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Jenner wins 2025 Kathleen Grattan Poetry Award

a portrait of Lynn Jenner, an older woman wearing a green cardigan Thursday, 16 October 2025
In Aotearoa New Zealand, Lynn Jenner has been announced as the winner of the 2025 Kathleen Grattan Poetry Award for her manuscript The Gum Trees of Kerikeri. The collection is...

Prichard wins 2025 Landfall Tauraka Essay Prize

An image of Tasmin Prichard. Thursday, 16 October 2025
In Aotearoa New Zealand, literary journal Landfall Tauraka has announced Tasmin Prichard as the winner of this year’s Landfall Tauraka Essay Prize for their essay “Four Hours in the Dark,...

A&U acquires Legge’s memoir

An image of Kate Legge. She sits at a table with her head leaning on her fist. Thursday, 16 October 2025
Allen & Unwin (A&U) has acquired world English rights to Delicious, a memoir “celebrating food and friendship” by author and journalist Kate Legge. According to the publisher, Delicious: Stories of Cooking, Love...

Murray awarded 2025 ASA Medal

a portrait of Kirsty Murray. She has long curly blonde hair and is wearing a black top. Wednesday, 15 October 2025
The Australian Society of Authors (ASA) has announced Kirsty Murray is the recipient of the 2025 ASA Medal. The ASA board noted Murray’s contribution to young people’s literature, including “her...

Riveted Press acquires Hargreaves’s middle-grade fantasy trilogy

A portrait of Cody Hargreaves. Tuesday, 14 October 2025
Riveted Press has acquired world rights to middle-grade fantasy trilogy The Sterling Brothers by debut author Cody Hargreaves. The first instalment, The Ostrich Dilemma, features estranged twin brothers who must overcome their lifelong...

PRH acquires Timms’s debut crime novel

A portrait of Nicolas Timms standing in front of a brick wall. Tuesday, 14 October 2025
Penguin Random House Australia (PRH) has acquired ANZ rights to The Lineup, a crime fiction debut by Nicholas Timms. PRH commercial fiction publisher Beverley Cousins acquired the novel via Daniel...

Bragg science writing prize shortlist announced

Tuesday, 14 October 2025
The shortlist for this year’s UNSW Press Bragg Prize for Science Writing has been announced. Shortlisted pieces are: “The Unexpected Poetry of PhD Acknowledgements” by Tabitha Carvan “The Night I...

Barnes wins inaugural Bundyi Writing Prize

An image of Shannon Barnes. Monday, 13 October 2025
Bundyi Publishing has announced Shannon Barnes as the winner of the inaugural Bundyi Writing Prize for her mixed-genre novel Strangelands. Barnes wins a $10,000 cash prize, manuscript development, and a...

Affirm acquires Lewis’s debut nonfiction

A portrait of Bron Lewis. She is a red-haired woman wearing a green sequined dress Monday, 13 October 2025
Affirm Press has acquired world rights to I’m Not Mad (Anymore), a debut piece of nonfiction from Bron Lewis, in a deal brokered by Bec Sutherland of Jubilee St Management....

Melbourne Books acquires Buckrich history

A portrait of Judith Buckrich. She is a blonde woman with pale skin and glasses Monday, 13 October 2025
Melbourne Books has acquired world rights to Fitzroy North: People, Place, Protest by Judith Buckrich. “[Beginning with] the local Aboriginal communities prior to European colonisation, Fitzroy North: People, Place and Protest reveals...

Cleary wins A&U NZ Fiction Prize

An image of Anne Cleary and text announcing her as the 2025 Fiction Prize winner. Thursday, 9 October 2025
Allen & Unwin Aotearoa New Zealand (A&U NZ) has announced Tauranga writer Anne Cleary as the winner of the 2025 Fiction Prize for her entry Apple Man. According to the...

Gillard to judge Women’s Prize for Fiction

A group picture of the 2026 judges for the Women's Prize. Thursday, 9 October 2025
In the UK, the Women’s Prize Trust has announced former prime minister of Australia Julia Gillard will chair the 2026 Women’s Prize for Fiction judging panel. Gillard will be joined...

