A&U acquires Lim middle-grade novel
Wednesday, 20 July 2022
Allen & Unwin (A&U) has acquired ANZ, Oceania and non-exclusive Asia rights to a new middle-grade novel by Rebecca Lim, Two Sparrowhawks in a Lonely Sky, via the Annabel Barker...
Affirm acquires two Robinson novels
Wednesday, 20 July 2022
Affirm Press has acquired world rights to two new novels by Alice Robinson. The first title, Blueshifts, is a literary/speculative fiction novel set both 100 years into the future and...
T S Bookshop urges board to rethink closure
Wednesday, 20 July 2022
Customers and supporters of the T S Bookshop in Melbourne have launched a Change.org petition in response to the planned closure of the store by the board of the Theosophical...
Summers leaves Hardie Grant
Wednesday, 20 July 2022
Hardie Grant Books publisher Arwen Summers has left the role after five years at the company. Summers said in a LinkedIn post she was 'in need of major change' after two...
FedEx to manage all UBD new releases
Wednesday, 13 July 2022
United Book Distrbutors (UBD) has announced that from next month all its new release deliveries will be managed by FedEx (TNT). The distributor said that, after assessing its freight model...
McHardy leaves Booktopia
Wednesday, 13 July 2022
Franscois McHardy has left his position as head of publishing at Booktopia after three years in the role, and will be lecturing next semester in the Master of Publishing course...
Byron Writers Festival full 2022 program announced
Wednesday, 13 July 2022
Byron Writers Festival, Australia’s largest regional writers festival, has announced the full line-up for its 2022 event, which runs 26–28 August. After a two-year hiatus due to Covid, the festival...
Royal Societies of ANZ partner on $10,000 writing award
Wednesday, 6 July 2022
The Royal Societies of Australia and New Zealand Te Apārangi have announced a new partnership with the Creative Force Foundation, co-founded by author and environmentalist Bruce Piasecki. Under the partnership,...
Hachette acquires Dunn debut novel
Wednesday, 6 July 2022
Hachette Australia has acquired world rights to Dirt Poor Islanders, the debut novel by Winnie Dunn. Dirt Poor Islanders explores growing up in a blended Tongan family in Western Sydney...
Wheeler Centre’s Next Chapter program funding ends
Wednesday, 29 June 2022
The Wheeler Centre (TWC) has announced its Next Chapter program will not open for applications in 2022, following the end of the organisation’s partnership with the Aesop Foundation, which had...
A&U announces mentorship program with Voices from the Intersection
Wednesday, 29 June 2022
Allen & Unwin (A&U) has partnered with Voices from the Intersection (Voices) to offer a mentorship opportunity for emerging children’s and YA Own Voices writers and illustrators. Up to two...
Pasaribu wins $30k Patricia Kailis International Writing Fellowship
Wednesday, 29 June 2022
Norman Erikson Pasaribu is the winner of the inaugural Patricia Kailis International Writing Fellowship, worth $30,000. Pasaribu, a writer and poet from Indonesia, will undertake a three-month residency at the...
Williams wins 2022 Text Prize; Matthews receives Steph Bowe Mentorship
Wednesday, 22 June 2022
Megan Williams is the winner of the $10,000 Text Prize for her debut YA manuscript 'Let’s Never Speak of This Again'. According to Text, Williams' debut novel is a celebration...
Australia Council latest funding announced
Wednesday, 22 June 2022
The Australia Council has announced its latest round of funding, with $11.9 million going to 283 creative projects and activities. 'This investment will support diverse, impactful projects for the benefit...
PRH acquires Madabushi debut ‘The Days Toppled Over’
Wednesday, 22 June 2022
Penguin Random House Australia (PRH) has acquired ANZ rights to The Days Toppled Over, the debut novel by Vidya Madabushi, in 'a competitive auction' managed by Rach Crawford at Wolf...
