Berbay acquires middle-grade series by Louise Park
28 November 2018
Berbay Publishing has acquired world rights to a three-book middle-grade fiction series by Australian children's author Louise Park. The first book in the series, titled Grace's Castle, is a fast-paced time-slip adventure...
Scribe acquires Louise Omer memoir ‘Holy Woman’
28 November 2018
Scribe has acquired world rights to a memoir about 'faith, feminist spirituality, and a search for meaning' by writer and critic Louise Omer, via Jane Novak of Jane Novak Literary...
Sisters in Crime Scarlet Stiletto Awards 2018 winners announced
27 November 2018
The winners of the 2018 Scarlet Stiletto Awards, presented by Sisters in Crime, have been announced. Melbourne writer Philomena Horsley, a medical anthropologist who specialises in autopsies, won the $1500...
Serong wins inaugural Staunch Book Prize
27 November 2018
Australian author Jock Serong has won the inaugural Staunch Book Prize for his novel On the Java Ridge (Text). The UK-based prize aims to 'make space for an alternative to...
Publishers, authors welcome NZ Copyright Act review
27 November 2018
The New Zealand government’s Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment has released an issues paper on the review of the Copyright Act, which has been welcomed by both the Publishers...
Horne Prize 2018 shortlist announced
26 November 2018
The Saturday Paper and skin care company Aesop have announced the shortlist for the $15,000 Horne Prize for narrative nonfiction. The shortlisted writers are: Melanie Cheng for 'All the Other Stories', on...
Collins Booksellers opens in Thirroul, NSW
23 November 2018
Collins Booksellers has opened a store in the town of Thirroul in New South Wales. Located 70km south of Sydney, Collins Thirroul is the only bookstore in the Northern Illawarra...
Pitt wins 2018 Walkley Book Award for ‘The House’
23 November 2018
Journalist and author Helen Pitt has won the 2018 Walkley Book Award for The House (A&U). Chosen from a shortlist of three, Pitt's book explores the history of the Sydney Opera...
‘Living in Hope’ wins 2018 Most Underrated Book Award
23 November 2018
A memoir by a member of the Stolen Generations, Living in Hope (Frank Byrne with Gerard Waterford & Francis Coughlan, Ptilotus Press), has won the Small Press Network’s (SPN) Most Underrated Book...
‘The Dead Still Cry Out’ wins Nib Literary Award
22 November 2018
Helen Lewis' The Dead Still Cry Out (Text) has won the Waverley Council’s Mark and Evette Moran Nib Literary Award for 2018. The book tells the true story of Lewis’...
Amazon unblocks Oz shoppers from US store
22 November 2018
Australian consumers are now able to purchase and ship items from Amazon’s international website, according to a statement from Amazon. The retailer suspended shipping to Australian addresses from its international website...
Book-to-screen projects receive Screen Australian funding
22 November 2018
Two book-to-film adaptations feature among the projects receiving story development funding from Screen Australia. The projects, and their producers, are: A feature film adaptation of Finding Sanity: John Cade, Lithium and...
‘The Women in Black’ sells in multiple territories after translation rights made available after 12 years
21 November 2018
Text Publishing has sold rights in multiple territories to Madeleine St John’s The Women in Black, alongside several other books by St John, after translation rights were made available for...
Riwoe sells third Heloise Chancey novel to UK’s Legend Press
21 November 2018
Brisbane-based author Mirandi Riwoe has sold world rights to her historical crime fiction novel The Death of Me to UK publisher Legend Press. Rights were acquired by Legend commissioning editor Lauren...
‘Overland’ Fair Australia Prize 2018 winners announced
21 November 2018
Literary journal Overland has announced the winners for this year’s Fair Australia Prize. The Fair Australia Prize asks writers and artists to engage with the topics ‘What does unionism mean...
Pascoe receives Person of the Year honour at 2018 National Dreamtime Awards
21 November 2018
Bunurong and Yuin writer Bruce Pascoe has won the Person of the Year award at the 2018 National Dreamtime Awards. The Dreamtime Person of the Year is awarded to an...
