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Lui wins Russell Prize for Humour Writing, Bunting wins inaugural writing for young people award

Friday, 18 June 2021
Nakkiah Lui has won the $10,000 biennial Russell Prize for Humour Writing for Black is the New White (A&U), the book of her play of the same name. Judges Mark...

Black Inc. partners with ASRC on ‘Seeking Asylum: Our stories’

Friday, 18 June 2021
Black Inc. will partner with the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre (ASRC) to publish Seeking Asylum: Our stories in commemoration of the ASRC’s 20th year. The book will capture the experiences...

ALS Gold Medal 2021 shortlist announced

Friday, 18 June 2021
The shortlist for the 2021 Australian Literature Society (ALS) Gold Medal has been announced. The shortlisted titles are: The Rain Heron (Robbie Arnott, Text) Cadaver Dog (Luke Best, UQP) The...

WA Premier’s Book Awards shortlists announced

Friday, 18 June 2021
The shortlists for this year’s Western Australian Premier’s Book Awards have been announced. The shortlisted titles in each category are: Premier’s Prize for an Emerging Writer ($15,000) Father of the...

Meet the ABDA Emerging Designers of the Year: George Saad

Thursday, 17 June 2021
In the lead-up to the 2021 Australian Book Designers Association (ABDA) Awards, Books+Publishing spoke to the two shortlisted nominees for Emerging Designer of the Year. In this first instalment we talk to...

Reading across the ditch: Forthcoming highlights from Aotearoa New Zealand

Thursday, 17 June 2021
Sharing a travel bubble and a relatively compatible time zone, could Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand's respective book industries be looking at each other afresh in this new pandemic era?...

Watson wins 2021 Penguin Literary Prize

Thursday, 17 June 2021
Penguin Random House Australia (PRH) has announced that Denizen by James McKenzie Watson has won the 2021 Penguin Literary Prize. Dubbo-based Watson receives $20,000 as an advance against royalties, with...

Melbourne City of Lit meets Milan’s Libreria dello Spettacolo

Thursday, 17 June 2021
In this series, run in partnership with the Melbourne City of Literature Office, we get to know some of the bookshops in the UNESCO Cities of Literature network. When, in 1979, Maria...

Reynolds, Smith win 2021 Carnegie, Greenaway medals

Thursday, 17 June 2021
The UK Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (CILIP) has announced the winners of the 2021 Carnegie and Kate Greenaway medals. Jason Reynolds won the Carnegie Medal for children’s...

Welbeck Flame acquires five-book ‘Hedgewitch’ series

Thursday, 17 June 2021
Welbeck Flame, the children’s imprint of UK publisher Welbeck Publishing Group, has acquired UK and Commonwealth rights (ex Canada) to a five-book middle-grade series by debut Australian author Sky McKenna,...

Miles Franklin 2021 shortlist announced

Wednesday, 16 June 2021
The shortlist for the 2021 Miles Franklin Literary Award has been announced. The six shortlisted novels, chosen from a longlist of 12, are: Amnesty (Aravind Adiga, Picador) The Rain Heron (Robbie Arnott,...

Pulitzer Prize winners announced

Wednesday, 16 June 2021
In the US, the winners of the Pulitzer Prizes were announced at a virtual ceremony on 11 June, reports Publishers Weekly. Louise Erdrich won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction for...

Michael Gifkins Prize 2021 shortlist announced

Wednesday, 16 June 2021
Text Publishing and the New Zealand Society of Authors Te Puni Kaituhi O Aotearoa (PEN NZ Inc) have announced the shortlist for the 2021 Michael Gifkins Prize for an unpublished...

Perkin’s My Bookshop to close

Wednesday, 16 June 2021
My Bookshop, the independent Melbourne bookstore owned by Corrie Perkin, is set to close, ‘a victim of Covid-19 lockdowns and lease negotiations’, reports the Age. Perkin, who launched the Hawksburn...

Oratia Media named Bologna publisher of the year, Oceania

Wednesday, 16 June 2021
Independent New Zealand/Aotearoa publisher Oratia Media has won the Bologna Prize for the Best Children’s Publisher of the Year in the Oceania category. The winner's citation describes Oratia Media as...

IPEd announces shortlist for 2021 Rosie Award

Wednesday, 16 June 2021
The Institute of Professional Editors (IPEd) has announced the shortlist for the 2021 Rosanne Fitzgibbon Editorial Award, also known as the ‘Rosie’. The shortlisted editors are: Johannes Jakob, for his...

Carmel Bird Digital Literary Award 2021 shortlist announced

Wednesday, 16 June 2021
The shortlist for the 2021 Carmel Bird Digital Literary Award has been announced. Selected from 100 submissions, including short story collections and novellas of up to 30,000 words, the 12...

Authors, industry figures recognised in 2021 Queen’s Birthday Honours

Tuesday, 15 June 2021
Several authors and publishing industry figures are among the recipients of this year’s Queen’s Birthday honours. Publishing industry figures cited include writers Lily Brett and James Bradley, who were awarded...

Walker named 2021 UQP Quentin Bryce Award winner

Tuesday, 15 June 2021
Sarah Walker has been named the winner of the 2021 UQP Quentin Bryce Award for her essay collection The First Time I Thought I Was Dying. Established in 2020, the...

Williams to step down as ILF commits to First Nations leadership

Tuesday, 15 June 2021
The Indigenous Literacy Foundation (ILF) executive director Karen Williams has announced she will step down after 11 years in the role. She will transition out of the role over the...

Waterstones profit down 8.4% in 2020

Tuesday, 15 June 2021
UK bookselling chain Waterstones’ after-tax profit fell 8.4% to £20.8 million (A$38m) in the year to 25 April 2020, reports the Bookseller. Revenue was down 4.3% on 2019 to £376...

No Daily on Monday, WBN published Thursday next week

Friday, 11 June 2021
The Daily newsletter will not be published on Monday 14 June, due to the Queen's Birthday public holiday in Victoria. The next Daily will be published Tuesday, 15 June. Next week’s...

Ultimo Press acquires Coyle debut novel in two-book deal

Friday, 11 June 2021
Ultimo Press has acquired world rights for two books by debut novelist Zoë Coyle, in a deal brokered by Jeanne Ryckmans of Cameron’s Management. Where the Light Gets In is...

Akec, Kemp win UWAP Dorothy Hewett Award for an unpublished manuscript

Friday, 11 June 2021
UWA Publishing (UWAP) has announced Kgshak Akec and Joshua Kemp as this year’s joint winners of the Dorothy Hewett Award for an unpublished manuscript, for their respective manuscripts ‘Hopeless Kingdom’...

Frankfurt plans for in-person event

Friday, 11 June 2021
Frankfurt Book Fair organisers are planning on hosting an in-person fair this year from October 20–24, reports Publishers Weekly. Fair director Juergen Boos told Publishers Weekly the fair ‘will be...

Books+Publishing turns 100 today!

Thursday, 10 June 2021
Books+Publishing owners Gary and Vanessa Pengelly along with former managing director Michael Webster write: Today, 10 June 2021, marks the 100-year anniversary of Books+Publishing (B+P), the uniquely Australian publishing industry...