Authors, literary orgs among latest Cultural Fund recipients
10 December 2021
The Copyright Agency has announced the 22 successful recipients of a total $715,522 in funding from its Cultural Fund, as well as the five writer and visual artist recipients of...
Hardy wins 2021 Children’s Peace Literature Award
9 December 2021
How to Write the Soundtrack to Your Life by Fiona Hardy (Affirm) is the winner of the 2021 Children's Peace Literature Award. Hardy's book was chosen by a judging panel...
Scribner acquires Sullivan’s ‘Calcium-Magnesium’
9 December 2021
Scribner has acquired UK and Commonwealth rights to Helen Sullivan’s nonfiction collection Calcium-Magnesium, via James Pullen at Wylie Agency. Calcium-Magnesium blends reportage and memoir to explore ‘how encounters with the...
Johnston appointed Copyright Agency CEO
9 December 2021
The Copyright Agency has appointed Josephine Johnston as its new CEO. She replaces Adam Suckling, who announced earlier this year that he would not renew his contract, having been in...
HQ acquires Lien’s ‘All That’s Left Unsaid’
8 December 2021
HQ has acquired UK & Commonwealth rights to Tracey Lien’s debut novel All That’s Left Unsaid as part of a two-book deal, in a 'competitive nine-way auction’. Commonwealth & UK...
NLNZ suspends planned Internet Archive donation amid criticism
8 December 2021
The National Library of New Zealand (NLNZ) has suspended its planned donation of 600,000 books from its overseas collection to the Internet Archive. In a statement, the library said it...
‘The Conversation’ launches new Books & Ideas section
8 December 2021
Australian academic news and culture website the Conversation is expanding its books coverage with a new dedicated Books & Ideas section. Former Conversation arts and culture editor Suzy Freeman-Greene has...
Affirm aquires new Sanders picture book series
8 December 2021
Affirm Press has acquired world rights to 'Life Lessons for Little Ones', a new picture book series written by Jess Sanders. Aimed at under-10s, the series will cover 'a diverse...
Indie Book Awards 2022 longlists announced
7 December 2021
Leading Edge Books has announced the longlists for the 2022 Indie Book Awards. The longlisted titles in each category are: Fiction After Story (Larissa Behrendt, UQP) The Good Wife of...
VPLAs 2022 shortlists announced
7 December 2021
The shortlists for the 2022 Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards have been announced. The shortlisted and highly commended works in each category are: Fiction After Story (Larissa Behrendt, UQP) Bodies of...
Transit Lounge acquires new Day novel
7 December 2021
Transit Lounge has acquired world rights to Gregory Day’s sixth novel The Bell of the World, in a deal brokered by Jeanne Ryckmans at Cameron’s Management. The Bell of the...
Aitken wins 2021 Patrick White Award
7 December 2021
Poet Adam Aitken is the winner of this year’s $15,000 Patrick White Award. Aitken is the author of several books of poetry including Archipelago (Vagabond Press), shortlisted in 2018 for...
Christmas Press acquires new Kelleher middle-grade novel
6 December 2021
Christmas Press has acquired world rights to Wanderer, a new novel by Victor Kelleher, in a deal brokered by Margaret Connolly of Margaret Connolly and Associates. For upper middle-grade readers,...
Paterson to head new Atlantic Books division at A&U
6 December 2021
Allen & Unwin (A&U) has announced the establishment of a new division, Atlantic Books Australia, to be led by Cate Paterson. Paterson, who will join A&U as publishing director of...
The Next Chapter 2022 recipients announced
3 December 2021
The Wheeler Centre has announced the recipients of the 2021 Next Chapter grants for developing writers, worth $15,000 each. The 10 recipients are: Jumaana Abdu Jose da Costa Josie/Jocelyn Deane...
Dymocks Melbourne hires security after alleged check-in assault
3 December 2021
Dymocks Collins Street, in Melbourne’s CBD, has hired professional security after an alleged assault on a staff member working as a Covid-19 marshal. ABC Online reports the member of staff...
Adler appointed AWW director
3 December 2021
Louise Adler has been appointed director of Adelaide Writers’ Week (AWW), taking over from Jo Dyer who announced earlier this year that the 2022 event would be her last. Adler,...
Stout wins MidnightSun cover design competition
2 December 2021
Abby Stout has been named the winner of MidnightSun’s 2021 book cover design competition. The competition, which ran during October, encouraged Australian designers to submit cover design concepts for two...
UQP acquires new Lucashenko novel ‘Edenglassie’
2 December 2021
The University of Queensland Press (UQP) has acquired world rights to a new novel by 2019 Miles Franklin winner Melissa Lucashenko in ‘a major, competitive deal’ brokered by Alex Adsett...
McLean donates $1 million to Stella Prize
2 December 2021
Sydney-based philanthropist Paula McLean, a long-time patron of the Stella Prize, has committed a gift of up to $1 million to the prize’s Stella Forever Fund, which aims to secure...
SPN conference 2021: ‘stimulating, diverse and accessible’
1 December 2021
The 10th annual Small Press Network (SPN) Independent Publishing Conference was held online on 25–27 November. The 2021 conference ran entirely online for the second year running, but returned to...
‘The Underdogs’ series sells to North America
1 December 2021
Hardie Grant Children’s Publishing (HGCP) has sold North American rights to ‘The Underdogs’ series by Kate and Jol Temple (illus by Shiloh Gordon) to Razorbill, an imprint of Penguin Random...
Hammer, Jubelin joint 2021 Danger Prize winners
1 December 2021
Trust (Chris Hammer, A&U) and I Catch Killers (Gary Jubelin with Dan Box, HarperCollins) have jointly won the 2021 Danger Prize. Administered by the BAD: Sydney Crime Writers Festival, the...
Ultimo acquires new Henry-Jones novel
1 December 2021
Ultimo Press has acquired ANZ rights to Eliza Henry-Jones’s latest novel Salt and Skin, in a deal brokered by Pippa Masson of Curtis Brown. Salt and Skin follows a troubled...
Young wins first prize in Scarlet Stiletto Awards 2021
30 November 2021
Sisters in Crime Australia has announced the winners of the 2021 Scarlet Stiletto Awards. Canberra-based, first-time crime writer Hayley Young won first prize and receives $1500 for her outback police...
Angry Robot acquires Gold Coast BookTokker debut
30 November 2021
UK publisher Angry Robot has acquired world, translation and audio rights to Ledge, the adult fantasy debut by Australian BookTokker Stacey McEwan, via Amy Collins of Talcott Notch Literary Agency....
SPN Book of the Year 2021 winners announced
29 November 2021
The Small Press Network (SPN) has announced the joint winners of the 2021 SPN Network Book of the Year Award (BOTY). The winning books, both essay collections, are: Echoes (Shu-Ling...
‘Still Life’ named Dymocks 2021 Book of the Year
29 November 2021
UK author Sarah Winman’s novel Still Life (Fourth Estate) has been named Dymocks Book of the Year for 2021. In 1944, over one night in a ruined wine cellar of...
S&S acquires Wright biography
29 November 2021
Simon & Schuster (S&S) has acquired world rights to the biography of Australian surfer Owen Wright. In 2015 Wright was on the brink of a world title only to have...
New survey: Engaged readers behind pandemic book sales
26 November 2021
A national survey by Australia Reads has found 75% of Australians read at least one book a year, with 25% indicating they had not read or listened to a book...
