McCaulay wins 2026 RSL Ondaatje Prize
Thursday, 4 June 2026
Jamaican writer Diana McCaulay has won the £10,000 Royal Society of Literature (RSL) Ondaatje Prize for A House for Miss Pauline (Dialogue Books), reports the Bookseller. On winning the prize that...
A&U acquires Split Enz history
Thursday, 4 June 2026
Allen & Unwin (A&U) has acquired world rights to Split Enz: An Adventure in Music and Design, the official history of the band Split Enz by Noel Crombie and Michael...
ACT Literary Awards 2026 shortlists announced
Thursday, 4 June 2026
MARION has announced the shortlists for the 2026 ACT Literary Awards. The shortlisted titles are: Children’s literature Creature Corridors (Billie Rooney, illustrated by Anke Noack, CSIRO Publishing) The Drought Kangaroo...
Big Day of Books Perth 2026 program announced
Wednesday, 3 June 2026
At Big Day of Books Perth on 20 June, Western Australian radio presenters will chat to Australian authors about their new books during a live broadcast literary show. Hosted by...
Willy Lit Fest 2026 program announced
Wednesday, 3 June 2026
Willy Lit Fest will run in the Williamstown Town Hall, Melbourne, from 12 to 14 June under the theme of “reflections”. The event will feature 40 sessions and almost 80...
Robinson wins 2026 UQP Quentin Bryce Award
Wednesday, 3 June 2026
University of Queensland Press (UQP) has announced Lenny Robinson as the winner of the 2026 UQP Quentin Bryce Award, worth $5000, for her debut novel And in the Morning. The...
Wright leaves Leading Edge; Aotearoa sales changes at Thames & Hudson and Simon & Schuster; Hachette launches new imprint
Wednesday, 3 June 2026
Leading Edge Books member services manager Kaye Wright has left as part of a restructure; Thames & Hudson Australia (T&H) has made some staff changes; and announced it will move...
S&S acquires Kieran Kennedy’s “This Explains Everything”
Wednesday, 3 June 2026
Simon & Schuster Australia (S&S) has acquired This Explains Everything: A Psychiatrist’s Guide to Navigating Adult ADHD by psychiatrist Kieran Kennedy. According to the publisher, the book draws on the...
Read the latest Publishers Weekly
Wednesday, 3 June 2026
Books+Publishing partners with US trade news magazine Publishers Weekly to provide our subscribers with exclusive access to the weekly digital edition of PW magazine. View the current edition.
Sophie, Standing There (Meg Mason, 4th Estate)
Tuesday, 2 June 2026
Sophie, Standing There is the long-awaited new novel from Meg Mason (Sorrow and Bliss). Newly single 37-year-old sound technician Sophie Pattison is adjusting to life as an “unregarded” divorcee. Just...
Us in the Bright Lights (Zanni L Arnot, Lothian)
Tuesday, 2 June 2026
Zanni L Arnot returns with Us in the Bright Lights, a romantic adventure that builds on the promise of her YA debut, A Guide to Falling Off the Map. Arnot...
Dying Days (Anthony Byrt, Affirm Press)
Tuesday, 2 June 2026
Anthony Byrt’s debut novel, Dying Days, is a fast-paced, assured espionage novel that expertly weaves compelling fiction with real historical events. Set in Trieste in May 1945, in the immediate...
The Festival of Ice and Snow (Angie Cui, illus Anna Wilson, University of Queensland Press)
Tuesday, 2 June 2026
In The Festival of Ice and Snow, Angie Cui (My Mum Is a Bird) and illustrator Anna Wilson (A Taste of Home) transport readers aged 5 to 8 to the...
Theodora’s Tea Shop (Christy Anne Jones, Hachette)
Tuesday, 2 June 2026
Christy Anne Jones has brewed a bewitching concoction in Theodora’s Tea Shop, her first adult fantasy novel. Dot, a timid girl from a seaside town, strikes out for the capital...
Stuck in the Middle (Anton Clifford-Motopi, Allen & Unwin)
Tuesday, 2 June 2026
Anton Clifford-Motopi’s Stuck in the Middle is a lively, heartfelt comedy for readers aged 8 to 12, capturing the chaos and warmth of life in a big family. Leon, one...
