A New Kind of Beautiful (Suzy Zail, Walker Books)
Tuesday, 9 June 2026
In Suzy Zail’s A New Kind of Beautiful, 16-year-old Paige Wilding has her future mapped out: win the coveted school art prize, graduate at the top of her class and...
Once Upon a Breakfast Show (Stephanie MacFie, Text Publishing)
Tuesday, 9 June 2026
Stephanie MacFie’s debut, Once Upon a Breakfast Show, is a charming second-chance romantic comedy set in the dynamic world of Melbourne breakfast radio. Emily Blake is one half of Mack...
Bandoola (Beverley McWilliams, illus Kate Jones, UWA Publishing)
Tuesday, 9 June 2026
Bandoola by Beverley McWilliams (Spies in the Sky) follows the life of a Burmese logging elephant, blending fictional storytelling with events inspired by history. Set predominantly in the first half...
Cass and the Beast (Claire Mabey, illus Jill Calder, Gecko Press)
Tuesday, 9 June 2026
In Claire Mabey’s Cass and the Beast, a young girl, Cass, fears the townsfolk more than the creature they call Beast. She empathises with the creature, offering bread to assuage...
Blue Giant (Jordan Prosser, University of Queensland Press)
Tuesday, 9 June 2026
A Danish tech billionaire announces he’s seeking volunteers for the first colony on Mars. Abby Horne, a 30-something woman in Melbourne, knows in her bones that it’s her destiny to...
Juicy: How to Live a Life in the Wreckage of Expectations (Sheree Joseph, Pantera Press)
Tuesday, 9 June 2026
In her debut memoir, Juicy: How to Live a Life in the Wreckage of Expectations, Lebanese Australian journalist and writer Sheree Joseph traces her 30s through grief, family, relationships and...
“Hellions” wins 2026 Carol Shields Prize for Fiction
Tuesday, 9 June 2026
Julia Elliott has won this year’s Carol Shields Prize for Fiction for her short story collection Hellions (Tin House). The prize jury, made up of Carmen Maria Machado (chair), Ivan...
Anna Fienberg, Datsun Tran on 2026 IBBY Honour List
Tuesday, 9 June 2026
IBBY Australia has announced its 2026 selection for the biennial IBBY Honour List: for writing, Anna Fienberg’s Picasso and the Greatest Show on Earth (Allen & Unwin, 2023), and for illustration,...
UQP acquires Tim Loveday’s “your father was a bastard”
Tuesday, 9 June 2026
University of Queensland Press (UQP) has acquired world rights to your father was a bastard, the debut poetry collection by Naarm-based poet and academic Tim Loveday. According to the publisher,...
A&U acquires artist biography by Andrew Bailey
Tuesday, 9 June 2026
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are advised that this article contains the name of a deceased person. Allen & Unwin (A&U) has acquired world rights to the nonfiction title...
McCaulay wins 2026 RSL Ondaatje Prize
Thursday, 4 June 2026
Jamaican writer Diana McCaulay has won the £10,000 Royal Society of Literature (RSL) Ondaatje Prize for A House for Miss Pauline (Dialogue Books), reports the Bookseller. On winning the prize that...
A&U acquires Split Enz history
Thursday, 4 June 2026
Allen & Unwin (A&U) has acquired world rights to Split Enz: An Adventure in Music and Design, the official history of the band Split Enz by Noel Crombie and Michael...
ACT Literary Awards 2026 shortlists announced
Thursday, 4 June 2026
MARION has announced the shortlists for the 2026 ACT Literary Awards. The shortlisted titles are: Children’s literature Creature Corridors (Billie Rooney, illustrated by Anke Noack, CSIRO Publishing) The Drought Kangaroo...
Big Day of Books Perth 2026 program announced
Wednesday, 3 June 2026
At Big Day of Books Perth on 20 June, Western Australian radio presenters will chat to Australian authors about their new books during a live broadcast literary show. Hosted by...
Willy Lit Fest 2026 program announced
Wednesday, 3 June 2026
Willy Lit Fest will run in the Williamstown Town Hall, Melbourne, from 12 to 14 June under the theme of “reflections”. The event will feature 40 sessions and almost 80...