Bakers Lane Books acquires McLean’s nonfiction

A profile image of Robert McLean. Thursday, 9 October 2025
Bakers Lane Books has acquired world rights to The Town Like No Other by Robert McLean. The Town Like No Other tells the story of Broken Hill, a ‘world-class mining centre that...

Garner shortlisted for Baillie Gifford Prize

Tuesday, 7 October 2025
How to End a Story: Collected Diaries by Australian author Helen Garner (Text) has been shortlisted for the 2025 Baillie Gifford Prize for Nonfiction in the UK. Selected from a...

Better Reading Top 100 announced

Monday, 6 October 2025
Better Reading has announced its 2025 top 100 list, ‘a true reflection of what Australians read’. Voted on by readers, the number one spot went to Boy Swallows Universe by...

Stella Day Out announces new Sydney event

Stella Day out Monday, 6 October 2025
Literary organisation Stella has announced a second Stella Day Out event in Sydney, set to take place on 21 October at Quest Chatswood, NSW. The evening event will offer drinks...

The Bookshop Darlinghurst to close

The bookshop darlinghurst Monday, 6 October 2025
The Bookshop Darlinghurst in Sydney will close down on Christmas Eve 2025. Owner Charles Gregory said the closure was due to ‘repeated delays’ in the redevelopment of Oxford & Foley...

Ventura acquires Simon debut novel

Monday, 6 October 2025
Ventura Press has acquired world rights to Susan Simon’s debut novel The Secrets of St Jude’s, a ‘private school noir and commercial thriller’. The Secrets of St Jude’s follows the story...

EWF 2025: ‘tending to and forging of community’

Emerging Writers Festival Logo Thursday, 2 October 2025
The Emerging Writers' Festival (EWF) had its ‘most successful’ festival since 2018, according to organisers. In 2025, the festival hosted 240 artists in 79 events over 8 days, almost doubling...

ASA announces 2025 Blake-Beckett Trust Scholarship shortlist

Australian Society of Authors logo. Thursday, 2 October 2025
The Australian Society of Authors (ASA) has announced the 2025 Blake-Beckett Trust Scholarship shortlist. Chosen from over 70 applicants, the shortlisted authors are: Lenny Bartulin for ‘A Calendar of Vandemonian...

Magabala Books acquires Cusack new adult debut

Thursday, 2 October 2025
Magabala Books has acquired world rights to The Dangers of Just One Person, a ‘funny, queer, regional’ novel by Skye Cusack. The novel ‘follows the intertwined stories of two young,...

PRH acquires Wilson’s ‘I Eat the Stars’

Tuesday, 30 September 2025
Penguin Random House Australia (PRH) has acquired I Eat the Stars: How to Live Fully and Beautifully in a Collapsing World by Sarah Wilson. I Eat the Stars is a guide...

Ventura acquires Carrick debut fiction

Tuesday, 30 September 2025
Ventura Press has acquired world rights to Brigid Carrick’s debut commercial fiction, The Belfast Express. Set in Dublin during the 1970s, The Belfast Express is described by the publisher as...

Scribe announces new branding, website

New Scribe logo Tuesday, 30 September 2025
Scribe Publications has launched new branding and a new website. Designed and developed by Inkahoots, the website features interactive 3D-rendered models of Scribe titles, multimedia content, a new streamlined checkout...

Hachette acquires two new Robotham novels

a portrait of Michael Robotham Tuesday, 30 September 2025
Hachette Australia has acquired two novels by Michael Robotham, via Mark Lucas at the Soho Agency, in a multi-territory partnership with Little, Brown Book Group in the UK. The first...

Ned Kelly Awards 2025 winners announced

Australian Crime Writing Association Ned Kelly Tuesday, 30 September 2025
The Australian Crime Writers Association has announced the 2025 Ned Kelly Award winners. Winning works in each category, chosen from shortlists announced in August, are: Best crime fiction The Creeper...