Local news | Books+Publishing

Inside the Australian and New Zealand book industry

Thursday, 7 June 2018
Bloomsbury Australia sales director Lucy Barrett will join Pantera Press in the newly created role of chief operating officer. ‘Lucy has a proven track record of growing sales and her...

NT Writers’ Festival Wordstorm 2018 wraps up

Wednesday, 6 June 2018
The 2018 Northern Territory Writers’ Festival was held over four days from 24-27 May in Darwin. With the theme ‘exploring outside the margins’, this year’s program featured more than 40...

Nunn and Gleitzman named ambassadors for Australian Reading Hour 2018

Wednesday, 6 June 2018
Australian Reading Hour has announced authors Judy Nunn and Morris Gleitzman as the national ambassadors for the initiative in 2018, which will be held this year on 20 September. This...

‘Warm and respectful’ response to FWF 2018 Victorian program

Wednesday, 6 June 2018
The Feminist Writers Festival’s (FWF) 2018 Victorian Program, which was held in Melbourne and Geelong from 25-27 May, received ‘really positive’ feedback and a ‘strong following’ online, according to FWF...

HGE, ASRC to release three bilingual editions of ‘My Two Blankets’

Wednesday, 6 June 2018
Publisher Hardie Grant Egmont (HGE) and the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre (ASRC) have partnered to publish three bilingual editions of the picture book My Two Blankets (Irena Kobald, illus by...

NZ Book Awards for Children and YA 2018 finalists announced

Wednesday, 6 June 2018
The finalists for the 2018 New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults have been announced. The awards aim to celebreate the contribution New Zealand’s children’s authors and illustrators...

NSW Writers’ Centre rebrands as Writing NSW

Wednesday, 6 June 2018
The NSW Writers’ Centre has rebranded as Writing NSW, and launched a new website. Writing NSW CEO Jane McCredie said the new name, which came into effect on 29 May,...

Davitt Awards 2018 longlists announced

Wednesday, 6 June 2018
Sisters in Crime Australia has announced the longlists for the 2018 Davitt Awards for the best crime books by Australian women. A total of 101 titles have been longlisted, including...

‘IndigenousX’ and the ‘Monthly’ launch Indigenous arts critic mentorship

Wednesday, 6 June 2018
The Monthly and IndigenousX have launched a new mentorship for an emerging Indigenous arts critic. The joint initiative will offer the successful candidate a six-month fellowship, during which time they...

Kibble and Dobbie Awards 2018 shortlists announced

Tuesday, 5 June 2018
The shortlists for the 2018 Kibble and Dobbie Awards have been announced. The four shortlisted titles for the $30,000 Kibble Literary Award for an established Australian female author are: The...

Minimum wage to rise 3.5% following Fair Work review

Tuesday, 5 June 2018
The Fair Work Commission has announced a 3.5% increase to minimum wages effective from 1 July 2018, increasing the minimum rate from $18.29 per hour to $18.93 per hour. The...

PRH acquires Warne memoir

Tuesday, 5 June 2018
Penguin Random House will publish Australian cricketer Shane Warne’s memoir, No Spin (with Mark Nicholas), in Australia and the UK in October 2018. In a statement, the publisher said the...

Writers Bloc launches ongoing online short courses

Tuesday, 5 June 2018
Online writing community Writers Bloc has launched its first ongoing series of online short courses. Throughout 2018, Writers Bloc will run one short course per month that will be ‘accessible...

Tuffield departs Black Inc.

Monday, 4 June 2018
Aviva Tuffield has departed from her position as publisher at Black Inc. According to reports made to Book+Publishing, Tuffield’s position of publisher was made redundant earlier this year, and she departed...

Thunig wins 2018 Margaret Dooley Emerging Indigenous Writers Fellowship

Monday, 4 June 2018
Kamilaroi woman and University of Newcastle researcher Amy Thunig is the recipient of the 2018 Margaret Dooley Emerging Indigenous Writers Fellowship, presented by Eureka Street and IndigenousX. Thunig will work with...

NT Writers’ Centre elects new board

Monday, 4 June 2018
The Northern Territory Writers’ Centre has elected a new board, consisting of 10 members. Previous vice president Adelle Sefton-Rowston has been elected as president, while returning board members have been...

Grills, Wright and Rawson win 2018 Woollahra Digital Literary Awards

Monday, 4 June 2018
Eloise Grills, Stephen Wright and Jane Rawson have won the 2018 Woollahra Digital Literary Awards for writing that was first published online or electronically. Grills won in the nonfiction category...

Amazon to block Oz shoppers from Amazon US

Friday, 1 June 2018
Australian consumers will be unable to purchase items from Amazon’s international websites as the multinational moves to comply with new GST laws affecting online retailers, reports the Sydney Morning Herald....

Scribe acquires new books by Elson, Carroll

Friday, 1 June 2018
Scribe has acquired rights to a number of new titles, including a biography of post-punk musician Rowland S Howard by Melbourne-based bookseller and writer Gerard Elson. Titled Something Flammable: Approaching...

The Little Bookroom opens ‘big sister’ bookshop in Northcote

Friday, 1 June 2018
Melbourne children’s bookstore The Little Bookroom is opening a new independent ‘big sister’ bookshop, called Neighbourhood Books, in the inner northern suburb of Northcote. Located at 55 High Street in...

WestWords director named on CreateNSW roundtable

Friday, 1 June 2018
WestWords executive director Michael Campbell has been named among a group of 10 arts practitioners to lead a new roundtable created to ensure that Western Sydney is reflected in future...

Traill wins Ashurst Business Literature Prize 2017

Friday, 1 June 2018
Michael Traill has won the 2017 Ashurst Business Literature Prize for his book Jumping Ship: From the World of Corporate Australia to the Heart of Social Investment (Hardie Grant). Selected from...

Spinifex title honoured for Italian literary award

Thursday, 31 May 2018
Palestinian feminist writer Khulud Khamis’ Australian-published novel, Haifa Fragments (Spinifex) has placed second in the Premio Letterario Citta di Siena Italian literary award. Khamis’ novel, which originated with Spinifex Press,...