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Slaughter wins 2024 Calibre Essay Prize

Tuesday, 7 May 2024
Aotearoa New Zealand writer Tracey Slaughter has won the 2024 Australian Book Review (ABR) Calibre Essay Prize. Slaughter’s essay, ‘why your hair is long & your stories short’, was chosen...

Red Room to present poetry festival in partnership with BBC, ABC

Tuesday, 7 May 2024
Red Room Poetry will present the UK poetry and spoken word festival Contains Strong Language at venues across Gadigal and Dharug lands in Sydney in late August. The BBC founded...

S&S acquires McEwan romantasy duology

Tuesday, 7 May 2024
Simon & Schuster Australia has acquired ANZ rights to a two-book romantasy series by Stacey McEwan, via an exclusive submission from Amy Collins at Talcott Notch Literary. S&S Australia associate...

Fremantle Press’s Bookaburras program to receive support from Premier’s Summer Reading Challenge, KindiLink

Monday, 6 May 2024
Fremantle Press’s early reading program, Bookaburras, will launch a regional tour featuring Bookaburras Ambassadors across Western Australia, following the announcement of additional support from the Premier's Summer Reading Challenge and...

NSW Premier’s Literary Awards 2024 shortlists announced

Monday, 6 May 2024
The shortlists for the 2024 New South Wales Premier’s Literary Awards have been announced. Shortlisted titles in each category are: Christina Stead Prize for Fiction ($40,000) The Sun Walks Down (Fiona McFarlane,...

WA Premier’s Book Awards shortlists announced

Monday, 6 May 2024
The shortlists for the 2024 Western Australian Premier’s Book Awards have been announced. The shortlisted authors and books in each category are: Western Australian Writer’s Fellowship ($60,000) Lucy Dougan Alan Fyfe...

Allen & Unwin acquires new Bublitz thriller

Monday, 6 May 2024
Allen & Unwin (A&U) has acquired ANZ rights to Leave the Girls Behind, a new novel by Jacqueline Bublitz, via Cara Lee Simpson at Peters Fraser + Dunlop. Bublitz’s book...

Wright wins 2024 Stella Prize for ‘Praiseworthy’

Thursday, 2 May 2024
Alexis Wright has won the $60,000 Stella Prize for her fourth novel, Praiseworthy (Giramondo). Wright becomes the first author to win the Stella Prize twice, having previously won the 2018...

Hachette on AFR BOSS Best Places to Work list for second year

Thursday, 2 May 2024
Hachette Australia has been included for the second year running in the Best Places to Work list published annually by the Australian Financial Review and BOSS magazine. Hachette came second in the retail, hospitality,...

Book Links 2024 Award for Children’s Historical Fiction longlist announced

Thursday, 2 May 2024
Book Links The Centre for Children’s Literature has announced the longlist for the 2024 Award for Children’s Historical Fiction. The seven longlisted titles are: Bidhi Galing (Big Rain) (Anita Heiss...

ASA/HQ Commercial Fiction Prize 2024 shortlist announced

Thursday, 2 May 2024
The Australian Society of Authors (ASA) and HarperCollins publishing division HQ have announced the shortlist for the 2024 ASA/HQ Commercial Fiction Prize for an unpublished manuscript. The shortlisted works, chosen...

Affirm acquires Hodge’s ‘Top Knocks’

Tuesday, 30 April 2024
Affirm Press has acquired ANZ rights to Australian cricketer and commentator Brad Hodge’s nonfiction book Top Knocks, via TLA. The publisher said that Top Knocks will count down 20 of...

Pan Macmillan acquires two fantasy YA titles by Melbourne author in pre-empt

Tuesday, 30 April 2024
Pan Macmillan Australia (PMA) has acquired rights to two fantasy YA titles by debut Melbourne author Mikayla Bridge in a six-figure pre-empt, alongside Macmillan Children's Books UK imprint First Ink...

Grenville shortlisted for 2024 Women’s Prize for Fiction

Monday, 29 April 2024
In the UK, the shortlist for the 2024 Women’s Prize for Fiction has been announced. Local author Kate Grenville has been shortlisted for Restless Dolly Maunder (Text). The shortlisted titles are: The Wren,...

Writers boycott SLV over workshop cancellations

Monday, 29 April 2024
Writers Michelle de Kretser, Tony Birch and Grace Yee are refusing to work with State Library Victoria (SLV) over its decision to cancel the library’s Teen Bootcamp workshops, reports the...

Hardie Grant moves NZ distribution to TDLC

Monday, 29 April 2024
Hardie Grant has announced that distribution in Aotearoa New Zealand will move to The Distribution and Logistics Company (TDLC), beginning on 1 July 2024. HarperCollins’s Arotahi Agency will continue as...

Wheeler Centre 2024 Hot Desk Fellows announced

Monday, 29 April 2024
The Wheeler Centre has announced the 22 emerging writers who will receive Hot Desk Fellowships in 2024. This is the 12th year of the fellowship program, which the Wheeler Centre...

Echo acquires Parker debut historical novel ‘Fulvia’ in two-book deal

Monday, 29 April 2024
Echo Publishing has acquired world rights to two historical novels from debut author Kaarina Parker (Ngāpuhi), via Vicki Marsdon at High Spot Literary. Fulvia, which is the first of the...

Hammer, Morton on Daggers longlist

Tuesday, 23 April 2024
In the UK, the Crime Writers’ Association (CWA) has announced the longlists for its Dagger Awards. Chris Hammer’s Dead Man’s Creek (published locally as The Tilt, A&U) and Kate Morton’s...

Pantera acquires Rai debut novel ‘An Onslaught of Light’

Tuesday, 23 April 2024
Pantera Press has acquired world rights to An Onslaught of Light, a debut novel by Natasha Rai. In the novel, in 1990, Vijay and Indu depart India for Australia—a move...

Age Book of the Year 2024 shortlists announced

Tuesday, 23 April 2024
The shortlists for the 2024 Age Book of the Year Award have been announced. The shortlisted works in each category are: Fiction Women & Children (Tony Birch, UQP) Anniversary (Stephanie...

New publisher Vitagraph launches literary journal

Monday, 22 April 2024
New independent publishing house Vitagraph Publishing has launched Written Off, a new literary journal dedicated to Australian literature. Vitagraph said Written Off will highlight the work of writers with broad...

Ferris receives inaugural Meanjin InPlace residency

Monday, 22 April 2024
Literary journal Meanjin has announced Ella Ferris as the inaugural recipient of the Meanjin InPlace residency. Ferris is a Taribelang writer, actor, theatre maker and poet, who now lives on...

Michael Gifkins Prize 2024 longlist announced

Monday, 22 April 2024
Text Publishing and the New Zealand Society of Authors Te Puni Kaituhi O Aotearoa (PEN NZ Inc) have announced the longlist for the 2024 Michael Gifkins Prize for an unpublished...

Hachette acquires Coburn YA verse novel ‘The Foal in the Wire’

Thursday, 18 April 2024
Hachette Australia has acquired world rights to The Foal in the Wire, a YA verse novel from poet Robbie Coburn, via Belinda Bolliger at Key People Literary Management. Described by...

Student-run Elephant Page Publishing launches at Curtin Uni

Thursday, 18 April 2024
A new student press, Elephant Page Publishing, has been established at Curtin University in Perth (Boorloo), Western Australia. Curtin University’s professional writing and publishing senior lecturer Per Henningsgaard is serving...