Local news | Books+Publishing

Inside the Australian and New Zealand book industry

Local news >

‘The Trauma Cleaner’ shortlisted for Wellcome Book Prize

Wednesday, 20 March 2019
Sarah Krasnostein’s The Trauma Cleaner: One Woman’s Extraordinary Life in Death, Decay and Disaster (Text) is one of six books shortlisted for the UK’s Wellcome Book Prize. The annual prize,...

ABDA launches half-price student membership; announces 2019 awards date

Wednesday, 20 March 2019
The Australian Book Designers Association (ABDA) has introduced its first student membership. Available to full-time and part-time students studying graphic or communication design in Australia, the student membership is priced...

Muhling appointed EWF executive director

Wednesday, 20 March 2019
Alice Muhling has commenced in her role as executive director of the Emerging Writers' Festival (EWF). A creative producer and arts manager, Muhling has previously held the positions of acting...

PRH, Text, Matilda Bookshop and Farrell’s Bookshop awarded at Leading Edge Books Conference

Tuesday, 19 March 2019
A number of industry awards were presented at this year’s Leading Edge Books Conference in Adelaide on 18 March. Penguin Random House was named Publisher of the Year, while Text...

Kissane and Ling win Peter Porter Poetry Prize 2019

Tuesday, 19 March 2019
The Australian Book Review (ABR) has announced Andy Kissane’s ‘Searching the Dead’ and Belle Ling’s ‘63 Temple Street, Mong Kok’ as the joint winners of the Peter Porter Prize 2019....

‘Boy Swallows Universe’ wins Book of the Year at 2019 Indie Book Awards

Tuesday, 19 March 2019
Trent Dalton’s debut novel Boy Swallows Universe (HarperCollins) has been named Book of the Year at the 2019 Indie Book Awards, presented at the Leading Edge Books Conference in Adelaide...

Ashleigh Young longlisted for 2019 Folio Prize

Tuesday, 19 March 2019
New Zealand writer Ashleigh Young has been longlisted for the UK's £30,000 (A$56,000) Rathbones Folio Prize for her essay collection Can You Tolerate This? (Giramondo). Can You Tolerate This? is a...

2019 PRH Literary Prize winner announced

Monday, 18 March 2019
Penguin Random House (PRH) has announced that the winner of the 2019 PRH Literary Prize is The Spill by Imbi Neeme. Victorian-based Neeme wins $20,000 (which acts as an advance...

Amsterdam-based publisher wins NGV art and design book prize

Monday, 18 March 2019
Amsterdam-based publisher Van Zoetendaal Publishers has won the 2019 Cornish Family Prize for Art and Design Publishing for its book STUFF: Catalogue Archaeological Finds Amsterdam’s North/South Metro Line, written by...

NZSA 2019 writer mentorships announced

Monday, 18 March 2019
Recipients have been selected for the New Zealand Society of Authors (NZSA) mentorship program 2019, with 13 chosen from a pool of 79 applicants. The 2019 recipients are: Semira Davis,...

Ball to join S&S as Scribner publishing director

Friday, 15 March 2019
Ben Ball will join Simon & Schuster Australia (S&S) in the newly created role of publishing director of Scribner, S&S’s literary imprint. Ball, who was made redundant from his previous...

SWF 2019 program announced

Friday, 15 March 2019
The program has been announced for this year’s Sydney Writers’ Festival (SWF), which runs from 29 April to 5 May. Fifty-five international guests and 360 Australian writers, academics and public...

MUP appoints new directors, editorial advisory board

Thursday, 14 March 2019
Melbourne University Publishing (MUP) has appointed two new directors to its board, and announced eight members of its new editorial advisory board. Former managing director of Oxford University Press Australia...

A&U acquires new Anh Do children’s books in three-series deal

Thursday, 14 March 2019
Allen & Unwin has acquired ANZ rights to three new children's series by Anh Do. 'Wolf Girl' is the first of three new series aimed at an older readership of...

Two Shelly Unwin board books sold to US

Thursday, 14 March 2019
Alex Adsett at Alex Adsett Literary Agency has sold North American rights to Shelly Unwin’s board books You’re One! and You’re Two! (A&U, illus by Katherine Battersby) to Penguin Random...

HQ Fiction acquires Armstrong novel ‘The Collaborator’

Thursday, 14 March 2019
HarperCollins Australia imprint HQ Fiction has acquired world rights to the first book in eight years by author Diane Armstrong. Titled The Collaborator and based on a true story set in...

Queenscliffe Literary Festival breaks ticket sales record

Thursday, 14 March 2019
The Queenscliffe Literary Festival (QLF) has broken its record for ticket sales. Running from 11-26 May in the Victorian beachside towns of Queenscliff and Point Lonsdale, the festival will feature...

City of Melbourne trials ‘quick response’ arts grants

Thursday, 14 March 2019
The City of Melbourne is trialling a new program of ‘quick response’ arts grants, which aim to give artists more flexible access to funding. Under the trial scheme, creative practitioners...

Redgum to launch ‘full-service’ schools program

Thursday, 14 March 2019
Redgum Book Club is launching a ‘full-service’ literary service for schools, parents and students, which will be available nationwide. Redgum, which recently acquired school book fair provider Central Book Suppliers,...

Cornelius wins $234k Windham-Campbell Prize

Thursday, 14 March 2019
Playwright Patricia Cornelius is one of eight winners of the 2019 Windham-Campbell Prize, which recognises English-language writers who ‘have left their mark on the world of literature or theatre’ and...

Hachette launches modern classics list

Wednesday, 13 March 2019
Hachette has announced its first cross-publisher modern classics list to be published in its international territories, including Australia, New Zealand, India and Ireland. Hachette Essentials comprises a curated selection of...