Rose is in Year 12, happy spending time with her best friend Liv and being madly in love with her perfect boyfriend Michael. Then suddenly,... Read more

Being a 14-year-old girl can be brutal, and Bad Behaviour is Melbourne-based editor Rebecca Starford’s memoir of a harrowing year spent at a posh boarding school’s bush... Read more

Tracy Ryan and Jill Jones are the joint winners of the 2014 Whitmore Press Manuscript Prize for poetry. Ryan and Jones were chosen from a... Read more

The 2015 Australian Book Industry Awards (ABIAs) will be held on 21 May 2015. The awards will be held at Doltone House in Pyrmont during the... Read more

New Zealand authors Owen Marshall and Witi Ihimaera have been chosen as the 2015 Randell Cottage Writers in Residence. The selection panel chair Vincent O’Sullivan... Read more

Retail industry news source Inside Retail has launched a sister site Inside Retail New Zealand. In a statement, Inside Retail said the site is ‘a... Read more

NY Court hears dispute over Google Digital Library Project A lawyer for the Authors Guild has urged a federal appeals court in New York to... Read more

The State Library of New South Wales (SLNSW) has launched a new website offering access to the records of 100 Indigenous Australian languages, many of... Read more

NLA exhibition wins Canberra and Capital Region Tourism Award The National Library of Australia (NLA) has won an award for its Mapping our World: Terra... Read more

Books by Alison Lester and Mem Fox have topped the lists of the highest scoring titles in the Public Lending Rights (PLR) and Educational Lending... Read more

Arizona State Library launches ‘Reading Arizona’ ebook platform The Arizona State Library has launched an ebook platform featuring over 500 books about the state of... Read more

The NSW Public Libraries Association (NSWPLA) is planning a Day of Action for Friday 5 December to draw attention to the need for increased library... Read more

Visitor numbers have doubled in six months following the opening of the new $8 million library in Grafton in NSW, reports Government News. According to... Read more

More than 1000 books and magazines are available to beachgoers in Coogee through Sydney’s first free beach library, reports the Daily Telegraph. The Coogee Beach... Read more

In the final issue of Books+Publishing for 2014 we asked publishers to share their top titles for the new year. Among the highlights are new... Read more

In 1844 Birchalls opened in Launceston, Tasmania, with an advertisement in the local paper promising a ‘splendid assortment of books, stationery, fancy goods, etc’. The... Read more

Australian author Jacqueline Harvey has been appointed an ambassador for Dymocks Children’s Charities.

Jo Dyer has been appointed executive director of the Sydney Writers’ Festival, replacing Ben Strout, who will leave the role at the end of 2014.... Read more

Belinda Cooke has resigned as managing director of New Zealand publisher New Holland. (See news.)

Claire Smiddy has been appointed manager of the Australian Book Designers Association (ABDA). (See news.)

Author, editor and Literary Minded blogger Angela Meyer has been appointed commissioning editor at the Five Mile Press. (See news.)

Dan Ruffino has been appointed managing director of Simon & Schuster Australia, replacing Lou Johnson, who announced her resignation in September. (See news.)

Publishers, distributors and authors, let me help your 2015 work-load and budget with outstanding publicity at an economical, negotiable rate. You get experience after 25 years of freelance work and a career in newspapers, at Random House, Macmillan and A&R. Tel: 03.9374.2188. 0410.518.034 or alandavidsonpublicity@gmail.com.au

NewSouth Books would like to congratulate Felicity Castagna author of The Incredible Here and Now (Giramondo Publishing Company) – Winner of the PMs Literary Award for YA Fiction. And Kellee Slater author of How to do a Liver Transplant: Stories from my Surgical Life (NewSouth) – The Courier-Mail People’s Choice Queensland Book of the Year. Stock of both award-winning titles is now available from NewSouth Books. To order contact:

TL Distribution.
Ph: (02) 8778 9999
Fax: (02) 8778 9944
orders@tldistribution.com.au

HarperCollins is proud to announce that it has acquired world rights to Rosie’s Story, a memoir by Rosie Batty, with Bryce Corbett, to be published in late 2015. 

