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New ‘Books+Publishing Junior’ reviews out now

Monday, 13 July 2015
Books+Publishing’s latest Junior newsletter contains reviews of seven children’s and YA books publishing in September.Among the highest-scoring books are Lucy Estela’s debut picture book Suri’s Wall (illus by Matt Ottley,...

NZ to hold its first national bookshop day

Monday, 13 July 2015
Booksellers New Zealand will hold its first national bookshop day on Saturday 31 October 2015. NZ Bookshop Day, which aims to celebrate and publicise local bookstores, is based on similar...

Massey University Press appoints first publisher

Monday, 13 July 2015
Former Random House New Zealand publisher Nicola Legat has been appointed as the first publisher of Massey University Press, following the press’ launch in February 2015.Legat, also a former editor...

The Quarto Group creates direct-to-consumer website

Friday, 10 July 2015
London- and New York-based publisher the Quarto Group has launched a consumer-facing website called QuartoKnows, which will sell direct-to-consumer titles from August, reports the Bookseller. QuartoKnows showcases titles published by...

Bray to head up Better Reading Kids

Friday, 10 July 2015
Book recommendation site Better Reading is launching a children’s offshoot, headed up by former Allen & Unwin (A&U) children’s book director Liz Bray.Better Reading Kids will offer children’s reading recommendations and...

Marinov promoted to books manager at Leading Edge 

Friday, 10 July 2015
Leading Edge Books buyer and marketing manager Galina Marinov has been promoted to national group manager of the books division.Leading Edge Group general manager Josh Zarb said in a letter...

Success for Australian self-published colouring books 

Friday, 10 July 2015
Australian small publisher Colourtation’s anti-stress colouring books have found success as one of the few locally authored and published adult colouring titles in the growing genre.The three volumes of Colourtation...

Australians among 2015 World Fantasy Awards finalists

Friday, 10 July 2015
Australian authors and publishers are among those nominated for the 2015 World Fantasy Awards, for works published in 2014. Kaaron Warren is a finalist in the short fiction category for...

New owners for Sydney’s Lane Cove Books 

Thursday, 9 July 2015
Lane Cove Books, formerly Moirs Bookshop, in Sydney will be rebranded as The Burns Bay Bookery in September after being purchased by new owners.The new store will be run by...

‘Drones and Phantoms’ wins ALS Gold Medal

Thursday, 9 July 2015
Jennifer Maiden’s poetry collection Drones and Phantoms (Giramondo) has won the 2015 Australian Literature Society (ALS) Gold Medal.  Maiden’s book was chosen from a shortlist of five titles. Announced at the...

Davies wins Frank O’Connor Short Story Award

Thursday, 9 July 2015
Welsh author Carys Davies has won the Frank O’Connor International Short Story Award—the world’s richest prize for a short-story collection, reports the Guardian. Davies won the €25,000 (A$37,312) prize for...

NT Literary Awards 2015 finalists announced

Thursday, 9 July 2015
The Northern Territory Library has announced the finalists for the Northern Territory (NT) Literary Awards.The 2015 finalists are:Short stories ‘Stranger in Paradise’ (Barbara Eather) ‘It’s a Privilege to Live in...

Malala Yousafzai launches #BooksNotBullets campaign

Thursday, 9 July 2015
Nobel laureate and activist Malala Yousafzai, author of I Am Malala (Weidenfeld & Nicolson), has launched the #BooksNotBullets campaign on social media to pressure world leaders to invest in education...

Micro Michael: Michael Wagner on ‘Pig Dude’ 

Thursday, 9 July 2015
Michael Wagner’s new children’s book Pig Dude is the first book to be released from his micro-publishing company Billy Goat Books. He spoke to Brad Jefferies.What has been your experience...

Serpell wins 2015 Caine Prize for African Writing

Wednesday, 8 July 2015
Zambia’s Namwali Serpell has won the 2015 Caine Prize for African Writing for her short story ‘The Sack’. Published in the collection Africa39: New Writing from Africa South of the...

Ngaio Marsh Award 2015 shortlist announced

Wednesday, 8 July 2015
Five books have been shortlisted for the 2015 Ngaio Marsh Award for Best Crime Novel by a New Zealand writer. The shortlisted titles are: Five Minutes Alone (Paul Cleave, Penguin...

International library news

Wednesday, 8 July 2015
American Library Association releases national policy agendaThe American Library Association (ALA) has released a national policy agenda for libraries to help library advocates ‘engage actively in policy conversations with a...

Melbourne’s newest public library opens

Wednesday, 8 July 2015
The Kathleen Syme Library and Community Centre in the Melbourne suburb of Carlton was officially opened on 3 July by lord mayor Robert Doyle after a $15.5 million refurbishment of...

Rights round-up 

Wednesday, 8 July 2015
SalesFiction—MidnightSun has sold US rights to An Ordinary Epidemic (Amanda Hickie) to Little, Brown. Nonfiction—Exisle has sold Korean rights to What Makes You Happy (Fiona Robards); and Slovakian rights to...

Quote of the week

Wednesday, 8 July 2015
‘We couldn’t believe the overwhelming feedback we had from Perth readers when we were closing. Even with the doors shut last week, the amount of people trying to get in...

On Tour: Meet the author Bernard Beckett

Wednesday, 8 July 2015
New Zealand author Bernard Beckett has written multiple books and plays for young adults. His latest book Lullaby (Text) is a psychological thriller about twins Rene and Theo that explores love...

Myer reappointed Australia Council chair

Tuesday, 7 July 2015
The Australian government has announced that Rupert Myer has been reappointed chair of the Australia Council.The retailer and philanthropist was first appointed to the role in June 2012. Australia Council...