Inside the Australian and New Zealand book industry

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Rights round-up 

Wednesday, 10 October 2018
Sales Fiction Lyn Tranter at Australian Literary Management has sold world rights to The Students (Sarah Hopkins) to Text. Natasha Solomun of Jacinta di Mase Management has sold US &...

Podcast spotlight: Words and Nerds

Wednesday, 10 October 2018
Launched in 2017, Words and Nerds is a conversational podcast in which the host 'interviews both established and independent authors about their writing process, and the social and political influences...

NZ picture book on Trump sold to UK 

Wednesday, 10 October 2018
New Zealand publisher Millwood Press has sold UK, Irish and Australian rights to picture book Dear Donald Trump (Sophie Siers, illus by Anne Villeneuve) to Bonnier Books UK imprint Templar...

‘Alice-Miranda’ animated telemovie in production

Wednesday, 10 October 2018
SLR Productions has commenced production on an animated telemovie based on Jacqueline Harvey's Alice-Miranda (Random House Children's) series of children's books, reports Mediaweek. Originally announced as a TV series comprising...

Digital Writers’ Festival announces 2018 program

Tuesday, 9 October 2018
The program for the 2018 Digital Writers' Festival (DWF), which runs from 30 October to 3 November, has been announced. More than 140 guests will participate in the digital festival,...

Richell Prize 2018 shortlist announced

Logo for the Richell Prize, featuring a swooping bird Monday, 8 October 2018
Hachette Australia and the Emerging Writers’ Festival have announced the shortlist for the 2018 Richell Prize for emerging writers. The shortlisted writers and their works are: 'She is Bright Light...

Debut novel ‘Half Moon Lake’ sold to US

Monday, 8 October 2018
US and Canadian rights to Kirsten Alexander’s debut novel Half Moon Lake (Bantam, January 2019) have been acquired by Grand Central, an imprint of Hachette Book Group. Natasha Solomun of...

Charts this week 

Monday, 8 October 2018
Top 10 Bestsellers Index Title Author Imprint 1 The Barefoot Investor for Families Scott Pape HarperCollins 2 Nine Perfect Strangers Liane Moriarty Macmillan 3 The Barefoot Investor Scott Pape John...

Transit Lounge acquires new fiction by Savage, Bird

Friday, 5 October 2018
Transit Lounge has acquired world rights to new novels by Angela Savage and Carmel Bird. Savage’s fourth novel, Mother of Pearl, is set in Thailand and Australia, and centres on...

Quote of the week 

Wednesday, 3 October 2018
'The funding raid is especially galling because it is effectively a reverse Robin Hood: taking from the poorly funded independent sector to give to one of the wealthiest and best...

Rights round-up 

Wednesday, 3 October 2018
Sales Fiction Melanie Ostell Literary has sold world rights to The Whistler Calls (Greg Woodland) to Text. Penguin Random House (PRH) has sold North American and Commonwealth (ex ANZ) rights...

Toni Jordan’s ‘The Fragments’ 

Wednesday, 3 October 2018
‘Jordan’s writing moves at a fast skip and her descriptions of retail shifts and pre-internet research processes are particularly convincing. It’s a treat to step back into 1980s-era Australia with...

RiP David Lovell

Wednesday, 3 October 2018
Publisher David Lovell has died, aged 74. Lovell was the founder and publisher of David Lovell Publishing (DLP), which published books based around the Catholic faith. A co-founder of the...

Podcast spotlight: Bookish Friends

Wednesday, 3 October 2018
Established in 2016, Bookish Friends is a YA and genre fiction podcast created by Diem Nguyen. Each episode features a mix of conversation, book reviews, and interviews with Australian YA authors. Nguyen...

ASA announces 2018 Barbara Jefferis Award shortlist

Tuesday, 2 October 2018
The Australian Society of Authors (ASA) has announced the shortlist for the 2018 Barbara Jefferis Award. The shortlisted titles are: The Trapeze Act (Libby Angel, Text) Troppo (Madelaine Dickie, Fremantle...

Vu, Thomas win 2018 Inky Awards

Tuesday, 2 October 2018
Peter Vu and Angie Thomas have won the 2018 Inky Awards, presented by the Centre for Youth Literature at the State Library of Victoria. Peter Vu’s Paper Cranes Don’t Fly...

PRH sells Stevenson crime-thriller debut in US and UK

Monday, 1 October 2018
Penguin Random House (PRH) has sold North American and UK (ex ANZ) rights to debut crime-thriller Greenlight (Michael Joseph) by Sydney-based author Benjamin Stevenson. PRH senior rights manager Nerrilee Weir...

Charts this week 

Monday, 1 October 2018
Top 10 Bestsellers Index Title Author Imprint 1 Nine Perfect Strangers Liane Moriarty Macmillan 2 The Clockmaker's Daughter Kate Morton Allen & Unwin 3 The Barefoot Investor Scott Pape Wiley...

Goldsmiths Prize 2018 shortlist announced

Thursday, 27 September 2018
In the UK, the shortlist for the 2018 Goldsmiths Prize has been announced. The shortlisted titles are: Kudos (Rachel Cusk, Faber) Murmur (Will Eaves, CB Editions) In Our Mad and Furious...

Quote of the week 

Wednesday, 26 September 2018
‘We can learn a lot by seeing what ideas and topics people considered unacceptable even 20 years ago ... That helps us to see the value of reading outside our...