The Grey Beret’s Guide to Surviving the Odds (Anna Battese, illus Erin Reeves, Simon & Schuster Australia)
Tuesday, 23 June 2026
Anna Battese’s debut middle-grade novel, The Grey Beret’s Guide to Surviving the Odds, illustrated by Erin Reeves, is the first in a planned trilogy. The book perfectly fills a gap...
There’s a Chicken in the House (Sonya Hartnett, illus Lucia Masciullo, Puffin)
Tuesday, 23 June 2026
There’s a Chicken in the House by Sonya Hartnett (Blue Flower) and illustrator Lucia Masciullo (The Flower Garden) is a whimsical picture book about a young child whose day is...
And in the Morning (Lenny Robinson, University of Queensland Press)
Tuesday, 23 June 2026
Lenny Robinson’s historical fiction debut, And in the Morning, quietly observes the grief of 3 Australian women grappling with their personal experiences of major international conflicts. Moving between distinct character...
QWC Varuna 2026 fellowships announced
Tuesday, 23 June 2026
Varuna has announced the 2026 recipients and shortlisted writers for the Queensland Writers Centre (QWC) fellowships. The recipient of the 2026 QWC Established Writers Fellowship is Ashley Hay, author and Meanjin...
Summit Books acquires Jonathan Biggins’s “Ocean’s 55+”
Tuesday, 23 June 2026
Simon & Schuster imprint Summit Books Australia has acquired world rights to Ocean’s 55+, a cosy crime novel by actor, writer and comedian Jonathan Biggins. Described by the publisher as...
New Voices of Aotearoa 2026 announced
Monday, 22 June 2026
The 8 authors selected as the 2026 New Voices of Aotearoa (NVA) have been announced. The authors, selected by a judging panel and administered by the Coalition for Books, are:...
Jenny Lu wins inaugural translation prize
Monday, 22 June 2026
Brisbane-based translator Jenny Lu has won the inaugural Voices of Today Literary Translation Prize, worth £1,500. Created and administered by the UK‑ and China‑based cultural communications agency Singing Grass, the...
Marten Bequest 2026 recipients announced
Monday, 22 June 2026
Poets Eunice Andrada and Sanja Grozdanic are among the 7 recipients of the 2026 Marten Bequest Travelling Scholarships, each worth $50,000. The scholarships, administered by Creative Australia, enable artists “to...
Holden Sheppard’s “Yeah the Boys” to be adapted for TV
Monday, 22 June 2026
Deadset Pictures has acquired the screen rights to Holden Sheppard’s novel Yeah the Boys in a deal brokered by Gaby Naher at the Naher Agency. The novel is a sequel to...
Upswell Publishing acquires Meera Atkinson poetry collection
Monday, 22 June 2026
Upswell Publishing has acquired world rights to the poetry collection Some Letters Take a Lifetime by Sydney-based writer Meera Atkinson. Meera Atkinson is the author of Map of Skin (Pink...
Melbourne Books acquires Takako Tamura’s “Sauces: Eats and Beats”
Monday, 22 June 2026
Melbourne Books has acquired world rights to Sauces: Eats and Beats by Takako Tamura. The “combination of cookbook and culture” draws on Tamura’s Japanese heritage and shares the recipes for...
Hardie Grant acquires Midnight Oil drummer Rob Hirst’s “World Is Almost at Peace” under Pantera imprint
Monday, 22 June 2026
Hardie Grant Books imprint Pantera Press has acquired world rights to World Is Almost at Peace: A Lifetime of Songwriting for Midnight Oil and More, the final book by the...
Black Inc. acquires Mark McKenna biography “Bob Brown: A Life”
Monday, 22 June 2026
Black Inc. has acquired world rights to Bob Brown: A Life, a biography of the Greens founder, politician and activist by Mark McKenna, via Lyn Tranter at Australian Literary Management....
Wilderness Society announces 2026 Karajia, environment award shortlists
Thursday, 18 June 2026
The Wilderness Society has announced the shortlists for the 2026 Environment Award for Children’s Literature and Karajia Award for Children’s Literature. The shortlisted titles in each category are: Environment Award...
HarperCollins acquires Hayden Green’s YA verse novel in two-book deal
Thursday, 18 June 2026
HarperCollins Children’s Books has acquired world rights to YA verse novel Not Black Enough by Hayden Green in a two-book deal negotiated by Sarah McKenzie of Sarah McKenzie Literary Management...
