23 May 2022
Fijian writer Mary Rokonadravu has won the 2022 Commonwealth Short Story Prize in the Pacific category for her story 'The Nightwatch', described by Pacific region judge, Wiradjuri writer, poet and...
‘Shifting Grounds’ and ‘Vandemonians’ joint 2022 Ernest Scott Prize winners
23 May 2022
Shifting Grounds: Deep histories of Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland (Lucy Mackintosh, Bridget Williams Books) and Vandemonians: The repressed history of colonial Victoria (Janet McCalman, Miegunyah Press) have jointly won the 2022...
Williams appointed The Monthly editor
23 May 2022
Schwartz Media has announced the appointment of Michael Williams as editor of The Monthly. Appointed interim artistic director of Sydney Writers’ Festival in late 2020, Williams delivered the festival's 2021 and...
Pinerolo to cease programs as Hamilton retires
20 May 2022
Pinerolo, the Children's Book Cottage will cease running its publications and programs after 12 years of operations, following the retirement of founder Margaret Hamilton. Hamilton, a librarian, former publisher and...
NT Writers Fest announces full line-up, travel subsidy scheme
20 May 2022
The full program for this year's NT Writers Festival, which runs from 23–26 June at the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory in Garrmalang/Darwin, has been announced. Themed...
Affirm Press acquires Swindell fiction debut
20 May 2022
Affirm Press has acquired world rights to comedian Carolyn Swindell's debut novel We Only Want What’s Best, via Sandy Wagner Creative Agents. Described by the publisher as 'a tense examination...
Books Create Australia shares 2022 election recommendations
19 May 2022
Joint industry group Books Create Australia has outlined seven specific policy recommendations that will form the basis of the group's ongoing messages to government about the sector's needs. The recommendations...
Mamun replaces Pandiella at S&S
19 May 2022
Simon & Schuster Australia (S&S) has announced the appointment of Ace Mamun as marketing and publicity director, replacing Anabel Pandiella, who was appointed head of publicity and marketing at Welbeck...
BWF 2022: ‘Big, diverse festival that attracted a diverse audience’
18 May 2022
Brisbane Writers Festival (BWF) wrapped up last week, having run 3–8 May, with an online festival running 10–14 May. BWF CEO Sarah Runcie told Books+Publishing 'particular standouts' were the festival's...
Prize money increase for Spark Prize
18 May 2022
Hardie Grant Books and RMIT Writing and Publishing have announced the prize money for the Spark Prize has increased from $2000 to $5000. The biennial developmental prize for narrative nonfiction,...
Vivas replaces Byng at HarperCollins
18 May 2022
HarperCollins Australia has announced the appointment of Ana Vivas as its new head of Australian children's publishing. Currently children's publisher at Hardie Grant, Vivas replaces Chren Byng, who was appointed...
‘In the Clearing’ to become Disney+ drama series
18 May 2022
A series adaptation of In the Clearing by J P Pomare (Hachette) has been acquired by Disney for its streaming service Disney+. Pomare's 2019 novel is a fictionalised account of...
UQP acquires Saleh debut poetry collection
18 May 2022
University of Queensland Press (UQP) has acquired world rights to the debut poetry collection The Flirtation of Girls / Ghazel el-Banat by Arab-Australian writer and activist Sara M Saleh. Described...
ABA 2022 Bookseller of the Year shortlists announced
18 May 2022
The Australian Booksellers Association (ABA) has announced the shortlists for the 2022 ABA Bookseller of the Year awards. The awards recognise an individual bookseller for their outstanding achievement in the...
‘A Place Near Eden’ wins 2022 Vogel
17 May 2022
A Place Near Eden by Melbourne writer Nell Pierce has won this year’s $20,000 Australian/Vogel’s Literary Award, for an unpublished manuscript by an author under the age of 35. Described...
NSW Premier’s Literary Awards 2022 winners announced
17 May 2022
The winners of the 2022 New South Wales Premier’s Literary Awards have been announced. Safdar Ahmed’s graphic novel Still Alive: Notes from Australia’s immigration detention system (Twelve Panels Press) was...
Booktopia opens new corporate offices in Western Sydney
17 May 2022
Online book retailer Booktopia has opened its new corporate offices in the Western Sydney suburb of Rhodes. The company said the new, 2000 sqm offices will free up space at...
Green to leave Meanjin
17 May 2022
Meanjin editor Jonathan Green has announced that the December 2022 edition of the literary journal will be his last. Green, who has has been in the role since 2015, is...
Bublitz shortlisted for Gold Dagger
16 May 2022
Australia-based author Jacqueline Bublitz has been shortlisted for the Gold Dagger, awarded to the best crime novel originally written in English by an author of any nationality, in the UK...
Michael Gifkins Prize 2022 shortlist announced
16 May 2022
Text Publishing and the New Zealand Society of Authors Te Puni Kaituhi O Aotearoa (PEN NZ Inc) have announced the shortlist for the 2022 Michael Gifkins Prize for an unpublished...
New writers festival for Wollongong
13 May 2022
The South Coast Writers Centre (SCWC) has announced a new literary festival, to take place in the Illawarra region of New South Wales. The South Coast Writers Festival will run...
Australian Reading Hour moves to March from 2023
13 May 2022
Australia Reads has announced that its flagship event the Australian Reading Hour, which has run each year in September for the past decade, will not take place in 2022, with...
Ockham NZ Book Awards 2022 winners announced
12 May 2022
The winners of the 2022 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards have been announced. The NZ$60,000 Jann Medlicott Acorn Prize for Fiction, Aotearoa New Zealand's richest writing prize, went to Wellington...
McTiernan’s ‘The Murder Rule’ optioned for screen
12 May 2022
Dervla McTiernan's fourth crime novel The Murder Rule (HarperCollins) has been optioned for screen by Disney's FX, in a deal brokered by Shane Salerno of The Story Factory. The Murder...
New PRH longform mentoring program
11 May 2022
The Judith Neilson Institute for Journalism and Ideas (JNI) has partnered with Penguin Random House Australia (PRH) and the Copyright Agency on a new initiative to provide practical experience and...
EWF 2022 program announced
11 May 2022
The Emerging Writers’ Festival (EWF) has revealed its 2022 festival program, which will take place from 15–25 June 2022. Following EWF’s successful pivot to an online format in response to...
