Market report: CYA growth outpaces total Australian market
Thursday, 2 April 2026
On the surface, children’s book sales in 2025 have surged in Australia, compared to the previous year. But a look at volume shows much of the increase in value comes...
Publishers’ picks: Australian children’s graphic novels and picture books
Thursday, 2 April 2026
Australian publishers nominate the graphic novels and picture books they have high hopes for at Bologna. Anders and the Mountain Gregory Mackay Allen & Unwin Children’s April 2026 Graphic novel...
Publishers’ picks: Australian middle-grade and YA
Thursday, 2 April 2026
Australian publishers nominate the middle-grade and YA books they have high hopes for at Bologna. Akarnae book 1 Lynette Noni Hardie Grant Children’s Publishing Titles in series: 7 Rights contact:...
Australian authors recommend
Thursday, 2 April 2026
We asked Australian creators to share a recent book they have read and loved – and why. Jasmin McGaughey is a Torres Strait Islander and African American author and editor,...
Recent Australian CYA acquisitions
Thursday, 2 April 2026
Recent Australian acquisitions, as reported by Think Australian’s sister publication Books+Publishing, include: The Everywhere Train by Deborah Frenkel and illustrated by Danny Snell, world rights acquired by Hardie Grant Children’s Publishing...
Australian publishers on Bologna Prize shortlist
Thursday, 2 April 2026
Three Australian publishers have been shortlisted for the 2026 Bologna Prize for the Best Children’s Publishers of the Year. Publishers shortlisted in the Oceania category are: Affirm Press (Australia) Hardie Grant...
Australian CYA award winners
Thursday, 2 April 2026
These are the Australian titles that have been making shortlists, longlists and winning awards – both in Australia and overseas. Darren Rix and Craig Cormick’s Warra Warra Wai (Scribner) won the Australian...
The publisher behind a new Australian stand for “this moment now”
Thursday, 2 April 2026
Come visit the Australian stand this year at Bologna and you’ll find that while the high-quality publishing remains the same, the stand itself has a brand-new look. Gone is any...
“Stories of kindness and celebrating diversity and culture”: A BOP-shortlisted publisher on what’s resonating globally
Thursday, 2 April 2026
On the eve of Bologna Book Fair, Hardie Grant Children’s Publishing rights manager Evie Green is one of a reduced cohort of Australians still planning to make the trip, and...
Australian children’s bestsellers
Thursday, 2 April 2026
Top 10 Australian picture books (2026 year to date, ranked by volume) Do Not Open This Book It’s Out of This World (Andy Lee, Lake Press) Claris and the Easter...
Come visit the Australians at a beautiful new stand!
Thursday, 2 April 2026
As was the case with London Book Fair, Australian publishers planning to attend Bologna this year have been contending with cancelled flights and rising costs. Despite this, an enthusiastic cohort...
Fearless
Wednesday, 1 April 2026
Bea Ware is afraid of everything – from shadows to ladders to trampolines, she is in a constant state of anxiety and trepidation. Her friend, Annie Venture, seems completely carefree,...
Amazing Astro Animals
Wednesday, 1 April 2026
Before humans ever left the planet, animals boldly went where no man had gone before. Even now, these unwitting test pilots and space travellers outnumber their human counterparts. From the...
Australians are ready to buy and sell at LBF
Thursday, 5 March 2026
Australians will be attending this year’s London Book Fair (LBF), running from 10 to 12 March, among an expected crowd of 30,000 publishers, agents and industry professionals. However, some Australians...
Market report: Australian publishers on Christmas sales trends and the year ahead
Thursday, 5 March 2026
Each year, Think Australian’s sister publication Books+Publishing surveys publishers to see how Christmas matched up with their expectations and what they expect from the year ahead. This year, while half of publishers reported...
Publishers’ picks: Australian fiction
Thursday, 5 March 2026
Debuts, literary heavyweights and genre standouts: Australian fiction publishers bring a wide-ranging list to LBF. International Anneliz Marie Erese Black Inc. March 2027 Rights contact: Sophy Williams at Black Inc....
