Inside the Australian and New Zealand book industry

Image. Advertisement:

Local news >

Kembrey wins ABA NSW Rep of the Year 

Thursday, 21 November 2013
NewSouth Books sales manager Jane Kembrey has won the Australian Booksellers Association (ABA) NSW Rep of the Year Award. The award was announced at the ABA NSW Christmas Party in...

Haigh wins Waverley Library Award 2013

Wednesday, 20 November 2013
Gideon Haigh has won the 2013 Waverley Library Award for Literature, known as the ‘Nib’, for his book On Warne (Hamish Hamilton). Haigh was presented with the award, worth $20,000,...

Pages & Pages relaunches Kindle amnesty with Kobo devices 

Wednesday, 20 November 2013
Sydney independent bookseller Pages & Pages Booksellers has relaunched its ‘Kindle amnesty’ with Kobo devices, expanding the offer from monthly to daily and offering $50 Kobo gift vouchers to customers who take...

Quote of the week 

Wednesday, 20 November 2013
‘It’s not wonderful but it’s certainly not dead’—RMIT University’s Michael Webster reports on the state of the Australian book trade at the Small Press Network’s Independent Publishing Conference.

Rights round-up 

Wednesday, 20 November 2013
Sales Fiction—Random House has sold German rights to Losing Kate (Kylie Kaden). Nonfiction—Exisle has sold North American rights to Younger Skin in 28 Days (Karen Fischer); Latvian rights to The Healthy...

New OzCo grants for editors, publishers of mid-list authors

Tuesday, 19 November 2013
The Australia Council for the Arts has announced new grants for Australian editors and for Australian publishers of mid-list authors. The editorial professional development and cultural leadership grants will assist editors...

Grattan Institute releases PM summer reading list

Tuesday, 19 November 2013
Australian public policy think tank Grattan Institute has released its annual summer reading list for the Prime Minister. The list features ‘books and articles that the Prime Minister, or any...

RiP Barbara Park 

Tuesday, 19 November 2013
American children’s book author Barbara Park has died, aged 66. Park, who had a long battle with ovarian cancer, was the author of more than 50 books for young readers, and...

RiP Doris Lessing 

Monday, 18 November 2013
British author and Nobel prize winner Doris Lessing has died, aged 94. Lessing was the author of more than 50 novels, including The Grass is Singing (1950), The Golden Notebook...

Bestsellers this week 

Monday, 18 November 2013
Jeff Kinney’s latest book, Hard Luck: Diary of a Wimpy Kid (Puffin), has debuted at number one on this week’s bestsellers chart. After a week at number one, Ricky Ponting’s...

Peter Carnavas books to be adapted as school stage plays 

Friday, 15 November 2013
Two picture books by Queensland author and illustrator Peter Carnavas will be adapted for the stage in 2014.   With the support of Artslink Queensland, Carnavas’ books Sarah’s Heavy Heart and Last Tree...

Catton wins Governor General’s Literary Award in Canada 

Thursday, 14 November 2013
New Zealand author Eleanor Catton has won the 2013 Governor General’s Literary Award for fiction (English language) in Canada for her Man Booker Prize-winning novel The Luminaries (Granta). Catton, who...

Optus launches ebookstore

Thursday, 14 November 2013
Australian telecommunications company Optus is now selling ebooks. The Optus ebookstore, which also sells audiobooks, was launched on 11 November. The store is powered by OverDrive, with ebooks available in EPUB...

Suzy Wilson named Queensland Local Hero of the Year

Thursday, 14 November 2013
Suzy Wilson, owner of Riverbend Books and founder of the Indigenous Literacy Foundation, has been named Queensland Local Hero of the Year in the 2014 Australian of the Year Awards....

Nicoll-Hatton wins 2013 Lady Cutler Award 

Wednesday, 13 November 2013
Primary teacher and literacy educator Vivienne Nicoll-Hatton is the winner of this year’s Lady Cutler Award for Distinguished Services to Children’s Literature, presented annually by the New South Wales branch...