PRH acquires “A Classified Affair” by Chloe Hooper
Wednesday, 19 August 2026
Penguin Random House Australia (PRH) has acquired ANZ rights to the novel A Classified Affair by Chloe Hooper. PRH said that A Classified Affair takes place in 1979 Britain following...
MARION reports reduction in funding
Wednesday, 19 August 2026
ACT literary development organisation MARION has said that “literature funding in the region is in crisis” after having its requested government funding “cut by 35%”. “Literature accounts for less than...
Perentie Press announces Graphic Folk list and first title
Wednesday, 19 August 2026
Perentie Press has launched the new list Graphic Folk for graphic novel adaptations of fairytales and folktales from around the world. The first title of the list will be Strawberries...
Christmas 2026 preview: Illustrated nonfiction
Wednesday, 19 August 2026
With the festive season approaching, Australian publishers have highlighted their top titles for the Christmas selling period for the Books+Publishing Christmas Preview. To view their top picks in the illustrated...
Tamara Zimet appointed as Sydney Writers’ Festival artistic director
Wednesday, 19 August 2026
Sydney Writers’ Festival (SWF) has appointed Tamara Zimet as the new artistic director, after Ann Mossop stepped down from the position in June. Zimet began her programming career at SWF,...
Pages HQ bookshop to open in Drouin
Wednesday, 19 August 2026
Pages HQ is a new bookshop set to open in Drouin, Victoria on 1 September. Owner Sharyn Swanepoel tells Books+Publishing about the new store and her plans to involve the...
Byron Writers Festival reports 10,000 attendees for 30th anniversary program
Wednesday, 19 August 2026
Byron Writers Festival reported more than 10,000 attendees during a sold-out 30th anniversary program, held from 14 to 16 August, for the first time within the Byron Bay township. Artistic...
Ingram launches Covered platform
Tuesday, 18 August 2026
Ingram Content Group has launched Covered, a platform for digital catalogues, review copies and ordering, reports Publishers Weekly. The company announced the platform in February as a lower-cost alternative to...
Christmas 2026 preview: Adult literary fiction
Tuesday, 18 August 2026
With the festive season approaching, Australian publishers have highlighted their top titles for the Christmas selling period for the Books+Publishing Christmas Preview. To view their top picks in the adult...
Patrick Marlborough crowdfunds book, imprint
Tuesday, 18 August 2026
Australian author and critic Patrick Marlborough has raised more than $12,000 to independently publish the novel Craigie and launch publishing imprint Wharf Rat Press. Marlborough said, “The campaign will fund...
Queer AFL romance “After the Siren” optioned for screen
Tuesday, 18 August 2026
Penguin Random House Australia and New Zealand (PRH) has optioned screen rights to After the Siren by Darcy Green to Mad Ones Films. The news comes as PRH announces the...
Wiley acquires Hannah Brown’s “Wired to Lead”
Tuesday, 18 August 2026
Wiley has acquired world rights to Wired to Lead: The ADHD Advantage the World Needs Now by Hannah Brown, in a deal brokered by literary agent Lou Johnson and Lucy...
NZSA manuscript assessment recipients announced
Monday, 17 August 2026
The New Zealand Society of Authors Te Puni Kaituhi O Aotearoa (NZSA) has announced the writers who will receive manuscript guidance through this year's CompleteMS program. The recipients are (pictured...
Christmas 2026 preview: Adult genre fiction
Monday, 17 August 2026
With the festive season approaching, Australian publishers have highlighted their top titles for the Christmas selling period for the Books+Publishing Christmas Preview. To view their top picks in the adult...
“When There Are Wolves Again” wins Arthur C Clarke Award
Monday, 17 August 2026
In the UK, EJ Swift has won the Arthur C Clarke Award science fiction book of the year for When There Are Wolves Again (Arcadia). Award director Tom Hunter told...
