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A Message for Nasty (Roderick Fry, Awa Press)

Tuesday, 5 July 2022
Roderick Fry’s debut novel is the harrowing wartime story of a family fighting to reunite amid the destruction of the Second World War. The plot follows a married couple, Marie...

A Question of Age: Women, ageing and the forever self (Jacinta Parsons, ABC Books)

Tuesday, 5 July 2022
Jacinta Parsons wanted to get under the skin of ageing. What is it? And can we prepare ourselves for it, even before we have arrived at ‘old age’ (whatever that...

Itty Bitty Kitty (Maddy Mara, illus by Noémie Gionet Landry, Affirm)

Tuesday, 5 July 2022
Maddy Mara is the pseudonym for publishing powerhouses Hilary Rogers and Meredith Badger, who have between them worked across industry roles from illustration to acquisitions. Having previously collaborated on picture...

My Deadly Boots (Carl Merrison and Hakea Hustler, illus by Samantha Campbell, Lothian)

Tuesday, 5 July 2022
This is the story of a pair of fantastically bright footy boots which may or may not be the source of a young Indigenous boy’s confidence, joy, inspiration, energy, power...

The Wintrish Girl (Melanie La’Brooy, UQP)

Tuesday, 5 July 2022
Melanie La’Brooy’s The Wintrish Girl is an exciting middle-grade fantasy debut. Penn is an outsider in the strict world of Aralyia, a slave to the princess Seraphine, who is orphaned...

The Tree at Number 43 (Jess McGeachin, Puffin)

Tuesday, 5 July 2022
Jess McGeachin has fast established himself as an exciting and skilled creator of picture books, drawing on his work at Melbourne Museum to celebrate the beauty of the natural world...

Read the latest Publishers Weekly

Monday, 4 July 2022
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.

Rights round-up

Wednesday, 29 June 2022
Sales Fiction HarperCollins Australia has sold Spanish translation rights to The Truth About Her (Jacqueline Maley to HarperCollins Iberica S A, and Turkish translation rights to Sorrow and Bliss (Meg...

Miles Franklin 2022 shortlist, Chief Minister’s NT Book Awards winners, Fraser to step down at Fremantle Press

Wednesday, 29 June 2022
The shortlist for the 2022 Miles Franklin Literary Award was announced in the past week, as well as the winners of the 2022 Chief Minister’s NT Book Awards. Melbourne Writers...

Where You Left Us (Rhiannon Wilde, UQP)

Tuesday, 28 June 2022
Rhiannon Wilde’s second YA novel, Where You Left Us, is as bewitching as her Glendower Award–winning debut Henry Hamlet’s Heart. It follows the two Prince sisters, Cinnamon and Scarlett, who...

Take a Bow, Noah Mitchell (Tobias Madden, Penguin)

Tuesday, 28 June 2022
Noah and Eli play an online computer game together most nights. They take down swamp goblins and drink virtual flagons of ale for hours at a time, but they still...

Birdbrain (Kelli Anne Hawkins, HarperCollins)

Tuesday, 28 June 2022
In her return to middle-grade fiction, Kelli Anne Hawkins delivers another madcap caper for 10- to 12-year-olds that has puns aplenty and some genuine chuckles. Hadley Boggs is 11 and...

Naturopolis (Deborah Frenkel, illus by Ingrid Bartkowiak, Storytorch Press)

Tuesday, 28 June 2022
The narrative nonfiction genre of children’s books—particularly those exploring the natural world—seems to be growing, and it can be hard to get right, since the audience for the ‘story’ component...

Curlews on Vulture Street (Darryl Jones, NewSouth)

Tuesday, 28 June 2022
A fascination with birds and wildlife took hold early for Darryl Jones. Now a professor of ecology at Griffith University, he first noticed the creatures who shared his landscape as...

Read the latest Publishers Weekly

Monday, 27 June 2022
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.

‘The Dogs’ removed from Miles Franklin longlist, ACCC approves Opus acquisiton of Ovato, WA Premier’s Book Awards winners

Wednesday, 22 June 2022
John Hughes’ novel The Dogs (Upswell) has been removed from the Miles Franklin longlist following instances of plagiarism found by the Guardian, which has since uncovered further examples, while Upswell...