Hachette launches educators’ hub
Monday, 22 June 2026
Hachette Australia has announced the launch of the Hachette Australia Educators’ Hub, intended as an online resource to help Australian teachers and librarians discover, access and download educational resources from...
New Voices of Aotearoa 2026 announced
Monday, 22 June 2026
The 8 authors selected as the 2026 New Voices of Aotearoa (NVA) have been announced. The authors, selected by a judging panel and administered by the Coalition for Books, are:...
Granta terminates relationship with Commonwealth Foundation, ends publishing partnerships after AI controversy
Monday, 22 June 2026
In the UK, literary magazine Granta has terminated its relationship with the Commonwealth Foundation, which runs the Commonwealth Short Story Prize, and will “no longer engage in external publishing partnerships”....
Jenny Lu wins inaugural translation prize
Monday, 22 June 2026
Brisbane-based translator Jenny Lu has won the inaugural Voices of Today Literary Translation Prize, worth £1,500. Created and administered by the UK‑ and China‑based cultural communications agency Singing Grass, the...
Marten Bequest 2026 recipients announced
Monday, 22 June 2026
Poets Eunice Andrada and Sanja Grozdanic are among the 7 recipients of the 2026 Marten Bequest Travelling Scholarships, each worth $50,000. The scholarships, administered by Creative Australia, enable artists “to...
Holden Sheppard’s “Yeah the Boys” to be adapted for TV
Monday, 22 June 2026
Deadset Pictures has acquired the screen rights to Holden Sheppard’s novel Yeah the Boys in a deal brokered by Gaby Naher at the Naher Agency. The novel is a sequel to...
Upswell Publishing acquires Meera Atkinson poetry collection
Monday, 22 June 2026
Upswell Publishing has acquired world rights to the poetry collection Some Letters Take a Lifetime by Sydney-based writer Meera Atkinson. Meera Atkinson is the author of Map of Skin (Pink...
Melbourne Books acquires Takako Tamura’s “Sauces: Eats and Beats”
Monday, 22 June 2026
Melbourne Books has acquired world rights to Sauces: Eats and Beats by Takako Tamura. The “combination of cookbook and culture” draws on Tamura’s Japanese heritage and shares the recipes for...
Hardie Grant acquires Midnight Oil drummer Rob Hirst’s “World Is Almost at Peace” under Pantera imprint
Monday, 22 June 2026
Hardie Grant Books imprint Pantera Press has acquired world rights to World Is Almost at Peace: A Lifetime of Songwriting for Midnight Oil and More, the final book by the...
Black Inc. acquires Mark McKenna biography “Bob Brown: A Life”
Monday, 22 June 2026
Black Inc. has acquired world rights to Bob Brown: A Life, a biography of the Greens founder, politician and activist by Mark McKenna, via Lyn Tranter at Australian Literary Management....
Waterstones Debut Fiction Prize 2026 shortlist announced
Thursday, 18 June 2026
In the UK, the shortlist for the Waterstones Debut Fiction Prize, worth £5000, has been announced, reports the Bookseller. The 6 titles shortlisted for the 2026 award are: Honey in the...
ABA launches Writing Australia–funded bookseller grants
Thursday, 18 June 2026
With funding from Writing Australia, the Australian Booksellers Association (ABA) will offer grants of $2,000 to $10,000 through its new ABA Bookseller Events Program. The first round of grants are...
ASA updates contract templates with AI clauses
Thursday, 18 June 2026
The Australian Society of Authors (ASA) has updated its model publishing agreement templates for authors and illustrators with new AI clauses. In the updated model trade publishing agreement documents, key...
Wilderness Society announces 2026 Karajia, environment award shortlists
Thursday, 18 June 2026
The Wilderness Society has announced the shortlists for the 2026 Environment Award for Children’s Literature and Karajia Award for Children’s Literature. The shortlisted titles in each category are: Environment Award...
HarperCollins acquires Hayden Green’s YA verse novel in two-book deal
Thursday, 18 June 2026
HarperCollins Children’s Books has acquired world rights to YA verse novel Not Black Enough by Hayden Green in a two-book deal negotiated by Sarah McKenzie of Sarah McKenzie Literary Management...
