Boffins to close after 37 years
Monday, 18 May 2026
Boffins Books in Perth will close on 6 June, after 37 years of operation. The bookstore announced the closure on social media, stating that “despite our best efforts, the combined pressure...
SMH 2026 Best Young Australian Novelists announced
Monday, 18 May 2026
The Sydney Morning Herald (SMH) has announced the Best Young Australian Novelists for 2026. The writers and their books are: Joseph Earp for Painting Portraits of Everyone I've Ever Dated (Pantera) Zeynab...
Berkelouw Leichhardt in talks to move
Monday, 18 May 2026
Berkelouw Books Leichhardt has announced the business is in talks with the store’s landlord to move, rather than closing down as previously announced. In an Instagram post, the store said...
Magarey Medal for Biography 2026 longlist announced
Monday, 18 May 2026
The longlist for the 2026 Magarey Medal for Biography has been announced. Longlisted titles are: The Fearless Beatrice Faust (Judith Brett, Text) Max Dupain: A Portrait (Helen Ennis, 4th Estate)...
ABA Bookseller of the Year shortlists announced
Monday, 18 May 2026
The Australian Booksellers Association (ABA) has announced the shortlists for its Bookseller of Year awards. The nominated booksellers in each category are: Text Publishing Bookseller of the Year Charlotte Austin-Lindsay,...
New bill combines public and educational lending rights
Monday, 18 May 2026
The Australian Government has combined the Public Lending Rights (PLR) and Educational Lending Rights (ELR) schemes under a single act of legislation, replacing the Public Lending Right Act 1985. The...
Heiss resigns from University of Queensland
Monday, 18 May 2026
Wiradyuri author and publisher Anita Heiss has announced her resignation from the University of Queensland (UQ), where she was a professor of communications. Heiss said on LinkedIn that her decision...
Book Club – this month’s reads
Friday, 15 May 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...
UK student reading program improves attitudes to reading
Thursday, 14 May 2026
In the UK, the LitUp reading-for-pleasure program has shown significant results in improving children’s attitudes to reading in 6 primary schools in Hastings, reported the Bookseller. Developed by Bloomsbury Publishing...
Shelf Lovers reopens “pocket-sized” store in Brisbane
Thursday, 14 May 2026
Queensland LGBTQ+ bookseller Shelf Lovers has opened a new “pocket-sized” store, adding a bricks-and-mortar outlet to its existing online presence. Located in the Gender Health Australia clinic in the Brisbane...
Ockham 2026 winners announced
Thursday, 14 May 2026
In Aotearoa New Zealand, the winners of the 2026 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards have been announced. Poet, memoirist and scholar Ingrid Horrocks won the Jann Medlicott Acorn Prize for...
Fisher wins inaugural Libraro Prize
Thursday, 14 May 2026
Donna Fisher, a UK author currently based in Queensland, is the inaugural winner of the £50,000 (A$93,000) Libraro Prize for her novel Sheep’s Clothing. Administered by the community digital platform...
Macdonald wins 2026 Ernest Scott Prize for History
Thursday, 14 May 2026
Garrison World: Redcoat Soldiers in New Zealand and across the British Empire (Charlotte Macdonald, Bridget Williams Books) has won the 2026 Ernest Scott Prize for History. Awarded annually, the Ernest...
“Cannon” becomes first graphic novel to win Stella Prize
Wednesday, 13 May 2026
Lee Lai has won the 2026 Stella Prize, $60,000, for her second book, Cannon (Giramondo). It is the first time a graphic novel has won the award. Chair of judges...
Howie Casey wins ASA/HQ Fiction Prize
Wednesday, 13 May 2026
Karen Howie Casey has won the 2026 ASA/HQ Fiction Prize for unpublished manuscripts for her novel All the Little Wide Worlds, as announced by the Australian Society of Authors (ASA)...
In today’s news …
Wednesday, 13 May 2026
Natika Palka has joined Better Reading from Thames & Hudson; the regional winners of the Commonwealth Short Story Prize have been announced; as has the Blake Poetry Prize winner; A&U...
