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SLV responds to reports on cuts

State LIbrary Victoria Redmond Barry Reading Room Thursday, 27 November 2025
State Library Victoria (SLV) has responded to reports of changes to its services and staffing. On 21 November, the Age reported leaked details of cuts at SLV: “As outlined to...

Woollahra Digital Literary Award 2025 winners announced

Thursday, 27 November 2025
The winners of the 2025 Woollahra Digital Literary Awards have been announced. The winning works in each category are: Fiction ($2500) Nadia Mahjouri for The Miracle (published in Island Magazine) Nonfiction ($2500)...

A&U acquires Hardy’s memoir and novel

An image of Emma Hardy. Wednesday, 26 November 2025
Allen & Unwin (A&U) has acquired ANZ rights to Emma Hardy’s memoir Periodic Bitch and a planned novel, in a two-book deal brokered by Michaela McGuire at a4 Literary. According...

Ticket sales double at Readings’s A Day In Carlton 

'A Day in Carlton' logo, with blue lettering on orange background. Wednesday, 26 November 2025
Readings Bookshop’s annual A Day in Carlton festival (“actually a day and a bit,” said the organisers) was held in Melbourne from 13 to 15 November. Attracting 2800 attendees —...

A&U acquires accessible picture book

Nas Campanella and Eliza Hull in front of Richard Dunn's painting, Redbank Gorge, MacDonnell Ranges, c. 1936-37 (after Albert Namatjira), 2002-2010, from the Commonwealth Bank of Australia Collection. Copyright The Estate of Richard Dunn, courtesy Charles Nodrum Gallery. Photograph by Tim Harris, Red Antler Photography. Wednesday, 26 November 2025
Allen & Unwin (A&U) has acquired world rights to All the Ways I See, by Nas Campanella and Eliza Hull, in a deal brokered by Pippa Masson at Curtis Brown. Sophie...

Thom-Jones takes out top Scarlet Stiletto Award

Winner Sandra Thom-Jones (right) with prize presenter Dinuka McKenzie. Tuesday, 25 November 2025
Author Sandra Thom-Jones has won first prize in Sisters in Crime’s 32nd Scarlet Stiletto Awards for her short story “Der Hölle Rache”. Thom-Jones, who identifies as neurodivergent, said, “I’m still...

HarperCollins acquires new Swann novel

Photo of Leah Swann. Tuesday, 25 November 2025
HarperCollins has acquired ANZ rights to Leah Swann’s novel Later, Only Love Remains, in a deal brokered by Gaby Naher at the Naher Agency. Described by the publisher as a...

Transit Lounge acquires new Kenway novel

Photo of author Lisa Kenway. Tuesday, 25 November 2025
Transit Lounge has acquired world rights to East Coast Low, Lisa Kenway’s follow-up to All You Took from Me (also Transit Lounge, 2024). East Coast Low tells the story of...

Beveridge receives lifetime achievement award

A photo of Judith Beveridge. She stands in front of a bookshelf. Monday, 24 November 2025
Poet Judith Beveridge has been named one of this year’s recipients of Creative Australia Awards for Lifetime Achievement. Born in London in 1956, Beveridge moved to Sydney in 1960. Her...

ABC adapts “The Unbelieved” 

Photo of author 𝗩𝗶𝗸𝗸𝗶 𝗣𝗲𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗶𝘁𝗶𝘀. Monday, 24 November 2025
Production has commenced on Dustfall, a six-part ABC adaptation of Vikki Petraitis’s 2022 crime novel The Unbelieved (A&U). Allen & Unwin sold film/TV rights to The Unbelieved to UK-based Moonriver TV,...

Five Islands Poetry Prize shortlist announced 

Five Islands Press shortlisted books Monday, 24 November 2025
The shortlist for the 2024 to 2025 Five Islands Poetry Prize has been announced. Shortlisted titles are: Bathypelagia (Debbie Lim, Cordite) Portraits of Drowning (Madeleine Dale, UQP) The Infant Vine...

The Next Chapter 2026 recipients announced

An image of the 2026 Next Chapter recipients. Monday, 24 November 2025
The Wheeler Centre has announced the 2026 recipients of The Next Chapter fellowship program. The fellowships aim to encourage “voices who aren’t getting heard through conventional publishing channels”, according the...

UQP sells UK and Commonwealth rights to “Dead Ink”

A portrait of Jordan Prosser. Monday, 24 November 2025
University of Queensland Press (UQP) has sold UK and Commonwealth (excluding Canada and ANZ) rights to Jordan Prosser’s Blue Giant to Dead Ink Books. According to the publisher, Blue Giant...

NewSouth acquires Grant’s latest book

Photo of author Stan Grant in his tsudy. Monday, 24 November 2025
NewSouth Publishing has acquired world rights to author and broadcaster Stan Grant’s When Words Fail Us: Truth beyond time, in a deal brokered by Tara Wynne at Curtis Brown. The...

