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Balint, Meany win 2021 Viva la Novella prize

Thursday, 7 October 2021
The 2021 Viva la Novella prize has been awarded to Christine Balint for Water Music and Helen Meany for Every Day is Gertie Day. Both novellas have been published by Seizure....

Giller Prize 2021 shortlist announced

Thursday, 7 October 2021
In Canada, the shortlist for the C$100,000 (A$109,250) 2021 Giller Prize for the best Canadian fiction published in English has been announced. The shortlisted novels are: What Strange Paradise (Omar...

Goldsmiths Prize 2021 shortlist announced

Thursday, 7 October 2021
In the UK, the shortlist for the 2021 Goldsmiths Prize, worth £10,000 (A$18,700), has been announced. The shortlisted novels are: Checkout 19 (Claire-Louise Bennett, Jonathan Cape) Assembly (Natasha Brown, Hamish Hamilton) A...

Monash Publishing appoints Carlomagno publisher 

Wednesday, 6 October 2021
Monash University Publishing has announced the appointment of Black Inc. publisher Julia Carlomagno to the newly created role of publisher, as Monash Publishing moves ‘away from largely scholarly output towards...

Stephanie Parkyn on ‘The Freedom of Birds’ 

Wednesday, 6 October 2021
The Freedom of Birds (A&U, December) is Stephanie Parkyn's third novel, completing the loose historical trilogy that began with Into the World and Josephine's Garden (A&U). As the French Empire...

November reviews round-up 

Wednesday, 6 October 2021
Come November two highly anticipated essay collections from two prominent Australian scholars will be hitting bookshelves: Another Day in the Colony (Chelsea Watego, UQP) and Doing Politics: Writing on public...

National Book Awards 2021 shortlists announced

Wednesday, 6 October 2021
In the US, the finalists for the 2021 National Book Awards have been announced. The shortlisted titles are: Fiction Cloud Cuckoo Land (Anthony Doerr, Fourth Estate) Matrix (Lauren Groff, William...

Transit Lounge acquires Fyfe novel ‘T’ 

Wednesday, 6 October 2021
Transit Lounge has acquired world rights to T, a novel by Perth-based author Alan Fyfe. T is about ‘people living on the economic margins and the epidemic of meth addiction’....

Text moves offices 

Wednesday, 6 October 2021
After 17 years at Swann House in Melbourne’s CBD, Text Publishing has moved. The publisher told Books+Publishing the move around the corner to Royal Bank Chambers at 287 Collins Street...

ACWA announces new fiction award

Tuesday, 5 October 2021
The Australian Crime Writers Association (ACWA) has announced a new fast fiction crime writing prize, the Louie Award. Sponsored by ACT president of the Australian Medical Association Antonio Di Dio,...

PRH acquires Dao debut novel ‘Anam’ 

Tuesday, 5 October 2021
Penguin Random House Australia (PRH) has acquired ANZ rights to André Dao's debut novel Anam, in a deal agented by Clare Forster at Curtis Brown Australia. UK rights have been...

Affirm acquires Saleh debut novel 

Tuesday, 5 October 2021
Affirm Press has acquired world rights to Sara Saleh’s debut novel Songs for the Dead and the Living through the Affirm Press Mentorship for Sweatshop Writers. Saleh, an Arab-Australian human...

Ventura acquires Jacoby memoir 

Monday, 4 October 2021
Ventura Press has acquired world rights to a memoir by television producer Anita Jacoby, Secrets Beyond the Screen. Jacoby was the producer of television shows including 60 Minutes, The Gruen...

Hereaka awarded 2021 NZSA Beatson Fellowship

Monday, 4 October 2021
Wellington-based novelist and playwright Whiti Hereaka has been awarded the 2021 New Zealand Society of Authors (NZSA) Peter & Dianne Beatson Fellowship, worth NZ$10,000 (A$9549). Hereaka will use the fellowship...

Canadian book sales up 11%

Monday, 4 October 2021
In its annual look at Canadian publishing, Publishers Weekly reports that print sales for the first six months of this year were up 11.2% over the same period in 2020,...

Canberra Writers Festival cancelled

Monday, 4 October 2021
The Canberra Writers Festival has announced the event will not go ahead in 2021. The announcement follows an earlier postponement of the festival due to Covid outbreaks. In a statement,...

Books in the media this weekend 

Friday, 1 October 2021
This week's round-up will be updated as data is available. National The Saturday Paper Bewilderment (Richard Powers, William Heinemann) Permafrost (S J Norman, UQP) Signs and Wonders (Delia Falconer, S&S)...

France proposes minimum rates for book deliveries

Friday, 1 October 2021
In France, lawmakers are considering a draft law that would stop Amazon from offering virtually free delivery for book purchases, reports Politico. The draft law, which has the backing of...

Hazel Rowley fellowship increases to $20,000

Friday, 1 October 2021
Writers Victoria has announced the value of the Hazel Rowley Literary Fellowship will increase from $15,000 to $20,000 in 2022. Established in 2011 to encourage Australian authors to aim for...

Open Book internship pilot program to run in 2022

open book logo Friday, 1 October 2021
Open Book, a new paid internship aiming to increase cultural diversity in the Australian publishing workforce, has announced the details of its pilot program. After being announced late last year...

Hallifax appointed Walker Books publisher 

Friday, 1 October 2021
Clare Hallifax has been appointed publisher of Walker Books Australia and New Zealand, replacing Linsay Knight, who has been in the role for five years. Hallifax was previously publisher at...

Frankfurt expecting up to 800 international delegates

Thursday, 30 September 2021
The Bookseller reports that Frankfurt Book Fair organisers are expecting between 700 and 800 international delegates to attend this year’s event, which runs from 20–24 October. The number is down...

Pantera acquires nonfiction by Pickering, Ramo 

Thursday, 30 September 2021
Pantera Press has acquired ANZ rights to The Mother of All Shocks by Karen Pickering, via Jacinta di Mase. The book was acquired by publisher Lex Hirst. The Mother of...

Wakefield acquires McAlister YA rom-com 

Thursday, 30 September 2021
Wakefield Press has acquired world rights to Jodi McAlister’s YA rom-com Libby Lawrence is Good at Pretending, via Alex Adsett of Alex Adsett Literary. Libby Lawrence is Good at Pretending...

Career path: Cate Blake

Wednesday, 29 September 2021
Cate Blake began her publishing career at Penguin Random House Australia as an editorial assistant. In 2018 she was nominated for the inaugural ABIA Rising Star Award for her role...

Crime novel ‘The Whispering’ wins 2021 Banjo Prize

Wednesday, 29 September 2021
HarperCollins Australia has announced Veronica Lando as the winner of the 2021 Banjo Prize for her ‘hauntingly atmospheric mystery’ manuscript The Whispering. Lando’s crime novel was selected from a shortlist...