Inside the Australian and New Zealand book industry

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In brief 

Tuesday, 8 April 2008
Miles Franklin and NSW Prem's shortlists next weekThe shortlists for both the Miles Franklin Award and the NSW Premier's Literary Awards will be announced next week--the Prem's prize shortlist on...

RiP John Button 

Tuesday, 8 April 2008
Former ALP Senator John Button has died. He served as the Minister for Industry and Commerce under Labor prime ministers Bob Hawke and Paul Keating. After leaving politics, Button wrote...

New Zealand YA novel shines at Bologna 

Tuesday, 8 April 2008
Bernard Beckett's YA sci-fi epic Genesis is one of the big hits of this year's Bologna Children's Book Fair, selling to Quercus for £100,000 (A$202,500), the largest sum ever paid for...

Dowling wins Shadows Award 

Monday, 7 April 2008
Terry Dowling's short story ‘Toother' has won the Australian Shadows Award for best horror story of 2007. Published in Eclipse 1 (Night Shade Books), Dowling's tale of a serial killer in...

Early birds flock to Byron Bay 

Monday, 7 April 2008
Early bird three-day passes are now available for the Byron Bay Writer's Festival and are selling in ‘record' numbers. To be held on 25-27 July, this year's event will be...

Shoppers embracing the web: study 

Monday, 7 April 2008
Half of 50 Australian shoppers research products online before purchasing in-store, a study from Google and Monash University has revealed. The study also found that the web is ‘the most...

SWF program announced 

Monday, 7 April 2008
‘The broad idea of vision' will underpin this year's Sydney Writers Festival program, says artistic director Wendy Were. ‘More than ever, it feels as though we are in a time...

Gail Jones on IMPAC shortlist 

Wednesday, 2 April 2008
Dreams of Speaking by Gail Jones (Vintage) is one of eight titles on the shortlist for the €100,000 (A$160,000) IMPAC award, the world's richest single prize for a work of...

Construct Data warning 

Tuesday, 1 April 2008
In the lead-up to this year's Frankfurt Book Fair, the trade is again warned to by wary of approaches from Austrian-based company Construct Data Verlag AG and an associated company,...

Big retailers lead the way on maternity leave 

Tuesday, 1 April 2008
Department store Myer and discount supermarket ALDI have both announced that they will offer staff paid maternity leave for the first time.ALDI will offer 14 weeks at half pay, while...

Biography prize shortlist 

Tuesday, 1 April 2008
Six ‘wonderfully diverse' titles have been shortlisted for the $20,000 National Biography Award 2008, the State Library of NSW announced today.The shortlisted books are: Napoleon, 1769-1799: The Path to Power...

ABC fiction prize winner 

Tuesday, 1 April 2008
The winner of this year's ABC Fiction Award is Adelaide-based high-school teacher Kain Massin for his novel God for the Killing.God for the Killing follows the story of heroine Judith,...

‘Mr Pip’ wins Kiriyama prize 

Tuesday, 1 April 2008
Pacific Rim Voices has announced the winners of the 12th annual Kiriyama Prize. New Zealand author Lloyd Jones' novel Mister Pip (Text/Peng NZ) is this year's fiction winner; The Fragile...

Bestsellers this week 

Tuesday, 1 April 2008
The rhyming maestro Dr Seuss is back in the charts with Horton Hears a Who, number one in the Fastest Mover chart this week. For the umpteenth week in a...

Forthcoming events 

Tuesday, 1 April 2008
Trade events coming up over the next week, as shown on our events calendar, include: Bologna Children's Book Fair, Bologna, 31 March-3 AprilDeadline for CAL's Professional Development Fund, 4 AprilCreating...

RiP Robert Fagles 

Tuesday, 1 April 2008
Robert Fagles, the Princeton University professor emeritus who was famous for his translations of Homer and Virgil, died on March 26. He was 74.

RiP Alan Collins 

Tuesday, 1 April 2008
The University of Queensland Press writes:UQP would like to offer their condolences to the family and friends of Alan Collins. Alan Collins, who passed away last week, published significant works...

In brief 

Tuesday, 1 April 2008
Clark wins ABR poetry prizeRoss Clark has been announced as the winner of the fourth Australian Book Review (ABR) poetry prize his poem ‘Danger: Lantana.'ABR celebrates 300 issuesThe April issue...

Reader’s Feast gets medieval with SLV 

Tuesday, 1 April 2008
Melbourne's Reader's Feast Bookshop has stepped back in time in its role as the official bookseller to the State Library of Victoria's (SLV) new exhibition The Medieval Imagination.Reader's Feast's Mary...

Anita Heiss is new chair of ASA 

Tuesday, 1 April 2008
Anita Heiss has been elected as the chair of the Australian Society of Authors (ASA). Heiss is the award-winning author of a wide range of works including novels, poems, children's...

Malcolm Neil is new CEO of ABA 

Tuesday, 1 April 2008
Malcolm Neil has been appointed as the new CEO of the Australian Booksellers Association (ABA).Neil has worked as a publishers rep; was the manager of Melbourne's Brunswick Street Bookshop for...

Another ‘spectacular year’ for Hachette 

Monday, 31 March 2008
Hachette Livre’s parent company, Lagardere, has reported a ‘fine performance’ for 2007, with earnings before interest and tax up by 9.4%. Locally, the managing director of Hachette Livre Australia reported...

New ASA group for graphic novelists 

Monday, 31 March 2008
The Australian Society of Authors (ASA) has launched an education and advocacy group for graphic novel writers and artists. The ‘Comics/Graphic Novels Portfolio’ will ‘actively support a neglected (and often...

Dymocks continues to donate for literacy 

Monday, 31 March 2008
Dymocks’s seven-year-old charity arm, the Dymocks Literacy Foundation, is to donate 2,652 books to ten pre-schools and special needs schools along the Gold Coast.Titles from Libby Gleeson, Anthony Browne, Anna...

‘Feather Man’ wins Barbara Jefferis Award 

Monday, 31 March 2008
Feather Man, poet Rhyll McMaster's debut novel (Brandl & Schlesinger), has won the inaugural Barbara Jefferis Award.Founded by the late ABC film critic John Hinde to commemorate his author wife, the...

Booksellers doing it better online 

Monday, 31 March 2008
Online book sales are flourishing compared other areas of online retail, but booksellers could be doing better still, according to a new report.In a survey of 1215 Australian consumers, consultancy...

CBCA shortlist announced 

Monday, 31 March 2008
As first reported in a WBN Special Bulletin, the shortlisted titles in this year's Children's Book Council of Australia Book of the Year awards have been announced. The shortlist for...

Around the world 

Monday, 31 March 2008
Among the many items added to our Around the World blog in the past week:Agents 'lazy' about new media rightsTintin heads for the big screenOddest title award winnerDo you 'buy'...