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Wyld among winners of 2014 EU Prize for Literature

Thursday, 9 October 2014
Australian born, UK-based author Evie Wyld has won the 2014 European Union Prize for Literature, along with 12 other authors from European countries.Established in 2009 by the European Commission in...

Waverley Library Award 2014 shortlist announced

Thursday, 9 October 2014
The shortlist for the 2014 Waverley Library Award for Literature, known as ‘the Nib’, has been announced.The shortlisted titles are: Let the Land Speak: A History of Australia—How the Land...

‘The Reef’ wins 2014 CHASS Australia Book Prize

Thursday, 9 October 2014
Iain McCalman’s The Reef: A Passionate History (Penguin) has won the 2014 Council for the Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences (CHASS) Australia Book Prize.The winner was announced at the CHASS...

TITLE closes Melbourne CBD store 

Wednesday, 8 October 2014
Australian independent music, books and film retailer TITLE Store closed its Melbourne CBD store on 4 October.TITLE’s marketing and communications manager David Boyce told Books+Publishing that stock from the Hardware...

Tangled Garden Bookshop reopens as Murray River Books 

Wednesday, 8 October 2014
Tangled Garden Bookshop in Echuca, Victoria, has closed its bricks-and-mortar store and reopened as the online store Murray River Books.Co-owner Peter Williams told Books+Publishing that he and his partner made the ‘sensible business...

RiP Morris Lurie 

Wednesday, 8 October 2014
Australian author Morris Lurie has died, aged 75. Lurie was the author of numerous books, short stories, essays and plays. He was well known for his comic novels, including Rappaport (Hodder), Rappaport’s Revenge...

RiP Alex MacLeod 

Wednesday, 8 October 2014
Alex MacLeod, long-time academic sales representative for Cassell, Book & Film Services and Harper Educational, has diedVictorian bookseller Michael Shaw writes:‘Although Alex chose to pack away his briefcase and sales...

Quote of the week

Wednesday, 8 October 2014
‘The general mood was extremely positive with everyone excited about the past year’s results and the upcoming Christmas trading period’—Collins Booksellers financial controller Will Smith reports on the bookseller’s national...

Bestsellers this week

Monday, 6 October 2014
Former Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard’s memoir My Story (Knopf) is this week’s highest new entry, debuting in second place on the bestsellers chart. It’s behind The 52-Storey Treehouse (Andy Griffiths &...

Over 28,000 new titles published in Australia in 2013 

Monday, 6 October 2014
In 2013, 28,234 new titles were produced in Australia, according to ISBN records added to Bowker’s Books in Print database. This is a significant increase on 2012, when 21,086 new titles were published....

Robinsons to open Highpoint store in November 

Monday, 6 October 2014
Independent bookselling chain Robinsons Bookshop will open a new store at Highpoint Shopping Centre in Melbourne in early November. Co-owner Susanne Horman told Books+Publishing that the store will have a temporary fitout for Christmas...

MUP memoir subject of legal action

Friday, 3 October 2014
A forthcoming memoir from the former executive producer of TV breakfast show ‘Sunrise’ is the subject of legal action.Publisher MUP said in a statement that the Seven Network has issued...

Kenneally receives Irish Presidential Distinguished Service Award

Friday, 3 October 2014
Irish-Australian author Thomas Keneally has been presented with one of Ireland’s 2014 Presidential Distinguished Service Awards. The awards, which span numerous categories, including the arts, recognise the contribution of the Irish...

NZ-Taiwan graphic novel exchange and collaboration

Friday, 3 October 2014
Six graphic novelists and comic artists will participate in a residential exchange between Taiwan and New Zealand as part of a program developed between the Publishers Association of New Zealand...

New ‘Books+Publishing Junior’ reviews out now

Friday, 3 October 2014
Books+Publishing’s latest Junior newsletter contains 11 reviews of children’s and YA books publishing in January to March. Included is a five-star review of A Small Madness by Dianne Touchell (A&U,...

Picador acquires debut by award-winning screenwriter

Thursday, 2 October 2014
Pan Macmillan imprint Picador has announced it has acquired local rights to a debut novel by award-winning Australian screenwriter Shirley Barrett.Barrett’s scripts include Love Serenade and South Solitary. She has...

NSW Prem’s adds award in 2015

Thursday, 2 October 2014
The New South Wales Premier’s Literary Awards will include an additional award in 2015. ‘For the first time, The Premier’s Translation Prize includes the Multicultural NSW Early Career Translator Prize,’...

Quote of the week

Wednesday, 1 October 2014
‘It will help reach younger audiences with an expanded children’s and young adult program, live stream technology connecting the event to regional locations, and a new online resource of recorded...

Bestsellers this week

Monday, 29 September 2014
There are few changes to this week’s bestsellers chart with familiar titles taking the top spots. The 52-Storey Treehouse (Andy Griffiths & Terry Denton, Pan) is in first place for the fourth week running, ahead of...

Bloomsbury Spark acquires first Australian novel

Monday, 29 September 2014
Bloomsbury Australia has acquired the first novel by an Australian to be published under its ebook-only Bloomsbury Spark imprint. Vanessa Barnevald’s young adult novel This is Your Afterlife is the...

Sparrow to leave ‘Overland’

Monday, 29 September 2014
Literary journal Overland has announced that editor Jeff Sparrow will leave the role at the end of 2014. As previously reported by Books+Publishing, Sparrow was recently awarded a Sidney Myer...

City of Sydney increases SWF sponsorship

Monday, 29 September 2014
The City of Sydney has increased its funding to the Sydney Writers’ Festival.The city will provide $360,000 in cash and $110,000 in in-kind support each year for the next three years....

‘Overland’ Story Wine Prize winner announced

Friday, 26 September 2014
The winner of Overland’s inaugural Story Wine Prize has been announced. ‘That inward eye’ by Leah Swann has won the $3000 prize and will be published on the label of a Story...

New name for Tasmania’s Ten Days on the Island festival

Friday, 26 September 2014
Tasmania’s biennial arts festival Ten Days on the Island has been renamed the Tasmanian International Arts Festival.Artistic director David Malacari told the ABC that the new name better describes the...