Allen & Unwin acquires “Into the Valley” by Alex Miller
Wednesday, 5 August 2026
Allen & Unwin (A&U) has acquired world rights to “emotionally masterful novel” Into the Valley by Alex Miller from the author. Into the Valley follows Andy, who moves to the...
Magabala acquires “Children of Crows” by Sharleigh Crittenden
Wednesday, 5 August 2026
Magabala has acquired world rights to “powerful literary fiction novella” Children of Crows by Wiradjuri writer Sharleigh Crittenden, in a deal brokered by Rebecca Slater at a4 Literary. Magabala said...
Chris Brophy and Kimberley Starr win 2026 Dorothy Hewett Award
Wednesday, 5 August 2026
Chris Brophy and Kimberley Starr are the joint winners of the 2026 Dorothy Hewett Award for an unpublished manuscript and will split the $10,000 prize money. Each author will be...
What’s next for traditional reading for young children? An excerpt from “Between Reading and Screens”
Wednesday, 5 August 2026
Between Reading and Screens is a forthcoming title from Melbourne University Press, authored by academics Sybil Nolan, Wonsun Shin, Katherine Day and Xin Pei, which seeks to surface “new research on digital...
Princeton University Press partners with Cashmere on AI licensing
Tuesday, 4 August 2026
In the US, Princeton University Press (PUP) has partnered with AI content management platform Cashmere to license selected academic content for use in AI applications, the Bookseller and Publishers Weekly reported...
“Suburban Review” to cease publishing
Tuesday, 4 August 2026
Online literary journal the Suburban Review (TSR) has announced it will cease publishing following two final publications this year. In a statement on the publication’s socials pages, the TSR board...
University Book Shop Dunedin to “reshape”, move on campus
Tuesday, 4 August 2026
The University Book Shop (UBS) in Dunedin is set to close and relocate to the University of Otago. The Otago University Students’ Association, which owns the bookshop, said in a...
Penguin Random House acquires children’s bird book by David Pocock and Jess Ward-Jones
Tuesday, 4 August 2026
Penguin Random House (PRH) Australia has acquired world rights to a children’s book by Australian senator and former professional rugby union player David Pocock, written with ecologist Jess Ward-Jones. Currently...
Apollo Bay WORDfest reports a sold-out festival
Tuesday, 4 August 2026
Organisers of the Apollo Bay WORDfest, held in the Victorian coastal town from 24 to 26 July, have reported a sold-out festival. WORDfest director Kate Bourne said, “Ticket sales were...
Local secondhand booksellers suspect AI companies behind orders
Monday, 3 August 2026
Secondhand booksellers in Aotearoa New Zealand and Australia have reported receiving orders from Canadian book recycling company Zoom Books, which many booksellers suspect of supplying companies involved in generative AI...
Independent publisher Sick Leave to launch digital publishing platform
Monday, 3 August 2026
Independent Melbourne publisher Sick Leave, which started as a monthly reading event at the former Gasometer Hotel, is set to launch a new digital publishing platform. The publisher plans to...
Agent pulls manuscript from sale, “no longer able to authenticate” its development
Monday, 3 August 2026
A crime novel has been pulled from sale by its agent after securing “major” 6- and 7-figure deals in the US and the UK, due to the suspected use of...
Allen & Unwin acquires Charlotte Guest’s debut “The Kookaburra”
Monday, 3 August 2026
Allen & Unwin (A&U) has acquired ANZ rights to The Kookaburra, a debut novel by Charlotte Guest, in a 5-way auction brokered by Rebecca Slater of a4 Literary. Rights for...
Hachette “working around the clock” to restore distribution systems after unauthorised activity
Thursday, 30 July 2026
Hachette Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand and its distribution operation Alliance Distribution Services (ADS) have experienced “unauthorised activity” on the businesses’ computing systems, causing supply delays. Hachette told Books+Publishing the...
Allen & Unwin acquires “The Vatican Files”
Thursday, 30 July 2026
Allen & Unwin (A&U) has acquired world rights to the nonfiction title The Vatican Files: Dark Money, Power and the Battle with America’s Right by Paola Totaro and Maria Antonietta...
