Tinsel time: Christmas 2024 nonfiction
Wednesday, 17 July 2024
Following on from last week's life writing highlights, publishers are looking forward to a colourful range of new nonfiction books that will enliven kitchens, inform conversations, inspire reflections, and maybe...
Meet the Rising Stars: Katherine Rajwar
Wednesday, 17 July 2024
The Australian Publishers Association Rising Star award recognises an emerging talent in Australian publishing who has spent less than 10 years in the industry. In the lead-up to the winner announcement...
Christopher Cheng recommends
Tuesday, 16 July 2024
I adored Emma Quay’s Happy All Over. It’s full of joy and light and happiness. The text consists of short, simple statements. These expressions of joy for a child arise from...
Christopher Cheng on ‘Dragon Folding’
Tuesday, 16 July 2024
Christopher Cheng is a Sydney-based, award-winning children's author of over 40 fiction and nonfiction titles. His latest picture book, Dragon Folding (illus Lucia Masciullo, Puffin, September 2024), shows readers 'how...
Tinsel time: Christmas 2024 biographies and memoirs
Wednesday, 10 July 2024
From a soccer superstar to familiar faces in children's entertainment, and an equally wide range of non-celebrity (but far from ordinary) stories, Books+Publishing rounds up the local adult biography and...
Robbie Egan: ‘A centralised ecommerce platform … would be transformative’
Wednesday, 10 July 2024
Robbie Egan is CEO of BookPeople, the Australian Booksellers Association. Here, he argues that the mainstream media’s 'gloom and doom' narrative following Booktopia’s entry into voluntary administration has been 'quarantined...
Meet the Rising Stars: Riikka Dunn
Wednesday, 10 July 2024
The Australian Publishers Association Rising Star award recognises an emerging talent in Australian publishing who has spent less than 10 years in the industry. In the lead-up to the winner announcement...
Raelke Grimmer on ‘White Noise’
Tuesday, 9 July 2024
Raelke Grimmer is an author and linguist from the Northern Territory. Her debut young adult novel, White Noise (UWAP, September 2024), is set in Darwin and explores grief, autism, friendship and...
Raelke Grimmer recommends
Tuesday, 9 July 2024
Eta Draconis by Brendan Ritchie. I loved this novel not only for the vivid depictions of place and landscape but also for the resilience and determination of the characters. The...
Tinsel time: Christmas 2024 fiction
Wednesday, 3 July 2024
From the big names to the surprising debuts (and a whole lot of crime in between), Books+Publishing rounds up Australian publishers’ top local adult fiction titles releasing in time for Christmas...
Meet the Rising Stars 2024: Justin Wolfers
Wednesday, 3 July 2024
The Australian Publishers Association Rising Star award recognises an emerging talent in Australian publishing who has spent less than 10 years in the industry. In the lead-up to the winner announcement...
Amplify Bookstore’s winter picks
Wednesday, 26 June 2024
Amplify Bookstore is an independent online bookseller specialising in books by Black, Indigenous and People of Colour (BIPOC) authors, founded by Jing Xuan Teo and Marina Sano. Here, they share...
Louise Southerden on ‘Tiny: A memoir about love, letting go and a very small house’
Tuesday, 25 June 2024
Author and travel writer Louise Southerden has written four nonfiction books, including the world’s first surfing guide for women. Her latest book, Tiny (Hardie Grant Explore, August 2024), is also...
Louise Southerden recommends
Tuesday, 25 June 2024
I loved Music and Freedom, a novel by Zoë Morrison, which I found in the street library out the front of where I live. (I stumble upon a lot of...
Anita Heiss on ‘Dirrayawadha’
Tuesday, 18 June 2024
Anita Heiss is one of Australia’s most prolific and celebrated authors, known for her works across genres including nonfiction, historical fiction, commercial fiction and children's books. Books+Publishing reviewer Melissa Mantle...
