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New residencies announced for NZ writers 

Wednesday, 30 July 2014
New Zealand writers can apply for two three-month residencies to write essays of about 10,000 words on New Zealand life and culture. The D’Arcy Writers’ Residencies are located on Waiheke Island...

Quote of the week

Wednesday, 30 July 2014
‘You might expect jealousy and conflict not unlike the plots and twists of the stories they write, but this group of authors believe forming a group to support each other...

MWF announces digital reporters, ‘geo-fiction’ app

Wednesday, 30 July 2014
The Melbourne Writers Festival (MWF) has announced its digital reporters for 2014. With the support of the Emerging Writers’ Festival, each reporter will cover events at MWF and have access...

Apple acquires ‘Pandora for books’

Tuesday, 29 July 2014
Apple has acquired book analytics and recommendation company BookLamp, described as a ‘Pandora for books’, reports Techcrunch. The company, which was purchased for between US$10 and US$15 million, is best...

WA prem’s awards 2014 shortlists announced

Tuesday, 29 July 2014
The titles shortlisted for the 2014 Western Australian Premier’s Book Awards were announced on 28 July by State Library of Western Australia CEO and state librarian Margaret Allen. The shortlisted...

Samsung closes Australian book content business

Tuesday, 29 July 2014
Samsung has closed its Australian book content business as part of a company-wide move. ‘Globally, Samsung Electronics closed Samsung Books in Samsung Hub,’ a company spokesperson told Books+Publishing.As a result of...

Wellington independent Capital Books to close

Tuesday, 29 July 2014
Capital Books in Wellington, New Zealand, will close at the end of August, reports the Dominion Post. The store, which has traded for 18 years, is owned by Tim and...

A&U celebrates 100 years of ‘Allen & Unwin’

Tuesday, 29 July 2014
Allen & Unwin has celebrated the centenary of its name by publishing a ‘small hardback history’ called A Hundred Years of Allen & Unwin 1914-2014. The book, written by A&U...

Frankfurt sends delegates to gamescon in Cologne

Tuesday, 29 July 2014
Frankfurt Book Fair’s (FBF) StoryDrive conference will send delegates to the computer-game trade fair gamescon in Cologne in August, FBF said in a statement. Ten representatives of international publishing houses and literary agencies...

RiP Michael Gifkins 

Tuesday, 29 July 2014
New Zealand literary agent Michael Gifkins has died, aged 68.Former Penguin NZ publishing director Geoff Walker writes:‘For many years New Zealand’s leading literary agent, Michael died yesterday after suffering from prostate cancer...

New writers’ studio opens in Melbourne

Tuesday, 29 July 2014
A new writers’ studio has opened in Collingwood in inner-city Melbourne.The Good Copy, which moved into its studio space earlier this year, describes itself as ‘a writing studio, a shop, a...

RiP Jo Goodman 

Tuesday, 29 July 2014
Jo Goodman, former president of the Victorian branch of the Children’s Book Council of Australia, has died, aged 73. The CBCA Victorian Branch committee writes:‘The Children’s Book Council of Australia...

Rights round-up 

Tuesday, 29 July 2014
SalesFiction—HarperCollins has sold Polish rights to Six Days in Leningrad (Paullina Simons).Nonfiction—Black Inc. has sold North American rights to Born Bad: Original Sin and the Making of the Western World...

International library news 

Tuesday, 29 July 2014
Macmillan US makes frontlist ebooks available to librariesMacmillan US is adding frontlist ebooks published in the previous 12 months to its public library elending project, reports DigitalBookWorld. The addition of frontlist...

Australian rural fiction authors launch promotional website

Monday, 28 July 2014
A group of authors has launched a website to promote Australian rural fiction.The website, An Australian Rural Romance, ‘showcases the genre’s emerging, established and award-winning authors published by Australian publishers’,...

Waterstones opens ‘indie’ bookshop

Monday, 28 July 2014
UK bookselling chain Waterstones has opened a new store under ‘independent’ branding, reports the Bookseller. Southwold Books opened in July in the seaside town of Southwold and will ‘be run...

Bestsellers this week

Monday, 28 July 2014
There is no change at the top of this week’s bestsellers chart, with the regular and film tie-in editions of The Fault in Our Stars (John Green, Penguin) in first and...

Bookworld wins two online retailing awards 

Friday, 25 July 2014
Bookworld has won awards for Best Social Commercial Initiative and Best Online Retail Marketing Initiative at this year’s Online Retail Industry Awards (ORIAS).The online retailer won the award for Best...

Kindle Unlimited titles dominate Kindle bestseller list

Friday, 25 July 2014
The number of ebooks on the Kindle bestseller list that are offered through Amazon’s new subscription service Kindle Unlimited has tripled since the launch of the service, reports Digital Book...

Eight of the 20 top-grossing films adapted from UK books

Friday, 25 July 2014
A British Film Institute (BFI) report has found that eight of the world’s 20 highest-grossing film releases from 2001 to 2013 were adaptations of novels by UK authors, reports the Bookseller. The adaptations were four films based on J...

Catton on Dylan Thomas Prize longlist 

Thursday, 24 July 2014
New Zealand author Eleanor Catton has been longlisted for the 2014 International Dylan Thomas Prize for The Luminaries (Granta).The full longlist is: At Night We Walk in Circles (Daniel Alarcón, Fourth...

BWF 2014 program announced 

Thursday, 24 July 2014
US author, publisher and philanthropist Dave Eggers will give the opening address at Brisbane Writers Festival on 4 September and be part of a Literary Vaudeville Show at Brisbane Powerhouse...

Flanagan on Booker Prize longlist

Thursday, 24 July 2014
Richard Flanagan’s The Narrow Road to the Deep North (Vintage) is among the 13 titles longlisted for this year’s Man Booker Prize.The full longlist is: To Rise Again at a...

New Salinger title published

Thursday, 24 July 2014
In the US, the Devault-Graves Agency (DGA) has published the J D Salinger short story collection Three Early Stories as a print-on-demand paperback, ebook and audiobook, reports Publishers Weekly. DGA co-owner...