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Rights round-up 

Tuesday, 22 September 2009
In rights news this week: SalesNonfiction--Murdoch Books has sold German rights to MoVida Rustica, 100 Discoveries (Frank Camorra and Richard Cornish) and My Grill (Peter Evans); Slovenian rights to marie...

In brief 

Tuesday, 22 September 2009
Albany hosts 10th Sprung writers festivalThe 10th annual Sprung Festival took place at the Vancouver Arts Centre in Albany, Western Australia from 17 to 20 September. Guests at the festival...

Bestsellers this week 

Tuesday, 22 September 2009
The Sydney Morning Herald Good Food Guide 2010 is number one in the Highest New Entries this week as Sydneysiders take to restaurants with gastronomical gusto. You can't keep Stephanie...

Forthcoming events 

Tuesday, 22 September 2009
Trade events coming up over the next week, as shown on our events calendar, include: New Zealand Post Mansfield Prize--festivities in France, 21-27 SeptemberGoteberg Book Fair, 24-27 SeptemberABA Spring Booksellers'...

RiP Cyril Jerram 

Tuesday, 22 September 2009
Cyril Jerram, founder of Inkata Press (now a division of Elsevier Australia) has died, aged 79. Guy Kingston-Bray of Elsevier Australia writes: 'Elsevier is saddened to learn of the passing...

RiP Catherine Gaskin 

Tuesday, 22 September 2009
Author Catherine Gaskin has died, aged 80. Her first book was This Other Eden, other titles included Dust in Sunlight, All Else is Folly and Daughter of the House.

On Tour 

Tuesday, 22 September 2009
Authors on tour from September to March 2010: September Jeb Brugmann, UQP, (Welcome to the Urban Revolution) Joris Luyendijk, Scribe (Fit to Print) Phillip Karl, Cadmos (Twisted Truths of Modern...

Most Mentioned: This week in ‘Media Extra’ 

Sunday, 20 September 2009
It's been years since Dan Brown reigned over the Media Extra Most Mentioned chart and now that he's back, we suspect he'll be back for a while. Brown's latest tome...

PM’s Literary Awards shortlist announced 

Thursday, 17 September 2009
The shortlisted titles for this year's Prime Minister's Literary Awards were announced by Minister for the Arts Peter Garrett at the State Library of Victoria on Friday 18 September. Garrett,...

Lang, Thornell, joint 2009 Vogel winners 

Thursday, 17 September 2009
Utopian Man by Lisa Lang and Night Street by Kristel Thornell have been jointly named the winning manuscripts in the 2009 Australian/Vogel award. Judges Cate Kennedy, Matt Rubinstein, Margo Lanagan...

Date for cabinet decision on Prod Comm report unclear 

Wednesday, 16 September 2009
The date on which the federal cabinet will make a decision on the recent Productivity Commission recommendations to remove Australia's book parallel importation laws remains unclear, with some in the...

Webster appointed Universal Publishers MD 

Tuesday, 15 September 2009
Following the announcement that it has acquired Universal Publishers (UP), Hardie Grant has announced the appointment of Ian Webster as managing director of UP. ‘Ian brings considerable experience to the...

‘Australian Library News’ launches website 

Tuesday, 15 September 2009
WBN's sister publication Australian Library News (ALN) has launched a new website at www.librarynews.com.au.The site contains information about ALN, the only independent, weekly news source on the library sector in...

Hitwise top 10 causes controversy 

Tuesday, 15 September 2009
The recently released top 10 Hitwise listing for local websites visited by Australian interenet users in the ‘Shopping and Classifieds--Books' category has caused some controversy in the trade, with the...

Around the world 

Tuesday, 15 September 2009
Among the many international booktrade stories added to our Around the World blog in the past week:Authors taking pay cuts as advances fallPatterson signs 17-book dealBooker chair slams 'sloppy editing'UK...

Pearson announces alliance with VIP Tone 

Tuesday, 15 September 2009
Pearson Australia has announced a partnership with online platform provider VIP Tone. ‘VIP Tone's EduTone XchangeTM Platform provides single sign-on authentication for teachers, students and parents, to simplify access to...

Quote of the week 

Tuesday, 15 September 2009
‘It can only be good for all of us if more people are in the stores'--Carolyn Reidy, CEO of Simon & Schuster in the US, on the release of Dan...

Cooke wins British Medical Association book award 

Tuesday, 15 September 2009
Infectious Diseases: Atlas, Cases, Text (Robin A Cooke, McGraw-Hill Education Australia) has won the British Medical Association (BMA) Medical Book Competition's BMA Illustrated Book Award, announced in London on 8...

Finch announces new memoir prize 

Tuesday, 15 September 2009
Finch Publishing has today launched a new annual nonfiction award for Australian authors. The Finch Memoir Prize will be awarded to an unpublished nonfiction manuscript in the form of a...

In brief 

Tuesday, 15 September 2009
‘Twilight' books removed from some school librariesLibrarians in some primary schools have reportedly removed Stephanie Meyer's 'Twilight' series from shelves and asked parents not to allow students to bring the...

Attendance up at 2009 BWF 

Tuesday, 15 September 2009
Attendance at this year's Brisbane Writers' Festival, which wrapped up on Sunday 13 September having run from the 9 September was 29,000, up from 28,000 in 2008. ‘More than 250...

RiP W S Rendra 

Tuesday, 15 September 2009
Indonesian poet, writer, dramatist, cultural activist and theatre director, W S Rendra has died, aged 73.