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KYD launches writing prize for school students

Thursday, 14 February 2019
Kill Your Darlings (KYD) has launched a new writing prize, designed to develop, mentor, edit and publish the work of two writers from Australian secondary schools. The inaugural KYD School...

Yassmin Abdel-Magied’s ‘You Must Be Layla’

Wednesday, 13 February 2019
‘At its heart, this is a noble debut with a likeable protagonist who exudes the kind of confidence that young girls need in literary role models.’ ... read Giselle Au-Nhien Nguyen's...

New research to examine rights sales and export of Australian books

Wednesday, 13 February 2019
‘There is a lack of basic data on the export sector of the book industry that could assist publishers, agents and authors in planning international rights sales, leading to a...

Publicity round-up

Wednesday, 13 February 2019
This year, Books+Publishing will publish a weekly publicity round-up, covering forthcoming publicity for Australian and internationally authored books due to appear in Australian media over the coming weeks. Fiction Dervla...

Rights round-up

Wednesday, 13 February 2019
Sales Fiction Brio Books has sold the film option to Rubik (Elizabeth Tan) to Photoplay (see news). Brian Cook at the Authors’ Agent has sold world rights to Trust Me, I’m...

Scribe acquires McKay’s debut novel

Wednesday, 13 February 2019
Scribe has acquired world rights to Laura Jean McKay’s debut novel, The Animals in That Country, a literary spec-fic novel that imagines a world in which humans and animals might finally...

Winter Institute 2019: Staff engagement, tech tools and ‘surviving the political divide’

Wednesday, 13 February 2019
Jay Lansdown, owner of Sydney bookshop The Constant Reader and vice-president of the Australian Booksellers Association, attended this year’s Winter Institute, an annual conference held by the American Booksellers Association, which...

FitzSimons announced as ambassador for inaugural International Military Writers’ Festival

Wednesday, 13 February 2019
A new three-day festival focusing on military writing has been announced as part of the inaugural Territory Tribute series of events in Darwin. Running from 5-7 April, the International Military...

Fremantle signs two debut authors from Hungerford shortlist

Wednesday, 13 February 2019
Fremantle Press has acquired ANZ rights to two debut books from authors who were shortlisted for last year’s T A G Hungerford Award. Books by writers Julie Sprigg and Yuot...

Full program announced for IPEd National Editors Conference 2019

Tuesday, 12 February 2019
The full program has been announced for the Institute of Professional Editors’ (IPEd) National Editors Conference, which runs from 8-10 May in Melbourne. Running under the theme ‘Beyond the page’,...

‘Catching Teller Crow’ sold to UK, US

Tuesday, 12 February 2019
UK and US rights to Ambelin and Ezekiel Kwaymullina's YA novel Catching Teller Crow (A&U) have been sold to Penguin Children's Books UK and Knopf respectively. The book will be published in...

Tan’s ‘Rubik’ optioned for film

Tuesday, 12 February 2019
Brio Books has sold the film option to Elizabeth Tan’s debut novel Rubik to Australian production company Photoplay. Photoplay develops projects in film, television, web and virtual reality, and is known for its...

UK sales of YA dropped 21.5% in 2018

Monday, 11 February 2019
Nielsen figures for 2018 show that sales of YA titles in the UK dropped by 21.5% last year, reports the Bookseller. The YA fiction sector fell by £6.2 million (A$11.3m)...

Clark’s crime novel sold to UK publisher Verve in two-book deal

Monday, 11 February 2019
Brian Cook at the Authors’ Agent has sold world rights to crime novel Trust Me, I’m Dead and a second novel by Sherryl Clark to UK publisher Verve Books. The first...

Seizure announces 2019 Viva la Novella shortlist

Monday, 11 February 2019
Seizure has announced the shortlist for the 2019 Viva la Novella competition. This year’s shortlisted authors and their works are: Carly Cappielli for ‘Listurbia’ Grace Chan for ‘The Ship of...

Charts this week

Monday, 11 February 2019
Top 10 Bestsellers Index Title Author Imprint 1 The Fast 800 Michael Mosley Simon & Schuster 2 The Barefoot Investor Scott Pape John Wiley & Sons 3 Easy Keto Pete...

Stella Prize 2019 longlist announced

Friday, 8 February 2019
The longlist for the 2019 Stella Prize, worth $50,000, has been announced. The longlisted titles are: Little Gods (Jenny Ackland, A&U) Man Out of Time (Stephanie Bishop, Hachette) Bluebottle (Belinda...

Gladwell to release first book in six years

Thursday, 7 February 2019
Penguin Random House Australia imprint Allen Lane will publish Malcolm Gladwell’s first book in six years, Talking to Strangers: What We Should Know About the People We Don’t Know, on 10...

Penguin Literary Prize shortlist 2019 announced

Thursday, 7 February 2019
Penguin Random House (PRH) has announced the shortlist for the 2019 Penguin Literary Prize, worth $20,000. The prize, now in its second year, aims to find and develop new Australian...

Manus detainee Boochani accepts the Victorian Prize for Literature

Wednesday, 6 February 2019
'This proves that words still have the power to challenge inhumane systems and structures. I have always said that I believe in words and literature. I believe that literature has...

RiP Andrew McGahan

Wednesday, 6 February 2019
Author Andrew McGahan has died, aged 52. Born in the Queensland town of Dalby in 1966, McGahan grew up on the family farm, before moving to Brisbane in the early...

Publicity round-up

Wednesday, 6 February 2019
This year, Books+Publishing will publish a weekly publicity round-up, covering forthcoming publicity for Australian and internationally authored books due to appear in Australian media over the coming weeks. Fiction The...

RiP Colin Johnson aka Mudrooroo

Wednesday, 6 February 2019
Prolific writer, activist and academic Colin Johnson, also known as Mudrooroo, has died in Brisbane, aged 80. Born in Narrogin, WA, Johnson was one of 12 children and grew up...

Nicola Redhouse’s ‘Unlike the Heart: A Memoir of Mind and Brain’

Wednesday, 6 February 2019
'Redhouse’s illness and recovery after both children, and how it relates to her own ideas of motherhood is another strand of this memoir. In this sense the book reads pleasingly...

Rights round-up

Wednesday, 6 February 2019
Sales Fiction Spinifex has sold Turkish-language rights to Feminist Fables (Suniti Namjoshi) to Güldünya Yayınları. Transit Lounge has sold world English-language rights (ex ANZ) to Soon (Lois Murphy) in a two-book deal to...