New year 2026 preview: Nonfiction
Wednesday, 26 November 2025
As we head towards 2026, publishers are preparing to send a wide array of new nonfiction titles for our bookshelves. Among the titles publishers are keen to highlight, booksellers and...
A&U acquires accessible picture book
Wednesday, 26 November 2025
Allen & Unwin (A&U) has acquired world rights to All the Ways I See, by Nas Campanella and Eliza Hull, in a deal brokered by Pippa Masson at Curtis Brown. Sophie...
Thom-Jones takes out top Scarlet Stiletto Award
Tuesday, 25 November 2025
Author Sandra Thom-Jones has won first prize in Sisters in Crime’s 32nd Scarlet Stiletto Awards for her short story “Der Hölle Rache”. Thom-Jones, who identifies as neurodivergent, said, “I’m still...
British MPs launch reading inquiry
Tuesday, 25 November 2025
In the UK, parliament’s education committee has launched an inquiry into how reading can be nurtured following the decline in the number of children reading for pleasure, reported the Bookseller....
HarperCollins acquires new Swann novel
Tuesday, 25 November 2025
HarperCollins has acquired ANZ rights to Leah Swann’s novel Later, Only Love Remains, in a deal brokered by Gaby Naher at the Naher Agency. Described by the publisher as a...
Transit Lounge acquires new Kenway novel
Tuesday, 25 November 2025
Transit Lounge has acquired world rights to East Coast Low, Lisa Kenway’s follow-up to All You Took from Me (also Transit Lounge, 2024). East Coast Low tells the story of...
Beveridge receives lifetime achievement award
Monday, 24 November 2025
Poet Judith Beveridge has been named one of this year’s recipients of Creative Australia Awards for Lifetime Achievement. Born in London in 1956, Beveridge moved to Sydney in 1960. Her...
ABC adapts “The Unbelieved”
Monday, 24 November 2025
Production has commenced on Dustfall, a six-part ABC adaptation of Vikki Petraitis’s 2022 crime novel The Unbelieved (A&U). Allen & Unwin sold film/TV rights to The Unbelieved to UK-based Moonriver TV,...
Five Islands Poetry Prize shortlist announced
Monday, 24 November 2025
The shortlist for the 2024 to 2025 Five Islands Poetry Prize has been announced. Shortlisted titles are: Bathypelagia (Debbie Lim, Cordite) Portraits of Drowning (Madeleine Dale, UQP) The Infant Vine...
The Next Chapter 2026 recipients announced
Monday, 24 November 2025
The Wheeler Centre has announced the 2026 recipients of The Next Chapter fellowship program. The fellowships aim to encourage “voices who aren’t getting heard through conventional publishing channels”, according the...
UQP sells UK and Commonwealth rights to “Dead Ink”
Monday, 24 November 2025
University of Queensland Press (UQP) has sold UK and Commonwealth (excluding Canada and ANZ) rights to Jordan Prosser’s Blue Giant to Dead Ink Books. According to the publisher, Blue Giant...
2025 National Book Awards announced
Monday, 24 November 2025
In the US, the National Book Foundation (NBF) has announced the five winners of this year’s National Book Awards. The winners are: Fiction The True True Story of Raja the Gullible (and...
NewSouth acquires Grant’s latest book
Monday, 24 November 2025
NewSouth Publishing has acquired world rights to author and broadcaster Stan Grant’s When Words Fail Us: Truth beyond time, in a deal brokered by Tara Wynne at Curtis Brown. The...
PRH acquires debut Crozier novel
Thursday, 20 November 2025
Penguin Random House Australia (PRH) has acquired ANZ rights to vampire romantasy Vow of Eternal Night by debut author and PRH marketing executive Lily Crozier. PRH rights manager Sarah McDuling...
Spiers Prize winners announced
Thursday, 20 November 2025
UWA Publishing (UWAP) has announced the winners of the inaugural Spiers Prize as Zahina Maghrabi for “The Girl, The Calico and The Soldier” (young adult) and Rebeca Green for “A...
