Hardie Grant announces new parental leave policy
11 December 2019
Hardie Grant will introduce changes to its parental leave policy in 2020 that will mean secondary carers will receive the same paid parental leave benefits as primary carers—13 weeks of...
Sun wins KYD New Critic Award
11 December 2019
Sydney-based writer and designer Michael Sun has been named the winner of the 2020 Kill Your Darlings (KYD) New Critic Award. Sun receives a $1000 cash prize, plus a regular...
Inaugural Writing WA Literary Lions Medal shortlist announced
11 December 2019
Writing WA has announced the shortlist for the inaugural Literary Lions Medal. The new award recognises individuals who have made a substantial contribution to the vitality and success of Western...
Peri Wilson appointed A&U publicity director
11 December 2019
Peri Wilson has been appointed publicity director at Allen & Unwin (A&U). Wilson has worked across media, arts and advertising industries, within companies including Random House, Yahoo7, Sensis, PwC and...
Lebeter wins Horne Prize 2019 for essay on climate change and biodiversity
11 December 2019
Rachael Lebeter has won the the $15,000 Horne Prize for her essay ‘Diary of a Wildlife Carer’, on the plight of native fauna in the face of climate change and...
HQ Fiction acquires Fiona Lowe novels in two-book deal
11 December 2019
HarperCollins imprint HQ Fiction has acquired ANZ rights to two new novels by Victoria-based author Fiona Lowe in a 'substantial' deal. A Home Like Ours, the first novel in the...
Copyright Agency announces recipients of $455k in funding grants
10 December 2019
Twenty-one projects and six new initiatives have received a total of $455,691 in the latest round of funding from the Copyright Agency’s Cultural Fund. Literary organisations and projects that received...
Winton wins 2019 Voss Literary Prize for ‘The Shepherd’s Hut’
10 December 2019
Tim Winton has won the 2019 Voss Literary Prize, worth $5000, for his novel The Shepherd’s Hut (Hamish Hamilton). Now in its sixth year, the Voss Literary Prize is awarded...
Melbourne City of Lit announces Quebec City exchange recipients
10 December 2019
The Melbourne City of Literature has announced the six Victorian-based book-industry professionals who will spend a week in Quebec City, as part of a new exchange program between the two...
‘Bridget Crack’ wins 2019 Tasmania Book Prize
6 December 2019
The winners of the 2019 Tasmanian Premier’s Literary Prizes have been announced. The winning works and their authors are: Tasmania Book Prize for the best book with Tasmanian content in...
Arts to be merged into new government ‘super-department’
6 December 2019
From 1 February 2020, the Department of Communications and the Arts (DCA) will be incorporated into the new Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Communications, meaning the arts will...
Booton appointed Stella Prize executive director
6 December 2019
The Stella Prize has appointed Jaclyn Booton as its new executive director, replacing previous ED Michelle Scott Tucker, who in July left the role after less than a year to...
Chen wins Deborah Cass Prize 2019
6 December 2019
Writer Janette Chen has won the 2019 Deborah Cass Prize for emerging writers from migrant backgrounds for her manuscript extract ‘Wall of Men’. Chosen from a shortlist of 10, ‘Wall of...
Aman, Brabon named joint winners of the David Harold Tribe Fiction Award
5 December 2019
Writers Claire Aman and Katherine Brabon are the joint winners of the 2019 David Harold Tribe Fiction Award, worth $12,000. The award is offered by the University of Sydney’s Department...
MidnightSun acquires Steve Heron picture book
5 December 2019
MidnightSun has acquired world rights to the picture book Ling Li’s Lantern, by Steve Heron and illustrated by Benjamin Johnston. Ling Li’s Lantern follows Ling Li on a quest that...
Big Sky sells six children’s titles to US imprint Windmill Books
5 December 2019
Big Sky Publishing has sold North American and US territories rights to six children’s titles to Windmill Books, an imprint of independent educational publishing house Rosen Publishing. The deal, which...
SPN conference 2019: ‘Extremely positive’ feedback from delegates
4 December 2019
The Small Press Network’s (SPN) eighth Independent Publishing Conference was held at the Wheeler Centre in Melbourne on 21–23 November. SPN general manager Tim Coronel said that 180 tickets were...
Marchetta’s ‘On the Jellicoe Road’ to be adapted for drama series
4 December 2019
Melina Marchetta’s 2006 young adult novel On the Jellicoe Road (Penguin) is being adapted for a young adult drama series, reports Deadline. The project is a co-production by the US’s...
Hardie Grant Travel acquires Steffensen’s book on Indigenous fire management
4 December 2019
Hardie Grant Travel has acquired world rights to Fire Country, the memoir of Indigenous fire practitioner Victor Steffensen. Steffensen is a Tagalaka descendant from Far North Queensland who is dedicated...
‘The Book Ninja’ optioned for film
4 December 2019
Ali Berg and Michelle Kalus’ novel The Book Ninja (S&S) has been optioned for film by producers Chris Brown of Pictures in Paradise and Veronica Fury of Fury Film Co....
Beasley wins inaugural OzCo Arts and Disability Award for an emerging artist
4 December 2019
Tennant Creek-based artist and illustrator Dion Beasley was one of three winners at the Australia Council’s inaugural Arts and Disability Awards, presented at a ceremony at Canberra’s National Portrait Gallery...
Van Zweden wins 2019 KYD unpublished manuscript award
4 December 2019
Literary journal Kill Your Darlings (KYD) has announced Sam van Zweden as the winner of its 2019 unpublished manuscript award for her manuscript ‘Eating with my Mouth Open’. Van Zweden...
Indie Book Awards 2020 longlists announced
4 December 2019
Leading Edge Books has announced the longlists for the 2020 Indie Book Awards for books published in 2019. The longlisted titles in each category are: Fiction The White Girl (Tony...
Former Macmillan Education staff launch new educational publisher
3 December 2019
Former staff from Macmillan Education Australia’s school division have formed a new educational publishing company called Matilda Education. After Macmillan Education Australia announced in August that it would withdraw its...
Thomson receives inaugural Varuna/New England Writers’ Centre Fellowship
3 December 2019
Armidale writer Anna Thomson is the inaugural recipient of the Varuna/New England Writers’ Centre (NEWC) Fellowship. Thomson’s winning submission included an extract from her paranormal fantasy manuscript ‘Bloodwood’. The fellowship...
2020 Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards shortlists announced
2 December 2019
The shortlists for the 2019 Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards have been announced. The shortlisted titles are: Fiction The House of Youssef (Yumna Kassab, Giramondo) Act of Grace (Anna Krien, Black...
Hardie Grant staff lodge majority support determination with Fair Work
2 December 2019
On behalf of staff in several departments of the publishing division at Hardie Grant Publishing, the Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance (MEAA) has filed a majority support determination (MSD) with...
UQP acquires two new nonfiction titles by Foley, Bond
2 December 2019
The University of Queensland Press (UQP) has acquired world rights to two books by leading Indigenous scholars, visual artist Fiona Foley’s Biting the Clouds and public intellectual Chelsea Bond’s Another...
Room on our Rock wins Charlotte Huck Award in US
29 November 2019
In the US, Room on our Rock (Kate & Jol Temple, illus by Terri Rose Baynton, Scholastic) has won the NCTE Charlotte Huck Award for outstanding fiction for children. Room...
Writers Victoria announces latest Neilma Sidney Literary Travel Fund recipients
29 November 2019
Writers Victoria has announced the fifth round of recipients for the Neilma Sidney Literary Travel Fund. Eleven successful writers, booksellers and publishers were selected from 99 applicants to receive a...
