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Half Truth (Nadia Mahjouri, Penguin) 

Tuesday, 14 January 2025
Half Truth follows Zahra, a young Moroccan Australian woman, and her grandmother, Khadija. In alternating narratives, the novel follows the pair as they come of age in their respective timelines. The...

The Knowing (Madeleine Ryan, Scribe) 

Tuesday, 14 January 2025
Camille works for a semi-famous florist in Armadale, where she commutes daily from her home in the country. She yearns for a life full of beauty and meaning and can’t...

Outrageous Fortunes (Megan Brown & Lucy Sussex, La Trobe) 

Tuesday, 14 January 2025
‘Mary Fortune’ might sound like a pseudonym but it’s the name of one of Australia’s most prolific—if often overlooked—woman crime writers. Outrageous Fortunes is a dual biography of Fortune and...

Sunny and Shadow (Helen Milroy, Fremantle) 

Tuesday, 14 January 2025
Sunny and Shadow is a heartfelt junior fiction novel and intergenerational tale that follows Calla and her descendants, who all have the precious gift of talking with and caring for...

Past & Parallel Lives (Kaya Ortiz, UWA Publishing) 

Tuesday, 14 January 2025
In their debut poetry collection, Past & Parallel Lives, Kaya Ortiz explores what it means to wrestle with your identity and find belonging. Their poetry strikes a balance between grounded...

Pearce wins PF Rowland Manuscript Development Grant 

Tuesday, 14 January 2025
James Cook University's Foundation for Australian Literary Studies has announced Lilian Pearce as the recipient of the second $5000 PF Rowland Manuscript Development Grant. The grant is offered in partnership...

HarperVia acquires two Tsao novels 

Tuesday, 14 January 2025
Alexa Frank at HarperVia has acquired world English rights to two novels by 2023 PEN Translation Prize winner Tiffany Tsao, in a pre-empt deal from Daniel Lazar at Writers House...

Peter Porter Prize 2025 shortlist announced

ABR logo Monday, 13 January 2025
The shortlist for the 2025 Australian Book Review (ABR) Peter Porter Poetry Prize has been announced. Shortlisted poems include: ‘The Orphan’ by Sarah Day ‘Hook, Grandmother, Line, Marlin’ by Jennifer Harrison...

Tasmanian Literary Awards 2025 longlists announced

Friday, 10 January 2025
The longlists for the 2025 Tasmanian Literary Awards have been announced. Longlisted titles have been announced in four award categories, worth $25,000 each. The books longlisted in each of these...

Riveted Press acquires middle-grade fantasy trilogy 

Photograph of Jayne McIntyre Friday, 10 January 2025
Riveted Press has acquired worldwide rights to the middle-grade fantasy series Farwood by Jayne McIntyre, in a three-book deal via Debbie Golvan at Golvan Arts Management. The first book in...

Berberovic wins inaugural WestWords Prize

The Westwords Prize logo Friday, 10 January 2025
Vahida Berberovic has won the inaugural WestWords Prize for her novel Piggy Tales. Berberovic receives a publication deal with WestWords Books, the adult trade imprint of WestWords. Piggy Tales was chosen...

Osborne-Crowley longlisted for Gordon Burn Prize

Friday, 13 December 2024
In the UK, British–Australian author Lucia Osborne-Crowley has been longlisted for the £10,000 (A$20,011) Gordon Burn Prize. Osborne-Crowley was longlisted for her book The Lasting Harm: Witnessing the Trial of...

Indie Book Awards 2025 longlists announced

Indie Book Award Longlist Announced Friday, 13 December 2024
The longlist for the 2025 Indie Book Awards has been announced. The longlisted titles in each category are: Fiction Dusk (Robbie Arnott, Picador) Safe Haven (Shankari Chandran, Ultimo) The Valley...

UQP acquires Jacobs, Natt picture book for adults 

Thursday, 12 December 2024
UQP has acquired world rights to a satirical picture book for adults, titled If Queers Weren’t Meant to Have Kids, by Narelda Jacobs and Karina Natt, to be illustrated by...

Juchau wins 2024 Blake-Beckett Trust Scholarship 

Thursday, 12 December 2024
The Australian Society of Authors (ASA) has announced Mireille Juchau as recipient of the $35,000 Blake-Beckett Trust Scholarship. Assessors Amal Awad and Kate Ryan said that in Juchau’s autofictional detective...

Inaugural WestWords Prize shortlist announced

The Westwords Prize logo Thursday, 12 December 2024
WestWords has announced the shortlist for its inaugural WestWords Prize. The shortlisted writers (and their manuscripts) are: Amy Anshaw-Nye for ‘The Maydown Girls’ Philip Barker for ‘Burning Good Samaritans’ Vahida...

Rights round-up 

Wednesday, 11 December 2024
Sales Fiction Scribe has sold French translation rights to Kataraina (Becky Manawatu) to Au Vent des Îles; and Turkish translation rights in Thunderhead (Miranda Darling) to Liber Plus. Nonfiction Allen...

WeirDo, Wolf Girl to be adapted to screen 

Wednesday, 11 December 2024
Two Anh Do series, WeirDo (Scholastic) and Wolf Girl (A&U), are being adapted to screen, reports the Age. The WeirDo series is being turned into a television series in partnership...

Tu awarded 2025 BR Whiting Studio Residency

Wednesday, 11 December 2024
Jessie Tu has been awarded Creative Australia’s 2025 BR Whiting Studio Residency in Rome. Tu’s debut novel, A Lonely Girl Is a Dangerous Thing (A&U), was named literary fiction book...