Publishers’ picks: Australian nonfiction
Thursday, 5 March 2026
Leadership, loneliness, conservation and resilience: Australian nonfiction publishers are spotlighting big ideas at LBF. Foreign Return: On Art and Inhabitation Neha Kale NewSouth Publishing September 2026 Rights contact: Harriet McInerney...
Award-winning Aussie authors
Thursday, 5 March 2026
Since the previous edition of Think Australian, Australian authors have been making shortlists, longlists and winning awards – both in Australia and overseas – with fiction, poetry and nonfiction for...
‘Why I’ll be at LBF’: Meet the Australians attending in 2026
Thursday, 5 March 2026
Meet the Australian visitors attending LBF this year. University of Queensland Press (UQP) UQP rights and contracts manager Erin Sandiford will be talking with international publishers about a range of...
Australian bestsellers in 2025
Thursday, 5 March 2026
Top 10 Australian adult fiction bestsellers Last One Out (Jane Harper, Pan Macmillan), 112k Gravity Let Me Go (Trent Dalton, HarperCollins), 75k Mad Mabel (Sally Hepworth, Pan Macmillan), 63k The...
Life and Breath: Stories (Ursula Dubosarsky, Christmas Press)
Tuesday, 3 February 2026
Life and Breath: Stories brings together 13 short stories by Ursula Dubosarsky, offering a delightful showcase of her distinctive ability to inhabit the shifting borderlands between memory, imagination and self-discovery. Though...
The Belly of a Wolf (Julianne Negri, UWA Publishing)
Tuesday, 3 February 2026
The Belly of a Wolf is a powerful young adult verse novel by award-winning writer Julianne Negri. Little Red is grieving and struggling to return to school and connect with...
The Flower Garden: A Changi Secret (Claire Saxby, illus Lucia Masciullo, Walker)
Tuesday, 3 February 2026
Complex history becomes accessible to young readers when told through intimate, human stories; The Flower Garden: A Changi Secret uses this technique elegantly. CBCA-winning author Claire Saxby (Iceberg) and illustrator Lucia...
Forever & Ever (Allanah Hunt, Text)
Tuesday, 27 January 2026
Forever & Ever is Barkindji and Malyangapa author Allanah Hunt’s debut novel and a devastating exploration of first love, loss and the perilous work of growing up. Set in the...
Good Young Men (Gary Lonesborough, A&U Children’s)
Tuesday, 27 January 2026
Good Young Men is the 4th novel from award-winning Yuin author Gary Lonesborough (I’m Not Really Here), told from the perspective of 3 First Nations boys in Year 12 who...
Genie Snail (Bethany Loveridge, illus Chris Kennett, Little Book Press)
Tuesday, 27 January 2026
In Genie Snail, author Bethany Loveridge (Renegade Timeline Officer) and illustrator Chris Kennett combine forces to deliver a bright, engaging and hilarious story about a young child who meets a...
Nature Knows (Yvette Farmer, illus Chloe Jasmine Harris, T&H)
Tuesday, 20 January 2026
Nature Knows is a gentle picture book that steps quietly into the growing conversation around children’s wellbeing and the restorative power of time outdoors. Yvette Farmer, a primary school teacher with...
Ruby’s Web (Ellen van Neerven, Magabala)
Tuesday, 20 January 2026
In Ruby’s Web, Ellen van Neerven (Heat and Light, Comfort Food) situates a coming-of-age story against the backdrop of the 2023 Voice referendum, highlighting the severity of online abuse faced...
The Woman in the Spotlight (JR Lonie, HarperCollins)
Tuesday, 13 January 2026
In JR Lonie’s newest historical thriller, The Woman in the Spotlight, a young performer must outwit the oppressive control of the Nazi regime. Monika Varády, a Bavarian actress newly arrived...
Red Star Rebels (Amie Kaufman, A&U Children’s)
Tuesday, 9 December 2025
Amie Kaufman is a well-known name in young adult speculative fiction, particularly for the bestselling Starbound and Illuminae Files series (co-authored with Megan Spooner and Jay Kristoff respectively). Red Star...