Australian, NZ authors on 2018 Dublin Literary Award longlist
21 November 2018
Fourteen books by Australian authors and six by New Zealand authors have been nominated for the 2019 International Dublin Literary Award. Longlisted books by Australian authors are: A Long Way...
Dymocks opens new store in Melbourne; regional WA store to close
21 November 2018
Chain retailer Dymocks has opened a new store at Highpoint Shopping Centre, in Melbourne's inner west. The Highpoint store is the first Dymocks to open in a new location in...
Blake among 2019 Zev Birger Editorial Fellows to attend Jerusalem International Book Forum
20 November 2018
Penguin Random House (PRH) publisher Cate Blake has been announced as one of 34 recipients of the Zev Birger Editorial Fellowship, a week-long professional seminar that focuses on ‘significant issues...
Tim’s Bookshop Canterbury to close
20 November 2018
The Canterbury branch of family-owned independent bookstore Tim’s Bookshop, in Melbourne's eastern suburbs, will close in January 2019. Owner Tim Warmington told Books+Publishing: ‘It’s the usual story of ever-increasing costs...
Douglas-Kinghorn wins 2018 Scribe Nonfiction Prize
19 November 2018
Zowie Douglas-Kinghorn has won the 2018 Scribe Nonfiction Prize for Young Writers for her entry ‘The Invisible Sea’. Douglas-Kinghorn was selected from a shortlist of nine writers and receives a cash...
Harry Cook’s debut YA novel acquired by Scottish small press
19 November 2018
Scottish independent publisher Black & White Publishing has acquired world rights to the debut novel by Australian actor and LGBTQIA+ activist Harry Cook. A romance set in small-town Australia, Fin...
Chapman wins HGE Ampersand Prize for YA novel ‘What it Takes’
16 November 2018
Sydney-based journalist Frances Chapman has won Hardie Grant Egmont’s (HGE) Ampersand Prize for an unpublished manuscript for her ‘vibrant’ YA novel, What it Takes. Chosen from nearly 200 submissions, What...
‘Invisible Boys’ wins T A G Hungerford Award
16 November 2018
Perth-based YA writer Holden Sheppard has won the 2018 City of Fremantle T A G Hungerford Award for an unpublished manuscript for Invisible Boys, a YA novel about a group...
ABA announces 2018 Vic, NSW reps of the year
16 November 2018
Mandy Wildsmith from Hardie Grant Books has been named Victorian Rep of the Year by the Australian Booksellers Association (ABA), while Simon Rannard from Penguin Random House (PRH) has been...
Lester wins $60,000 Melbourne Prize for Literature; Tumarkin wins Best Writing Award
15 November 2018
Children's author and illustrator Alison Lester has won the 2018 Melbourne Prize for Literature, presented every three years to a Victorian author ‘whose body of published work has made an...
UWAP announces 2019 Dorothy Hewett Award shortlist
15 November 2018
UWA Publishing has announced the shortlist for the 2019 Dorothy Hewett Award for an unpublished manuscript. The shortlisted authors and their works are: Angela Rockel for ‘Rogue Intensities’, a memoir...
Ventura sells ‘A Superior Spectre’ to the UK
14 November 2018
Ventura Press has sold UK rights to Angela Meyer’s debut novel A Superior Spectre to Scottish publisher Saraband. Publisher Sara Hunt acquired rights at this year’s Frankfurt Book Fair via UK-based agency Abner...
A&U sells ‘The Mummy Bloggers’ to UK, Europe, India in two-book deal
14 November 2018
Allen & Unwin (A&U) has sold English-language rights in the UK, Europe and India to The Mummy Bloggers (Holly Wainwright) to Legend Press in a two-book deal. A Sydney-based journalist...
Leading Edge to hold 2019 conference in Adelaide
14 November 2018
Leading Edge Books (LEB) will hold its annual conference on 17-19 March at the Hilton Adelaide in South Australia. With the theme ‘making connections’, the conference program will incorporate the...