Wombat Books acquires Linsey Painter’s “The Butterfly Mermaid”
Thursday, 18 June 2026
Rhiza Press imprint Wombat Books has acquired world rights to The Butterfly Mermaid, a middle-grade book by Linsey Painter. The Butterfly Mermaid is a “fun, portal fantasy adventure perfect for...
New bookshops in Victoria, Queensland and online
Thursday, 18 June 2026
Three recent bookstores have launched with a focus on building and serving communities, both local and special-interest. Under the Elms Bookshop opened in the Victorian town of Camperdown in early...
Telling everybody
Wednesday, 17 June 2026
NielsenIQ reported sales for the year to date are up, among other news from the 2026 Australian Booksellers Association annual conference, which wrapped up on Monday afternoon; Byron Writers Festival...
NielsenIQ: Local sales up $14 million for the year to date
Wednesday, 17 June 2026
Book sales in the local market are up so far in 2026, representing $14 million more in sales for the first quarter of 2026 compared with 2025, with adult fiction...
OverDrive partners with ILF on digital First Languages children’s books
Wednesday, 17 June 2026
OverDrive has partnered with the Indigenous Literacy Foundation (ILF) to bring First Languages children’s books to more readers through the library book app Libby and student reading app Sora. Languages...
Inflation, closed doors, horror, but the mood was up at the 2026 ABA conference
Wednesday, 17 June 2026
More than one graph shown at this year’s Australian Booksellers Association (ABA) annual conference in Canberra showed inflation steeply outpacing book sales. Yet the mood of the conference was positive...
US publishers sue WeLib website for copyright infringement
Wednesday, 17 June 2026
In the US, following the finding against pirate website Anna’s Archive, 13 publishers including the Big Five have joined to sue website WeLib for copyright infringement. The suit, filed in...
Nam Le, Hazel Phillips receive Varuna International Exchange fellowships
Wednesday, 17 June 2026
Varuna has announced the recipients for its International Exchange – New Zealand fellowship, offered in partnership with the Michael King Writers Centre and WORD Christchurch Festival with funding from Creative Australia....
Allen & Unwin acquires Ariarne Titmus memoir
Wednesday, 17 June 2026
Allen & Unwin (A&U) has acquired ANZ rights to Relentless: Family, Self-belief and the Will to Win, a memoir by Australian swimmer Ariarne Titmus, from David Malina at IMG Talent....
Allen & Unwin acquires Human Nature memoir
Wednesday, 17 June 2026
Allen & Unwin (A&U) has acquired world rights to Human Nature’s memoir Only Human: Harmony Through the Hits & Hard Times, via manager Jennifer Fontaine. Pop vocal group Human Nature...
Byron Writers Festival 2026 program announced
Wednesday, 17 June 2026
Byron Writers Festival has released the line-up for this year’s program, running from 14 to 16 August in Bundjalung Country, Byron Bay, NSW. Festival organisers said that with the theme...
HarperCollins acquires Anthony LaPaglia memoir
Wednesday, 17 June 2026
HarperCollins has acquired world rights to The Life We Choose, a memoir by actor Anthony LaPaglia. Described by the publisher as “raw and layered”, the memoir traces LaPaglia’s journey from...
Kate Foster recommends
Tuesday, 16 June 2026
One book I can’t get out of my head, which I read last year, is How to Sail to Somewhere by Ashleigh Barton. Ashleigh writes in such a tender, accessible...
Kate Foster on “A River I Must Be”
Tuesday, 16 June 2026
Kate Foster is a Gold Coast–based, bestselling and award-winning children’s author whose latest middle-grade novel in verse, A River I Must Be (HarperCollins Publishers), follows an autistic year 7 student...
Redundancies, promotions at Booktopia as digiDirect integrates its consumer-facing businesses
Tuesday, 16 June 2026
Several Booktopia staff have been made redundant as part of operational changes made by parent company digiDirect. Sophie Higgins, who joined Booktopia in 2024 as head of merchandise, has been...
