Inside the Australian and New Zealand book industry

Image. Advertisement:

News >

Rights round-up 

Wednesday, 12 March 2014
SalesFiction—Text Publishing has sold German rights to the sequel to The Rosie Project (Graeme Simsion) to S. Fischer Verlag; Macedonian rights to The Rosie Project to Ars Lamina; and ANZ...

RiP Marek Palka 

Wednesday, 12 March 2014
Marek Palka, former managing director of Oxford University Press Australia and New Zealand, has died, aged 64. Oxford University Press writes: ‘Past and present staff of Oxford University Press express our deep...

New members appointed to Library Board of Queensland 

Wednesday, 12 March 2014
Four new members have been appointed to the Library Board of Queensland, including vice-chancellor of the University of Southern Queensland Jan Thomas, who will chair the board. Queensland state librarian...

In brief 

Wednesday, 12 March 2014
Library and Information Week merchandise now availableMerchandise for this year’s Library and Information Week, to be held on 19-25 May, is now available to download and purchase from the Australian...

Saunders wins inaugural Folio Prize 

Tuesday, 11 March 2014
In the UK, US author George Saunders has won the inaugural Folio Prize for his short-story collection Tenth of December (Bloomsbury). Saunders was announced as the winner of the £40,000...

Bestsellers this week 

Tuesday, 11 March 2014
After seven consecutive weeks at the top of the bestsellers chart, the film tie-in edition of The Book Thief (Markus Zusak, Picador) has been displaced by two new entries. I Quit...

Altman nominated for Lammy award 

Tuesday, 11 March 2014
Author and academic Dennis Altman has been announced as a finalist in the 26th annual Lambda Literary Awards, known as the ‘Lammys,’ for his book The End of the Homosexual? (UQP).The Lammys...

T.A.G. Hungerford Award secures major sponsor 

Friday, 7 March 2014
The City of Fremantle has been named as the new sponsor of the T.A.G. Hungerford Award, with the council to support the award financially for the next six years. The...

Saunders wins 2013 Story Prize 

Friday, 7 March 2014
In the US, the 2013 Story Prize, worth US$20,000 (A$18,160), has been awarded to George Saunders for Tenth of December (Bloomsbury). The Story Prize organisers said in a statement that the book was...

Marten Bequest Travelling Scholarships 2014 announced

Friday, 7 March 2014
A number of writers have been awarded Marten Bequest Travelling Scholarships for 2014.Scholarships for poetry were awarded to Jessica Wilkinson, Elizabeth Campbell and Candy Royalle. Wilkinson, a lecturer in creative...

Smart appointed MD of Ebury Publishing 

Thursday, 6 March 2014
Rebecca Smart, CEO of the Osprey Group, has been appointed MD of Ebury Publishing, part of the Penguin Random House Group, reports the Bookseller. Smart will take over from current...

Williamson appointed fiction editor at ‘Island’ 

Thursday, 6 March 2014
Geordie Williamson has been appointed fiction editor at Island magazine. Williamson, who is chief literary critic at the Australian, was announced as Island’s new fiction editor on 6 March. In a...

Ingram acquires etextbook platform CourseSmart 

Wednesday, 5 March 2014
In the US, Ingram Content Group’s Vital Source Technologies business has acquired the assets of CourseSmart, an etextbook platform founded by Macmillan, Cengage, John Wiley, McGraw-Hill Education and Pearson in...

Golden Kite Awards 2014 winners announced 

Wednesday, 5 March 2014
In the US, the winners of the 2014 Golden Kite Awards for children’s book authors and illustrators have been announced. Better Nate than Ever (Tim Federle, S&S) won the fiction...

New appointments at S&S 

Wednesday, 5 March 2014
Simon & Schuster has announced a number of new appointments. Anna O’Grady has joined the publisher as marketing and publicity manager, beginning on 24 March. O’Grady was previously product director...

International Library News 

Wednesday, 5 March 2014
UK public library elending pilot announcedIn the UK, the Publishers Association (PA) and the Society of Chief Librarians (SCL) have announced a year-long public library elending pilot. Four public library...

Quote of the week 

Wednesday, 5 March 2014
‘Publishers need to make a big hit with the first novel ... There is no longer a sense of publishers nurturing authors’—The Age literary editor Jason Steger reflects on the market...

Ebook sales up at Hachette in 2013 

Wednesday, 5 March 2014
Hachette Australia has recorded an increase in ebook sales in 2013, with CEO Matt Richell reporting growth in ebook sales of 27%. Ebooks now account for 22.5% of the publisher’s overall...

New Australian schools book club launched 

Wednesday, 5 March 2014
A new schools book club created to showcase Australian books has launched in New South Wales and Queensland. The Redgum Book Club will allow parents and students to order books from a large...