ABIA shortlists; PRH revenue, earnings up
14 April 2021
The shortlists for this year’s ABIAs have been announced, as has the shortlist for the ABIA Rising Star of the Year Award. In other news, Clunes Booktown is returning with...
RISE funding recipients, ABDA shortlists
8 April 2021
The Australian Publishers Association, and the Melbourne and Blue Mountains writers festivals are among the latest recipients of the federal government’s RISE funding. In awards news, the shortlists for the...
Stella Prize shortlist, APA launches rights networking events
31 March 2021
Last week the shortlist for the 2021 Stella Prize was announced, as was the program for the second StoryFest festival, which takes place on the NSW South Coast in June....
BWF program announced, Readings staff request EBA
24 March 2021
The program for this year’s Brisbane Writers Festival, running from 7–9 May, has been announced. Meanwhile, Red Room Poetry is planning a series of daily events for the first ever...
SWF program announced, guests revealed for BookUp, IPEd
17 March 2021
In a big week for events announcements, the Sydney and Auckland writers’ festival programs have been revealed, and the first speakers for the BookUp and IPEd conferences—the second of which...
Stella Prize longlist, Frankfurt announces hybrid event
11 March 2021
The longlist for this year’s Stella Prize, announced last week, includes short fiction, a young adult novel, three works of nonfiction and a novel in translation, and comprises five works...
S&S Australia reports record year, awards news
3 March 2021
Simon & Schuster Australia has reported a record year of sales in 2020, which were up 15% on 2019 and topped $50 million for the first time. Byron Writers Festival...
Publisher, bookseller Facebook pages wiped; ABIA, ABDA longlists
24 February 2021
Late last week, a number of local publishers, literary journals and booksellers had their Facebook pages wiped of content after the social media company responded to the federal government's proposed...
New HarperCollins imprint; Au wins inaugural Novel Prize
17 February 2021
HarperCollins Australia is launching a new ‘design-led’ illustrated imprint, Harper by Design. In industry events, IPEd and BWF are collaborating on an Authors and Editors in Conversation series, while EWF...
Pre-Christmas sales up, Giggs wins ALA Carnegie Medal
10 February 2021
Book sales in Australia were up 17.5% in the 10 weeks to 5 December 2020, data from Nielsen BookScan shows. Rebecca Giggs won the American Library Association's (ALA) Andrew Carnegie...
VPLAs winners, Booktopia EBITDA up 506%
3 February 2021
Laura Jean McKay has won Australia’s richest literary prize, the $100,000 Victorian Prize for Literature, for The Animals in That Country (Scribe), at this year’s Victorian Premier's Literary Awards. In...
Oz Day honours, Perth Festival program and more
28 January 2021
A handful of book industry figures have been recognised in the annual Australia Day honours. The full line-up for the 2021 Perth Festival Literature & Ideas program—which runs from 8–28...
Oz book sales up 7.8%, royalties down for a third of authors
20 January 2021
Australian book sales were up nearly 8% in 2020, led by strong growth in adult fiction and children’s titles, according to Nielsen. Meanwhile, the ASA has reported that royalties declined for...
UWAP to become hybrid publisher, latest awards and more
13 January 2021
In December last year, the University of Western Australia announced the university’s publishing arm will become a ‘hybrid’ publisher, with the library to take over internal management of the press....
White launches new imprint, Booktopia lists on ASX, VPLAs shortlists
9 December 2020
Former UWA Publishing director Terri-ann White has launched a new not-for-profit imprint, Upswell, to be distributed within the Black Inc. list. In other news from the past week, online bookseller...
Bertelsmann to buy S&S, court dismisses HarperCollins defamation case
2 December 2020
Penguin Random House’s parent company Bertelsmann announced it will acquire Simon & Schuster from media company ViacomCBS for US$2.175 billion. Last week, a federal court judge dismissed a defamation case...
ASA writers survey, first Perth Fest guests, Booker Prize winner
25 November 2020
A new survey by the Australian Society of Authors shows more than half of full-time writers earn below $15,000 per year. The first guests for next year’s Perth Festival Literature...
Pan Mac cuts ties with Evans, PMLA shortlists announced
18 November 2020
Pan Macmillan is finalising its contractual relationship with Pete Evans, following a social media post by the cookbook author that included a symbol appropriated by Nazis and recognised as a...
Radnidge takes on literary at Hachette, Richell Prize winner and more
11 November 2020
In industry moves, Vanessa Radnidge is taking on literary at Hachette, with Fiona Hazard to head a newly created lifestyle list, while former Hachette managing editor Brigid Mullane has joined...
Oz book sales forecast to grow 4%, Booktopia to list on ASX, latest awards
5 November 2020
According to a new report, Australia’s overall book sales in the 2021 financial year will be up 4% on the previous year. The report, from consultants Frost & Sullivan, was...
Robotham wins Gold Dagger, new publishing houses launched
28 October 2020
In awards news this week, crime writer Michael Robotham won this year’s CWA Gold Dagger award for best crime novel, becoming the first Australian to win the award twice. Maria...
CBCA Book of the Year winners; Watkins appointed Ultimo publishing director
21 October 2020
The winners of the CBCA Book of the Year awards were announced last week, while a new study found CBCA early childhood category shortlisted books to be overwhelmingly white. In...
Industry pushes for early Christmas shopping; Australia Reads to stream on YouTube
14 October 2020
The ABA and APA have launched a new campaign to encourage Australians to do their Christmas shopping early as the global supply chain strains under the pressure of the Covid-19...
Booktopia senior appointments, latest awards
7 October 2020
This week Booktopia announced a slate of senior appointments, including a new CFO. Meanwhile, the Big Issue released its 2020 fiction edition line-up and the Queensland Poetry Festival received funding...
QBD, Dymocks petition Vic premier to reopen Melbourne stores; Hachette to boost ADS capacity
30 September 2020
Bookselling chains QBD and Dymocks have each written to Victorian premier Daniel Andrews asking that bookstores be allowed to open in Melbourne, which has been under stage four lockdown since...
Oz YTD bestsellers, Rabble to no longer stock J K Rowling, latest awards
23 September 2020
Books by Trent Dalton, Scott Pape and Bluey have topped Nielsen BookScan’s Australian charts for the year to the end of August. Perth bookshop Rabble Books and Games will no...
Hardie Grant & Kellow launch Ultimo Press, $3bn Vic gov package for small businesses
16 September 2020
Hardie Grant has announced the launch of Ultimo Press, a new Sydney-based publishing house to be led by former HarperCollins ANZ CEO James Kellow. In Victoria, the state government has revealed...
Over 18k view virtual ILD, Booktopia and QBD make AFR top 500
9 September 2020
At the time of writing, over 18,000 people have viewed this year’s virtual Indigenous Literacy Day event, which was streamed live on YouTube on Wednesday, 2 September. Booktopia and QBD...
Over 30k attend MWF Digital, new bookshop for Noosa, latest awards
2 September 2020
This year’s Melbourne Writers Festival (MWF)—which ran as a digital event due to the Covid-19 pandemic—attracted around 34,200 attendees. A new ‘profit for purpose’ bookshop has been announced for Noosa...
Indigenous Literacy Day to stream on YouTube; Lui to curate new A&U imprint
26 August 2020
The ILF will hold its annual Indigenous Literacy Day celebration as a ‘visual event’ on its YouTube channel on Wednesday, 2 September. Allen & Unwin has announced that writer, actor...