Weekly Book Newsletter (end March 2022)
8 July 2015

OUP reports local turnover and profit growth x

Oxford University Press (OUP) Australia and New Zealand has recorded a 2% turnover growth and 54% profit growth in the 2014-15 financial year. OUP Australia... Read more
 

Henderson joins Affirm Press x

Affirm Press has appointed Fiona Henderson as its new publisher following the departure of Aviva Tuffield. Henderson has worked in publishing for more than 20... Read more
 

Draft guidelines released for National Program for Excellence in the Arts; Arts Minister to approve all funding

The Ministry for the Arts has released the draft guidelines for the National Program for Excellence in the Arts, which indicates that all funding proposals... Read more
 

National Biography Award 2015 shortlist announced

The State Library of NSW has announced the shortlist for the 2015 National Biography Award for biographical writing and memoir. The shortlisted titles are: An Unsentimental... Read more
 

Speech Pathology Australia book awards 2015 shortlists announced

The titles shortlisted for this year’s Speech Pathology Australia Book of the Year Awards have been announced. The shortlisted titles in each category are: Three... Read more
 

2015 Gourmand Awards for cookbooks and wine and drink books announced x

The 2015 Gourmand Awards for the ‘Best in the World’ cookbooks and wine and drink books have been announced. Five Australian titles came in first... Read more
 

Tasmanian Writers Festival announces authors, venue

The Tasmanian Writers and Readers Festival will be held at Hadley’s Orient Hotel in Hobart from 11-13 September, with Don Watson, Helen Garner and Bob... Read more
 

Mad Hatters Bookshop opens in Brisbane x

The Mad Hatters Bookshop has opened in the Brisbane bayside suburb of Manly.  The new store is run by Anne-Marie Finn and Kaylene Hobson, who purchased... Read more
 

Reading Australia website relaunched, new content added

The Copyright Agency has relaunched its Reading Australia website with a new design and new content. The website, which provides free resources for teachers to... Read more
 

New Zealand Book Awards announces prize changes

The New Zealand Book Awards will return in 2016 with a new structure, judging process and an annual NZ$50,000 (A$44,595) prize for fiction, with the... Read more
 

Myer reappointed Australia Council chair

The Australian government has announced that Rupert Myer has been reappointed chair of the Australia Council. The retailer and philanthropist was first appointed to the... Read more
 

Robotham shortlisted for CWA Gold Dagger

Life or Death by Australian author Michael Robotham (Sphere) has been shortlisted for the 2015 Crime Writers’ Association (CWA) Gold Dagger award for best crime... Read more
 

Ngaio Marsh Award 2015 shortlist announced

Five books have been shortlisted for the 2015 Ngaio Marsh Award for Best Crime Novel by a New Zealand writer. The shortlisted titles are: Five... Read more
 

Australian Christian Book of the Year 2015 shortlist announced

The 2015 Australian Christian Book of the Year shortlist has been announced. The shortlisted titles are: What If? (Kristen Young, Fervr) The Wisdom of Islam... Read more
 

MidnightSun signs first international rights deals

Adelaide-based small press MidnightSun Publishing has signed its first three international rights deals. The publisher has sold US rights to Amanda Hickie’s thriller An Ordinary... Read more
 

Quote of the week

‘We couldn’t believe the overwhelming feedback we had from Perth readers when we were closing. Even with the doors shut last week, the amount of... Read more
 

Rights round-up x

Sales Fiction—MidnightSun has sold US rights to An Ordinary Epidemic (Amanda Hickie) to Little, Brown. Nonfiction—Exisle has sold Korean rights to What Makes You Happy... Read more
 

Bestsellers this week x

E L James’ Grey (Arrow) has enjoyed a second week at number one on the overall bestsellers chart, while Johanna Basford’s two colouring books Enchanted Forest... Read more
 

RiP Michael Zifcak

Michael Zifcak, former chairman of Collins Booksellers and Hill of Content Publishing, has died, aged 96. Zifcak was the chairman of Collins Booksellers and its publishing... Read more
 

Man Booker International Prize merges with ‘Independent’ Foreign Fiction Prize

The Man Booker International Prize has announced it will merge with the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize and move to an annual format, with the prize... Read more
 

Newspapers to pre-publish first chapter of ‘Go Set a Watchman’