PRH acquires debut Crozier novel

Photo of Lily Crozier. Thursday, 20 November 2025
Penguin Random House Australia (PRH) has acquired ANZ rights to vampire romantasy Vow of Eternal Night by debut author and PRH marketing executive Lily Crozier. PRH rights manager Sarah McDuling...

Spiers Prize winners announced

A photo of Kate Pickard, Zahina Maghrabi, Rebeca Green, and Gail Spiers. Maghrabi and Green hold certificates up. Thursday, 20 November 2025
UWA Publishing (UWAP) has announced the winners of the inaugural Spiers Prize as Zahina Maghrabi for “The Girl, The Calico and The Soldier” (young adult) and Rebeca Green for “A...

IPEd appoints Macdonald as chair 

Thursday, 20 November 2025
The Institute of Professional Editors (IPEd) has appointed Catherine Macdonald as chair of the board following the 2025 AGM on 10 November. Macdonald has been on the committee of Editors...

James, Bradley win business book of the year award

Cover of "The Quick Start Guide to Investing". Wednesday, 19 November 2025
Glen James and Nick Bradley have won the 7th Australian Business Book Award for The Quick Start Guide to Investing (Wiley). Founders Michael Hanrahan and Andrew Griffiths announced James, Bradley...

Langton awarded inaugural Rechnitz Memorial Award

Photo of Marcia Langton in university quadrangle. Wednesday, 19 November 2025
The Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia has announced academic, author and activist Marcia Langton as the inaugural winner of the Rechnitz Memorial Award, which recognises “excellence in research...

Beale named 2026 NZSA President of Honour

Photo of Fleur Beale. Wednesday, 19 November 2025
The New Zealand Society of Authors Te Puni Kaituhi o Aotearoa (NZSA) has named children’s and YA author Fleur Beale this year’s NZSA President of Honour. The author of more...

HarperCollins acquires new Whiting novel

Photo of Frances Whiting with a pile of books. Wednesday, 19 November 2025
HarperCollins ANZ has acquired world rights to The Nocturnals, a new novel by journalist and author Frances Whiting. According to the publisher, The Nocturnals tells the story of a close-knit group from...

Metzenthen wins Children’s Peace Literature Award

Cover image of The Truth of It by David Metzenthen Tuesday, 18 November 2025
David Metzenthen’s The Truth of It (Ford Street) has won the 2025 Children’s Peace Literature Award, South Australian Psychologists for Peace (SAPP) has announced. The Truth of It, a middle-grade...

Record numbers at 2025 QLF 

Authors signing books at Queenscliffe festival. Tuesday, 18 November 2025
The 11th annual Queenscliffe Literary Festival (QLF), held in the seaside Victorian town from 17 to 26 October, attracted a record 4330 attendees – significantly more than the borough’s population...

Haddad, Walker win 2025 KYD Creative Nonfiction Essay Prize

A photo George Haddad and and a photot of Sarah Walker. Tuesday, 18 November 2025
Kill Your Darlings (KYD) has announced George Haddad and Sarah Walker as joint winners of the 2025 KYD Creative Nonfiction Essay Prize. “ وجبت wejbet”, Haddad's winning essay, is described by KYD as “anchored...

Atlantic acquires Cornish’s “The Missing Mother”

Photo of Mali Cornish. Tuesday, 18 November 2025
Atlantic Books Australia has acquired ANZ rights to Mali Cornish’s adult novel The Missing Mother in a deal brokered by Martin Shaw at Shaw Literary. The publisher describes The Missing...

Henderson wins 2025 Australian Fiction Prize

Photo of Troy Henderson. Tuesday, 18 November 2025
Troy Henderson has won the Australian Fiction Prize for his unpublished crime thriller River City. The novel follows the violent struggle of “warring factions, loose-cannon allies and a city on the brink”...

Duffy appointed as UQP director

Photo of Madonna Duffy. Tuesday, 18 November 2025
The University of Queensland has appointed Madonna Duffy as director of the University of Queensland Press (UQP), with her new role to commence on 1 December. Duffy joined UQP in...

Cunningham announced as 2026 Dahl fellow

A photo of Sophie Cunningham. Monday, 17 November 2025
The Board of Eucalypt Australia has announced Sophie Cunningham as a 2026 Dahl fellow for her manuscript “Eucalyptus: A story in twenty trees”. According to organisers, Cunningham’s work will investigate...

Wiley acquires Lishman’s next nonfiction title

A photo of Marny Lishman. She is wearing black and sits on a brown couch. A potted plant is in the background. Monday, 17 November 2025
Wiley has acquired world rights to self-help title Only You by Marny Lishman, via Simone Landes of TLS Talent. According to the publisher, Only You is designed for readers experiencing...