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Finding your centre: Megan Daley on her career journey

Wednesday, 27 June 2018
‘A school library is at the very centre of creative school communities,’ writes teacher-librarian and book blogger Megan Daley. She shares her career journey. I studied early childhood teaching, always...

HK public libraries remove LGBTQIA+ kids books

Wednesday, 27 June 2018
The Hong Kong government has been accused of moving several LGBTQIA-themed children’s books out of public view in the city's public libraries, following complaints by an anti-gay group, reports the Standard....

Talking less and listening more: Martin Hughes on creating safer workplaces

Wednesday, 27 June 2018
Affirm Press publisher Martin Hughes (with senior editor Ruby Ashby-Orr) explores what it means to shape a better culture and create safer workplaces. At the recent Leading Edge Books conference...

Podcast spotlight: Spun Stories

Wednesday, 27 June 2018
Established in 2015, Spun: True Stories Told in the Territory evolved from a quarterly live storytelling event in Darwin that showcases ‘extraordinary stories by ordinary people’. Hosted and produced by...

300 attend 2018 ABA Conference; booksellers ‘surviving and thriving’

Wednesday, 27 June 2018
Close to 300 booksellers, exhibitors and guest speakers attended this year’s Australian Booksellers Association (ABA) conference and trade show, which was held in Canberra from 17-18 June. This year, the...

2018 ABA conference: value, volume up YTD; branding, staff management discussed

Wednesday, 27 June 2018
Nielsen Book associate director Julie Winters presented an overview of the Australian book market at the 2018 Australian Booksellers Association (ABA) conference. Winters reported that the total book market is...

NSW govt cuts public library funding by 18% in 2018-19 state budget

Wednesday, 27 June 2018
The NSW state budget has cut funding to public libraries by 18%, according to peak body Local Government NSW (LGNSW). The 2018-19 NSW state budget allocated $23.5 million to libraries,...

Mason appointed chair of NLA

Wednesday, 27 June 2018
The federal government has appointed Brett Mason as the new chair of the council of the National Library of Australia (NLA). Mason—a diplomat and academic, as well as a former...

Copyright Agency sues NSW government after unsuccessful mediation

Wednesday, 27 June 2018
After an unsuccessful mediation last week, the Copyright Agency is pursuing a law suit it filed against the New South Wales state government last year over the non-payment of copyright...

Rapper ‘Loki’ wins 2018 Orwell Prize

Wednesday, 27 June 2018
In the UK, Darren McGarvey, also known as the rapper ‘Loki’, has won the £3000 (A$5547) Orwell Prize for Books for Poverty Safari: Understanding the Anger of Britain’s Underclass (Luath...

Hardie Grant acquires Pascoe’s travel guide

Wednesday, 27 June 2018
Hardie Grant Travel has acquired world rights to a travel guide book by Bunurong writer Bruce Pascoe. The as-yet-untitled book will look at places in Australia ‘where evidence of Indigenous...

Goldin’s escape room thriller attracts six-figure North American deal

Wednesday, 27 June 2018
Australian author Megan Goldin’s second novel, The Escape Room (Michael Joseph), has sold into North America in a six-figure, two-book deal negotiated by David Gernert of the Gernert Agency on...

Ventura acquires world rights to d’Alpuget’s ‘Birth of the Plantagenets’

Tuesday, 26 June 2018
Ventura Press has acquired world rights to Blanche D’Alpuget’s ‘Birth of the Plantagenets’ series. The first two books in the series, The Young Lion and The Lion Rampant, will be...

Maguire’s ‘An Isolated Incident’ sold to UK

Tuesday, 26 June 2018
UK publisher Lightning Books has acquired Emily Maguire’s 2016 crime novel An Isolated Incident (Picador), reports the Bookseller. Lightning Books editor-at-large Scott Pack acquired world English-language rights (excluding Australia and...

US online sales tax ruling applauded by booksellers

Tuesday, 26 June 2018
In the US, the Supreme Court has ruled that online retailers with no physical presence in a state are required to collect tax on sales in that state, reports Publishers...

Dymocks Book Club launches on ‘Kids’ WB’

Tuesday, 26 June 2018
Chain bookseller Dymocks has partnered with Australian children’s television show Kids’ WB, from Channel Nine, to launch a monthly children’s book segment. Each month’s segment will feature a group of...

Allan wins 2018 Rachel Funari Prize for Fiction

Tuesday, 26 June 2018
Lip magazine’s 2018 Rachel Funari Prize for Fiction has been presented to Liz Allan for her story ‘Our Voices, Fierce’. Margot McGovern, on behalf of the judging panel, described the winning...

Law to edit ‘Growing Up Queer in Australia’ anthology

Tuesday, 26 June 2018
Black Inc. has announced it will publish a new anthology in 2019, Growing Up Queer in Australia, which will be edited by Benjamin Law. The anthology, which will be aimed...

Online bookstore stocking only debut Australian titles to launch this year

Tuesday, 26 June 2018
A new online bookstore that will stock only debut Australian writers is preparing to launch later this year. Non-profit group Underground Writers is establishing the new online store—called Underground Books—to...

‘Into the Heart of Tasmania’ wins inaugural Dick and Joan Green Family Award

Tuesday, 26 June 2018
Historian Rebe Taylor’s Into the Heart of Tasmania: A Search for Human Antiquity (MUP) has won the inaugural Dick and Joan Green Family Award for Tasmanian History, reports the Advocate. The...

ALA renames Laura Ingalls Wilder Medal

Monday, 25 June 2018
In the US, a division of the American Library Association (ALA) has voted to remove the name of Laura Ingalls Wilder from a children’s book award, over concerns about how...

Better Reading launches ‘crowd-sourced’ review platform

Monday, 25 June 2018
Better Reading has launched a new ‘crowd-sourced’ book review platform named Preview. Under the new program, publishers will be able to sponsor a title to be promoted to Better Reading’s...

Donovan appointed scout for FremantleMedia

Monday, 25 June 2018
Australian editor and consultant Philippa Donovan has been appointed literary scout for production and entertainment company FremantleMedia Australia. Donovan will be covering book-to-film as well as TV adaptations for world English-language territories, with...