In an incident that shocked not only the nation but the world, Rosie Batty’s eleven year old son was killed by his father in a violent incident in February 2014. Greg Anderson murdered Luke Batty at cricket training and was then himself shot by police at the Tyabb cricket oval. Rosie had suffered years of family violence, and had intervention and custody orders in place in an ­effort to protect herself and her son. She believes the killing was his final act of control over her. She is now a passionate campaigner on the issue of family violence and has just been named Victorian Australian of the Year. The National Australia Day Council said Ms Batty ‘gave voice to many thousands of victims of domestic violence who had until then remained unheard’ and said her ‘incredible strength and selfless efforts’ were an inspiration to many other victims of family violence.

Publisher Catherine Milne says: ‘We see Rosie’s Story as being a really significant book, one that will both move people and engage them.  It will have all of Rosie’s heart, soul and intelligence. It will be a book that will make people cry and fire them up. And it will be a book that will give Rosie a real platform to talk about family violence, the issue that means so much to her.’

Rosie Batty says: ‘I am thrilled and very excited at the prospect of working with Harper Collins to make Rosie’s Story a book that I can be immensely proud of. HarperCollins has published some of my favourite writers and I can hardly believe that I am now going to be one of them.’

For more information please contact:

Nicola Woods, Campaign Manager – Non Fiction, HarperCollins Nicola.woods@harpercollins.com.au
Tel. 02 9952 5004

HarperCollins is thrilled to congratulate Steven Carroll on winning the Prime Minister’s Literary Award for Fiction for The World of Other People, the second novel in his brilliant TS Eliot Quartet. Steve shares the Prize with Richard Flanagan for his Booker Prize winning The Narrow Road to the Deep North.

Steve’s next novel Forever Young which continues his award winning Glenroy series is to be published in June 2015. He is the author of a total of nine novels including the Miles Franklin Award winning The Time We Have Taken (2008).

A reprint of The World of Other People (9780732291204) is underway and can be ordered now from Harper Collins.

HarperCollinsPublishers is thrilled to congratulate children’s author and Australian Children’s Laureate Jackie French, whose extraordinary book Refuge has won the Children’s Book Award in the Queensland Literary Awards. Jackie is the joint winner of the award with Shaun Tan, whom HarperCollins congratulates as well.

This award rounds up a remarkable year for Jackie, who has also been named the 2015 NSW Senior Australian of the Year.

To order copies of Refuge (ISBN: 9780732296179) please contact HEDS customer service on toll-free 1300 551 721 or fax 1800 645 547.

Hachette Australia is thrilled to congratulate Shaun Tan on being the joint winner in the Griffith University Children’s Book Award category of the Queensland Literary Awards, for the wonderful Rules of Summer.

To order copies of Rules of Summer (ISBN: 9780734410672) please contact Alliance Distribution Services customer service on toll-free fax 1800-664-477 or tel (02) 4390 1300.

Please visit www.melbourneprize.org to register your interest to receive information on the Melbourne Prize for Literature 2015 and Awards.

With a prize pool over $100,000, including a new award, all writing genres will be eligible. Open to Victorian residents only.

After almost 32 years, Social Club Books is closing their business at the end of January 2015.

A unique business in its time, we believe we have introduced many people to the wide world of books over our journey. However, the marketplace has changed considerably over the last few years and books have never been more widely available. It is now time for us to move on.

Our Domain name scb.com.au together with 60,000 mailing/email list is for sale. Warehouse racking and office fixtures are also for sale along with some stock.

Expressions of interest should be emailed to: kenf@scb.com.au

Publishers and distributors looking to reduce fixed costs and increase Victorian sales in 2015. Contact freelance agent Maurice Peters, M: 0417 725 533, E: mauricepeters@bookknight.com.au

Melbourne University Publishing congratulates Paul Kelly, whose book Triumph and Demise—an inside account of the hopes, achievements and bitter failures of the Labor Government from 2007 to 2013—has won the 2014 Walkley Book Award.

We also congratulate Rafael Epstein, whose book Prisoner X was shortlisted for the award.

• Triumph and Demise by Paul Kelly
  ISBN: 978-0-522-86781-7
  Fully updated paperback edition, rush release, $34.99  

 

‘Triumph and Demise is a superbly written book filled with revelations and sharp judgments that lift off the page with an authority that is characteristic of Kelly. Its revelations … are significant and its conclusions are powerful. It is a compelling book.’ The Australian

Booksellers, order now with Random House on 1800 222 444.