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Bookstores prepare for National Bookshop Day 

Wednesday, 10 August 2016
Preparations are underway for the sixth annual National Bookshop Day this Saturday 13 August, with stores around the country hosting events and promotions. The theme of this year’s National Bookshop...

Ryan, Kumschick promoted at Hardie Grant

Wednesday, 10 August 2016
Hardie Grant Publishing Group managing director Julie Pinkham has announced two appointments that ‘conclude a restructure and set the agenda for the era ahead’. Roxy Ryan, who was previously marketing...

Birrell steps down as SWF artistic director

Wednesday, 10 August 2016
Sydney Writers’ Festival (SWF) artistic director Jemma Birrell is stepping down from the position at the end of this year after overseeing the past four festivals. SWF chair Deena Shiff...

Leading Edge to hold standalone conference in 2017

Wednesday, 10 August 2016
Leading Edge Books will hold its 2017 annual conference as a standalone event in late March, after four years of running the event in tandem with the Australian Booksellers Association...

NZ YA novel ‘Spark’ optioned for film

Wednesday, 10 August 2016
New Zealand production company Miss Conception Films has optioned the film rights to NZ author Rachael Craw’s YA novel Spark (Walker Books). Producer Ainsley Gardiner said the company was excited to...

Wright wins Alice Literary Award

Tuesday, 9 August 2016
The Society of Women Writers have awarded historian and author Clare Wright the biennial Alice Literary Award for ‘distinguished and long-term contribution to literature by an Australian woman’. Wright, whose...

Voss Literary Prize 2016 longlist announced

Tuesday, 9 August 2016
The longlist for the 2016 Voss Literary Prize has been announced. The longlisted titles are: The Blessing (Adrian Caesar, Australian Scholarly Publishing) Coming Rain (Stephen Daisley, Text) The Life of...

‘Mannix’ wins 2016 National Biography Award

Monday, 8 August 2016
Mannix by Brenda Niall (Text) has won this year’s $25,000 National Biography Award, presented by the State Library of New South Wales (SLNSW). Niall’s biography of the former Catholic Archbishop...

Booktopia set to list on ASX in October

Monday, 8 August 2016
Online bookstore Booktopia is planning to list on the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX) at the end of October, with a proposed initial public offering of $150m. As previously reported by...

Hill wins Women’s Leadership in Media award

Friday, 5 August 2016
Freelance journalist Jess Hill, whose book Power & Control will be published by Black Inc. in 2017, has been awarded the inaugural Women’s Leadership in Media award for her long-form...

Australian authors shortlisted for 2016 CWA Dagger awards

Wednesday, 3 August 2016
Australian authors Tim Baker and Mark Brandi have been shortlisted for the UK Crime Writers’ Association (CWA) 2016 Dagger awards. Sydney-born Baker’s ‘multi-stranded new examination of the JFK assassination’ Fever City...

CAUL/ASA Fellowships 2016 announced

Wednesday, 3 August 2016
The Council of Australian University Librarians (CAUL) and the Australian Society of Authors (ASA) have announced the winners of the 2016 CAUL/ASA Fellowships, worth $10,000 each. Founding editor and publisher...

Hachette, EWF announce 2016 Richell Prize longlist

Tuesday, 2 August 2016
Hachette Australia and the Emerging Writers’ Festival have announced the 2016 Richell Prize for emerging writers longlist. The 19 longlisted writers and their works are: ‘The Illusion of Islands’ by...

Jolley Prize 2016 shortlist announced

Tuesday, 2 August 2016
The shortlist for the Australian Book Review’s (ABR) Elizabeth Jolley Short Story Prize, worth a total of $12,500, has been announced. The shortlisted stories are: ‘Ash’ by Anthony Lawrence ‘Glisk’...

HarperCollins appoints Hedley as NZ publisher

Tuesday, 2 August 2016
HarperCollins has appointed Alex Hedley as its New Zealand publisher, replacing Finlay MacDonald, who left for a role outside publishing, in the position. Hedley has been general nonfiction publisher at...

The ‘Saturday Paper’ announces new essay prize

Tuesday, 2 August 2016
The Saturday Paper and cosmetics company Aesop have announced a new $15,000 ‘major’ essay award, named in honour of the late author Donald Horne. The Horne Prize will be awarded...

Lohrey awarded ANU creative arts fellowship

Tuesday, 2 August 2016
Tasmanian author Amanda Lohrey is the recipient of the Australian National University’s (ANU) 2016 H C Coombs Creative Arts Fellowship, designed to allow artists to ‘engage in a period of...

PANZ Book Design Awards 2016 winners announced

Monday, 1 August 2016
The winners of this year’s Publishers Association of New Zealand (PANZ) Book Design Awards have been announced. James K Baxter: Complete Prose (James K Baxter, Victoria University Press) designed by...