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Ping’s ‘The Poison of Polygamy’ adapted for stage

Wednesday, 19 October 2022
Wong Shee Ping’s novel The Poison of Polygamy (translated by Ely Finch, Sydney University Press) has been adapted for stage in a joint production with La Boite Theatre and Sydney...

Bookshops in Shepparton, Echuca, Kyneton closed due to floods

Wednesday, 19 October 2022
Collins Booksellers in Shepparton and Echuca, Victoria, have announced these stores will be closed until further notice due to flooding in the region. ‘We had a bit of water that...

The numbers boggle: an Australian in New York

Wednesday, 19 October 2022
Agent Danielle Binks of Jacinta di Mase Management recently visited New York as part of the Australia Council's New York Publishers’ Program. Here, she shares her impressions of the US...

HarperCollins US staff vote to strike

Wednesday, 19 October 2022
Representatives for unionised HarperCollins US employees will go on strike on 7 November, reports Publishers Weekly. Employees have been negotiating for 11 months for a new employment agreement but have...

Neilma Sidney Travel Fund recipients announced

Tuesday, 18 October 2022
Writers Victoria has announced the eighth round of recipients for the Neilma Sidney Literary Travel Fund. The successful recipients, who share in a total of $56,925, are: Eunice Andrada, for...

Karunatilaka wins Booker Prize for ‘The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida’

Tuesday, 18 October 2022
In the UK, Sri Lankan writer Shehan Karunatilaka has won the 2022 Booker Prize, worth £50,000 (A$90,250), for The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida (Sort Of Books). The Seven Moons of...

Ultimo acquires Day memoir ‘Reckless’

Tuesday, 18 October 2022
Ultimo Press has acquired ANZ rights for Reckless by Marele Day, via Jenny Darling of Jenny Darling & Associates. Described by the publisher as a 'brilliantly crafted' ‘literary detective memoir’,...

Tanner wins 2022 Albert Ullin award

Monday, 17 October 2022
Illustrator and author Jane Tanner is the recipient of the 2022 Albert Ullin Award. The $10,000 biennial award was created with a bequest from the late Albert Ullin, a co-founder...

HarperCollins US lays off ‘small number’ of employees

Monday, 17 October 2022
HarperCollins US has eliminated ‘a small number of positions’ due to slowing industry sales and rising costs, reports Publishers Weekly. In a memo to employees, CEO Brian Murphy said job...

Queer YA novel wins 2022 Ampersand Prize

Monday, 17 October 2022
Hardie Grant Children’s Publishing (HGCP) has announced Adelaide teacher and writer Elisa Chenoweth has won the 2022 Ampersand Prize for her young adult novel Maria Petranelli is Prepared for Anything...

FNPOC Count report released

Monday, 17 October 2022
The First Nations and People of Colour (FNPOC) Count, led by Victoria University senior lecturer Natalie Kon-yu, has released a report of its findings. The count took in a sample...

Ultimo Press acquires Griffiths debut ‘Tissue’

Friday, 14 October 2022
Ultimo Press has acquired world rights to Tissue, the debut book by Melbourne writer Madison Griffiths. In Tissue, Griffiths ‘turns her keen eye to the topic of abortion in a...

T S Eliot Prize shortlist announced

Friday, 14 October 2022
In the UK, the shortlist for this year’s T S Eliot Prize for Poetry, worth £25,000 (A$45K), has been announced. The 10 shortlisted poetry collections are: Quiet (Victoria Adukwei Bulley,...

Books in the media this weekend, 15–16 October

Friday, 14 October 2022
A round-up of the books being reviewed and mentioned in key media this coming weekend. National The Saturday Paper Hard Labour: Wage theft in the age of inequality (Ben Schneiders,...

Greenwood wins Varuna-NEWC Fellowship

Friday, 14 October 2022
The New England Writers’ Centre (NEWC) in partnership with Varuna, the National Writers’ House, has announced Anne Greenwood as the winner of the 2022 Varuna-NEWC Fellowship. Greenwood receives a week’s...

Fair Work approves Readings EBA

Friday, 14 October 2022
The Fair Work Commission (FWC) has approved the enterprise bargaining agreement (EBA) negotiated between Readings and the Retail and Fast Food Workers Union (RAFFWU) on behalf of staff at the...

Faber Writing Academy appoints editor-in-residence

Friday, 14 October 2022
Faber Writing Academy has announced the appointment of Ellen O’Brien as editor-in-residence. A Garigal/Walkeloa writer, O'Brien is a junior editor at the Sydney Review of Books and the 2022 program...

Bondi Beach Productions acquires ‘The Criminal Class’ screen rights

Thursday, 13 October 2022
Film and television rights to Paul MacNamara’s debut book The Criminal Class: Memoir of a prison teacher (Big Sky) have been acquired by Bondi Beach Productions, based in Sydney, Los...

S&S acquires Prak debut thriller

Thursday, 13 October 2022
Simon & Schuster Australia (S&S) has acquired ANZ rights to Michelle Prak’s debut thriller The Rush, via literary agent Melanie Ostell. The Rush is described by the publisher as a...

Ultimo to establish UK publishing team

Thursday, 13 October 2022
Hardie Grant and Ultimo Press have announced that Ultimo managing director James Kellow will set up the imprint in the UK next year. Kellow said, ‘After an exciting time establishing...

Marketing staff to be covered in proposed PRH EBA

Wednesday, 12 October 2022
The Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance (MEAA) union has announced that a proposed changed Enterprise Agreement at Penguin Random House (PRH) will cover marketing staff for the first time. ‘Solidarity...

Pantera Press acquires Vanstone memoir in two-book deal

Wednesday, 12 October 2022
Pantera Press has acquired ANZ rights to the memoir A Thousand Wasted Sundays by writer and podcaster Victoria Vanstone, in a two-book deal, via Sarah McKenzie at Sarah McKenzie Literary...

Reflections on work and the future: Book industry survey 2022

Wednesday, 12 October 2022
In July 2022 Books+Publishing (B+P) surveyed more than 300 people about their employment in the Australian book industry, following up on similar surveys in 2013 and 2018. This report focuses on the qualitative data collected...