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Hugo Award winners announced 

Monday, 10 September 2007
The winners of the 2007 Hugo Awards were announced at the 65th World Science Fiction convention in Japan on 1 September.Rainbows End (Vernor Vinge, Tor) won the award for best...

NSW Premier’s History Awards shortlists announced 

Monday, 10 September 2007
The shortlists for the�NSW Premier's History Awards have been announced. There are seven categories, each�worth $15 000.The�shortlisted titles are:Australian History PrizeBlack Founders: the Unknown Story of Australia?s First Black Settlers...

‘Mister Pip’ tipped for Booker as shortlist released 

Thursday, 6 September 2007
Mister Pip�by New Zealander Lloyd Jones (Text/Penguin NZ) is one of six titles on the shortlist for the 2007 Man Booker Prize.The other shortlisted titles are:Darkmans�(Nicola Barker, Fourth Estate) The...

Berkelouw Books bidding for Borders? 

Tuesday, 4 September 2007
The Berkelouw Books chain has ‘emerged as a strong contender' to buy the Australasian operations of the Borders bookselling chain, according to a report in the Sydney Morning Herald. The...

Around the world 

Tuesday, 4 September 2007
Among the stories added to our Around the World blog in the past week:Borders' 2nd quarter: sales up, but still making a lossFamily settles 'Running with Scissors' lawsuitPrivate equity owners likely...

Quote of the week 

Tuesday, 4 September 2007
'$195,000: that's almost a living wage for someone at Macquarie Bank ... almost'--MC John Doyle (aka 'Rampaging Roy Slaven') commenting on the total prize pool for the Victorian Premier's Literary...

Lonely Planet trials downloadable chapters 

Tuesday, 4 September 2007
Lonely planet has launched a trial of ‘Pick and Mix', a new product that enables travellers to purchase individual chapters from Lonely Planet guidebooks. More than 350 chapters from 35...

ABA commissions report on parallel importation 

Tuesday, 4 September 2007
The Australian Booksellers Association (ABA) has commissioned a ‘green paper' to study the impact on its membership of the parallel importation of books. The report, due to be presented to...

Vic Prem’s Awards 

Tuesday, 4 September 2007
The Victorian Premier's Literary Awards were announced in Melbourne on Monday night.With a total prize pool of $195,000 awarded in 11 categories, Victorian Premier John Brumby described the awards as...

Bestsellers this week 

Tuesday, 4 September 2007
Conn Iggulden & Hal Iggulden’s Dangerous Book for Boys: Australian Edition proved to be a hit for Father’s Day, coming in at number two this week. HP stays at number...

RiP Austin Donnelly 

Tuesday, 4 September 2007
Lesley Beaumont of John Wiley & Sons Australia writes: ‘It is with regret that we heard late last week of the passing of one of Wiley's leading investment authors, Austin...

RiP Julia Briggs 

Tuesday, 4 September 2007
The Guardian reports that Julia Briggs, literary scholar and ‘champion of women’s writing and children's literature’, died on 16 August 2007.

‘Strong’ 2007 Books Alive campaign wraps up 

Tuesday, 4 September 2007
The 2007 Books Alive campaign, which ran nationally through the month of August, was a ‘strong' one, according to Books Alive project director Brett Osmond. 'The response from the media...

In brief 

Monday, 3 September 2007
OUP acquires Beazer PublishingOxford University Press (OUP) has acquired Beazer Publishing. Beazer, founded in 1994 by Margaret Beazer, specialises in texts for Legal Studies and commerce subjects in Years 11...

Melbourne Writers’ Festival winds up 

Monday, 3 September 2007
After 10 days of panels, workshops, conversations and book launches, the 2007 Melbourne Writers' Festival wrapped up on Sunday 2 September. According to organisers, the last year at the festival's...

Countdown to Brisbane Writers Festival 

Monday, 3 September 2007
Following hot on the heels of the Melbourne Writers' Festival, Brisbane will next week play host to an impressive line-up of international and local authors as part of the Brisbane...

Ned Kelly Award winners announced 

Monday, 3 September 2007
The winners of the 2007 Ned Kelly Awards--Australia's premier prizes for crime writing--were announced on 29 August by the Crime Writers' Association of Australia, in conjunction with the Age and...

‘Kids’ choice’ CBCA winners wrap up Book Week 

Tuesday, 28 August 2007
The 2007 Children's Book Council of Australia (CBCA) Children's Book Week, which this year ran under the theme ‘READiscover', wrapped up last Friday, having run from 18 to 24 August....

Quote of the week 

Tuesday, 28 August 2007
'For most Amazon customers, a special order is a terrible customer experience'--Amazon exec Kurt Beidler on the 'need it now' attitude of his 66 million customers.

Bestsellers this week 

Tuesday, 28 August 2007
No real surprises this week, with some familiar books continuing to make their presence known. Harry Potter garners top spot again and creeping up at number three is the Australian...

Cormac McCarthy wins UK award 

Tuesday, 28 August 2007
Cormac McCarthy's The Road (Pan Macmillan) has been announced as the winner of this year's James Tait Black Memorial Prize for fiction, Britain's oldest literary prize.Byron Rogers won the nonfiction...

Amazon rep meets with Australian publishers 

Tuesday, 28 August 2007
Kurt Beidler, the senior manager of business development for Amazon.com, is in Australia this week for meetings with publishers in Sydney and Melbourne, hosted by the Australian Publishers Association (APA).Beidler...

RiP Grace Paley 

Tuesday, 28 August 2007
The Washington Post reports American poet and short story writer Grace Paley died on 23 August. Paley began writing prose in the 1950s and in the late 1990s formed Glad...

RiP Philippa Gerrard 

Tuesday, 28 August 2007
Booksellers New Zealand notes the passing of long-time Penguin NZ senior editor Philippa Gerrard, who died in Auckland last week.

Around the world 

Tuesday, 28 August 2007
Among the stories added to our Around the World blog in the past week:Pearson's Harcourt acquisition cleared in UKUK competition watchdog probes supermarkets over 'abuse of suppliers'One in four Americans...

Indigenous Literacy Day events announced 

Tuesday, 28 August 2007
The inaugural Indigenous Literacy Day will be celebrated with events around Australia next Wednesday 5 September. On the day, booksellers and publishers who have pledged their support will donate a...

In brief 

Tuesday, 28 August 2007
Author threatenedBen Hills, the Australian author of the controversial book Princess Masako: Prisoner of the Chrysanthemum Throne, has received threatening emails just before the Japanese translation was due for publication....

‘Colonial Ambition’ wins Age Book of the Year 

Monday, 27 August 2007
Colonial Ambition: Foundations of Australian Democracy, a book about political developments in 1850s NSW by Peter Cochrane (MUP), has won the $20,000 Age Book of the Year award, announced last Friday...