IPEd appoints Macdonald as chair
Thursday, 20 November 2025
The Institute of Professional Editors (IPEd) has appointed Catherine Macdonald as chair of the board following the 2025 AGM on 10 November. Macdonald has been on the committee of Editors...
Shanghai Children’s Book Fair probes a changing market
Thursday, 20 November 2025
The 12th China Shanghai International Children’s Book Fair (CCBF) finished its three-day run at the Shanghai World Expo Exhibition and Convention Centre on 16 November. Co-organised by Ronbo BolognaFiere Shanghai,...
PRH’s owner posts small gains in third quarter
Wednesday, 19 November 2025
Penguin Random House (PRH) was among the 4 operating groups contributing to a 0.8% revenue increase in revenue for parent company German-owned Bertelsmann over the first 9 months of 2025,...
James, Bradley win business book of the year award
Wednesday, 19 November 2025
Glen James and Nick Bradley have won the 7th Australian Business Book Award for The Quick Start Guide to Investing (Wiley). Founders Michael Hanrahan and Andrew Griffiths announced James, Bradley...
Langton awarded inaugural Rechnitz Memorial Award
Wednesday, 19 November 2025
The Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia has announced academic, author and activist Marcia Langton as the inaugural winner of the Rechnitz Memorial Award, which recognises “excellence in research...
Beale named 2026 NZSA President of Honour
Wednesday, 19 November 2025
The New Zealand Society of Authors Te Puni Kaituhi o Aotearoa (NZSA) has named children’s and YA author Fleur Beale this year’s NZSA President of Honour. The author of more...
Last chance to submit your Christmas closing dates
Wednesday, 19 November 2025
To be included in Books+Publishing’s annual list of publishers’ and distributors’ trade closing dates for the holiday period, please complete our Christmas closing dates survey by noon on Tuesday, 25...
HarperCollins acquires new Whiting novel
Wednesday, 19 November 2025
HarperCollins ANZ has acquired world rights to The Nocturnals, a new novel by journalist and author Frances Whiting. According to the publisher, The Nocturnals tells the story of a close-knit group from...
UK report: In children’s reading, print is vital but not enough
Tuesday, 18 November 2025
In the UK, the National Literacy Trust (NLT) has highlighted an “urgent need to broaden our understanding of literacy in the digital age” in a new paper, reported the Bookseller yesterday....
Metzenthen wins Children’s Peace Literature Award
Tuesday, 18 November 2025
David Metzenthen’s The Truth of It (Ford Street) has won the 2025 Children’s Peace Literature Award, South Australian Psychologists for Peace (SAPP) has announced. The Truth of It, a middle-grade...
Record numbers at 2025 QLF
Tuesday, 18 November 2025
The 11th annual Queenscliffe Literary Festival (QLF), held in the seaside Victorian town from 17 to 26 October, attracted a record 4330 attendees – significantly more than the borough’s population...
Haddad, Walker win 2025 KYD Creative Nonfiction Essay Prize
Tuesday, 18 November 2025
Kill Your Darlings (KYD) has announced George Haddad and Sarah Walker as joint winners of the 2025 KYD Creative Nonfiction Essay Prize. “ وجبت wejbet”, Haddad's winning essay, is described by KYD as “anchored...
Atlantic acquires Cornish’s “The Missing Mother”
Tuesday, 18 November 2025
Atlantic Books Australia has acquired ANZ rights to Mali Cornish’s adult novel The Missing Mother in a deal brokered by Martin Shaw at Shaw Literary. The publisher describes The Missing...
Henderson wins 2025 Australian Fiction Prize
Tuesday, 18 November 2025
Troy Henderson has won the Australian Fiction Prize for his unpublished crime thriller River City. The novel follows the violent struggle of “warring factions, loose-cannon allies and a city on the brink”...
Duffy appointed as UQP director
Tuesday, 18 November 2025
The University of Queensland has appointed Madonna Duffy as director of the University of Queensland Press (UQP), with her new role to commence on 1 December. Duffy joined UQP in...
