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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...

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

Logo showing metadata symbols. 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”

Photo of Christian O’Connell. 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

Photo of author Lauren Keegan. 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

Black and white photo of author Neha Kale. 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

Photo of Helen Garner in garden. 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

Photo of Rosalie Ham on a garden bench with her dog. 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...

2025 speech pathology book award winners announced

Wednesday, 5 November 2025
Speech Pathology Australia has announced the winners of its 2025 Book of the Year Awards. Chosen from shortlists announced in July, the winners in each category are: Birth to 3 years...

Suwannakit nominated for Carnegie Medal for Illustration 

Wednesday, 5 November 2025
Australian author and illustrator Tull Suwannakit’s Higher Ground (New Frontier) is among the newly announced nominees for the UK-based 2026 Carnegie Medal for Illustration. Nominated titles for the partner prize,...

Newcastle Short Story Award 2025 shortlist announced

Three people on Newcastle waterfront. Wednesday, 5 November 2025
The Hunter Writers’ Centre has announced the shortlist for this year’s Newcastle Short Story Award. Shortlisted stories are:   “Sun, Do Not Die” by ALB “Solastalgia” by Liz Allan “Backburn”...

Marani wins 2025 Richell Prize

Black and white photo of Monique Ivankovič Marani. Wednesday, 5 November 2025
Croatian Australian writer and theatre-maker Monique Ivankovič Marani has won the 2025 Richell Prize for Emerging Writers. Marani’s winning entry, “The Sweeter”, was selected from a shortlist of 5 manuscripts....

Webster wins 2025 Nature Writing Prize

Wednesday, 5 November 2025
Bridget Webster has won the 2025 Nature Writing Prize for her piece “Like All Good Fruit”. Island editorial manager and lead judge Jane Rawson said, “Bridget’s work stood out to...

Priest wins Blake-Beckett Trust Scholarship

Photo of Ann-Marie Priest smiling. Wednesday, 29 October 2025
The Australian Society of Authors (ASA) has announced Ann-Marie Priest as the 2025 recipient of the $35,000 Blake-Beckett Trust Scholarship for her biography “Tell It Slant: The Life and Loves...

Amba Press acquires ACER Press titles

Cover of a book called "Kit and Arlo Find a Way" Wednesday, 29 October 2025
Amba Press will acquire 38 educational titles under an agreement with ACER Press, the publishing arm of the Australian Council for Educational Research. Amba Press said, “The acquisition represents a...

Bakers Lane Books acquires McGuinness YA novel

A photograph of Bryony McGuinness standing front of a curtain. She has black hair and is smiling. Wednesday, 29 October 2025
Bakers Lane Books has acquired world rights to Violet Town, a young adult novel by Bryony McGuinness. Violet Town follows Cate Hawkins, a longstanding resident of Hickory’s Orphanage, as she...

A&U acquires Stroud’s “The Angry Wives Club”

Wednesday, 29 October 2025
Allen & Unwin (A&U) has acquired world rights to The Angry Wives Club, a novel by Gabbie Stroud. The Angry Wives Club follows three women “quietly planning a revolution”, said the...

Upswell acquires Curtin novel

Wednesday, 29 October 2025
Upswell Publishing has acquired world rights to Six Days by Amanda Curtin. “Six Days creates a character in Daniel, an expat Australian who has lived in Paris for longer than anywhere...

Simon reaches finals in BookLife prize

the book cover for The Art in my Palm Wednesday, 22 October 2025
Australian author Luke Icarus Simon has been named a quarter finalist in the Publishers Weekly BookLife Prize – Fiction for his novel The Art in My Palm. In their report, the...

Flame Tree acquires new Bacon anthology

A portrait of Eugen Bacon, an African Australian woman wearing a red dress and standing between two trees Wednesday, 22 October 2025
UK-based publisher Flame Tree Publishing has acquired world rights to Sauuti Terrors, two speculative fiction anthologies co-edited by Eugen Bacon, Stephen Embleton and Cheryl S Ntumy, in a deal brokered...

Luna Roo announced as 2026 NSS story

the book cover for Luna Roo the Kangaroo Baller Wednesday, 22 October 2025
The Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA) has announced Luna Roo the Kangaroo Baller (Adam Jackson & Adrian Lloyd, illus by Jake A Minton, Little Book Press) as the National...

Magabala wins Workplace Team Culture & Inclusivity Award

Four Magabala award winners with their award. Wednesday, 22 October 2025
Magabala Books has been announced as the winner of the Workplace Team Culture & Inclusivity Award at the 2025 Broome Business Excellence Awards. The award comes after Magabala’s staff surveys...

Bowen named incoming BookPeople CEO

Book people logo Wednesday, 15 October 2025
BookPeople, the Australian booksellers association, has announced Susannah Bowen as incoming CEO, starting “in the coming weeks”. Bowen takes over from current CEO Robbie Egan, who began the role in...

Australian library visits surge 

Graphic showing people using libraries in various ways. Wednesday, 15 October 2025
Australians are turning to their local libraries in record numbers, according to a new industry report. The Australian Public Libraries Statistical Report 2023–2024, released this week by the National and State...