Daisy Utemorrah Award 2026 shortlist announced
Thursday, 30 July 2026
Magabala Books and the Western Australian Premier’s Book Awards have announced the shortlist for the 2026 Daisy Utemorrah Award. The shortlisted works are: “Barefoot Running”, “a literary First Nations mystery...
Book adaptations, Youth Poet Laureate program receive Creative Australia funding
Thursday, 30 July 2026
Adaptations of the books Three Dresses (Wanda Gibson) and Blueback (Tim Winton), and a National Youth Poet Laureate program are among 20 projects to receive Creative Australia funding. Among the...
Writers Victoria to continue “for the foreseeable future”
Thursday, 30 July 2026
In an update from its chair Janice Gobey, Writers Victoria has confirmed it has “put in place measures to continue the path forward for the foreseeable future”. Gobey wrote that...
Bundyi acquires first bilingual book: “ngurrumirgang ngarru” by Dhani Gilbert
Thursday, 30 July 2026
Simon & Schuster (S&S) imprint Bundyi Publishing has acquired world rights to the imprint’s first bilingual work, the children’s picture book ngurrumirgang ngarru, written and illustrated by Kalari Wiradyuri woman...
HQ acquires “The Confession” by E Brodie
Thursday, 30 July 2026
HQ has acquired world rights to The Confession by E Brodie, agented by Chloe Berry of The Berry Agency. A “gripping suspense novel set in 1980s small-town Australia”, The Confession...
Booker time
Wednesday, 29 July 2026
The shortlists for the Queensland Literary Awards have been announced; also in Queensland, the Eumundi Writers Festival program has been announced; in Aotearoa New Zealand the industry’s Book Design Awards...
“Books endure” at BookUp: The risks and rewards of taking our time
Wednesday, 29 July 2026
The 2026 BookUp conference was held in central Melbourne and online on 22 and 23 July. Books+Publishing commissioning editor Angela Glindemann reflects on the event’s industry day. For a few...
Aus audiobook report: “Frequent listening correlates with higher rates of reading in print and ebook formats”
Wednesday, 29 July 2026
The open access report, Audiobook Reading in Australia, uses survey data to explore listening behaviours, preferences and experiences, and compares these with other reading and cultural consumption, alongside demographic characteristics....
Queensland Literary Awards 2026 shortlists announced
Wednesday, 29 July 2026
The shortlists for the 2026 Queensland Literary Awards have been announced. The shortlisted titles in each category are: Queensland Premier’s Award for Work of State Significance ($30,000) Terraglossia (Debra Dank,...
Eumundi Writers Festival announces 2026 program
Wednesday, 29 July 2026
The Eumundi Writers Festival has announced the program for its 2026 event, which will run from 4 to 6 September in the Queensland town. The program focuses on “the needs...
Lily and Hugo’s children’s bookstore to open in Sunbury
Wednesday, 29 July 2026
Lily and Hugo’s bookstore for children will be opening soon in Sunbury, on the outskirts of Melbourne. Leigh Redman spoke with Books+Publishing about the new venture, which he and co-founder...
UWA Publishing acquires Georgie Harriss autofiction “Perpetual Stew”
Wednesday, 29 July 2026
UWA Publishing has acquired world rights to Georgie Harriss’s literary novel Perpetual Stew, which was shortlisted for the Dorothy Hewett Award. UWA Publishing described the novel as “a grotty yet...
Claire Mabey wins the Lynley Dodd Children’s Writers Award
Wednesday, 29 July 2026
Wellington-based author Claire Mabey has won the Lynley Dodd Children’s Writers Award and will receive a NZ$30,000 gift to support her ongoing work, presented by the Aotearoa New Zealand Arts...
Booker Prize 2026 longlist announced
Wednesday, 29 July 2026
The longlist for the 2026 Booker Prize, worth £50,000, has been announced. The 13 longlisted books are: The Shadow of the Object (Chloe Aridjis, Chatto & Windus) Switzy (Emma Cline, Chatto &...
PANZ Book Design Awards 2026 finalists
Wednesday, 29 July 2026
The finalists for the 2026 PANZ Book Design Awards have been announced by the Publishers Association of New Zealand Te Rau o Tākupu (PANZ). Chosen from more than 130 entries...
