New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults 2026 shortlists announced
Wednesday, 10 June 2026
The shortlists for the 2026 New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults have been announced. The shortlists in each category, chosen from 159 entries, are: BookHub Picture Book...
King’s Birthday Honours
Tuesday, 9 June 2026
Industry figures are on the King’s Birthday Honours list; Kaye Wright has landed at Woodslane; The Good Sea (Vannessa Hearman, Melbourne University Press) tops the NT Writers Festival bestsellers list;...
Anna Fienberg, Datsun Tran on 2026 IBBY Honour List
Tuesday, 9 June 2026
IBBY Australia has announced its 2026 selection for the biennial IBBY Honour List: for writing, Anna Fienberg’s Picasso and the Greatest Show on Earth (Allen & Unwin, 2023), and for illustration,...
Books in the media this week
Friday, 5 June 2026
A round-up of books being reviewed and discussed in key media this week, updated as information becomes available. National The Bookshelf, ABC Radio National Land (Maggie O’Farrell, Tinder Press) A...
Junior Book Club – this month’s reads
Friday, 5 June 2026
Searching for your next great read to share with kids? Our Junior Book Club highlights new titles each month that are perfect for classrooms, libraries and family reading time. From...
Fiction Over Reality on bookshop life in Queensland’s Wellington Point
Wednesday, 3 June 2026
Late last year, new bookstore Fiction Over Reality opened in the seaside suburb of Wellington Point in Queensland. Owner Aimee Boyd spoke with Books+Publishing about the first months of operation and...
Allen & Unwin acquires Zoe Foster Blake’s “Group Chat”
Monday, 1 June 2026
Allen & Unwin (A&U) has acquired ANZ rights to Group Chat by Zoë Foster Blake, in a deal brokered by Tara Wynne at Curtis Brown. Described by the publisher as “part...
Pantera Press acquires “The Curator” by Jonathan Butler
Monday, 1 June 2026
Pantera Press has acquired world rights to “gripping true crime investigation” The Curator by Jonathan Butler. Part murder mystery, part queer history, and part portrait of Melbourne’s art world, the...
ABC Radio National countdown to focus on Australian books
Thursday, 28 May 2026
This year, ABC Radio National’s annual Top 100 Books Countdown will focus on the theme “Australian books”, both fiction and nonfiction. The ABC said the countdown’s definition of Australian was...
There’s a lot happening at Thames & Hudson
Wednesday, 27 May 2026
Simon & Schuster Australia is rejoining HarperCollins New Zealand for field sales representation in Aotearoa; Thames & Hudson (T&H) has made some staff changes; the ALS Gold Medal shortlist has...
A win for illustrated books all round: Thames & Hudson celebrates with “another reprint on top of the reprint”
Wednesday, 27 May 2026
Once I Was a Giant (Zeno Sworder) was shortlisted in this year’s CBCA awards ahead of its overall win as Book of the Year at last week’s Australian Book Industry...
“My parents made a brilliant decision … to choose a bookseller as our godmother”: Zeno Sworder on winning ABIA Book of the Year
Wednesday, 27 May 2026
A heartfelt thank you to ABIA and Australian booksellers and publishers for this honour and for the valuable work that you do. My parents made a brilliant decision before my...
The changing shape of the pathway: The entry to entry-level roles in publishing
Wednesday, 27 May 2026
Nonie Trainor is completing their Work Integrated Learning at Books+Publishing as a second-year student of the Master of Writing and Publishing program at RMIT University. During this period, Nonie is...
Spotify to add higher-hour audiobook plans, AI tools for self-publishers
Wednesday, 27 May 2026
Spotify has revealed audiobook listening hours on the platform have increased 60% year on year, as it promised to introduce higher‑hour Audiobooks+ plans later this year, alongside family and student...
