Monday, 23 February 2009
The second annual Writers at the Convent festival ran from 13 to 15 February at the Abbotsford Convent in Melbourne. The event, organised and hosted by Reader's Feast Bookstore and...

Monday, 23 February 2009
The federal government has launched the Creative Industries Innovation Centre (CIIC), designed to assist small and medium-sized businesses in the creative industries sector to make a larger contribution to the...

Tuesday, 17 February 2009
Among the many stories added to our Around the World blog in the past week:redefine 'the book,' says TOC keynoteUS books sales down 0.5% in 2008BBC to offer free audio...

Tuesday, 17 February 2009
Australian Ken Rowe, known as a ‘literacy warrior' and chair of the National Inquiry into the Teaching of Literacy, has died in Victoria's Black Saturday bushfires, aged 63.

Tuesday, 17 February 2009
Castlemaine Festival literature program announcedThe program for the Castlemaine Festival has been announced. The literature component includes Cate Kennedy, Alex Miller, Judith Rodriguez, Julie Gittus, Ian McBride, Nathan Curnow, Alex...

Tuesday, 17 February 2009
'I was reading a lot of Australian literary criticism and there was the complaint that Australians preferred film adaptations of Australian novels to the books themselves. So I thought about...

Tuesday, 17 February 2009
In rights news this week: FictionJenny Darling & Associates has sold Spanish rights to The Zookeeper's War (Steven Conte, Fourth Estate) to DeBolsillo (Mondadori) and rights to Dog Boy (Eva...

Tuesday, 17 February 2009
As previously reported in WBN, the new Australian Children's Literature Alliance (ACLA) has been formed to promote children's literature. The Alliance will seek a national children's laureate, which it hopes to...

Tuesday, 17 February 2009
On the back of the film The Reader, the book of the same name by Bernhard Schlink hits number one in the Highest New Entries chart this week (see film...

Tuesday, 17 February 2009
Trade events coming up over the next week, as shown on our events calendar, include: Jerusalem International Book Fair, 15-20 FebruaryClosing date for nominations for the 2009 Pascall Prize, 20...

Tuesday, 17 February 2009
Be one of the first to see The Reader starring Kate Winslet and Ralph Fiennes, based on the book by Bernhard Schlink. As a special offer for WBN subscribers, we are...

Tuesday, 17 February 2009
Hachette Australia had a ‘vintage year' in 2008, with sales up by 15%, managing director Malcolm Edwards told WBN. ‘Obviously, Stephenie Meyer had a lot to do with this,' Edwards...

Tuesday, 17 February 2009
Jean Srnecz, senior vice president of merchandising for Baker & Taylor, has died.

Tuesday, 17 February 2009
Murray St Leger, managing director of McGraw-Hill, writes: 'McGraw-Hill Australia would like to pay tribute to the life of one of our authors, Professor Rob Pierce. Tragically Rob died in...

Tuesday, 17 February 2009
The Australian Horror Writers Association (AHWA) announced the finalists of the 2008 Australian Shadows Awards on Black Friday, February 13. Lee Battersby won the award, which honours the best and...

Tuesday, 17 February 2009
Hachette Australia has announced the appointment of Tegan Morrison to the role of children's publisher. Morrison, who has been senior editor for children's and young adult books at Penguin for...

Tuesday, 17 February 2009
The New Zealand stationery and bookselling chain Paper Plus has announced the appointment of Joan Mackenzie to the position of group book manager. ‘We are extremely pleased with the appointment...

Tuesday, 17 February 2009
HarperCollins has announced the appointment of former ABC Books staff members Brigitta Doyle, Belinda Bolliger and Jane Finemore to its new ABC Books division. Doyle, formerly the managing editor of...

Tuesday, 10 February 2009
'In the longer term there will be a rebuilding phase for those communities. It is then that the book industry will be needed to co-ordinate a response through the Victorian...

Tuesday, 10 February 2009
ReadHowYouWant (RHYW), a special format publisher, has launched an online Braille bookshop ‘in celebration of Louis Braille's 200th birthday'. The Sydney-based company offers public domain works, as well as current...

Tuesday, 10 February 2009
Caro Llewellyn, the former director of PEN World Voices Festival who was appointed director of the Melbourne's new Centre for Books, Writing and Ideas in December, has announced that she...

Tuesday, 10 February 2009
Pat Woolley, director of Wild & Woolley/Fast Books, writes: ‘I am astounded at the great submissions to the productivity commission that have been written by so many writers, printers, publishers,...

Tuesday, 10 February 2009
Among the stories added to our Around the World blog:Kolkata Book Fair expects two million visitorsIndia to take 73 stands at LBFGoogle offers 1.5 million free ebooks for mobilesAnother bad...

Tuesday, 10 February 2009
The Highest New Entries chart holds the most interest this week, as it is the only chart that doesn't feature Stephenie Meyer in abundance, or at all. John Grisham's The...