Collins Booksellers Franchise Excellence Awards winners announced
Monday, 17 August 2026
Collins Booksellers announced the winners of the 2026 Collins Booksellers Franchise Excellence Awards, at the annual conference on 8 to 9 August. The winners in each category were: Marketing Excellence...
Christmas 2026 preview: Adult general fiction
Friday, 14 August 2026
With the festive season approaching, Australian publishers have highlighted their top titles for the Christmas selling period for the Books+Publishing Christmas Preview. To view their top picks in the adult...
Book Club – this month’s reads
Friday, 14 August 2026
Looking for your next great group read? Our monthly Book Club rounds up new release titles perfect for sparking conversation and perhaps even some debate. From compelling fiction to thought-provoking...
Christmas 2026 preview: YA books
Thursday, 13 August 2026
With the festive season approaching, Australian publishers have highlighted their top titles for the Christmas selling period for the Books+Publishing Christmas Preview. To view their top picks in the YA book...
Anthropic’s Claude to add “watermark” to AI-generated text
Thursday, 13 August 2026
Anthropic has announced that new models of its generative AI product Claude will embed an “imperceptible watermark” directly into AI-generated text, reports US-based Business Insider. “The watermark doesn’t change the text’s...
Producers looking for crime, rom-coms and “feel-good domestic stories” at 2026 Books at MIFF
Thursday, 13 August 2026
There was “a real energy in the air to acquire and get things made” at 37ºSouth Market’s Books at MIFF 2026 program, said agent Alex Adsett of the event, which...
Spring Writes 2026 launched in South Australia
Thursday, 13 August 2026
Writers SA, Adelaide Festival Centre, Flinders University’s Assemblage Centre for Creative Practice Research and the State Library of South Australia have partnered on Spring Writes, an “initiative designed to amplify...
Agents, AI, trust and transparency: Local literary agents respond to situation “we all live in fear of”
Wednesday, 12 August 2026
In the world of generative AI, how can agents prepare to stand by their authors? Books+Publishing spoke to local agents about their approach. The recent news that an agent in...
Who’s up for a Prime Minister’s Literary Award?
Wednesday, 12 August 2026
The shortlists for the 2026 Prime Minister’s Literary Awards were announced yesterday afternoon, with the winners to be announced in Canberra on 10 September; Helen Ennis has won the National...
One More Chapter launches crime and thriller imprint
Wednesday, 12 August 2026
In the UK, HarperCollins’s One More Chapter has launched a new imprint, Cliffhanger, dedicated to crime, thriller, horror and action/adventure titles, reports the Bookseller. Publishing director Jennie Rothwell and marketing...
Max Dupain biography wins 2026 National Biography Award
Wednesday, 12 August 2026
Helen Ennis has won the $25,000 National Biography Award for Max Dupain: A Portrait (4th Estate). The biography explores “the complexities and contradictions of the man who produced Australia’s most well-known image,...
Blue Mountains Writers’ Festival author line-up announced
Wednesday, 12 August 2026
The Blue Mountains Writers’ Festival has announced this year’s author line-up for the program running 30 October to 1 November 2026 on Dharug and Gundungurra land. Guest authors at the...
“Sometimes they’d walk out with a butterfly guide as well because we got talking”: Lindy Jones on the tacit arts of bookselling
Wednesday, 12 August 2026
Bookseller Lindy Jones announced her retirement from Sydney specialist bookstore Abbey’s earlier this year. This followed a long career in the book industry, which included more than 30 years of...
Christmas 2026 preview: Junior and middle-grade books
Wednesday, 12 August 2026
With the festive season approaching, Australian publishers have highlighted their top titles for the Christmas selling period for the Books+Publishing Christmas Preview. To view their top picks in the junior...
Staff changes at Hardie Grant Children’s Publishing, Chren Byng appointed North America commercial director
Wednesday, 12 August 2026
Hardie Grant Children’s Publishing (HGCP) has announced the appointment of former senior publisher Chren Byng to the newly created role of commercial director, North America, as well as the promotion...