The Guardian and the Wall Street Journal will publish the first chapter of Harper Lee’s Go Set a Watchman (William Heinemann) online on 10 July... Read more
 

Serpell wins 2015 Caine Prize for African Writing

Zambia’s Namwali Serpell has won the 2015 Caine Prize for African Writing for her short story ‘The Sack’. Published in the collection Africa39: New Writing... Read more
 

Comics and graphic novel sales at 20-year high in North America

The sale of graphic novels and periodical comics in North America reached a combined total of US$935m (A$1225m) in 2014, a 7% increase on 2013, reports comics... Read more
 

Transworld partners with the ‘Sun’ for ‘Jack Reacher’ week

In the UK, Transworld has partnered with the Sun newspaper to promote Lee Child’s ‘Jack Reacher’ series, reports the Bookseller. The first Jack Reacher Week... Read more
 

Fuller wins Desmond Elliott Prize

In the UK, Claire Fuller’s Our Endless Numbered Days (Penguin) has won the £10,000 (A$20,438) Desmond Elliott Prize for new fiction. Fuller’s debut novel was... Read more
 

Scribd makes dramatic cuts to romance list

Scribd is dramatically reducing the number of romance and erotica titles offered through its subscription service in a move that is believed to prevent romance... Read more
 

Craig Munro’s ‘Under Cover: Adventures in the Art of Editing’

Former University of Queensland (UQP) publishing director Craig Munro’s memoir is a nostalgic retelling of his long and distinguished career in Australian publishing, which coincided... Read more
 

RiP Michael Zifcak

Michael Zifcak, former chairman of Collins Booksellers and Hill of Content Publishing, has died, aged 96. Zifcak was the chairman of Collins Booksellers and its publishing... Read more
 

NLA’s legal deposit scheme extended to include all digital media

Changes to the 1968 Copyright Act, which passed through federal parliament last week, ensure that the National Library of Australia (NLA) will store all electronic... Read more
 

Melbourne’s newest public library opens

The Kathleen Syme Library and Community Centre in the Melbourne suburb of Carlton was officially opened on 3 July by lord mayor Robert Doyle after... Read more
 

Australian Public Library Alliance releases elending report

The Australian Public Library Alliance (APLA) has released a report on elending in Australian public libraries. The report provides a snapshot of elending for January... Read more
 

Australian, NZ libraries nominated for international library award

The Library at the Dock in Melbourne and the Devonport Library in New Zealand have been nominated for the Danish Agency for Culture’s 2015 Public... Read more
 

International library news

American Library Association releases national policy agenda The American Library Association (ALA) has released a national policy agenda for libraries to help library advocates ‘engage... Read more
 

Behind the clichés: Honey Brown on ‘Six Degrees’

Honey Brown’s short-story collection Six Degrees (Ventura Press, August) explores romance and sex in rural Australia, and is a departure from the author’s previous books in... Read more
 

Henderson joins Affirm Press x

Affirm Press has appointed Fiona Henderson as its new publisher following the departure of Aviva Tuffield. (See news.)
 

Contact us

Subscriptions
subscriptions@booksandpublishing.com.au
Phone (02) 8227-6486

Editorial
News editor
Brad Jefferies
brad@booksandpublishing.com.au

Acting editor, newsletters
Matthia Dempsey
matthia@booksandpublishing.com.au

Digital producer
Andrew Wrathall
andrew@booksandpublishing.com.au

Classifieds, jobs and notices
submit.booksandpublishing.com.au
classifieds@booksandpublishing.com.au

Display advertising
advertising@booksandpublishing.com.au

Company: Books and Publishing Pty Ltd

Address: Books+Publishing, PO Box 42, Prahran VIC 3181, Australia

Books+Publishing’s website and publications contain content that is exclusive to subscribers. To photocopy, email or otherwise reproduce all or part of Books+Publishing’s content without the written permission of the publisher is illegal.

News

Do you want to submit news to Books+Publishing?
Read the editorial submissions page.

Classifieds

Classifieds, job ads and notices can be placed in Books+Publishing via the advertising submissions page.

Select newsletters

Select which newsletters you’d like to receive here.
Unsubscribe from individual newsletters here.
Or unsubscribe from all newsletters here.

View articles

Purchase a subscription to Books+Publishing to view all articles on the website.

If you need help with your subscription, please email the subscriptions team.

Follow us