Local news | Books+Publishing

Inside the Australian and New Zealand book industry

Local news >

Colin Roderick Award 2020 shortlist announced

Monday, 3 August 2020
The shortlist for the 2020 Colin Roderick Award, administered by the Foundation for Australian Literary Studies at James Cook University, has been announced. The shortlisted titles are: Peace (Garry Disher, Text)...

New project to digitise, lend and sell out-of-print Australian titles

Friday, 31 July 2020
The Australian Society of Authors (ASA) is working with the University of Melbourne and Australian public libraries on a pilot project ‘to breathe new life into important out-of-print Australian books...

SLV launches ‘6 weeks, 6 issues’ web series

Friday, 31 July 2020
State Library Victoria (SLV) has launched a new live web series, ‘6 weeks, 6 issues’, featuring Victorian policy experts. CEO Kate Torney will host leaders from the health, education, labour...

Two Victorian library services sign with Civica for Spydus LMS

Friday, 31 July 2020
Two of Victoria’s largest metropolitan libraries, Eastern Regional Libraries Corporation (ERLC) and Yarra Plenty Regional Libraries (YPRL)—which between them loaned 9 million items last year—have signed five-year contracts with Civica...

Scribner acquires Watson’s ‘The Passion of Private White’

Thursday, 30 July 2020
Simon & Schuster Australia’s (S&S) Scribner imprint has acquired ANZ rights to a new work of nonfiction by Don Watson, The Passion of Private White. S&S said the book ‘describes...

Writers SA, Adelaide Review announce literary criticism program

Thursday, 30 July 2020
Writers SA and the Adelaide Review have partnered to produce a year-long series of book reviews, with a focus on titles published during the Covid-19 pandemic. 'The social and economic shock...

A&U, THA staff return to full-time hours

Wednesday, 29 July 2020
Allen & Unwin (A&U) and Thames & Hudson Australia (THA) have confirmed their staff have returned to full-time hours. In early April A&U announced its ‘precautionary’ decision to temporarily reduce...

Furphy Literary Award 2020 winners announced

Wednesday, 29 July 2020
The winners of the inaugural Furphy Literary Award have been announced. Ruby Todd won the $15,000 open category for her short story ‘Awakening’, chosen from a shortlist announced in early...

Aurealis Awards 2019 winners announced

Wednesday, 29 July 2020
The winners of the 2019 Aurealis Awards, presented for science fiction, fantasy and horror writing in Australia, have been announced. The winners in each category are: Best science fiction novel...

Transit Lounge acquires Jach’s ‘Travelling Companions’

Wednesday, 29 July 2020
Transit Lounge has acquired world English-language rights to Antoni Jach’s fourth novel, Travelling Companions. Publisher Barry Scott said the novel is ‘charming, amusing and philosophical. Solitary travellers and a couple...

Further Creative Vic Sustaining Creative Workers grants announced

Tuesday, 28 July 2020
Creative Victoria has announced a second tranche of recipients of its Sustaining Creative Workers grants. Initially announced in April in response to Covid-19 as a $2.2 million fund, the quick-response...

Nib Literary Award 2020 longlist announced

Tuesday, 28 July 2020
The longlist for the $20,000 Mark and Evette Moran Literary Award, known as ‘the Nib’, has been announced. The longlisted titles are: Nothing New (Robyn Annear, Text) After the Count (Stephanie Convery,...

New interim board at The Lifted Brow apologises, promises restructure

Tuesday, 28 July 2020
A new interim board at TLB Society Inc., which produces literary journal The Lifted Brow and publishes books under publishing arm Brow Books, has announced it will undertake ‘a complete...

Hall, Kneen receive $80k Copyright Agency fellowships

Tuesday, 28 July 2020
The Copyright Agency’s Cultural Fund has awarded three fellowships totalling $240,000. Writers Rodney Hall and Krissy Kneen and visual artist Khaled Sabsabi will each receive $80,000 to create new works....

Coles to offer free ‘Treehouse’ mini titles, donate to ILF

Monday, 27 July 2020
Australian supermarket chain Coles has partnered with author Andy Griffiths and illustrator Terry Denton to offer 24 pocket-sized ‘Treehouse’ titles as the chain’s new Collectables items, available from Wednesday, 29...

Savage to leave Writers Victoria

Monday, 27 July 2020
Writers Victoria CEO Angela Savage has been appointed the inaugural CEO of Public Libraries Victoria (PLV). PLV chairperson Chris Buckingham said in a statement that Savage stood out during the...

Queensland Literary Awards 2020 people’s choice shortlist announced

Friday, 24 July 2020
The titles shortlisted for the $10,000 People’s Choice Book of the Year Award in the 2020 Queensland Literary Awards have been announced. The shortlisted titles are: A Lifetime of Impossible...

Educational Publishing Awards 2020 shortlists announced

Friday, 24 July 2020
The Australian Publishers Association (APA) has announced the shortlists for the 2020 Educational Publishing Awards Australia (EPAA). The shortlists in each category are: Primary Student Resource: Arts/Science/Humanities/Social Sciences/Technologies/Health and Physical...

McKinty wins 2020 Theakston Crime Novel of the Year

Friday, 24 July 2020
Irish-Australian writer Adrian McKinty has won the 2020 Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award for his novel, The Chain (Hachette). McKinty received the £3000 (A$5490) award at...

MWF Digital program announced

Thursday, 23 July 2020
The full program for the 2020 Melbourne Writers Festival (MWF), which will be delivered entirely online from 7–16 August, has been announced. MWF Digital will run under the theme ‘Attention’, and...

UQP acquires two new books from Birch

Thursday, 23 July 2020
University of Queensland Press (UQP) has acquired a short story collection, Dark as Last Night, and a work of poetry, Whisper Songs, by Miles Franklin–shortlisted author Tony Birch. ‘Dark as...

Federal government extends JobKeeper, cuts rate

Wednesday, 22 July 2020
The federal government has revealed changes to its JobKeeper wage subsidy scheme, with the program to be extended beyond its original September end-date—albeit at a lower rate. From 28 September,...

Shortlist for inaugural Matilda Children’s Literature Prize announced

Wednesday, 22 July 2020
HarperCollins Australia has announced the shortlist for the inaugural Matilda Children’s Literature Prize. The three shortlisted manuscripts are: 'Exposed' by Sandy Bigna, about a teenager who starts having strange flashbacks...