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‘Sweet Fruit, Sour Land’ wins 2018 Not the Booker Prize; judges overrule public vote

Wednesday, 17 October 2018
Sweet Fruit, Sour Land (Sandstone Press), by London-based author Rebecca Ley, has won the Guardian’s 2018 Not the Booker Prize. Judges overruled the public vote, which showed Ariel Kahn’s Raising...

Opening Scene initiative introduces writers to screen producers

Tuesday, 16 October 2018
The Wheeler Centre and the South Australian Film Corporation (SAFC) have launched a three-year program to introduce writers to screen producers. The Opening Scene program will connect The Next Chapter...

Hachette to launch ‘Fortnite’ publishing program

Tuesday, 16 October 2018
Hachette Australia, in association with Hachette divisions in the UK, USA, France and Spain, has announced a publishing program based on the popular game Fortnite. In a deal brokered by International...

Condé wins alternative Nobel prize

Tuesday, 16 October 2018
Guadeloupean novelist Maryse Condé has won the New Academy Prize in literature, a one-off award created to replace this year’s Nobel Prize for literature, which was cancelled following a sexual...

OzCo appoints Adrian Collette as CEO

Tuesday, 16 October 2018
The Australia Council for the Arts has appointed Adrian Collette as its incoming chief executive officer. Collette worked in publishing for a decade, including as managing director at Reed Books,...

ANZ authors nominated for 2019 Astrid Lindgren Award

Monday, 15 October 2018
Ten authors and illustrators from Australia and New Zealand and one Australian organisation have been nominated for the 2019 Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award. The Australian nominees are: Randa Abdel-Fattah Ursula...

‘KYD’ to publish annual print collection of short fiction

Monday, 15 October 2018
Kill Your Darlings magazine (KYD) will publish an annual print collection of short fiction, with the inaugural collection to be released in October 2019. New Australian Fiction will include 15...

Global publishers warn of phishing scams targeting manuscripts

Monday, 15 October 2018
A succession of phishing scams targeting publishers and agents has prompted responses from several global publishers, reports the Bookseller. Penguin Random House (PRH) North America sent an urgent email to...

Allen, Blackadder awarded 2018 Australian Antarctic Arts Fellowship

Monday, 15 October 2018
Screenwriter Jane Allen and author Jesse Blackadder have been jointly awarded the 2018 Australian Antarctic Arts Fellowship. Allen and Blackadder will travel to Antarctica in late October, staying at the...

Over one million books self-published in the US in 2017

Friday, 12 October 2018
In the US, more than one million books were self-published in 2017, breaking the record for the the total number of titles self-published in a year, according to a report...

‘The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart’ to be adapted for TV

Friday, 12 October 2018
Australian producer Bruna Papandrea’s company Made Up Stories has acquired screen rights to Holly Ringland’s debut novel The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart (Fourth Estate), and will develop the project...

Aussie children’s book creators chosen to pitch at global kids entertainment event

Friday, 12 October 2018
Australian children’s book creators Yves Stening and Nigel Buchanan are one of five intellectual property owners selected to pitch at the world's biggest children's entertainment industry event, MIPJunior. Held on...

ASA to wind up print magazine after 50 years

Friday, 12 October 2018
The Australian Society of Authors (ASA) has announced it will no longer produce its biannual print magazine, Australian Author, and will transition to digital publishing. ‘The financial argument is now...

HarperCollins signs Blackwood in two-book deal

Thursday, 11 October 2018
HarperCollins has signed a two-book deal with children's book illustrator Freya Blackwood. The first book in the deal is a yet-to-be-titled picture book about a girl and her pig, due...

Spencer wins 2018 Carmel Bird Digital Literary Award for ‘The Age of Fibs’

Thursday, 11 October 2018
Sydney-based writer Beth Spencer has won the 2018 Carmel Bird Digital Literary Award for her short-story collection The Age of Fibs. Author and prize judge Carmel Bird described The Age...

National Book Award 2018 shortlists announced

Thursday, 11 October 2018
In the US, the finalists for the 2018 National Book Awards have been announced. The shortlisted titles are: Fiction A Lucky Man (Jamel Brinkley, Graywolf Press) Florida (Lauren Groff, William Heinemann)...

Winton’s ‘The Riders’ to be adapted for film

Wednesday, 10 October 2018
Tim Winton’s The Riders (Penguin) will be adapted into a feature film produced by director Ridley Scott’s production company Scott Free, reports Deadline Hollywood. A director for the film is...

NT library welcomes resident creative Fraser-Bell

Wednesday, 10 October 2018
Emerging artist C J Fraser-Bell has commenced her residency at the Northern Territory Library (NTL), after being announced as one of four Territory artists to take part in the NT...

Libraries gain in 2019 US federal budget

Wednesday, 10 October 2018
In the US, federal legislation will ensure level or increased funding for library programs into the new financial year, reports American Libraries Magazine. The 'Federal Funding for Library Programs and...

‘Students Need School Libraries’ campaign website launched

Wednesday, 10 October 2018
The School Library Coalition has launched the ‘Students Need School Libraries’ website, with the campaign set to begin on 16 October. The campaign ‘seeks to highlight the importance of having school...

NZ picture book on Trump sold to UK

Wednesday, 10 October 2018
New Zealand publisher Millwood Press has sold UK, Irish and Australian rights to picture book Dear Donald Trump (Sophie Siers, illus by Anne Villeneuve) to Bonnier Books UK imprint Templar...

S&S UK before-tax profit doubles in 2017

Wednesday, 10 October 2018
In the UK, Simon & Schuster (S&S) made a before-tax profit of £5.9 million (A$10.9m) in 2017, up 56% from 2016, reports the Bookseller. Turnover was up from £42.1 million (A$77.9m) in 2016...

Giese wins 2018 Victorian Premier’s History Award for ‘The Maddest Place on Earth’

Wednesday, 10 October 2018
Clinical psychologist Jill Giese has won the 2018 Victorian Premier’s History Award, worth $5000, for her book The Maddest Place on Earth (Australian Scholarly Publishing), announced as part of the...

‘Alice-Miranda’ animated telemovie in production

Wednesday, 10 October 2018
SLR Productions has commenced production on an animated telemovie based on Jacqueline Harvey's Alice-Miranda (Random House Children's) series of children's books, reports Mediaweek. Originally announced as a TV series comprising...

Sweatshop to partner with DARTS on first nationwide anthology

Wednesday, 10 October 2018
Western Sydney-based literacy collective Sweatshop will partner with Diversity Arts Australia (DARTS) to deliver a series of literary initiatives, including its first nationwide project. Sweatshop and DARTS will produce an...