A Bigger Book (Hannah Sommerville, Hardie Grant Children’s Publishing)
Tuesday, 2 June 2026
In A Bigger Book, Hannah Sommerville’s first solo picture book for readers aged 4 to 8, the author-illustrator captures the difficult transition some children experience when they move from picture...
Alice’s Dreaming (Tom Griffiths, Black Inc.)
Tuesday, 2 June 2026
Historian and author Tom Griffiths was 14 when he discovered Alice Duncan-Kemp’s Where Strange Paths Go Down at his school library. Detailing life in rural south-west Queensland at the turn...
Lewis, Daut win James Tait Black prizes
Tuesday, 2 June 2026
In the UK, Shady Lewis and Marlene L Daut have been awarded the James Tait Black Prizes for fiction and biography, respectively. Lewis was awarded the fiction prize for the...
“Gather Up Your World in One Long Breath” sells to France
Tuesday, 2 June 2026
French language rights for S Shakthidharan’s memoir, Gather Up Your World in One Long Breath (Powerhouse Publishing), have been sold to Le Bruit du Monde. Le Bruit du Monde CEO Marie-Pierre...
Allen & Unwin acquires Evonne Goolagong Cawley memoir
Tuesday, 2 June 2026
Allen & Unwin (A&U) has acquired world rights to Only Ever Evonne by Evonne Goolagong Cawley. In the memoir, Goolagong Cawley shares memories of her childhood in Barellan, where she grew...
Allen & Unwin acquires Zoe Foster Blake’s “Group Chat”
Monday, 1 June 2026
Allen & Unwin (A&U) has acquired ANZ rights to Group Chat by Zoë Foster Blake, in a deal brokered by Tara Wynne at Curtis Brown. Described by the publisher as “part...
“Gliff” wins 2026 Dublin Literary Award
Monday, 1 June 2026
Scottish author Ali Smith has won the 2026 Dublin Literary Award for her novel Gliff (Hamish Hamilton), receiving the €100,000 prize. At the award ceremony, Dublin Lord Mayor Ray McAdam...
The Dick and Joan Green Family Award for Tasmanian History 2026 shortlist announced
Monday, 1 June 2026
The shortlist for the biennial Dick and Joan Green Family Award for Tasmanian History, worth $25,000, has been announced. The works shortlisted for the award are: Umarrah & George: Friendship...
Pantera Press acquires “The Curator” by Jonathan Butler
Monday, 1 June 2026
Pantera Press has acquired world rights to “gripping true crime investigation” The Curator by Jonathan Butler. Part murder mystery, part queer history, and part portrait of Melbourne’s art world, the...
Local authors shortlisted for UK Dagger crime writing awards
Monday, 1 June 2026
Local authors Sam Guthrie, Laura McCluskey, and Zoë Rankin are among those whose works have been shortlisted for the UK Crime Writers’ Association’s (CWA) 2026 Dagger Awards. The authors were...
Aotearoa New Zealand 2026 Book Industry Awards finalists announced
Monday, 1 June 2026
The finalists in Aotearoa New Zealand’s 2026 Book Industry Awards, presented by Booksellers Aotearoa NZ and the Publishers Association of New Zealand Te Rau o Tākupu (PANZ), have been announced....
DANZ Children’s Book Award 2026 shortlists announced
Monday, 1 June 2026
The 2026 shortlists for the DANZ (Diversity in Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand) Children’s Book Award have been announced by the Australian School Library Association (ASLA). Chosen from previously announced longlists,...
Simon & Schuster acquires Vasiliou’s “Better Man”
Thursday, 28 May 2026
Simon & Schuster Australia (S&S) has acquired world rights to Better Man by Ben Vasiliou, in a deal negotiated by Daniel Pilkington of The Pilkington Agency. The “practical guide to...
NT Writers Festival 2026 festival opens
Thursday, 28 May 2026
The NT Writers Festival will return to Garramilla/Darwin today, running from 28 to 31 May under the theme “Navigating”. Panels, workshops and conversations will include appearances by writers Omar Musa,...
Pink Shorts Press acquires Ball’s “A Map and Other Parts”
Thursday, 28 May 2026
Pink Shorts Press has acquired world rights to Timmah Ball’s A Map and Other Parts. The publisher described the work as “a poetic interrogation of Australia’s relationship with the built...