Wynn-Williams’s book cover blurred out at British Book Awards
Wednesday, 13 May 2026
In the UK, the British Book Awards blurred images of former Facebook staffer Sarah Wynn-Williams’s book Careless People, reports the Bookseller. Careless People won Audiobook: Nonfiction Book of the Year...
Commonwealth Short Story Prize 2026 regional winners announced
Wednesday, 13 May 2026
The winners for the 2026 Commonwealth Short Story Prize regional categories have been announced. Chosen from a shortlist of 6, the winner for the Pacific region is Holly Ann Miller...
Blake Poetry Prize 2026 winner announced
Wednesday, 13 May 2026
Chen Wang has won the 69th Blake Poetry Prize, worth $5000, for his poem “The Woman Who Refused the Kingdom of Forgetting”. Chen Wang is a Melbourne-based medical student whose...
Palka joins Better Reading
Wednesday, 13 May 2026
Better Reading has appointed Natika Palka as head of marketing and growth. Palka was previously head of marketing and publicity at Thames & Hudson Australia. In the newly created role...
Allen & Unwin acquires Ryan’s “Eleven”
Wednesday, 13 May 2026
Allen & Unwin (A&U) has acquired world rights to Eleven: We Burn Them in the Sun by Christian Ryan. The narrative nonfiction title about cricket is “a hugely creative work...
Walking the literary and literal landscape: Introducing the 2026 VIPs
Wednesday, 13 May 2026
This year, 12 publishing professionals from 8 different countries will base themselves in Sydney, Gadigal Country, from 18 to 22 May (alongside the Sydney Writers’ Festival) for the Visiting International...
Maria Takolander recommends
Tuesday, 12 May 2026
Jennifer Mills’ Salvage (Picador, 2025) is a clear-eyed imagining of a climate-ravaged future and of the self-destructive dream of autonomy – the idea that we can be independent of an...
Maria Takolander on “The End of Romance”
Tuesday, 12 May 2026
In The End of Romance, Finnish Australian author Maria Takolander imagines a dystopian world in which boys are conscripted to the army at 16, never to return. Takolander spoke with...
PRH acquires Leighton-Dore YA graphic novel
Tuesday, 12 May 2026
Penguin Random House Australia (PRH) has acquired “delightful new coming-of-age graphic novel” Willy by Samuel Leighton-Dore, illustrated by Jack Grayson. The title will also be developed as an animated series...
“Nobody’s Girl” wins Book of the Year at British Book Awards
Tuesday, 12 May 2026
Nobody’s Girl (Doubleday), the posthumous memoir by the late Australia-based author Virginia Roberts Giuffre, co-written with Amy Wallace, was the overall Book of the Year winner at the 2026 British...
Nix awarded 2026 Janet Mackenzie Medal
Tuesday, 12 May 2026
Linda Nix has been awarded the 2026 Institute of Professional Editors (IPEd) Janet Mackenzie Medal. The Janet Mackenzie Medal is IPEd’s highest honour and recognises “outstanding service to the editing...
Bakers Lane acquires Craig’s “Flying Hearts”
Tuesday, 12 May 2026
Bakers Lane Books has acquired world rights to YA verse novel Flying Hearts by Rico Craig. Flying Hearts “celebrates teen friendship and love, as four teenagers – Telly, Karr, Ahmad...
“Nobody’s Girl” among Fingerprint Awards shortlistees
Tuesday, 12 May 2026
In the UK, the posthumous memoir Nobody’s Girl (Doubleday) by the late Australia-based author Virginia Roberts Giuffre, co-written with Amy Wallace, has been shortlisted in the Fingerprint Awards. Nobody’s Girl...
Open Book 2026 interns announced
Tuesday, 12 May 2026
The successful interns for the 2026 Open Book: Australian Publishing Internship have been announced. Chosen from over 500 applicants, the 2026 interns and their placements are: Paula Campos – Giramondo Publishing and...
