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Forthcoming events 

Tuesday, 17 April 2007
Trade events coming up over the next week, as shown on our events calendar, include:the London Book Fair, which finishes up on 18 Aprilthe Abu Dhabi Book Fair Information Session at the...

RiP Kurt Vonnegut 

Tuesday, 17 April 2007
American novelist Kurt Vonnegut, a hero of the 1970s counter-culture, best known for his anti-war novel Slaughterhouse Five (Vintage), has died of brain injuries after a fall in his Manhattan...

Peter Carey on Man Booker International list 

Thursday, 12 April 2007
As announced in a WBN Special Bulletin last week, Peter Carey is among the 15 authors on the judges' list of contenders for the second Man Booker International Prize. The...

Around the world 

Tuesday, 10 April 2007
Among the stories added to our Around the World blog in the past week:UK figures show chains sufferingBloomsbury posts a small lossRecord advance for Agassi memoirHugo Awards shortlistGoogle 'engages' with...

Brumby to buy Bookwise 

Tuesday, 10 April 2007
Brumby Books and Music has signed a ‘conditional contract' to purchase fellow distributor Bookwise International. Under the deal--reportedly worth over $450,000--Bookwise will remain in Adelaide with all of its current staff,...

VIPs call for appointments 

Tuesday, 10 April 2007
The Australia Council is now calling for appointments with the 12 guests of this year's Visiting International Publisher (VIP) Program.Meetings will take place at 30-minute intervals on Thursday 31 May...

Booksense award for Zusak 

Tuesday, 10 April 2007
Marcus Zusak has picked up another award in the US: the membership of the American Booksellers Association has voted The Book Thief (Picador) its favourite book of the past year...

Coetzee on IMPAC shortlist 

Tuesday, 10 April 2007
Australian resident J M Coetzee is one of eight authors in the running for this year's Dublin IMPAC Award, one of the world's most valuable literary awards.The shortlisted titles are:Arthur...

Books Alive deadline looms 

Tuesday, 10 April 2007
Books Alive has issued a reminder to booksellers and libraries that orders and marketing initiative submissions close soon.All book orders and marketing initiative submissions must reach Books Alive by Friday 27...

RiP Michael Dibdin 

Tuesday, 10 April 2007
Allen & Unwin writes: we recently received the sad news that Faber author Michael Dibdin died in Seattle on Friday 30 March after a short illness. He was a much-loved...

Forthcoming events 

Tuesday, 10 April 2007
Trade events coming up over the next week, as shown on our events calendar, include: the announcement of this year's Man Booker International Prize contenders in Canada on 12 April;...

Bestsellers this week 

Tuesday, 10 April 2007
The top 10 gets a big dose of popular fiction this week from some of the genre's biggest names. Wilbur Smith revisits the action of ancient Egypt in The Quest,...

New prize from New Holland, NSW Writers’ Centre 

Tuesday, 10 April 2007
New Holland publishers and the NSW Writers Centre have announced the creation of a new ‘genre fiction award' open to all published and unpublished writers resident in Australia who are...

Austrade cancels Bologna funding 

Tuesday, 10 April 2007
Austrade has announced the cancellation of the funding it provides for the book display section of the Australia stand at this year's Bologna Children's Book Fair. ‘We've had to reduce...

Ovation channel to launch book show 

Tuesday, 10 April 2007
The Ovation channel, a subscription arts and entertainment channel that is carried on Foxtel, Austar, OptusTV and SelecTV, is planning to develop a monthly half-hour long television book program. While...

Christer joins Random House, Baker departs 

Tuesday, 3 April 2007
Random House has announced the appointment of Nikki Christer, former Picador publisher at Pan Macmillan, to the newly created position of deputy publishing director. The announcement follows the departure of...

HP7 artwork revealed 

Tuesday, 3 April 2007
Bloomsbury Publishing has released the cover illustrations and blurb for the final installment of the Harry Potter series. As with previous titles in the series, Harry Potter and the Deathly...

Shakespeare wins inaugural Tasmania Book Prize 

Tuesday, 3 April 2007
Nicholas Shakespeare In Australia (Vintage), a tale of his Tasmanian ancestry, has won the inaugural Tasmania Book Prize for the best book with Tasmanian content. The $25,000 award was presented in Hobart...

Bestsellers this week 

Tuesday, 3 April 2007
There's nothing like a popular movie or TV show to shift copies of the tie-in title, as this week's bestselling titles--Rhonda Byrne's guide to a better life in The Secret...

Around the World 

Tuesday, 3 April 2007
Among stories added to our Around the World blog this week:Richard Branson speculated as potential buyer for Borders UKScottish Publishers Association undergoes changesFor more details, click here.

ASA announces major new literary prize 

Tuesday, 3 April 2007
The Australian Society of Authors (ASA) has announced the creation of a new award for Australian fiction, made possible by a $1 million bequest by the late film critic John...

AsiaLink touring program cancelled 

Tuesday, 3 April 2007
AsiaLink has announced that its Literature Touring Program, which has supported leading Australian writers to tour in Asia over the past nine years, will finish in June. The announcement comes...

MWF to move to Fed Square 

Tuesday, 3 April 2007
Rosemary Cameron, director of the Melbourne Writers Festival, has announced that the festival will move from its long-standing venue at the Malthouse to Federation Square from 2008. Cameron said the...

The Big Book Club launches in Qld 

Tuesday, 3 April 2007
The Big Book Club, a not-for-profit arts-based association that began in South Australia in 2003, has launched in Queensland. ‘We made the decision in 2005 to look at our strategic...

ABA conference early-bird offer ends tomorrow 

Tuesday, 3 April 2007
Those planning on attending this year's Australian Booksellers Association (ABA) annual conference in June have only one day to take advantage of the ABA's early-bird registration offer, before it closes tomorrow,...

Hart wins Anne Elder Award 

Tuesday, 3 April 2007
Poet Libby Hart has been awarded this year's Anne Elder Award for her book of poems Fresh News from the Arctic (Interactive Publications). The prize, established in 1976 and worth...

Galaxy British Book Awards announced 

Tuesday, 3 April 2007
The winners of this year's Galaxy British Book Awards, the ‘Oscars of the book trade', have been announced. The Dangerous Book for Boys (Conn and Hal Iggulden, HarperCollins) was named...