The Brownout Murders (Luke C Jackson & Kelly Jackson, illus Maya Graham, Scribe)
Tuesday, 15 April 2025
The year is 1942, and Melbourne is a city consumed with fear in The Brownout Murders, a gripping historical graphic novel. With the threat of a Japanese attack looming, the...
Stella Prize, Women’s Prize for Fiction, International Booker among a busy week for prize shortlists
Wednesday, 9 April 2025
The 2025 Stella Prize shortlist made history this week, with judging chair Astrid Edwards noting that this is the first shortlist in the prize's 13-year history to be entirely made...
Rights round-up
Wednesday, 9 April 2025
Sales Fiction Allen & Unwin has sold North American rights for Ash (Louise Wallace) to HarperCollins imprint Mariner Books; UK rights to Ash to Hutchinson Heinemann; and world English (ex...
Read the latest Publishers Weekly
Wednesday, 9 April 2025
Books+Publishing is partnering with US trade news magazine Publishers Weekly to provide our subscribers with exclusive access to the weekly digital edition of PW magazine. View the edition here.
My Name Is Jemima (Olivia Muscat, illus by Allison Colpoys, Scribble)
Tuesday, 8 April 2025
My Name Is Jemima is a heartwarming and informative picture book that introduces young readers to the life and work of guide dogs and teaches children about disability, independence and...
Rise of the Witch (Everglade #1) (Kitty Black, illus Rebecca Crane, Affirm)
Tuesday, 8 April 2025
Take one part Enid Blyton’s The Enchanted Wood, add a sprinkle of Diana Wynne Jones and a dash of Jessica Townsend’s Nevermoor, and you’ve got the perfect recipe for a...
The Name of the Sister (Gail Jones, Text)
Tuesday, 8 April 2025
The latest novel from award-winning author Gail Jones, The Name of the Sister, is a literary whodunnit set in a small mining town. The book begins with a woman stumbling onto...
Lucky’s Star: The Story of a Meteorite (Mark Greenwood, illus by Lucia Masciullo, CSIRO Publishing)
Tuesday, 8 April 2025
Children are naturally fascinated by the night sky, and Lucky’s Star will surely delight primary-aged students with its clever combination of storytelling and facts. Based on the real-life 1969 Murchison...
Bombard the Headquarters! The Cultural Revolution in China (Linda Jaivin, Black Inc)
Tuesday, 8 April 2025
Chairman Mao’s decade of terror is the subject of Bombard the Headquarters!, Australian sinologist Linda Jaivin’s excellent primer on China’s Cultural Revolution. In 1966, Peking University’s Nie Yuanzi created a...
Stinkbug (Sinéad Stubbins, Affirm)
Tuesday, 8 April 2025
Sinéad Stubbins’ debut fiction novel, Stinkbug, is a sharp, darkly funny reflection on the corporate ‘normal’ and the compromises we make to survive in a hostile environment. It meditates on...
Rights round-up
Wednesday, 2 April 2025
Sales Fiction Curtis Brown has sold UK rights to Arborescence (Rhett Davis) at auction, in a deal between Curtis Brown literary agent Alexandra Christie and Matilda Singer at Fleet. Hachette...
ABIA business shortlists, Books Create Australia’s Election 2025, Writing Australia funded
Wednesday, 2 April 2025
We at Books+Publishing had some news of our own this week, as we welcome Jasmin McGaughey to our team in the newly created role of editorial and production coordinator. Jasmin commences on...
Read the latest Publishers Weekly
Wednesday, 2 April 2025
Books+Publishing is partnering with US trade news magazine Publishers Weekly to provide our subscribers with exclusive access to the weekly digital edition of PW magazine. View the edition here.
R.I.P. Nanny Tobbins (Lucie Stevens, HarperCollins)
Tuesday, 1 April 2025
R.I.P. Nanny Tobbins by Lucie Stevens is a deliciously macabre and unexpectedly funny debut fantasy for advanced middle-grade readers, blending tension, mystery and moments of humour with remarkable skill. Albertine...
When Nothing Feels Real (Nathan Dunne, Murdoch)
Tuesday, 1 April 2025
When Nothing Feels Real is a raw and immersive first-person account of journalist Nathan Dunne’s experience of depersonalisation. It begins with a moment – a dive into cold water –...
