Brio Books becomes part of Booktopia
18 May 2021
Booktopia has announced the acquisition of independent publisher Brio Books. Booktopia will continue publishing books under the Brio imprint as part of its Booktopia Publishing division, and Brio directors David...
Gibson wins 2021 Commonwealth Short Story Prize, Pacific region
18 May 2021
Australian writer Katerina Gibson has won the 2021 Commonwealth Short Story Prize in the Pacific category for their story ‘Fertile Soil’. Judge Tina Makereti, representing the Pacific region, said ‘the...
Melbourne Prize announces new categories
18 May 2021
The Melbourne Prize Trust has announced two new award categories in the triennial Melbourne Prize for Literature. In addition to the $60,000 Melbourne Prize for Literature, which was won by...
Google bans ebooks on Shopping ads
17 May 2021
Google has announced that as of 18 May, the platform will no longer allow the advertising of ebooks on Google Shopping ads. ‘This means that all Shopping ads for digital...
Creative Victoria announces latest VicArts recipients
17 May 2021
Several writers and literary projects have been included among the recipients in the latest round of Creative Victoria’s VicArts grants. The program will provide over $2.5 million in funding for...
‘How to Make a Bird’ wins SCBWI Crystal Kite Award
14 May 2021
Children’s picture book How to Make a Bird (Meg McKinlay, illus by Matt Ottley, Walker) has won the Australian and New Zealand division of this year’s Crystal Kite Member Choice Awards, presented...
Booksellers’ Choice 2021 Book of the Year Awards shortlists announced
14 May 2021
The shortlists for the Australian Booksellers Association’s (ABA) 2021 Booksellers’ Choice Book of the Year Awards have been announced. The shortlisted titles for the 2021 awards are: Adult Fiction Book...
NewSouth acquires Foster bushranger history
14 May 2021
NewSouth has acquired world rights to Boundary Crossers: The hidden history of Australia’s other bushrangers by historian Meg Foster. ‘For too long, bushranging has been cast as the exclusive domain of...
Affirm acquires ‘After Australia’ companion anthology
13 May 2021
Affirm Press will publish Another Australia, a new speculative fiction companion anthology to last year's After Australia, again in partnership with Diversity Arts Australia and the Western Sydney literacy movement Sweatshop....
Beautrais wins 2021 Ockham New Zealand Book Award for fiction
13 May 2021
Whanganui poet Airini Beautrais has won the NZ$57,000 Jann Medlicott Acorn Prize for Fiction at the 2021 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards for her collection of stories Bug Week (Victoria...
Fogarty Literary Award shortlist announced
12 May 2021
Fremantle Press has announced the shortlist for the $20,000 Fogarty Literary Award for an unpublished manuscript. The shortlisted manuscripts are: 'The Glass House' by Brooke Dunnell 'A Horse Held at...
EWF 2021 program announced
12 May 2021
The program for the 2021 Emerging Writers’ Festival (EWF), running 16–26 June 2021, has been announced. After being held entirely online in 2020, EWF will in 2021 be a hybrid...
Avid Reader shortlisted for LBF Bookstore of the Year
11 May 2021
Brisbane bookshop Avid Reader has been shortlisted for the bookstore of the year award at the London Book Fair (LBF) International Excellence Awards. Avid Reader, which was recently named bookshop...
Writing NSW to offer paid mentorships, publishing internships
11 May 2021
Writing NSW has announced three new programs in writing, curating and publishing, designed to increase cultural diversity in those fields, supported by funding from Create NSW. The development program for...
Peter Carey Short Story Award 2021 longlist announced
11 May 2021
The longlist for the 2021 Peter Carey Short Story Award has been announced. Chosen from a record 336 entries by longlisting judges Brooke Dunnell and Alex Cothren, the 13 longlisted...
Shawline Publishing opens The Independent Bookstore
11 May 2021
Publishing services provider Shawline Publishing has announced it has opened The Independent Bookstore in Ballarat, Victoria, and plans to open more than 20 new outlets in the next two years....
Kellow elected APA president, new committee members elected
10 May 2021
Ultimo Press managing director James Kellow has been elected president of the Australian Publishers Association (APA). Kellow, who was elected at the APA’s AGM in April, replaces Oxford University Press...
Brisbane, Byron writers festivals receive RISE funding
10 May 2021
The Brisbane and Byron writers festivals have received funding from the federal government’s Restart Investment to Sustain and Expand (RISE) fund, as announced in the third round of RISE recipients...
Reece YA novel ‘Mice’ to be adapted for film
7 May 2021
Gordon Reece's 2010 young adult novel Mice (A&U) will be adapted into a feature film by Nicole Kidman’s production company Blossom Films and Bruna Papandrea’s Made Up Stories. Mice is a psychological...
Authors announced for Queenscliffe, Northern Beaches literary festivals
7 May 2021
Nearly 30 authors will appear at the inaugural Northern Beaches Readers Festival (NBRF), which will run at the Avalon Recreation Centre in NSW from 17–19 September. Michael Robotham and Judy...
Over 100 attend first BookUp, APA welcomes feedback on diversity and inclusion
6 May 2021
After first being announced in late 2019 and cancelled in 2020, replaced with a series of online sessions, the Australian Publishing Association’s (APA) inaugural in-person BookUp conference was held in...
Lahiri, Nelson, Dabiri announced as first guests for MWF 2021
6 May 2021
The Melbourne Writers Festival (MWF), to run from 3–12 September, has announced the first guests for its 2021 event, which will include a mix of digital and in-person sessions. Pulitzer...
Knight to retire from ADS
6 May 2021
Phill Knight will retire as distribution director of Alliance Distribution Services (ADS) after more than 20 years in the role. Knight will step down in early January 2022, which allows...
MWF 2021 schools program announced
5 May 2021
The schools program for the 2021 Melbourne Writers Festival (MWF) has been announced. The primary school program, which will run 6 and 7 September, features Australian Children’s Laureate Ursula Dubosarsky;...
Briggs awarded 2021 Janet Mackenzie Medal
4 May 2021
The Institute of Professional Editors (IPEd) has announced Edwin (Ted) Briggs as the recipient of the second annual Janet Mackenzie Medal. The award, which honours the late founding member of...
Mascara announces new residency
4 May 2021
Mascara Literary Review, in partnership with the Bundanon Trust, has announced the creation of the Mascara Bundanon Writer’s Residency. The residency, which is now open for submissions, is for First...
Thaker awarded 2021 Boundless Indigenous Writer’s Mentorship
4 May 2021
Torres Strait Islander storyteller Lenora Thaker has won the 2021 Boundless Indigenous Writer’s Mentorship. Thaker is the first Torres Strait Islander writer to win the Boundless Indigenous Mentorship, which was launched in...
Push for EBA at Better Read Than Dead
3 May 2021
The Retail and Fast Food Workers Union (RAFFWU), representing staff at the independent Sydney bookshop Better Read Than Dead requesting an Enterprise Bargaining Agreement (EBA), has approached bookshop management to...
‘Now That I See You’ wins 2021 Vogel
3 May 2021
Now That I See You by Canberra author Emma Batchelor is the winner of this year's $20,000 Australian/Vogel’s Literary Award, for an unpublished manuscript by an author under the age...
Day wins 2021 Nature Writing Prize
30 April 2021
Gregory Day has won the 2021 Nature Writing Prize for his work 'The Watergaw'. Dave Witty was highly commended for 'The Lone Tree of Mackay', and Michael Bradley received an...
