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Alyson O’Brien on literacy and trade publishing: ‘It’s lucky for a manuscript for the very young to even make it to an acquisitions meeting’

Wednesday, 28 August 2024
A year ago, when former Bright Light publisher Alyson O'Brien moved from commercial publishing to Raising Literacy Australia, she thought her commercial experience would add value to the organisation; she...

Books+Publishing to produce Australian Book Industry Awards

Wednesday, 28 August 2024
The Australian Publishers Association (APA) has announced that Books+Publishing will ‘take the production reins’ of the annual Australian Book Industry Awards (ABIAs) under a new licensing agreement. In 2025, which...

NLA acquires Wallman’s ‘All Out! Pink Bans and Blue Collars’

Wednesday, 28 August 2024
National Library of Australia (NLA) Publishing has acquired ANZ rights to All Out! Pink Bans and Blue Collars by comics-journalist, cartoonist and labour activist Sam Wallman. As the NLA’s 2023 Creative...

David Dyer recommends

Tuesday, 27 August 2024
The last Australian book I read and loved was Larry Writer’s wonderful The Shipwreck (2022). It tells the dramatic story of the sailing ship Dunbar, which, in 1857, after a...

David Dyer on ‘This Kingdom of Dust’

Tuesday, 27 August 2024
David Dyer’s debut novel, The Midnight Watch (Penguin, 2016), focused on the ship that witnessed the Titanic’s distress rockets but failed to respond. His sophomore novel, This Kingdom of Dust...

SoA demands AI firms seek consent, provide ‘appropriate remuneration’ for use of copyright work

Tuesday, 27 August 2024
In the UK, the Society of Authors (SoA) has written to tech companies, demanding they have the consent of authors before using their work in the development of artificial intelligence...

Dymocks Booragoon/Garden City wins top award at company conference

Tuesday, 27 August 2024
Meg Arnold, store manager of the Booragoon/Garden City Dymocks bookstore in Perth, Western Australia, was awarded the Dymocks Chairman’s Award for Retail Excellence in 2024 during the bookselling chain’s annual...

A&U acquires Tutt’s children’s books

Tuesday, 27 August 2024
Allen & Unwin (A&U) has acquired world rights to Corey Tutt’s children’s titles Caution! This Book Contains Deadly Reptiles (illus by Ben Williams) and Before It Was Called Science, the follow-up to The...

S&S acquires Affirm

Tuesday, 27 August 2024
Simon & Schuster Australia (S&S) and Affirm Press have announced Affirm will become part of S&S. In a statement, S&S said Affirm Press would continue to maintain its brand independence, operating...

SLQ calls for black&write! publisher EOIs

Monday, 26 August 2024
The State Library of Queensland (SLQ) has called for proposals from Australian publishers to partner with the organisation in delivering the black&write! project for 2025. SLQ said it is calling...

Brisbane to host 2025 BookPeople conference

Monday, 26 August 2024
BookPeople has announced its 2025 conference will take place in Brisbane/Meanjin. The annual conference and trade exhibition event will run from Saturday 14 June to Monday 16 June. This year's...

Croucher wins 2024 YA Book Prize

Monday, 26 August 2024
In the UK, Lex Croucher has won the 2024 YA Book Prize for Gwen & Art Are Not in Love (Bloomsbury YA), reports the Bookseller. Described as a ‘masterclass in teen...

Booktopia resumes trading

Monday, 26 August 2024
The Booktopia website is taking orders again, following the sale of the business and its related assets to Shant Kradjian, owner of Australian consumer electronics retailer digiDirect. ‘We’re back!’ reads...

Affirm acquires Collinson self-help follow-up

Monday, 26 August 2024
Affirm Press has acquired world rights to self-help book Master Your Relationship Anxiety by Georgie Collinson. According to the publisher, Master Your Relationship Anxiety ‘delivers a simple four-week program for...

Author sues Shawline Publishing alleging unpaid royalties

Monday, 26 August 2024
Author Dan Moon is suing Shawline Publishing in the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal, claiming he is owed thousands in unpaid royalties, reports the Sydney Morning Herald (SMH). Moon told...

Williams named inaugural Lynley Dodd Children’s Writers Award recipient

Thursday, 22 August 2024
Aotearoa New Zealand’s Arts Foundation Te Tumu Toi has announced Janine Williams, also known by her pen name J L Williams, as the inaugural recipient of the $30,000 Lynley Dodd...

Varuna First Nations Fellowship 2024 recipients announced

Thursday, 22 August 2024
Varuna, the National Writers’ House has announced the five recipients of its 2024 First Nations fellowships. The five successful applicants (and their manuscripts) are: Sharleigh Crittenden for ‘The Children Nobody...

Returning to BookUp in 2024

Wednesday, 21 August 2024
The annual BookUp conference for 2024, presented by the Australian Publishers Association (APA), was held at the State Library Victoria, Melbourne, on Wednesday 7 August, with wide-ranging sessions inviting participants to contemplate...

Aotearoa research grants announced

Wednesday, 21 August 2024
The 2024 Copyright Licensing New Zealand (CLNZ) and New Zealand Society of Authors Te Puni Kaituhi o Aotearoa PEN NZ Inc (NZSA) Research Grants have been awarded to four writers....

Steger among staff to leave Age/SMH

Wednesday, 21 August 2024
The books editor at the Age and Sydney Morning Herald, Jason Steger, is among dozens of journalists leaving the newspapers, reports the Guardian. The Guardian stated that up to 85...

Publishers welcome Australian owner for Booktopia

Wednesday, 21 August 2024
Publishers have welcomed the sale of Booktopia to Shant Kradjian, the owner of electronics retailer digiDirect, who has been meeting with publishers and authors to discuss the bookseller’s future and...

A&U acquires Caro novel ‘Lyrebird’

Wednesday, 21 August 2024
Allen & Unwin (A&U) has acquired ANZ rights to Lyrebird, the second adult novel by Jane Caro, in a deal brokered by Jacinta di Mase Management. In the novel, no...

Readings New Australian Fiction Prize 2024 shortlist announced

Wednesday, 21 August 2024
Readings has announced the shortlist for the 2024 Readings New Australian Fiction Prize. This year’s six shortlisted books are: Thanks for Having Me (Emma Darragh, Joan) Ghost Cities (Siang Lu,...

Transit Lounge acquires Everly-Wilson novel

Tuesday, 20 August 2024
Transit Lounge has acquired world rights to The Maskeys, a new novel from Stuart Everly-Wilson. Publisher Barry Scott described the novel as ‘brimming with wit and pathos’. ‘Set in the...

Eitel takes over Imprints Booksellers

Tuesday, 20 August 2024
Jason Lake and Katherine Woehlert, former owners of Adelaide bookstore Imprints Booksellers, have sold the business to Amelia Eitel. Eitel told InReview that taking over the bookshop was ‘very much...

McGrathNicol confirms Booktopia sale

Monday, 19 August 2024
The administrators of online bookseller Booktopia—McGrathNicol partners Keith Crawford, Matthew Caddy and Damien Pasfield—have confirmed the sale of Booktopia’s business and related assets to the owner of Australian consumer electronics...