Ever Blessed (Olivia O’Flynn, HarperCollins)
Tuesday, 1 April 2025
Ever Blessed by Olivia O’Flynn is a confident debut in the romantasy genre, featuring a recalcitrant heroine, a taciturn hero, and potentially world-ending stakes. Captain Elva, a warrior princess of...
A Farm by the Sea (Jillian Packer, Berbay)
Tuesday, 1 April 2025
Fans of Alison Lester, Freya Blackwood and Trace Balla will be captivated by A Farm by the Sea by debut author and illustrator Jillian Packer. This new picture book invites young readers...
Rytual (Chloe Elisabeth Wilson, Penguin)
Tuesday, 1 April 2025
In her unsettling and sharply constructed debut, Rytual, Chloe Elisabeth Wilson dissects the seductive promise of transformation through beauty, rituals and belief systems. Marnie Sellick once dreamed of writing screenplays....
Joss: A History (Grace Yee, Giramondo)
Tuesday, 1 April 2025
Grace Yee’s Joss: A History uncovers the lives of Chinese immigrants in Australia during the 19th and 20th centuries through a powerful blend of archival research and poetry. Viewing White...
Joint statement on LibGen; 2025 VPLA winners; MWF, BookPeople programs; S&S opens new office
Wednesday, 26 March 2025
In the news this week, the Australian Publishers Association, the Australian Society of Authors, and the Copyright Agency have released a joint statement and plan of action for Australian authors...
Rights round-up
Wednesday, 26 March 2025
Sales Fiction Pantera has sold Czech rights to The Medoran Chronicles book 2: Raelia (Lynette Noni) to Albatros, via Kristin Olson Literary Agency. Children’s/YA Affirm Press has sold UK rights...
Read the latest Publishers Weekly
Wednesday, 26 March 2025
Books+Publishing is partnering with US trade news magazine Publishers Weekly to provide our subscribers with exclusive access to the weekly digital edition of PW magazine. View the edition here.
Our Dance (Jacinta Daniher & Taylor Hampton, illus by Janelle Burger, Lothian)
Tuesday, 25 March 2025
Our Dance by Jacinta Daniher and proud Ngiyampaa/Wiradjuri man Taylor Hampton celebrates Australian First Nations culture through the joy of movement as children dance and sing in the corroboree. The...
My Supercharged ADHD Brain (Dani Vee & James Layton, illus Ruth-Mary Smith, Larrikin)
Tuesday, 25 March 2025
My Supercharged ADHD Brain is a brightly coloured picture book that candidly explores some of the positive aspects of having ADHD, celebrating differences and encouraging a better understanding of neurodivergence....
The Book of Guilt (Catherine Chidgey, Penguin)
Tuesday, 25 March 2025
Welcome to an alternative version of the UK in the 1970s. In Catherine Chidgey’s The Book of Guilt, Hitler is assassinated in 1943. After a purge of senior Nazis and...
The Letter Writer (Binny Talib, Windy Hollow)
Tuesday, 25 March 2025
The Letter Writer by author and illustrator Binny Talib (Sloths Love Parties) opens with stunning endpapers – a delightful collage of envelopes adorned with scribbles and doodles that immediately draws...
Find Me at the Jaffa Gate: An Encyclopaedia of a Palestinian Family (Micaela Sahhar, NewSouth)
Tuesday, 25 March 2025
Several generations into the Palestinian diaspora in Australia, Micaela Sahhar explores the complexities of being disconnected from her ancestral land in Find Me at the Jaffa Gate: An Encyclopaedia of...
The Edge of Everything (Miranda Luby, Text)
Tuesday, 25 March 2025
In The Edge of Everything, Miranda Luby (Sadie Starr’s Guide to Starting Over) tells a poignant story of a teenager recovering from tragedy. It’s been eleven months since Lucy’s older...
The Haunting of Hindmarsh Hall (Kate Gordon, Riveted Press)
Tuesday, 25 March 2025
The Haunting of Hindmarsh Hall is the first book in The Secret Detectives Club middle-grade series by Kate Gordon (Xavier in the Meantime). Set in the quiet town of Table...
I Want Everything (Dominic Amerena, S&S)
Tuesday, 25 March 2025
An unnamed aspiring writer leaves a Melbourne hospital and, seeking distraction, swims laps at his local pool. There, he recognises an elderly woman as Brenda Shales, one of Australia’s best...
