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HarperCollins acquires two Foster novels 

Wednesday, 17 February 2021
HarperCollins Australia has acquired ANZ rights to two new novels by Sara Foster, via Tara Wynne at Curtis Brown in a ‘fiercely contested’ auction. The first title, The Hush, ‘is...

HarperCollins acquires Cowell novel ‘Plum’ 

Tuesday, 16 February 2021
HarperCollins Australia has acquired ANZ rights to Plum, a new novel by writer, actor and director Brendan Cowell. Plum tells the story of Peter ‘The Plum’ Lum, a 48-year-old ex-NRL...

Avid Reader fundraising for shop mural 

Monday, 15 February 2021
Brisbane's Avid Reader has partnered with arts organisation Chrysalis Projects 4101 and Aboriginal artist Vernon Ah Kee to create a proposed mural on the side of the bookshop's West End...

A&U acquires Agnew science debut 

Friday, 12 February 2021
Allen & Unwin (A&U) has acquired ANZ rights to a debut nonfiction book by Bachelor star Matt Agnew. Agnew, an astrophysicist, will explore the search for life in the solar...

S&S acquires Zonfrillo memoir 

Friday, 12 February 2021
Simon & Schuster Australia (S&S) has acquired the autobiography of chef and MasterChef Australia judge, Jock Zonfrillo. Zonfrillo’s memoir will tell the story of his troubled adolescence growing up in...

Au wins inaugural Novel Prize

Thursday, 11 February 2021
Melbourne-based writer Jessica Au has won the inaugural Novel Prize for her work Cold Enough for Snow. Au, whose novel was selected from an international field of almost 1500 submissions and...

Wilson appointed ACT Writers Centre CEO

Thursday, 11 February 2021
The ACT Writers Centre (ACTW) has appointed arts and writing advocate Meg Wilson as CEO. Wilson has been acting as interim director since February 2020, following the departure of former...

HarperCollins launches new illustrated imprint 

Wednesday, 10 February 2021
HarperCollins Australia has announced it will launch a new illustrated imprint, Harper by Design. HarperCollins said the ‘design-led' imprint, to be overseen by current head of design Mark Campbell in...

‘Sorrow and Bliss’ to be adapted for screen 

Wednesday, 10 February 2021
US production company New Regency has acquired the film and television rights to Meg Mason’s 2020 novel Sorrow and Bliss in a deal brokered by Casarotto Ramsay and HarperCollins Australia....

Giggs wins ALA Andrew Carnegie Medal

Tuesday, 9 February 2021
In the US, Australian writer Rebecca Giggs has won the American Library Association’s (ALA) 2021 Andrew Carnegie Medal for nonfiction for Fathoms: The world in the whale (Scribe). The Andrew Carnegie...

Hachette acquires Williams autobiography 

Tuesday, 9 February 2021
Hachette Australia has acquired the autobiography of All Blacks star Sonny Bill Williams via Nick Fordham of The Fordham Company, as part of a worldwide deal that will also see...

Ultimo announces poetry, short fiction prize

Tuesday, 9 February 2021
Ultimo Press has announced a new annual prize for poetry and short fiction, the Ultimo Prize. Open to writers under the age of the 30, the prize will be awarded...

Echo to publish new Morris novel 

Monday, 8 February 2021
Echo Publishing has acquired Heather Morris's third novel Three Sisters, which concludes The Tattooist of Auschwitz trilogy. Three Sisters tells the true story of Cibi, Magda and Livia, who were...

PRH acquires Hickey crime debut ‘Cutters End’ 

Friday, 5 February 2021
Penguin Random House Australia (PRH) has acquired world rights to debut novel Cutters End by author and playwright Margaret Hickey. In a statement, PRH said Cutters End was a captivating...

Low joins Christchurch WORD festival 

Friday, 5 February 2021
The WORD Christchurch festival has appointed Nic Low as program co-director. Originally from Christchurch, Low is a Ngāi Tahu author and arts organiser, who has recently returned to the city...

Fremantle Press launches podcast aimed at writers

Thursday, 4 February 2021
Fremantle Press publisher Georgia Richter has launched a new podcast series ‘aimed at making the Australian publishing industry more accessible to new writers’. Richter, who co-wrote How to Be an...

Transit Lounge acquires Rabin novel 

Thursday, 4 February 2021
Transit Lounge has acquired world rights to Sean Rabin's second novel The Good Captain, via Jessica Craig at Craig Literary. Rabin's debut novel Wood Green, published by Giramondo in Australia...

Nat’s What I Reckon wins 2020 Booktopia FAB Award

Wednesday, 3 February 2021
Un-cook Yourself: A ratbag's rules for life by YouTube cooking star Nat’s What I Reckon (Ebury) has won the $5000 Booktopia Favourite Australian Book (FAB) Award for 2020. The author...

Thames & Hudson Australia revenue up 47% in 2020 

Wednesday, 3 February 2021
Thames & Hudson Australia (THA) has reported a 47% increase in revenue in 2020, with overall sales of $17.6 million, as ‘consumer price barriers appeared to come down’ during the...

Ultimo first title to be Smith book on China 

Tuesday, 2 February 2021
Ultimo Press has acquired world rights to The Last Correspondent: Dispatches from the Frontline of Xi’s New China by Michael Smith, one of the last Australian journalists to leave China...

McKay wins $100k Victorian Prize for Literature

Tuesday, 2 February 2021
Laura Jean McKay has won Australia’s richest literary prize, the $100,000 Victorian Prize for Literature, for her debut novel The Animals in That Country (Scribe), at this year’s Victorian Premier’s...