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PRH acquires Higgins memoir 

Wednesday, 14 April 2021
Penguin Random House Australia (PRH) has acquired a memoir by Brittany Higgins. Higgins, whose  decision to speak publicly about her alleged rape in a ministerial office was one of the...

Hardie Grant acquires book on Australia–US relations 

Tuesday, 13 April 2021
Hardie Grant Books has acquired world rights in debut nonfiction work Our Exceptional Friend: Australia's fatal alliance with the United States by Melbourne academic Emma Shortis, via Martin Shaw at...

Booktopia partners with online ed-tech company Zookal

Booktopia logo Tuesday, 13 April 2021
Booktopia has become the exclusive supplier and fulfilment partner for online education technology company Zookal. Under the terms of the agreement, Booktopia will source, supply and distribute all of Zookal’s...

ABIA 2021 shortlists announced

Monday, 12 April 2021
The shortlists for the 2021 Australian Book Industry Awards (ABIA) have been announced. The titles in each category are: General fiction book of the year The Dictionary of Lost Words...

Clifford moves to Ultimo with third crime novel 

Monday, 12 April 2021
Ultimo Press has acquired ANZ rights to Aoife Clifford's third novel When We Fall, via Clare Forster at Curtis Brown. Set in the the small Australian coastal town of Merritt, When...

Varuna 2021 First Nations Fellowships announced

Varuna, the National Writers House logo Monday, 12 April 2021
The recipients of the Varuna First Nations Fellowships for 2021 have been announced. The writers and their projects are: Krista Dunstan for her YA work ‘Noble Intentions’ Lisa Fuller for...

Clunes Booktown returns with month-long festival

Friday, 9 April 2021
The town of Clunes in regional Victoria has announced the program for Turn the Page, a new ‘month-long celebration of the book’ to take place over three weekends in May....

Bologna cancels in-person events

Friday, 9 April 2021
The organisers of the Bologna Children’s Book Fair, Bologna Licensing Trade Fair and BolognaBookPlus have announced the cancellation of in-person events, due to ongoing Covid-19 restrictions in Italy and Europe....

ABIA Rising Stars 2021 shortlist announced

Friday, 9 April 2021
The shortlist for the Australian Book Industry Awards (ABIA) 2021 Rising Star of the Year Award has been announced. The Rising Star Award is given to an emerging talent in...

May reviews round-up 

Thursday, 8 April 2021
In May Anita Heiss will release her latest work of historical fiction, Bila Yarrudhanggalangdhuray (River of Dreams), which reviewer Joanne Shiells loved and said deserves to be read by all...

Black Inc. acquires Plibersek biography 

Thursday, 8 April 2021
Black Inc. has acquired world rights to a biography of Tanya Plibersek to be written by Margaret Simons, via Lyn Tranter at Australian Literary Management. ‘This book will tell the...

Alice Pung on ‘One Hundred Days’

Wednesday, 7 April 2021
One Hundred Days (Black Inc., June), Alice Pung's first novel for adults, is described as a fractured fairytale about 16-year-old Karuna, who is locked in her family's housing commission flat...

PRH revenue up 4.6%, earnings up 23.3% in 2020

Wednesday, 7 April 2021
Penguin Random House’s (PRH) global sales in 2020 were up 4.6% and its operating EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation) was up 23.3%, according to PRH parent company...

Romei steps down as literary editor

Wednesday, 7 April 2021
The Australian newspaper’s literary editor Stephen Romei has left the role, with his last column published in the newspaper on Saturday, 3 April. ‘I have decided to step back from...

APA, writers festivals receive RISE funding 

Wednesday, 7 April 2021
The Australian Publishers Association (APA) will receive $566,000 in funding from the federal government’s Restart Investment to Sustain and Expand (RISE) fund, as announced in the latest round of RISE...

Australian Book Design Awards 2021 shortlists announced

Tuesday, 6 April 2021
The shortlists for the Australian Book Design Awards, presented by the Australian Book Designers Association (ABDA), have been announced. Shortlisted titles in some of the categories are: Best Designed Commercial...

Bridgeman’s ‘The Subjugate’ to be adapted for TV 

Tuesday, 6 April 2021
Perth science fiction author Amanda Bridgeman's novel The Subjugate (Watkins) will be adapted into a dystopian crime thriller series by independent production companies Aquarius Films and Anonymous Content. The development...

Aurealis Awards 2020 finalists announced

Tuesday, 6 April 2021
The finalists for the 2020 Aurealis Awards, presented for science fiction, fantasy and horror writing in Australia, have been announced. The finalists are: Best horror novel Soul Survivor (Daniel de...

Hachette Livre CEO replaced

Thursday, 1 April 2021
Long-time Hachette Livre CEO Arnaud Nourry has been replaced by Pierre Leroy, co-managing partner of Hachette's parent company Lagardère. Nourry, who had run Hachette since 2003, was replaced on Monday,...

NEWC awarded $50k Create NSW grant 

Thursday, 1 April 2021
The New England Writers’ Centre (NEWC) has been awarded a $50,000 grant from Create NSW under its Arts Restart program. The funding is for NEWC's The Inside Story project, which...

Next ‘WBN’ to be published Thursday

Wednesday, 31 March 2021
Please note that, due to the Easter Monday public holiday on 5 April, the next Weekly Book Newsletter will be published on Thursday, 8 April. The deadline for classifieds and...

International Booker Prize longlist announced

Wednesday, 31 March 2021
The longlist for the 2021 International Booker Prize for translated fiction has been announced. The 13 longlisted titles are: I Live in the Slums (Can Xue, trans from Chinese by...