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Ledden-Lewis wins 2019 Kestin Indigenous Illustrator Award

Wednesday, 27 March 2019
Bundjalung artist Charmaine Ledden-Lewis has won Magabala Books’ 2019 Kestin Indigenous Illustrator Award. A freelance artist based in Blackheath, NSW, Ledden-Lewis receives $10,000, a mentorship and the opportunity to illustrate...

MidnightSun acquires debut picture book about pioneer aviator

Wednesday, 27 March 2019
MidnightSun Publishing has acquired world rights to Beverly McWilliams’ first picture book Born to Fly, illustrated by Timothy Ide. Born to Fly follows the life of Australian farmer Harry Butler,...

CBCA Awards 2019 shortlists announced

Tuesday, 26 March 2019
The shortlists for this year’s Children’s Book Council of Australia (CBCA) Book of the Year Awards have been announced. The shortlisted titles are: Older readers Between Us (Clare Atkins, Black...

Waterstones staff campaign for ‘real living wage’

Tuesday, 26 March 2019
In the UK, staff at bookselling chain Waterstones are campaigning to be paid the ‘real living wage’, reports the Bookseller. Piccadilly Waterstones bookseller April Newton set up the online petition...

Mascara announces winners of Avant-garde Literary Awards

Tuesday, 26 March 2019
Mascara Literary Review has announced the winners of the Avant-garde Literary Awards for literature, criticism and theory. The awards recognise ‘books which are stretching the boundaries of genres radically, philosophically,...

Scribble to begin publishing directly into North America

Tuesday, 26 March 2019
Scribe’s picture-book list Scribble will begin publishing titles directly into North America in September this year. Scribble will launch its North American publishing list with titles All the Ways to be...

Kozlowski wins Leila St John Award

Tuesday, 26 March 2019
Children’s book specialist Kathy Kozlowski has received the annual Leila St John Award, presented by Victorian branch of the Children’s Book Council of Australia (CBCA). Kozlowski has spent over 50...

ANZ authors nominated for 2019 RITA Awards

Monday, 25 March 2019
Several Australian and New Zealand authors have been nominated for the 2019 RITA Awards for excellence in published romance novels and novellas, presented by the Romance Writers of America (RWA)....

Whitcoulls pulls Peterson’s ‘12 Rules for Life’

Monday, 25 March 2019
New Zealand bookselling chain Whitcoulls has pulled Jordan Peterson’s 12 Rules for Life (Penguin Press), reports the NZ Herald. In an email to customers, the chain said it was ‘a...

‘Smash All the Windows’ wins inaugural Selfies Award

Monday, 25 March 2019
In the UK, Jane Davis’ self-published novel Smash All the Windows has won the inaugural Selfies Award for a self-published work of fiction. Smash All the Windows explores the emotional...

Scribe acquires debut novel by Horton

Friday, 22 March 2019
Scribe has acquired world rights to Luke Horton's debut novel, The Fogging, which was highly commended in the 2019 Victorian Premier's Literary Awards unpublished manuscript prize. Rights were acquired at...

‘The Boy at the Back of the Class’ wins Waterstones Children’s Book Prize 2019

Friday, 22 March 2019
In the UK, Onjali Q Raúf’s novel The Boy at the Back of the Class (Orion Children's Books) has won the £5000 (A$9230) Waterstones Children’s Book Prize, reports the Bookseller....

Arena Magazine launches $1000 Alan Roberts Prize

Friday, 22 March 2019
The Arena Foundation, in association with Arena Magazine, has launched an annual prize for the best essay related to ‘ecology, social life or a politics for the future’. Entries to...

Red Room Poetry fellowship shortlist announced

Friday, 22 March 2019
Red Room Poetry has announced the shortlist for its 2019 fellowship, which recognises the achievements and artistic goals of contemporary Australian poets. The 11 shortlisted poets are: Richard James Allen...

Report says up to 60 Big W stores could close

Thursday, 21 March 2019
Up to 60 Big W stores may be forced to close according to a recent Macquarie Wealth Management report, first reported in the Australian. Woolworths Group, which owns the discount...

Red Room Poetry expands Poetry in First Languages schools program to QLD, NT, ACT

Thursday, 21 March 2019
Red Room Poetry is expanding its Poetry in First Languages (PIFL) program in 2019 to include Queensland, the Northern Territory and the ACT. The PIFL program teaches poetry, music, dance...

US Christian bookstore chain to close 170 bricks-and-mortar stores

Thursday, 21 March 2019
In the US, Christian bookstore chain LifeWay Christian Resources has announced that it will close all 170 of its physical stores by the end of 2019, reports Publishers Weekly. LifeWay...

Forthcoming Wood novel sold to US, UK

Wednesday, 20 March 2019
Charlotte Wood's forthcoming novel The Weekend (A&U, October) has been sold to Riverhead in the US and Weidenfeld & Nicolson (W&N) in the UK, reports the Bookseller. The novel, Wood's first...

Australian Library Design Awards 2019 winners announced

Wednesday, 20 March 2019
The winners of the 2019 Australian Library and Information Association’s (ALIA) Library Design Awards for new and refurbished libraries have been announced. The winning libraries are: Public libraries Shellharbour City...

Trump budget proposes elimination of US federal library funding

Wednesday, 20 March 2019
US president Donald Trump’s 2020 budget proposes the permanent elimination of the federal Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) ‘and with it virtually all federal library funding’, reports Publishers...

‘The Trauma Cleaner’ shortlisted for Wellcome Book Prize

Wednesday, 20 March 2019
Sarah Krasnostein’s The Trauma Cleaner: One Woman’s Extraordinary Life in Death, Decay and Disaster (Text) is one of six books shortlisted for the UK’s Wellcome Book Prize. The annual prize,...

2019 Carnegie and Kate Greenaway medals shortlists announced

Wednesday, 20 March 2019
In the UK, the shortlists for the Carnegie and Kate Greenaway Medals 2019 have been announced. The works shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal for an outstanding book for children and...

ABDA launches half-price student membership; announces 2019 awards date

Wednesday, 20 March 2019
The Australian Book Designers Association (ABDA) has introduced its first student membership. Available to full-time and part-time students studying graphic or communication design in Australia, the student membership is priced...

Muhling appointed EWF executive director

Wednesday, 20 March 2019
Alice Muhling has commenced in her role as executive director of the Emerging Writers' Festival (EWF). A creative producer and arts manager, Muhling has previously held the positions of acting...

The author next door: Stocking self-published books

Tuesday, 19 March 2019
Kelsey Oldham talks to booksellers about stocking self-published books. Most Australian bookshops acknowledge that stocking self-published books is important—in theory. In practice, however, store policies are often opaque or ad-hoc,...