Funtastic has announced that it has gone through a restructure that has ‘incorporated a major re-investment into the publishing business unit.’ Belinda Payne, Funtastic’s GM... Read more
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The International Publishers Association (IPA) was awarded the Sloboda (Liberty) Prize for its ‘contribution to human rights and freedom in the world’ by Ibrahim Spahic,... Read more
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Melbourne’s Technical Bookshop, which went into voluntary administration in August owing more than $1 million, has failed to find an investor or purchaser and the... Read more
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The overall mood of the book trade leading into Christmas is positive, but cautiously so: compared to recent years far fewer booksellers are reporting ‘excellent’... Read more
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The International Publishers Association (IPA), International PEN and human rights organisation ARTICLE 19 have written to Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, urging him to lift the... Read more
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The Australian Booksellers Association (ABA) has overcome a hurdle in its quest to provide booksellers with advice on new pay rates and conditions under the... Read more
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The successful graduates selected to receive six months’ paid work in the New Zealand book industry as part of the industry’s Publishing Intern Programme, are... Read more
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The administrators of remainder wholesaler Australian Book Centre (ABC*), which went into administration in April this year, have released a follow-up report, showing that all... Read more
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The liquidators of library supplier Identic Books (which went into liquidation in November 2005) have released a report, showing that an outstanding ‘priority claim’ made... Read more
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Author David Malouf launched the Centre for the Macquarie PEN Anthology of Australian Literature at Macquarie University on Monday night. The centre has been established to... Read more
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The winners of the second annual John Marsden Prize for Young Australian Writers were announced by Marsden on 7 December at the Melbourne launch of... Read more
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WBN‘s publisher Thorpe-Bowker has agreed to purchase Australian Library News (ALN), the popular weekly e-newsletter for Australian and New Zealand library professionals, from its current... Read more
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The amendments made by the Senate to the Copyright Amendment Bill 2006 were agreed to by the House of Representatives on 5 December. ‘The provisions... Read more
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Several Australian educational publishers have joined together to provide an ‘online content aggregator service’ aimed initially at the university MBA market. Ross McCaul, manager digital... Read more
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The first literary speed dating event hosted by the State Library of Victoria (SLV) on 6 December–entitled Text Appeal–was ‘an outrageous success’ according to the... Read more
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The State Library of Victoria (SLV) launched its Reading Victoria summer reading program on 7 December, with the announcement of the recommended reading list. The... Read more
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In the news from our Around the World blog this week: Lawrence Ferlinghetti receives top French honour; Bloomsbury shares drop following a profit warning; Random... Read more
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This bumper edition of WBN, incorporating our annual pre-Christmas survey, is the final WBN for 2006. The WBN team wish all of our readers a... Read more
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The booksellers who responded to our annual pre-Christmas survey certainly know their stuff. Seven of this week’s top 10 bestsellers also appear in our survey’s... Read more
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Allen & Unwin writes: ‘Neil Curtis died on Monday 11 December after a typically defiant battle with cancer. He was 56 years old. An exhibition... Read more
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Anti-smoking guru Allen Carr, author of the bestselling Easy Way to Stop Smoking, Easyweigh to Lose Weight (both Penguin), among other self-help titles, has died... Read more
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Pat Woolley, director of Wild & Woolley and Fast Books, writes: ‘Reverend Vernon Turner, OAM, the director of Sydney’s Christian radio station FM103.2, died recently... Read more
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American academic and author Jack Williamson, whose career as a pulp SF novelist spanned more than 75 years, has died at the age of 98.... Read more
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American expat writer Curtis Cate, who lived in France for much of his life, has died at the age of 82. Cate was the author... Read more
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