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Rights round-up 

Wednesday, 4 March 2020
Sales Fiction Black Inc. has licensed dramatic rights to The Healing Party (Micheline Lee) to the Malthouse Theatre with playwright Michele Lee adapting the novel for the stage. HarperCollins has...

Affirm signs Sakr’s debut novel 

Wednesday, 4 March 2020
Affirm Press has acquired Sydney poet and writer Omar Sakr’s debut novel, White Flu. White Flu is a work of literary speculative fiction and the publisher says early copies will...

Ockham New Zealand Book Awards 2020 shortlists announced

Wednesday, 4 March 2020
The shortlists for the 2020 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards have been announced. The shortlisted titles in each category are: Fiction Auē (Becky Manawatu, Mākaro Press) Pearly Gates (Owen Marshall, Vintage) A...

New $30,000 historical fiction prize

Tuesday, 3 March 2020
The Historical Novel Society Australasia (HNSA) and infrastructure and facilities service provider ARA Group have announced a new $30,000 award for an outstanding historical novelist. The award is open to...

ABIA 2020 longlists announced

Monday, 2 March 2020
The longlists for the 2020 Australian Book Industry Awards (ABIAs) have been announced. The titles in each category are: General fiction book of the year Bruny (Heather Rose, A&U) Call...

Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature winners announced

Monday, 2 March 2020
The winners of the 2020 Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature, presented biennially by the South Australian government, have been announced. The winning titles are: Premier’s Award for best overall published...

Clunes Booktown Festival 2020 program announced

Monday, 2 March 2020
The program has been announced for this year’s Clunes Booktown Festival, to be held from 2–3 May. Over 30 authors will appear at the festival, including Andy Griffiths, Garry Disher,...

Read the latest Publishers Weekly 

Monday, 2 March 2020
Books+Publishing is partnering with US trade news magazine Publishers Weekly to provide our subscribers with exclusive access to the weekly digital edition of PW magazine. View the edition here.

Fathoms: The world in the whale (Rebecca Giggs, Scribe) 

Friday, 28 February 2020
Rebecca Giggs’ nonfiction debut is a lyrical, wide-ranging meditation on whales and their complex relationship with humanity. Meticulously researched and full of fascinating information, Fathoms is not just limited to...

Mammoth (Chris Flynn, UQP)

Friday, 28 February 2020
Chris Flynn’s third novel is an ambitious adventure back in time that recounts the folly of humanity—as told by the fossil of a 13,000-year-old mammoth. It sounds like it could...

Azar longlisted for International Booker Prize 2020

Friday, 28 February 2020
Iranian-Australian writer Shokoofeh Azar has been longlisted for the 2020 International Booker Prize for her novel The Englightenment of the Greengage Tree (trans by Anonymous, Wild Dingo Press). Azar is...

BookUp announces first keynotes

Friday, 28 February 2020
The Australian Publishers Association has announced the first keynote speakers for its inaugural book industry conference BookUp. Demographer Claire Madden will present ‘Generational change: where is Australia going?’, a look...

Affirm acquires picture book by Godwin, Lester 

Thursday, 27 February 2020
Affirm Press has acquired the rights to Sing me the Summer, a picture book written by publisher and author Jane Godwin and illustrated by Alison Lester. The book, which ‘celebrates...

Godfrey awarded 2020 Kat Muscat Fellowship

Thursday, 27 February 2020
Perth-based writer Maddie Godfrey has been awarded the 2020 Kat Muscat Fellowship. Godfrey plans to use the fellowship to develop a hybrid manuscript of poetry and personal essays called ‘Womanhood...

Overland announces Judith Wright Poetry Prize shortlist

Thursday, 27 February 2020
The shortlist for the 2019 Overland Judith Wright Poetry Prize for new and emerging poets has been announced. The nine shortlisted poems are: ‘Chinny chin chin’ (Grace Yee) ‘Eulogy for...

Rights round-up 

Wednesday, 26 February 2020
Sales Fiction Black Inc. has sold world audio rights to Melting Moments (Anna Goldsworthy) to Ulverscroft. Nonfiction Black Inc. has sold traditional Chinese character rights to See What You Made...

Ivor Indyk on literary writing and publishing

Wednesday, 26 February 2020
‘A prize as supposedly prestigious as the Prime Minister’s Award has only a modest impact on sales, and in the case of poetry, none at all. Speaking generally, we have...

Folio Prize 2020 shortlist announced

Wednesday, 26 February 2020
In the UK, the shortlist for the £30,000 (A$59,000) Rathbones Folio Prize has been announced. The eight shortlisted titles are: Guest House for Young Widows (Azadeh Moaveni, Scribe) On Chapel...