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UQP acquires Sakr poetry collection

Wednesday, 30 May 2018
University of Queensland Press (UQP) has acquired Western Sydney poet Omar Sakr’s forthcoming poetry collection, The Lost Arabs. World rights were acquired by UQP publishing director and acting-CEO Madonna Duffy,...

Readings YA Prize 2018 shortlist announced

Tuesday, 29 May 2018
The shortlist for the 2018 Readings Young Adult Prize has been announced. The shortlisted titles are: Small Spaces (Sarah Epstein, Walker Books) Amelia Westlake (Erin Gough, Hardie Grant Egmont) Between...

Alice appointed director of Writers SA

Tuesday, 29 May 2018
Writers SA has announced editor and festival programmer Jessica Alice as the organisation's new director. Alice, who commences the position on 2 July, takes over from outgoing director Sarah Tooth...

Australian Book Design Awards 2018 winners announced

Tuesday, 29 May 2018
The Australian Book Designers Association (ABDA) announced the winners of the 2018 Australian Book Design Awards at an event in Melbourne on 25 May. The winning titles in each category...

Melbourne Prize announces new $7500 award for early-career published authors

Tuesday, 29 May 2018
The Melbourne Prize Trust has announced a new award for early-career authors, worth $7500. The Readings Residency Award is open to early-career published authors who are based in Victoria, writing...

Three local writers shortlisted for Commonwealth Short Story Prize 2018

Monday, 28 May 2018
Two Australians and one New Zealand writer are among the 24 shortlisted finalists for the 2018 Commonwealth Short Story Prize. Poet Chris Mansell was shortlisted for her story ‘Nobody’s Wife’,...

‘300 Minutes of Danger’ adapted for VR project

Monday, 28 May 2018
A virtual reality (VR) project based on Jack Heath’s book of short stories 300 Minutes of Danger (Scholastic) is one of four online projects to receive production funding from Screen...

Schultz takes on publisher role at ‘Griffith Review’; Hay becomes editor

Monday, 28 May 2018
Griffith Review has announced that editor Julianne Schultz will take on the role of publisher at the quarterly publication, alongside a position as Professor of Media and Culture at Griffith...

Territory Read Book of the Year 2018 shortlist announced

Friday, 25 May 2018
The Northern Territory Writers’ Centre has announced the shortlist for the Territory Read Book of the Year awards. The shortlisted titles are: There’s a Crocodile on the Golf Course (Rachel...

Woollahra Digital Literary Awards 2018 shortlists announced

Friday, 25 May 2018
The shortlists for the 2018 Woollahra Digital Literary Awards, for writing first published online or electronically, have been announced. Nonfiction Seeing Through Perspective: A Blind Tourist’s Guide to Art (Ria...

Peter Carey Short Story Award 2018 shortlist announced

Friday, 25 May 2018
The shortlist for the 2018 Peter Carey Short Story Award has been announced. The six shortlisted stories are: ‘Clearing’ (Alice Bishop) ‘Fighting Season’ (Alison Martin) ‘Being The Mother’ (Anne Casey)...

Transit Lounge acquires Pajalic family memoir on mental illness

Friday, 25 May 2018
Transit Lounge has acquired Amra Pajalic’s memoir, Things Nobody Knows But Me. Transit Lounge publisher Barry Scott told Books+Publishing the ‘beautifully written’ memoir was ‘a tender, funny and searingly honest story of...

ASA launches podcast on ‘entrepreneurial’ creatives

Thursday, 24 May 2018
The Australian Society of Authors (ASA) has launched a new podcast series focusing on ‘the numerous ways wordsmiths can adapt their talents beyond the confines of a book’. Called Words...

A&U acquires Bowditch memoir

Thursday, 24 May 2018
Allen & Unwin (A&U) has acquired ANZ rights to a memoir by musician, actor and broadcaster Clare Bowditch, and will publish the title in October 2019. Publisher Kelly Fagan acquired...

New small publisher Elephant Tree Publishing launches first title

Thursday, 24 May 2018
A new Canberra-based small publisher of fiction, nonfiction and young adult fiction has recently released its first title. Mother-and-daughter team Jennifer Brown-Leslie and Kathryn Spurling have established Elephant Tree Publishing...

Ngaio Marsh Award 2018 longlist announced

Thursday, 24 May 2018
The longlist for the 2018 Ngaio Marsh award for New Zealand crime fiction has been announced. The longlisted works are: Marlborough Man (Alan Carter, Fremantle Press) Baby (Annaleese Jochems, VUP) See...

Fine shortlisted for Orwell Prize 2018

Thursday, 24 May 2018
University of Melbourne academic and author Cordelia Fine has been shortlisted for the 2018 Orwell Prize for Books, for her book Testosterone Rex: Unmaking the Myths of our Gendered Minds (Icon...

MWF 2018 schools’ program released

Wednesday, 23 May 2018
The Melbourne Writers Festival (MWF) has released its 2018 schools' program, which will run from 27-30 August. Held at Melbourne's Federation Square, the 2018 MWF schools' program will focus on...

Miles Franklin Literary Award 2018 longlist announced

Wednesday, 23 May 2018
The longlist for the 2018 Miles Franklin Literary Award has been announced. The 11 longlisted titles are: A Long Way from Home (Peter Carey, Hamish Hamilton) No More Boats (Felicity...

‘Ruby’ romance award 2018 finalists announced

Wednesday, 23 May 2018
The finalists for the Romance Writers of Australia (RWA) Romantic Book of the Year Award, known as ‘the Ruby’, have been announced. The finalists in each category are: Long romance...

ABA booksellers of the year 2018 finalists announced

Wednesday, 23 May 2018
The finalists for the 2018 Australian Booksellers Association (ABA) booksellers of the year awards have been announced. The finalists for Bookseller of the Year are: Paul MacDonald (The Children's Bookshop)...

Viskic, Clark longlisted for UK Dagger awards

Tuesday, 22 May 2018
Emma Viskic has been longlisted in two categories in the UK Crime Writers’ Association (CWA) 2018 Dagger awards for her novel Resurrection Bay (Echo). Viskic’s novel is one of 10...

Inaugural digital participants announced for 2018 Hardcopy program

Tuesday, 22 May 2018
The ACT Writers Centre has announced the inaugural participants of the new digital stream of its professional development program, Hardcopy, which will focus on fiction manuscripts this year. The seven...

Forbes inducted into ABDA hall of fame

Tuesday, 22 May 2018
Book designer Alison Forbes has been announced as the 2018 inductee into the Australian Book Design Hall of Fame. Forbes was the first full-time independent book designer in Australia, with...

Transit Lounge sells rights to Rawson’s ‘From the Wreck’ to Picador UK

Tuesday, 22 May 2018
Melbourne-based independent publisher Transit Lounge has sold world English-language rights (ex-ANZ) to Jane Rawson's 2017 novel From the Wreck. Picador UK associate publisher Ravi Mirchandani acquired rights to the literary speculative-fiction...