All the fun of the festivals
Monday, 25 May 2026
As SWF wraps up, MWF reports its bestsellers; Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland just hosted a record-breaking writers festival; also in Aotearoa, HarperCollins has some staff announcements; in New South Wales, Story...
Books in the media this week
Friday, 22 May 2026
A round-up of books being reviewed and discussed in key media this week, updated as information becomes available. National Guardian Art Cure (Daisy Fancourt, Cornerstone) Caroline Aherne: Rebel in Disguise...
Chris Ames on “I Made This Just for You”
Tuesday, 19 May 2026
Chris Ames is a Melbourne-based writer originally from California whose debut short story collection, I Made This Just for You (Ultimo), was already generating attention before publication, having won the...
Chris Ames recommends
Tuesday, 19 May 2026
Why We Are Here by Briohny Doyle. It’s technically about the heaviest material possible – an honest look at grief during the pandemic – yet due to the skill and...
Rossell selected for Greenway Residency
Tuesday, 19 May 2026
Melbourne writer and illustrator Judith Rossell has been selected for the inaugural writer residency at the UK National Trust’s Greenway property. The Greenway Residency is a project of UNESCO City...
Grandma Gogo series being developed for screen
Monday, 18 May 2026
The Grandma Gogo series, written by Margot Bain and illustrated by Hiruni Kariyawasam, is being developed for television. Published by hybrid publisher Little Steps and distributed by Woodslane, the picture...
“I Eat the Stars” is this week’s highest Australian new entry
Friday, 15 May 2026
Top 10 bestsellers Three Reasons for Revenge (Dervla McTiernan, HarperCollins) Fury Bound (Sable Sorensen, Wayward TxF) Project Hail Mary (Andy Weir, Penguin) (combined editions) My Mother’s Life (Chartwell) The Final...
Books in the media this week
Friday, 15 May 2026
A round-up of books being reviewed and discussed in key media this week, updated as information becomes available. National The Bookshelf, ABC Radio National Famesick: A Memoir (Lena Dunham, 4th...
Book Club – this month’s reads
Friday, 15 May 2026
Looking for your next great group read? Our monthly Book Club rounds up new release titles perfect for sparking conversation and perhaps even some debate. From compelling fiction to thought-provoking...
The glittering prizes
Thursday, 14 May 2026
Lee Lai has won the Stella Prize for the graphic novel Cannon; Karen Howie Casey has won the ASA/HQ Fiction Prize; Charlotte Macdonald has won the Ernest Scott Prize for...
“Cannon” becomes first graphic novel to win Stella Prize
Wednesday, 13 May 2026
Lee Lai has won the 2026 Stella Prize, $60,000, for her second book, Cannon (Giramondo). It is the first time a graphic novel has won the award. Chair of judges...
Blake Poetry Prize 2026 winner announced
Wednesday, 13 May 2026
Chen Wang has won the 69th Blake Poetry Prize, worth $5000, for his poem “The Woman Who Refused the Kingdom of Forgetting”. Chen Wang is a Melbourne-based medical student whose...
Walking the literary and literal landscape: Introducing the 2026 VIPs
Wednesday, 13 May 2026
This year, 12 publishing professionals from 8 different countries will base themselves in Sydney, Gadigal Country, from 18 to 22 May (alongside the Sydney Writers’ Festival) for the Visiting International...
Maria Takolander recommends
Tuesday, 12 May 2026
Jennifer Mills’ Salvage (Picador, 2025) is a clear-eyed imagining of a climate-ravaged future and of the self-destructive dream of autonomy – the idea that we can be independent of an...
Maria Takolander on “The End of Romance”
Tuesday, 12 May 2026
In The End of Romance, Finnish Australian author Maria Takolander imagines a dystopian world in which boys are conscripted to the army at 16, never to return. Takolander spoke with...
Junior Book Club – this month’s reads
Friday, 8 May 2026
Searching for your next great read to share with kids? Our Junior Book Club highlights new titles each month that are perfect for classrooms, libraries and family reading time. From...
