Local news | Books+Publishing

Inside the Australian and New Zealand book industry

Local news >

Hughes to leave Affirm, Blake and Besliev appointed publishing directors

Wednesday, 30 October 2024
Simon & Schuster Australia (S&S) has announced Affirm Press publishing director Martin Hughes will step away from the role at the end of the year. In a statement, S&S said...

HG Explore acquires Wilson’s new book

Wednesday, 30 October 2024
Hardie Grant has acquired world rights to Sarah Wilson’s new book, Walk the World Bigger, under its Hardie Grant Explore imprint. In Walk the World Bigger, Wilson brings together ‘the...

QBD 2024 Book of the Year winners announced

Wednesday, 30 October 2024
QBD has announced the winners of the chain's 2024 Book of the Year. The winning titles are: Fiction The Ledge (Christian White, Affirm) Nonfiction The Voice Inside (John Farnham with...

Left Bank Literary to dissolve

Wednesday, 30 October 2024
Left Bank Literary has announced that the agency will dissolve as of 1 December. ‘After five wonderful years, Gaby Naher and Grace Heifetz have decided to explore new opportunities outside...

YABBA Awards 2024 winners announced

Tuesday, 29 October 2024
The winners of the 2024 YABBA (Young Australians Best Book Awards) have been announced. Winning titles and honour books in each category are: Picture storybook Macca the Alpaca (Matt Cosgrove,...

EIBF report: percentage of Australians purchasing books ‘slightly below’ average

Tuesday, 29 October 2024
A study on consumer behaviour by the European and International Booksellers Federation (EIBF) has included Australia among several territories surveyed for the report. Commissioned through EIBF’s RISE Bookselling (‘Resilience, Innovation...

Pan Macmillan to move distribution to TDLC

Monday, 28 October 2024
Pan Macmillan ANZ has announced it will move its Australian and Aotearoa New Zealand distribution from Alliance Distribution Services (ADS) to The Distribution and Logistics Company (TDLC) in July 2025....

Grundy to manage new Australia Institute imprint

Monday, 28 October 2024
The Australia Institute has announced it will launch its own publishing imprint. Australia Institute Press will be overseen by managing editor Alice Grundy, whose previous trade publishing experience includes working...

‘Personal Score’ longlisted for Andrew Carnegie Medal

Monday, 28 October 2024
Personal Score: Sport, Culture, Identity by local author Ellen van Neerven (UQP) is among the titles longlisted for the American Library Association’s (ALA) Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence in Fiction...

Bancroft awarded 2024 Lady Cutler Award

Monday, 28 October 2024
Bronwyn Bancroft is the recipient of the 2024 Lady Cutler Award, a biennial award presented by the New South Wales branch of the Children’s Book Council of Australia (CBCA) for distinguished...

City of Fremantle Hungerford Award 2024 winner announced

Friday, 25 October 2024
Yirga Gelaw Woldeyes has won the 2024 City of Fremantle Hungerford Award for his manuscript የተስፋ ፈተና / Trials of Hope. The author receives $15,000 in prize money, a publishing contract with Fremantle...

Pi-O wins 2024 Patrick White Literary Award

Friday, 25 October 2024
Victorian-based poet, publisher and editor π.ο. (Pi-O) has won the $20,000 Patrick White Literary Award. Born in Greece in 1951, π.ο. immigrated with his family in 1954 to Australia, where they...

Walkley Book Award 2024 longlist announced

Thursday, 24 October 2024
The Walkley Foundation has announced the finalists for the 69th annual Walkley Awards for Excellence in Journalism. The works longlisted for the Walkley Book Award are: Bright Shining (Julia Baird, Fourth...

UQP acquires Byres mystery novel

Thursday, 24 October 2024
UQP has acquired world rights to Dead Ends, a ‘darkly funny and sexy’ mystery novel by Samantha Byres, via literary agent Jane Novak. Dead Ends begins as ‘all-round chaos merchant...

Lucashenko, McWilliams win 2024 ARA Historical Novel Prize

Wednesday, 23 October 2024
Melissa Lucashenko has won the $100,000 ARA Historical Novel Prize in the adult category for Edenglassie (UQP), while Beverley McWilliams has won the $30,000 children and young adult (CYA) category...

Whitley Awards 2024 winners announced

Wednesday, 23 October 2024
Royal Zoological Society of NSW has announced the winners of the 2024 Whitley Awards, presented for outstanding publications that profile the unique wildlife of the Australasian region. The Whitley Medal,...

Australian, Aotearoa New Zealand titles on 2024 White Ravens list

Wednesday, 23 October 2024
Several books by Australian and Aotearoa New Zealand authors have been included in the 2024 White Ravens list for international children’s and youth literature. Among the works listed in 2024...

HarperCollins acquires O’Flynn romantasy series at auction

Wednesday, 23 October 2024
HarperCollins Australia has acquired ANZ rights to two books in The Tides of Ever series by Olivia O’Flynn, via Samuel Bernard of Zeitgeist Agency in a ‘heated auction across several...

Bolinda, A&U acquire new Heath crime series

Wednesday, 23 October 2024
Allen & Unwin and Bolinda Audio have acquired print and audio book rights, respectively, to two titles in a new crime series by Jack Heath. At Bolinda, audio rights and...

Festivals: Stella, Australian Short Story Festival

Wednesday, 23 October 2024
Dates and details for two forthcoming small festivals have been announced. Stella Day Out which took place in Sydney on 19 October, will run in Ballarat on 16 November and...

Readings Prize 2024 winners announced

Tuesday, 22 October 2024
Readings has announced the winners of the 2024 Readings Prize in each category and the winner of the Gab Williams Prize. The winning titles are: New Australian Fiction Prize Thanks...

Affirm signs Douglas’s ‘Cosy Vegan’ cookbook

Tuesday, 22 October 2024
Affirm Press has acquired world rights to the cookbook Cosy Vegan by Liz Douglas. Affirm described the book as ‘the ultimate kitchen companion for those wanting to explore a plant-based lifestyle,...

Nix wins best novel at 2024 Ditmar Awards

Tuesday, 22 October 2024
The winners of the 2024 Ditmar Awards were announced on 7 October, as part of the Australian national science fiction convention ‘Conflux 18’ in Canberra. The winning works include: Best novel The...

Kitching, Pickens awarded in Laurel Prize

Tuesday, 22 October 2024
Aotearoa New Zealand poets Megan Kitching and Robyn Maree Pickens are among prize recipients for the annual UK nature and environmental poetry award, the Laurel Prize. The 2024 winners are:...

Arts and Disability Initiative funds literature recipients

Tuesday, 22 October 2024
Four literature recipients are among Creative Australia’s Arts and Disability Initiative, which supports 10 projects overall, with funding totalling $300,000. The successful recipients related to writing and illustration are: Anthony...