Wombat Books acquires Linsey Painter’s “The Butterfly Mermaid”
Thursday, 18 June 2026
Rhiza Press imprint Wombat Books has acquired world rights to The Butterfly Mermaid, a middle-grade book by Linsey Painter. The Butterfly Mermaid is a “fun, portal fantasy adventure perfect for...
Nam Le, Hazel Phillips receive Varuna International Exchange fellowships
Wednesday, 17 June 2026
Varuna has announced the recipients for its International Exchange – New Zealand fellowship, offered in partnership with the Michael King Writers Centre and WORD Christchurch Festival with funding from Creative Australia....
Rights round-up
Wednesday, 17 June 2026
Sales Nonfiction Black Inc. has sold Russian rights to The Shortest History of Rome (Matthew Kneale) to Alpina. Children’s/YA Penguin Random House Australia has sold Simplified Chinese rights to Toilet...
Booktopia staff changes; WH Smith profit warning; new author-support business
Wednesday, 17 June 2026
Several Booktopia staff have been made redundant; WH Smith has issued a profit warning; two former Big Fivers have launched a new author-support business; new ISBN data show the number of books...
Allen & Unwin acquires Ariarne Titmus memoir
Wednesday, 17 June 2026
Allen & Unwin (A&U) has acquired ANZ rights to Relentless: Family, Self-belief and the Will to Win, a memoir by Australian swimmer Ariarne Titmus, from David Malina at IMG Talent....
Allen & Unwin acquires Human Nature memoir
Wednesday, 17 June 2026
Allen & Unwin (A&U) has acquired world rights to Human Nature’s memoir Only Human: Harmony Through the Hits & Hard Times, via manager Jennifer Fontaine. Pop vocal group Human Nature...
Byron Writers Festival 2026 program announced
Wednesday, 17 June 2026
Byron Writers Festival has released the line-up for this year’s program, running from 14 to 16 August in Bundjalung Country, Byron Bay, NSW. Festival organisers said that with the theme...
HarperCollins acquires Anthony LaPaglia memoir
Wednesday, 17 June 2026
HarperCollins has acquired world rights to The Life We Choose, a memoir by actor Anthony LaPaglia. Described by the publisher as “raw and layered”, the memoir traces LaPaglia’s journey from...
Read the latest Publishers Weekly
Wednesday, 17 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.
Nothing Personal (Alex Dook, Echo)
Tuesday, 16 June 2026
In Alex Dook’s Nothing Personal, Lola McKenzie is tired of always being one step ahead, only to find herself two steps back. Her father, broke after a few years of...
A River I Must Be (Kate Foster, HarperCollins)
Tuesday, 16 June 2026
A River I Must Be is a middle-grade fiction book in verse by Kate Foster (Freddie Jones: The Mystery of the Troublesome Trees, Harriet Hound), told from the perspective of...
The Mystery of Colour: and how we solved it (David Coles, illus Margaux Samson-Abadie, Thames & Hudson)
Tuesday, 16 June 2026
The Mystery of Colour: And How We Solved It, by professional paint-maker and self-titled “real-life colour detective” David Coles (Chromatopia), invites young readers to discover the bizarre, sometimes gruesome and...
Time Travel for Beginners (Jaclyn Moriarty, Ultimo)
Tuesday, 16 June 2026
If someone offered you the chance to travel into the past, would you believe them? Jaclyn Moriarty’s latest novel, Time Travel for Beginners, centres on a mysterious Sydney agency that...
Sagittarius Rising (Maxine Beneba Clarke, illus Jade Goodwin, Hardie Grant Children’s Publishing)
Tuesday, 16 June 2026
Sagittarius Rising, by award-winning poet Maxine Beneba Clarke, is a well-crafted chapter book following Tip and their family’s unpredictable yet lovable dog, Sagittarius Rising. The story moves through a range...
Seize the Moment: Australia’s Real Opportunities in an Unstable World (Bernard Keane, Allen & Unwin)
Tuesday, 16 June 2026
In Seize the Moment: Australia’s Real Opportunities in an Unstable World, journalist Bernard Keane uses the last 25 years of global politics and economics as a framework for considering Australia’s...
