Gardiner’s ‘Goddess’ optioned for screen
25 March 2021
Kelly Gardiner’s 2014 historical novel Goddess (HarperCollins) has been optioned for the screen by Deux Dames Entertainment and Black Magic, according to the Hollywood Reporter. Deux Dames Entertainment was founded...
Ultimo acquires latest Chandran novel
25 March 2021
Ultimo Press has acquired ANZ rights to Shankari Chandran's third novel Chai Time at Cinnamon Gardens, via Tara Wynne at Curtis Brown. Chandran's novel is set in a nursing home...
Stella Prize 2021 shortlist announced
25 March 2021
The shortlist for the 2021 Stella Prize, worth $50,000, has been announced. The six shortlisted books are: Fathoms: The world in the whale (Rebecca Giggs, Scribe) Revenge: Murder in Three Parts (S...
Australians comprise majority of Walter Scott Prize shortlist
24 March 2021
Three out of the five books shortlisted for the £25,000 (A$44,900) Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction are by Australian authors. The five shortlisted novels are: The Tolstoy Estate (Steven Conte,...
NSW Premier’s Literary Awards 2021 shortlists announced
24 March 2021
The shortlists for the 2020 NSW Premier’s Literary Awards have been announced. The shortlisted titles in each category are: Christina Stead Prize for Fiction ($40,000) A Room Made of Leaves (Kate...
ARA Historical Novel Prize adds children and young adult category, prize money totals $100,000
24 March 2021
The Historical Novel Society of Australasia (HNSA), in partnership with building and infrastructure services provider ARA Group, has announced that the ARA Historical Novel Prize will incorporate a category for...
‘Cold Enough for Snow’ sells to multiple territories
23 March 2021
Giramondo has sold rights to Jessica Au's Novel Prize–winning book Cold Enough for Snow in multiple territories. German rights were sold to Suhrkamp by Kathrin Scheel at This Book Travels after...
‘The Dictionary of Lost Words’ wins 2021 Indie Book of the Year
23 March 2021
Pip Williams's debut novel The Dictionary of Lost Words (Affirm) has been named Book of the Year at the 2021 Indie Book Awards, presented by Leading Edge Books. The winning...
Inaugural Poetry Month set for August
22 March 2021
Red Room Poetry will present the inaugural Poetry Month in August this year. The program will include daily poetic commissions by high-profile poets, a poetry-meets-songwriting competition, an international First Nations...
Push for EBA at Readings
22 March 2021
The Retail and Fast Food Workers Union, representing staff at the Readings bookselling chain in Melbourne requesting an Enterprise Bargaining Agreement (EBA), has approached the company to open negotiations for...
Imlah leaves Pan Macmillan
22 March 2021
Picador publisher Mathilda Imlah has left the role to move to Melbourne. Imlah was promoted from commissioning editor at Pan Macmillan to publisher of the Picador imprint in 2017. Before...
Dunedin Writers and Readers Festival program announced
19 March 2021
The program for the Dunedin Writers and Readers Festival, which runs from 6–9 May, has been announced. The program features almost 60 local authors and artists speaking at more than...
Brisbane Writers Festival 2021 program announced
19 March 2021
The program for the Brisbane Writers Festival (BWF), which will this year run from Friday 7 May to Sunday, 9 May, has been announced. ‘Starting this year, the First Word...
Hachette Aotearoa New Zealand name change
19 March 2021
Hachette New Zealand has announced its name change to Hachette Aotearoa New Zealand. ‘Hachette Aotearoa New Zealand acknowledges the whakapapa of the country we live in and the groundswell of...
Papathanasiou debut novel sells to MacLehose Press
18 March 2021
Transit Lounge has sold world English-language rights (ex North America/ANZ) to Peter Papathanasiou's forthcoming debut novel The Stoning to Katharina Bielenberg at MacLehose Press/Quercus, in a deal brokered by Martin...
Varuna announces new fellowships for writers with disability
18 March 2021
Varuna, the National Writers' House in Katoomba, NSW has partnered with NSW’s peak arts and disability organisation Accessible Arts to deliver a new fellowship program for 12 NSW writers with...
Scribd launches in Australia
17 March 2021
US-based reading subscription service Scribd has launched in Australia. The platform, which charges $13.99 per month for unlimited access, offers access to two million ebooks and over a million audiobook...
Text signs Sheppard in two-book deal
17 March 2021
Text Publishing has acquired world rights to The Brink, the second YA novel by Holden Sheppard, in a two-book deal via Gaby Naher of Left Bank Literary Agency. The Brink follows a...
Scribner acquires Hooper’s ‘Bedtime Story’
17 March 2021
Simon & Schuster Australia’s Scribner imprint has acquired ANZ rights to Bedtime Story, a new work of nonfiction by Chloe Hooper, from Andrew Wylie at The Wylie Agency. When her...
IPEd conference goes online, keynote speakers announced
16 March 2021
The 10th Institute of Professional Editors (IPEd) conference, originally scheduled to take place in Tasmania in late June, will now be an online event. The organisation made the decision to...
Madden to deliver BookUp keynote
16 March 2021
Social researcher Claire Madden will deliver a presentation on future Australian demographic trends as the keynote at the Australian Publisher’s Association’s BookUp conference, which will run online and in-person in...
Vucic awarded 2021 Kat Muscat Fellowship
15 March 2021
Dženana Vucic, a Bosnian-Australian writer, editor, critic and 2020 Wheeler Centre Hot Desk Fellow, is the recipient of the 2021 Kat Muscat Fellowship, which ‘offers support and development to a...
Transit Lounge acquires debut novel ‘The Signal Line’
15 March 2021
Transit Lounge has acquired world rights to The Signal Line, the debut novel by Tasmanian writer Brendan Colley, via Martin Shaw at Shaw Literary. Transit Lounge publisher Barry Scott said...
Penguin Literary Prize 2021 shortlist announced
12 March 2021
Penguin Random House (PRH) Australia has announced the shortlist for the 2021 Penguin Literary Prize, worth $20,000. The shortlisted writers are: Jane Carrick, for ‘So Far No Father’ Alicia Carter, for ‘Songs...
Wheeler Centre to receive federal Covid funding
12 March 2021
The Wheeler Centre is among four arts organisations who will receive funding under the second batch of the federal government’s $35 million Covid-19 Arts Sustainability Fund, designed to assist significant...
SWF 2021 program announced
12 March 2021
The program for the 2021 Sydney Writers’ Festival (SWF) program has been released. The festival, which runs from Monday, 26 April to Sunday, 2 May, will host 231 live events...
PRH acquires debut romantic comedy ‘The Matchmaker’
12 March 2021
Penguin Random House Australia (PRH) has acquired ANZ rights to The Matchmaker by debut Pakistani–Australian author Saman Shad via Tara Wynne at Curtis Brown. It is the first local adult...
AWW 2021 ‘more special than ever’; women dominate bestsellers
11 March 2021
Adelaide Writers' Week (AWW) wrapped up on Thursday, 4 March, having run since Saturday, 27 February. Director Jo Dyer told Books+Publishing that after being ‘the last literary festival to squeak...
Auckland Writers Festival program announced
11 March 2021
The program for the 2021 Auckland Writers Festival, which runs from 11–16 May, has been announced. In-person guests include fantasy writer Neil Gaiman and his partner, singer and author Amanda...
Ultimo acquires Moore-Gilbert memoir
11 March 2021
Ultimo Press has acquired world rights to Kylie Moore-Gilbert’s memoir, in a joint venture with James Erskine at Sports & Entertainment Ltd. Australian–British academic Moore-Gilbert was imprisoned for 804 days...
