Inside the Australian and New Zealand book industry

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RiP William F Buckley 

Tuesday, 4 March 2008
William Buckley, author and founder of the American conservative magazine The National Review, has died aged 82.

Amazon launches currency converter 

Monday, 3 March 2008
Online bookseller Amazon has launched a currency converter on its sites, allowing users to see the cost of items and shipping in their own currency instead of US dollars. The...

‘Exceptionally strong’ year for Simon & Schuster 

Monday, 3 March 2008
Total international revenue for Simon & Schuster increased 10% to US$886.1 million (A$943.4 million) in 2007, with operating income up 29% to US$88.1 million (A$93.8 million). The ‘exceptionally strong' results...

Revenue down but income up at Harlequin 

Monday, 3 March 2008
Total international revenue at Harlequin fell 2% to C$462.7 million (A$498.5 million) in 2007, while operating income rose 7% to C$60.6 million (A$65.3 million). Torstar, the romance publisher's Canadian parent...

Australian talent heads to China 

Monday, 3 March 2008
Seven leading Australian writers will be in China from 9 to 14 March for ‘Australian Writers Week'--an inaugural series of talks, workshops and forums sponsored by the Australian Embassy. The writers--Lily...

Kiriyama finalists announced 

Monday, 3 March 2008
The 10 finalists in this year's Kiriyama Prize have been announced. The Complete Stories by Australia's David Malouf (Random House) and Mister Pip by New Zealand's Lloyd Jones (Text) were...

Libel case prompts Hachette to recall Turner bio 

Tuesday, 26 February 2008
Hachette Livre Australia has announced an urgent recall of actress Kathleen Turner's biography Send Yourself Roses, as a ‘precautionary measure', following legal action taken by actor Nicholas Cage in relation...

Bestsellers this week 

Tuesday, 26 February 2008
The TV series may have been banned in Victoria, but Underbelly: The Gangland War by John Silvester and Andrew Rule has hit number one in both the bestsellers and the...

Forthcoming events 

Tuesday, 26 February 2008
Trade events coming up over the next week, as shown on our events calendar, include: Last day of the Reed Gift Fairs, Sydney, 27 FebruaryClosing date for submission of entries...

RiP Alain Robbe-Grillet 

Tuesday, 26 February 2008
French writer and filmmaker Alain Robbe-Grillet has died aged 85. He helped found the 'New Novel' school in the 1950s and wrote more than a dozen novels and screenplays.

Best of the Booker 

Tuesday, 26 February 2008
The organisers of the Man Booker Prize have announced that a one-off Best of the Booker award will be presented this year to ‘the best novel to have won the...

Around the world 

Tuesday, 26 February 2008
Among the stories added to our Around the World blog in the past week:Random drops DRM on audiobooksUK indie publishers flourishHas Reed already found a buyer for RBI?Countdown to UK's...

Victoria selects its favourite summer reads 

Monday, 25 February 2008
Max Barry's novel Company and Barry Heard's Vietnam memoir Well Done, Those Men, both published by Scribe, are Victoria's favourite summer reads, according to the State Library of Victoria (SLV).  Now...

Parragon buys Funtastic 

Monday, 25 February 2008
International publisher Parragon has acquired the publishing division of Funtastic. Fourteen Funtastic publishing staffers have been made redundant, with the remaining 12 due to move to Parragon’s South Yarra office next...

Reed to sell magazine division 

Monday, 25 February 2008
The Anglo-Dutch media group Reed Elsevier has announced plans to sell its £1b (A$2.04 billion) business magazine division, Reed Business Information (RBI). Details of the sale--which will include the US publishing...

Revenue, profit up for Quarto 

Monday, 25 February 2008
Quarto, the London-based parent company of Australian book packager Global Book Publishing, has announced its earnings for 2007, reporting a growth in total revenue of 7% to £100.1 million (A$212...

In brief 

Monday, 25 February 2008
NZ Post Book Awards shortlist announcedThe shortlist for the 2008 New Zealand Post Book Awards For Children and Young Adults has been announced. Three of this year's finalists--Andrew Crowe, Gavin...

Foreign Language Bookshop turns 70 

Monday, 25 February 2008
Teachers, librarians, publishers and policy-makers gathered at Melbourne's Foreign Language Bookshop last Friday to celebrate the International Year of Languages.The event also marked the Foreign Language Bookshop's seventieth birthday. The...

Ditmar Awards shortlist announced 

Monday, 25 February 2008
The shortlist for the 2008 Australian Science Fiction Awards (also known as the Ditmars) has been announced. In the running for best novel are: The Company of the Dead (David Kowalski,...

Borders expands its borders 

Monday, 25 February 2008
Borders will open a new outlet in outer-suburban Sydney on 6 March. The two-level Rouse Hill store will employ 28 staff across its 1868 square metres, and will stock up to...

Tower/Gary Allen and Bookwise/Brumby announce merger 

Tuesday, 19 February 2008
Four of Australia's independent book distributors -- Bookwise, Gary Allen, Tower Books and Brumby Books & Music -- have announced that they have reached agreement to merge their operations.   Each business...