Scribble, Think+DO Tank Foundation announce inaugural Mirror Mentorship Program winners
Thursday, 16 June 2022
Scribe children's imprint Scribble and the Think+DO Tank Foundation have announced the winners of the inaugural Mirror Mentorship Program, which provides support and mentoring 'with the aim of making new...
Opus acquisition of Ovato book printing unopposed by ACCC
Thursday, 16 June 2022
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has stated that it does not oppose the acquisition of Ovato Book Printing (formerly Griffin Press) by Opus Group, owner of McPherson's. The...
Text Prize 2022 shortlist announced
Wednesday, 8 June 2022
The shortlist for the Text Prize for Young Adult and Children’s Writing, worth $10,000, has been announced. The shortlisted manuscripts are: ‘Bellamy Jones and the Lost Treeheart’ by Emily Beck...
Neilma Sidney Travel Fund 2022 recipients announced
Wednesday, 8 June 2022
Writers Victoria has announced the seventh round of recipients for the Neilma Sidney Literary Travel Fund, which has opened up to international travel again after pandemic-related travel restrictions in 2021....
black&write! fellowships 2022 recipients announced
Wednesday, 1 June 2022
The 2022 black&write! fellowships for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander writers have been awarded to Queensland Elder Herbert Wharton and Lay Maloney from Victoria. Each fellowship is worth $10,000 and...
BookUp full 2022 program announced
Wednesday, 1 June 2022
The Australian Publishers Association (APA) has released the full program for the one-day BookUp publishing conference, to be held in Sydney next Thursday, 9 June, ahead of the Australian Book...
Grant, Hathorn to be inducted into ABIA Hall of Fame; business, Rising Star shortlists announced
Tuesday, 31 May 2022
Hardie Grant CEO Sandy Grant and children's author Libby Hathorn will be inducted into the Australian Book Industry Awards (ABIA) Hall of Fame at the 2022 ABIA awards ceremony on...
Mason wins fiction book of the year at 2022 British Book Awards
Wednesday, 25 May 2022
Sydney-based Aotearoa New Zealand writer Meg Mason has won the 2022 British Book Award for fiction book of the year for her second novel Sorrow and Bliss (Fourth Estate). The...
Chief Minister’s NT Book Awards 2022 shortlists announced
Wednesday, 25 May 2022
The shortlists for the 2022 Chief Minister’s NT Book Awards, which celebrate excellence in writing across the Northern Territory, have been announced. The shortlisted titles in each category are: Fiction...
Lui acquires first three books for Joan imprint
Wednesday, 25 May 2022
Allen & Unwin (A&U) has announced the first three titles to be published under its new Nakkiah Lui-curated Joan imprint, acquiring ANZ rights to debuts by Brooke Boney, Sarah Firth...
SWF: 2022 festival wraps up with change of government
Wednesday, 25 May 2022
This year's Sydney Writers Festival (SWF), the final for outgoing artistic director Michael Williams, has all but wrapped up, having run from 16 to 22 May. Two events, The SWF...
Solomun to wind up The Rights Hive
Wednesday, 25 May 2022
Natasha Solomun, who founded The Rights Hive agency in 2017, has announced the business will cease operating at the end of June. Solumun, who has worked in international rights for...
BWF 2022: ‘Big, diverse festival that attracted a diverse audience’
Wednesday, 18 May 2022
Brisbane Writers Festival (BWF) wrapped up last week, having run 3–8 May, with an online festival running 10–14 May. BWF CEO Sarah Runcie told Books+Publishing 'particular standouts' were the festival's...
Prize money increase for Spark Prize
Wednesday, 18 May 2022
Hardie Grant Books and RMIT Writing and Publishing have announced the prize money for the Spark Prize has increased from $2000 to $5000. The biennial developmental prize for narrative nonfiction,...
Vivas replaces Byng at HarperCollins
Wednesday, 18 May 2022
HarperCollins Australia has announced the appointment of Ana Vivas as its new head of Australian children's publishing. Currently children's publisher at Hardie Grant, Vivas replaces Chren Byng, who was appointed...