Robinson wins 2026 UQP Quentin Bryce Award
Wednesday, 3 June 2026
University of Queensland Press (UQP) has announced Lenny Robinson as the winner of the 2026 UQP Quentin Bryce Award, worth $5000, for her debut novel And in the Morning. The...
Wright leaves Leading Edge; Aotearoa sales changes at Thames & Hudson and Simon & Schuster; Hachette launches new imprint
Wednesday, 3 June 2026
Leading Edge Books member services manager Kaye Wright has left as part of a restructure; Thames & Hudson Australia (T&H) has made some staff changes; and announced it will move...
S&S acquires Kieran Kennedy’s “This Explains Everything”
Wednesday, 3 June 2026
Simon & Schuster Australia (S&S) has acquired This Explains Everything: A Psychiatrist’s Guide to Navigating Adult ADHD by psychiatrist Kieran Kennedy. According to the publisher, the book draws on the...
Read the latest Publishers Weekly
Wednesday, 3 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.
Sophie, Standing There (Meg Mason, 4th Estate)
Tuesday, 2 June 2026
Sophie, Standing There is the long-awaited new novel from Meg Mason (Sorrow and Bliss). Newly single 37-year-old sound technician Sophie Pattison is adjusting to life as an “unregarded” divorcee. Just...
Us in the Bright Lights (Zanni L Arnot, Lothian)
Tuesday, 2 June 2026
Zanni L Arnot returns with Us in the Bright Lights, a romantic adventure that builds on the promise of her YA debut, A Guide to Falling Off the Map. Arnot...
Dying Days (Anthony Byrt, Affirm Press)
Tuesday, 2 June 2026
Anthony Byrt’s debut novel, Dying Days, is a fast-paced, assured espionage novel that expertly weaves compelling fiction with real historical events. Set in Trieste in May 1945, in the immediate...
The Festival of Ice and Snow (Angie Cui, illus Anna Wilson, University of Queensland Press)
Tuesday, 2 June 2026
In The Festival of Ice and Snow, Angie Cui (My Mum Is a Bird) and illustrator Anna Wilson (A Taste of Home) transport readers aged 5 to 8 to the...
Theodora’s Tea Shop (Christy Anne Jones, Hachette)
Tuesday, 2 June 2026
Christy Anne Jones has brewed a bewitching concoction in Theodora’s Tea Shop, her first adult fantasy novel. Dot, a timid girl from a seaside town, strikes out for the capital...
Stuck in the Middle (Anton Clifford-Motopi, Allen & Unwin Children’s)
Tuesday, 2 June 2026
Anton Clifford-Motopi’s Stuck in the Middle is a lively, heartfelt comedy for readers aged 8 to 12, capturing the chaos and warmth of life in a big family. Leon, one...
A Bigger Book (Hannah Sommerville, Hardie Grant Children’s Publishing)
Tuesday, 2 June 2026
In A Bigger Book, Hannah Sommerville’s first solo picture book for readers aged 4 to 8, the author-illustrator captures the difficult transition some children experience when they move from picture...
Alice’s Dreaming (Tom Griffiths, Black Inc.)
Tuesday, 2 June 2026
Historian and author Tom Griffiths was 14 when he discovered Alice Duncan-Kemp’s Where Strange Paths Go Down at his school library. Detailing life in rural south-west Queensland at the turn...
Lewis, Daut win James Tait Black prizes
Tuesday, 2 June 2026
In the UK, Shady Lewis and Marlene L Daut have been awarded the James Tait Black Prizes for fiction and biography, respectively. Lewis was awarded the fiction prize for the...
“Gather Up Your World in One Long Breath” sells to France
Tuesday, 2 June 2026
French language rights for S Shakthidharan’s memoir, Gather Up Your World in One Long Breath (Powerhouse Publishing), have been sold to Le Bruit du Monde. Le Bruit du Monde CEO Marie-Pierre...
Allen & Unwin acquires Evonne Goolagong Cawley memoir
Tuesday, 2 June 2026
Allen & Unwin (A&U) has acquired world rights to Only Ever Evonne by Evonne Goolagong Cawley. In the memoir, Goolagong Cawley shares memories of her childhood in Barellan, where she grew...
