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ABA: Online conference commences, Love Your Bookshop Day on 3 October

Wednesday, 8 July 2020
The first of the Australian Booksellers Association's (ABA) 2020 online conference events took place on Monday, 6 July, with ABA CEO Robbie Egan in conversation with Meryl Halls and Nic...

Verity La announces publishing break, apologises for ‘grave error’

Tuesday, 7 July 2020
Online literary journal Verity La has announced it is taking a break from publishing to ‘reflect on the ways in which the journal has been complicit with systemic racism, sexism...

Furphy Literary Award 2020 shortlists announced

Tuesday, 7 July 2020
The shortlists for the inaugural Furphy Literary Award has been announced. The six shortlisted stories and writers in the open category are: 'Ando Gets Plastered' by Cate Kennedy 'Awakening' by...

Pham’s ‘The Coconut Children’ to be adapted for stage

Tuesday, 7 July 2020
A stage adaptation of Vivian Pham's debut novel The Coconut Children (Vintage) has been commissioned as part of Playwriting Australia's Ignition program. The Coconut Children is one of seven major...

O’Callaghan longlisted for Edge Hill Short Story Prize

Tuesday, 7 July 2020
Amanda O’Callaghan has been longlisted for the UK's £10,000 ($A17,900) Edge Hill Short Story Prize, for her collection This Taste of Silence (UQP). O’Callaghan is one of 12 authors on...

New Ingram Melbourne plant to open by September

Tuesday, 7 July 2020
Ingram Content Group, parent company of Lightning Source Australia, has announced it is building a new printing plant in Melbourne which it expects to be operational in the Australian spring....

‘Taking Tom Murray Home’ optioned for screen

Tuesday, 7 July 2020
Sydney-based production company Soft Tread Enterprises has optioned Tim Slee's novel Taking Tom Murray Home (HarperCollins) for the screen. Taking Tom Murray Home was the inaugural winner of the Banjo...

‘Inclusive Publishing in Australia’ publisher survey launched

Monday, 6 July 2020
A new research project is seeking to better understand the issues affecting the production of accessible content in Australia and asking publishers to contribute by completing a survey. ‘Inclusive Publishing...

UQP acquires new Chong poetry collection

Monday, 6 July 2020
The University of Queensland Press (UQP) has acquired Eileen Chong’s poetry collection A Thousand Crimson Blooms. Chong is the author of nine books, including her most recent poetry collection Rainforest, which...

Speech Pathology Australia book awards 2020 shortlists announced

Friday, 3 July 2020
The shortlists for the 2020 Speech Pathology Australia Book of the Year Awards have been announced. The shortlisted titles in each category are: Birth to three years Are These Hen's...

Owusu wins 2020 £10,000 Desmond Elliott Prize

Friday, 3 July 2020
Derek Owusu has won the Desmond Elliott Prize for first-time novelists for his verse novel That Reminds Me (#Merky Books). Owusu’s book, the semi-autobiographical story of a British-Ghanaian boy called...

Queensland Poetry Festival Awards 2020 shortlists announced

Friday, 3 July 2020
The shortlists for the 2020 Queensland Poetry Festival (QPF) awards have been announced. The shortlisted poets in each category are: Thomas Shapcott Poetry Prize for an Unpublished Manuscript Hailey Bonner...

Write-ability fellowships 2020 recipients announced

Thursday, 2 July 2020
Writers Victoria has announced the recipients of its 2020 Write-ability fellowships. The organisation this year awarded two additional fellowships: a poetry fellowship supported by an anonymous donor, and a one-off...

KYD Unpublished Manuscript Award 2020 longlist announced

Thursday, 2 July 2020
The longlist for the 2020 Kill Your Darlings (KYD) Unpublished Manuscript Award has been announced. The longlisted authors and their works are: 'Mood' by Roz Bellamy (nonfiction) 'Abomination' by Ashley Goldberg...

Bookselling during the ‘new normal’

Wednesday, 1 July 2020
The financial effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on Australian booksellers are varied, but the sense that bookselling is about more than simply selling books has been highlighted, with booksellers finding...

Witnessing the future: Kate Mildenhall on ‘The Mother Fault’

Wednesday, 1 July 2020
The Mother Fault (S&S, September), Kate Mildenhall's genre-bending follow-up to her 2016 debut Skylarking (Black Inc.), portrays a 'spine-tingling vision of a future Australia—eerie in its potential realism' as seen...

Indian writer Pandey named overall winner of 2020 Commonwealth Short Story Prize

Wednesday, 1 July 2020
Indian writer Kritika Pandey has been named the overall winner of the 2020 Commonwealth Short Story Prize for her story ‘The Great Indian Tee and Snakes’. Pandey’s story explores forbidden...

John Marsden prize renamed Hachette Australia Prize for Young Writers

Wednesday, 1 July 2020
Hachette and Express Media have confirmed YA author Will Kostakis will take over from John Marsden as mentor of the 2020 John Marsden/Hachette Australia Prize for Young Australian Writers, which...

Ballarat Books, Warrnambool Books, Link Educational to rebrand as Campion Education

Wednesday, 1 July 2020
Following its acquisition of Victorian educational specialists Ballarat Books, Warrnambool Books and Mount Waverley-based Link Educational last year, the Campion Group will rebrand all three businesses as Campion Education. Ballarat...