Tuesday, 22 April 2008
Plastic bags look like they’re here to stay, after an unsuccessful meeting of federal and state environment ministers last week. Despite having made a commitment to phase out plastic bags...

Monday, 21 April 2008
Asialink, the University of Melbourne department devoted to strengthening ties with Asia, has announced this year's round of literary residencies. Bonny Cassidy, Linda Jaivin, Emily Maguire, Kierin Meehan, Alice Pung,...

Monday, 21 April 2008
Organisers have promised that the fifth Ubud Writers & Readers Festival will be ‘dynamic and full of surprises'. To be held in Bali from 14-19 October, this year's festival will...

Monday, 21 April 2008
The ten best stories entered in last year's Brisbane City Council's annual writing competition will be compiled into an anthology. To be launched mid-year at the Brisbane Town Hall, One...

Monday, 21 April 2008
Tara June Winch has been shortlisted for the prestigious International Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts initiative. Winch is the only Australian on the list, and one of 19 artists worldwide. The...

Monday, 21 April 2008
The Dymocks Literacy Foundation sponsored a ‘Norman Lindsay Festival of Children's Literature' last week at the author's Blue Mountains home. Children and their parents met with authors including Emily Rodda,...

Monday, 21 April 2008
Plans are underway to commemorate the late politician, author and Melbourne Writers' Festival Chairman John Button with a writing prize. To be established in collaboration with the Australian Book Review,...

Monday, 21 April 2008
The West Australian Premier's Literary Award has become Australia's richest. Re-launched this week, the $110,000 award, now to be known as the West Australian Premier's Australia Asia Literary Award, is now also open...

Wednesday, 16 April 2008
After an overwhelming response, 30 WBN subscribers have scored themselves free double passes to see The Edge of Heaven. Look out for more ticket giveaways for subscribers in future.

Tuesday, 15 April 2008
Among the stories added to our Around the World blog in the past week:'Misha' publisher fights to overturn US$33 million judgementPenguin frontlist goes digitalMore ISBNs needed for new formatsMacmillan pays...

Tuesday, 15 April 2008
At one of the opening sessions at this year's London Book Fair (LBF), a number of Australian publishers have called for an end to British publishers' insistence on Commonwealth rights,...

Tuesday, 15 April 2008
New NZ book review websiteNZ-based Scoop Media has launched The Scoop Review of Books online at http://books.scoop.co.nz. The site, edited by Jeremy Rose, will promote books and authors with reviews,...

Tuesday, 15 April 2008
After almost six-and-a-half years with the company, Andrew Wilkins has resigned as publisher and deputy general manager of Thorpe-Bowker. He will leave the company on 2 May.His successor will be...

Tuesday, 15 April 2008
This Charming Man, the new offering from Marian Keyes--the Irish writer who can do no wrong in the chick-lit world--takes top spot in the Highest New Entries chart this week....

Tuesday, 15 April 2008
Trade events coming up over the next week, as shown on our events calendar, include: London Book Fair ends today, 16 AprilTo view these and more forthcoming events, and submit...

Tuesday, 15 April 2008
Australian historian and writer Greg Dening who was described an 'inspiring teacher and passionate scholar' has died aged 76.

Tuesday, 15 April 2008
Be the first to see The Edge of Heaven - a German/Turkish film that won the Best Screenplay prize and the Ecumenical Jury Prize at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival....

Tuesday, 15 April 2008
This year's shortlists for the Nita B Kibble Literary Award for Women Writers and the Dobbie Encouragement Award have been announced.Shortlisted for the awards are:Kibble Literary Award:Sorry (Gail Jones, Vintage) Nights...

Tuesday, 15 April 2008
The Gourmand Awards for 2008 have been presented at a ceremony in London, with seven Australian food and wine books receiving prizes, placing Australia ‘in the top 10 countries in...

Tuesday, 15 April 2008
The Australia Council's market development section has reiterated its commitment to ‘an increased investment in literature that responds to the growth and current momentum of the Australian literary sector.'VIPs supportedOzCo...

Tuesday, 15 April 2008
Bookseller+Publisher Online (www.booksellerandpublisher.com.au/) will be offline for a few hours on Thursday afternoon, 17 April, for essential site upgrades and maintenance. The scheduled outage will cause the site to be...

Tuesday, 15 April 2008
The shortlist for this year's Miles Franklin Award will be announced on Thursday 17 April. Look out for a WBN Special Bulletin as soon as possible after the shortlist has...

Tuesday, 15 April 2008
Registrations for the 2008 Australian Booksellers Association (ABA) conference close this Friday, 18 April. This year's conference will be held over three days, 15-17 June, at the Sebel Albert Park...

Tuesday, 15 April 2008
The recently established Australian Poetry Centre will host its inaugural National Festival in Castlemaine, Victoria, this Anzac Day weekend. Each year the festival will move to a regional town in a...

Tuesday, 15 April 2008
‘I spend more on alcohol and catering than I ever have on placing an ad in the newspaper'--ABA president and Avid Reader proprietor Fiona Stager reveals her bookshop marketing secrets...

Tuesday, 15 April 2008
Author Garth Nix looks set to bring his novel Sabriel to the big screen, with plans the possible film of the first book in the ‘Old Kingdom' trilogy to Hollywood...

Tuesday, 15 April 2008
Fourteen children's authors, including J K Rowling, Michael Morpugo, Judy Blume and R L Stein, have written an open letter calling for politicians to ‘act on Darfur.' The letter, which...

Tuesday, 15 April 2008
The winner of the 2008 Hans Christian Andersen Awards were announced at the Bologna Book Fair on 31 March. This year the author award went to Swiss writer Jurg Schubiger...

Tuesday, 15 April 2008
The NSW Premier's Literary Awards shortlist was announced today. The shortlisted titles in each category are: Christina Stead Prize for fiction ($20,000):Diary of a Bad Year (J M Coetzee, Text)The...