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Story Factory opens Bidwill centre

Monday, 25 May 2026
Creative writing not-for-profit Story Factory has opened a new centre in the western Sydney suburb of Bidwill, New South Wales. Having previously established centres in Redfern and Parramatta, the Story...

Bloomsbury results: AI licensing agreement boosts academic division

Monday, 25 May 2026
In the UK, Bloomsbury profits rose 7% for the fiscal year ended 28 February 2026, reported the Bookseller. The publisher reported group revenue of £325.9 million, down from £361 million...

HarperCollins Aotearoa appointments

Monday, 25 May 2026
As reported by Publishers Association of New Zealand Te Rau o Tākupu (PANZ), HarperCollins Aotearoa has announced two new appointments. Sarah Yankelowitz has been promoted into the role of commissioning...

MWF 2026: Almost 60% of audiences were first-time attendees

Monday, 25 May 2026
Melbourne Writers Festival (MWF) reported attendance at its 2026 festival, which ran from 7 to 10 May, was up 16% on the previous year. MWF said more than half of...

AWF26 breaks box office, bookstall records

Monday, 25 May 2026
Ticket sales for the 2026 Auckland Writers Festival Waituhi o Tāmaki (AWF26), held in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland from 12 to 17 May, were up 15% on the previous year, representing...

A children’s picture book wins ABIA Book of the Year

Friday, 22 May 2026
A children’s picture book took out Book of the Year at the Australian Book Industry Awards in Sydney last night; tradwife novel Yesteryear shoots up the charts; this week’s media...

Sworder wins ABIA Book of the Year

Thursday, 21 May 2026
The winners of the 2026 Australian Book Industry Awards (ABIA) have been announced, with Once I Was a Giant by Zeno Sworder (Thames & Hudson) taking out the overall Book...

Tax offsets, GST reductions, solutions to “theft of Australian authors’ work”: industry bodies’ submissions to next National Cultural Policy

Thursday, 21 May 2026
As this Sunday’s deadline for submissions to the next National Cultural Policy approaches, Writing Australia and other industry bodies are calling on those in the publishing sector to shape the...

National Cultural Policy submission deadline approaches

Thursday, 21 May 2026
As the deadline for submissions to inform the next National Cultural Policy fast approaches, we round up industry bodies’ key submission points; several Commonwealth Short Story Prize winners have been...

Multiple Commonwealth short story winners accused of using AI

Thursday, 21 May 2026
Several regional winning stories in the 2026 Commonwealth Short Story Prize have been accused of being AI-generated. Following accusations from readers online that Jamir Nazir’s “The Serpent in the Grove”...

New owners for Collins Booksellers Sale

Thursday, 21 May 2026
Collins Booksellers in Sale, Victoria, is changing hands next week. Current owners Natasha Hunt and Daryl Hunt will have their last day of trading on Saturday 23 May, with new...

Christmas Press acquires Brett’s “The Medusa Problem”

Thursday, 21 May 2026
Christmas Press has acquired world rights to The Medusa Problem, a middle-grade novel by Doris Brett, via Debbie Golvan of Golvan Arts Management. The Medusa Problem is a fantasy adventure...

Miles Franklin countdown begins

Wednesday, 20 May 2026
The Miles Franklin longlist has been announced; as have the winners of the Australian Book Industry Awards Hall of Fame Pixie O’Harris and Lloyd O’Neil awards; and Taiwan Travelogue has...

“I can almost hear the em-dashes”: Impressions from MWF opening night

Wednesday, 20 May 2026
Nonie Trainor is completing their Work Integrated Learning at Books+Publishing as a second-year student of the Master of Writing and Publishing program at RMIT University. Trainor attended the Athenaeum theatre...

“Taiwan Travelogue” wins 2026 International Booker Prize

Wednesday, 20 May 2026
Taiwanese author Yáng Shuāng-zǐ has won the 2026 International Booker Prize, worth £50,000 (A$94,300) for Taiwan Travelogue (translated by Lin King, Scribe), reported the Bookseller. The International Booker Prize is awarded...

Miles Franklin 2026 longlist announced

Wednesday, 20 May 2026
The longlist for the 2026 Miles Franklin Literary Award has been announced. Longlisted titles for the $60,000 prize are: Discipline (Randa Abdel-Fattah, University of Queensland Press) I Want Everything (Dominic...

Macdonald wins 2026 Pixie O’Harris Award

Wednesday, 20 May 2026
Paul Macdonald has been named as the recipient of the 2026 Pixie O’Harris Award in the Australian Book Industry Awards (ABIA). The outgoing president of the Children’s Book Council of...

Fox wins 2026 Lloyd O’Neil Award

Wednesday, 20 May 2026
Mem Fox has been named as the recipient of the 2026 Lloyd O’Neil Award in the Australian Book Industry Awards (ABIA). Fox has written more than 40 books for children,...

Susannah Bowen: “It’s frustrating to not have a central place for customers to go to buy a book if they prefer to support local”

Wednesday, 20 May 2026
Australian Booksellers Association (ABA) CEO Susannah Bowen has been visiting a lot of bookseller members since she was appointed to the role in October last year. Books+Publishing caught up with...