Anita Heiss recommends
Tuesday, 18 June 2024
I just re-read Vivienne Cleven’s Bitin’ Back, published as part of the UQP First Nations Classics series. Hands down, this is one of the funniest books I have ever read,...
Liz Evans on ‘Catherine Wheel’
Wednesday, 5 June 2024
Based in Tasmania, Liz Evans is a British-born journalist, author, former psychotherapist and academic with a PhD in creative writing. Her latest novel, Catherine Wheel (Ultimo, August 2024), is ‘a...
Liz Evans recommends
Tuesday, 4 June 2024
The last Australian book I read and loved was Katherine Brabon’s Body Friend. It was so unusual and mysterious—and very elegantly crafted. It provides some beautifully profound insights into living...
Brittany Schulz of ‘Fiction & Friction’ on selling only indie authors
Wednesday, 29 May 2024
Bookseller Brittany Schulz started online before moving into a physical space. Within months the business—which exclusively stocks books by self-published authors—outgrew that space too, and has since moved into a...
ABIAs 2024: This year’s winners on their books, and the industry that produced them
Wednesday, 15 May 2024
At this year’s Australian Book Industry Awards (ABIAs), Books+Publishing digital producer Andrew Wrathall spoke with some of the winners about their books, bookshops and the trends affecting the industry. Those...
Niki Horin on new venture Hobartisan Books
Wednesday, 15 May 2024
Niki Horin is an editor and author with experience in children's trade publishing at Hardie Grant Egmont and as publishing director at Five Mile from 2018 to 2022. Now located...
Michelle See-Tho recommends
Wednesday, 8 May 2024
There are so many to choose from! I might go with The Body Country by Susie Anderson (full disclosure/humblebrag: we are friends). It launched in 2023, but I recently revisited...
Report: What the Creative Australia ‘Artists as Workers’ economic study has to tell us about writers
Wednesday, 8 May 2024
A new report from Creative Australia, Artists as Workers: An economic study of professional artists in Australia by David Throsby and Katya Petetskaya, ‘shows it is now harder than ever...
Michelle See-Tho on ‘Jade and Emerald’
Tuesday, 7 May 2024
Michelle See-Tho is a freelance writer and copywriter whose debut novel, Jade and Emerald (Vintage, July 2024), won the 2023 Penguin Literary Prize. The novel is 'a wonderful escape into the...
Culture, pride and engagement: A report from the RISE program
Wednesday, 1 May 2024
Bookseller Melissa Mantle attended the RISE ('Resilience, Innovation and Sustainability for the Enhancement of Bookselling') program at the 2024 Bookselling Ireland Irish Book Trade Conference. Mantle reports on the experience,...
Ashleigh Barton on ‘Freddie Spector, Fact Collector: Space Cadet’
Wednesday, 24 April 2024
Ashleigh Barton is a children's author and copywriter from Sydney who draws on her rich experience in publishing and marketing, including work on Jessica Townsend's Nevermoor. Her latest, Freddie Spector,...
Ashleigh Barton recommends
Wednesday, 24 April 2024
I recently read and loved One Song by A J Betts. It reminded me how much I love YA. I also loved that it was set in Perth, revolved around...
Yvonne Sewankambo recommends
Wednesday, 17 April 2024
I’m currently reading and loving Mawunyo Gbogbo’s Hip Hop & Hymns (Penguin), which has been on my bookshelf since it was published in 2022. Finding the mental capacity to read that...
Yvonne Sewankambo on ‘Good Hair’
Tuesday, 16 April 2024
Sydney-based Yvonne Sewankambo is a Ugandan-Canadian writer and publicist whose debut picture book, Good Hair (Walker, June 2024), is ‘a wonderfully inclusive book representing various cultures and subcultures, showcasing the...
AI and publishing: Concerns beyond copyright
Wednesday, 10 April 2024
The publishing sector’s response to last year’s revelations about the materials used to train generative AI has been characterised by concern over the unauthorised use of pirated books in these...
