Adelaide Writers’ Week cancelled
Wednesday, 14 January 2026
The outgoing Adelaide Festival board announced yesterday that Adelaide Writers’ Week (AWW) will not be held this year. The decision follows the withdrawal of more than 100 writers from the...
HarperCollins acquires Mason’s next novel
Wednesday, 14 January 2026
HarperCollins has acquired ANZ rights to Sophie, Standing There by Meg Mason, via a deal brokered by Felicity Blunt at Curtis Brown. Sophie, Standing There is a novel about “love, loneliness...
Silvey charged over child exploitation material
Wednesday, 14 January 2026
Author Craig Silvey has appeared in court on charges of possessing and distributing child exploitation material, reported the ABC yesterday. Silvey was charged by police after a search of his...
Indie Book Awards 2026 shortlists announced
Wednesday, 14 January 2026
The shortlists for the 2026 Indie Book Awards have been announced. Chosen from the longlist announced in December, the shortlisted titles in each category are: Fiction Mad Mabel (Sally Hepworth, Macmillan)...
Canelo acquires Puckboys MM romance series
Wednesday, 14 January 2026
UK publisher Canelo has acquired world English print rights to the Puckboys series by Eden Finley and Saxon James, in a 10-book deal between Canelo editorial director Emily Bedford and...
S&S ANZ appoints Curry as MD
Wednesday, 10 December 2025
Simon & Schuster Australia and New Zealand (S&S ANZ) has named Jane Curry as its new managing director, after the departure of Dan Ruffino. UK-born Curry, currently managing director of...
UQP acquires Wyld’s third novel
Wednesday, 10 December 2025
University of Queensland Press (UQP) has acquired world rights to KA Ren Wyld’s new novel, Whichway Shimmering Dust. This multi-generational novel follows an Aboriginal girl and a sentient willy-willy who...
Arts Queensland Poetry Award winners announced
Wednesday, 10 December 2025
The Queensland Writers Centre (QWC) has announced the winners of this year’s Arts Queensland Poetry Awards. The winners in each category are: Oodgeroo Noonuccal Prize for Indigenous Poetry Winner ($3500...
A&U acquires Silvey and Acton’s latest Runt story
Wednesday, 10 December 2025
Allen & Unwin (A&U) has acquired ANZ rights to Craig Silvey and Sara Acton’s Annie and Runt from Lesley Thorne at Aitken Alexander Associates and Margaret Connolly at Margaret Connolly &...
ANU’s Centre for Biography, National Dictionary Centre saved
Wednesday, 10 December 2025
A philanthropic donation will fund the National Centre for Biography (NCB) and the Australian National Dictionary Centre (ANDC) for two years, amid a round of staff cuts by the Australian...
UWAP acquires McWilliams’s “Bandoola”
Monday, 8 December 2025
UWA Publishing (UWAP) has acquired world rights to Bandoola, a middle-grade historical fiction novel by Beverley McWilliams, following an Australian Society of Authors’ Virtual Literary Speed Dating event in March...
Meerkat acquires Bacon’s first Sauútiverse novel
Wednesday, 3 December 2025
Meerkat Press has acquired African-Australian author and editor Eugen Bacon’s Crimson in Quietus, the first novel set in the speculative Afrocentric Sauútiverse. Crimson in Quietus spans the five-planet Sauútiverse, which...
A&U acquires Wilkinson’s new YA novel
Wednesday, 3 December 2025
Allen & Unwin (A&U) has acquired ANZ rights to YA novel Lavender and Hemlock by Lili Wilkinson, in a deal negotiated by Katelyn Detweiler and Sam Farkas at Jill Grinberg...
Grattan releases PM summer reading list
Wednesday, 3 December 2025
Melbourne-based think tank Grattan Institute has announced its 2025 Summer Reading List for the Prime Minister. Grattan Institute selects five books each year which it recommends to the prime minister,...
A&U acquires Hardy’s memoir and novel
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
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
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...
James, Bradley win business book of the year award
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
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
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
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...
SLQ fellowship, medal recipients announced
Wednesday, 12 November 2025
State Library of Queensland (SLQ) has announced the 2026 recipients of 6 fellowships, worth $105,000, along with 2 John Oxley Library Medals. The recipients in each category are: John Oxley...
New First Nations metadata standards published
Wednesday, 12 November 2025
The Australian Publishers Association (APA) and Australian publishing staff have contributed to new international metadata standards designed to make First Nations books and publishing more consistently labelled and more easily...
Wiley acquires O’Connell’s “Unscript”
Wednesday, 12 November 2025
Wiley has acquired world rights to broadcaster Christian O’Connell’s personal development book Unscript. Unscript strips away “the ghost scripts that keep us disconnected, through a mix of vibrant storytelling, authentic...
Riveted acquires Gordon’s latest children’s book
Wednesday, 12 November 2025
Riveted Press has acquired world rights to The Midlands by Kate Gordon, in a deal brokered by Alex Adsett Literary. The Midlands takes place during the First World War as 11-year-old Lorna Whittle and her 4...
Affirm acquires Keegan’s second novel
Wednesday, 12 November 2025
Affirm Press has acquired world rights to Lauren Keegan’s second novel, The Woman in the Seal Skin. Set on a Scottish island, the novel follows Malie, who grew up hearing...
NewSouth acquires Kale’s debut
Wednesday, 12 November 2025
NewSouth Publishing has acquired world rights to Foreign Return: On Art and Inhabitation, the debut literary nonfiction work by writer and cultural critic Neha Kale. Kale migrated from India to...
Garner wins Baillie Gifford
Wednesday, 5 November 2025
In the UK, author Helen Garner has won the £50,000 (A$100,700) Baillie Gifford Prize for Nonfiction for How to End a Story: Collected Diaries (Text). The winning title was described...
A&U acquires Ham’s first nonfiction book
Wednesday, 5 November 2025
Allen & Unwin has acquired world rights to Look After Your Feet by Rosalie Ham, via literary agency Jenny Darling and Associates. In this first nonfiction book, the author of...
HarperCollins acquires Bailey memoir
Wednesday, 5 November 2025
HarperCollins has acquired world rights to Flamingos Aren’t Born Pink, a memoir by Robin Bailey. Described by the publisher as “a moving and uplifting memoir on heartbreak, grief and finding...
