Sales of the Harry Potter and the Cursed Child play script have exceeded expectations, according to the book’s local publisher Hachette. Hachette Australia joint managing... Read more

The Australian Publishers Association (APA) has announced the shortlists for the 2016 Educational Publishing Awards Australia. The shortlists in each category are: Primary Student Resource—Mathematics... Read more

The 10th annual Books at MIFF (BaM) event, run by Melbourne International Film Festival’s 37º South Market, was held at the Forum Theatre on Friday,... Read more

The 2015 Stella Count, which compiles statistics showing how many books by women and men were reviewed in Australian publications and the gender of reviewers,... Read more

The Australian Publishers Association (APA) and the Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA) have come to an agreement to allow libraries to use book covers... Read more

The Australian Publishers Association (APA) recently settled a copyright dispute with a Sydney copy shop and its owners over the alleged copying of textbooks for... Read more

The Australian Crime Writers Association (ACWA) has announced the shortlists for this year’s Ned Kelly Awards for crime writing. The shortlisted works in each category... Read more

South African-born Australian author J M Coetzee’s forthcoming novel The Schooldays of Jesus (Text, October) has been longlisted for the 2016 Man Booker Prize. The... Read more

Text Publishing has acquired ANZ rights to Graeme Macrae Burnet’s 2016 Man Booker Prize-longlisted crime novel His Bloody Project, and will publish the book on... Read more

Allen & Unwin has acquired a three-book junior fiction basketball series by Australian NBA player and Olympian Patty Mills and author Jared Thomas. The series... Read more

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... Read more

The winners of this year’s Territory Read Awards and Northern Territory Literary Awards have been announced, with two authors taking out the top prize in... Read more

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... Read more

The State Library of Victoria (SLV) has announced the recipients of its 2016 Creative Fellowships. Each of the creative fellowships is funded for three months... Read more

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... Read more

The winners of the Griffith Review’s Novella Project competition have been announced. The winning authors and their works are: ‘Muse’ by Melanie Cheng ‘A fulcrum... Read more

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:... Read more

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:... Read more

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... Read more

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,... Read more

The shortlist for this year’s Ngaio Marsh Award for New Zealand crime fiction has been announced. The shortlisted titles are: Inside the Black Horse (Ray Berard,... Read more

Black Inc. publisher Aviva Tuffield has acquired Australian author Ruby J Murray’s second novel, The Biographer’s Lover. Set to be published in August 2017, The Biographer’s Lover is... Read more

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... Read more

In the UK, a number of independent publishers have reported feeling ‘extremely vulnerable’ about the uncertainty caused by Brexit, reports the Bookseller. The drop in... Read more

The Turkish Publishers Association (TPA) has reported that 29 Turkish publishing houses have been closed as part of a state crackdown following the attempted military... Read more

Simon & Schuster’s (S&S) Indian division, S&S India, will launch its own local publishing program in 2017, reports Publishers Weekly. Launched in 2011, S&S India... Read more

Canadian bookseller Indigo Books and Music has launched Reco, a new social networking app that allows readers to rate and recommend the books, reports the... Read more

Sales Nonfiction—Sandy Wagner Creative Agents has sold world rights to A Slow Childhood (Helen Hayward) to Editia. Exisle has sold Czech rights to Eczema Diet... Read more

Australian author Liane Moriarty’s new release Truly Madly Guilty (Pan) has unseated Jojo Moyes’ Me Before You film tie in (Michael Joseph) from the top... Read more

‘Steven Amsterdam’s previous books Things We Didn’t See Coming and What the Family Needed are heavy with apocalyptic vision and metaphor, so his latest novel... Read more

‘It’s great to have that one book bringing people into bookshops, it has a real knock-on effect to other books’­—Pages & Pages co-owner Jon Page tells SmartCompany how the release of the latest Harry Potter book is contributing to a ‘good little period’ for the local book industry.

Books+Publishing’s latest Reviews newsletter contains 18 reviews of books publishing in September and October 2016. Goodwood (Holly Throsby, A&U, October) is one of three books... Read more

The Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA) has released the draft program for its 2017 Information Online conference, which runs from 13-17 February in Sydney.... Read more

The Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA) has awarded the prestigious Redmond Barry Award to National Library of Australia (NLA) director-general Anne-Marie Schwirtlich. Schwirtlich will be... Read more

In the UK, 40 local BBC radio stations are partnering with local libraries to create a grassroots on-air ‘Book of the Month’ club across the... Read more

A former librarian who stole hundreds of rare books from the National Library of Ireland in Dublin has received a suspended sentence, reports Independent.ie. John... Read more

When it comes to the question ‘what is a bestseller’, ‘the answer could easily be “how long is a piece of string?”’, writes Nielsen Book... Read more

Genre specialist Clan Destine Press, based in regional Victoria, first began publishing in 2010. Publisher Lindy Cameron told Books+Publishing: ‘Many author friends had experienced—from their... Read more

Walker Books has appointed Angela Carruthers to the newly created role of senior territory sales manager for Melbourne, starting 8 August. (See classified.)

Alex Hedley has been appointed to the role of HarperCollins New Zealand publisher following the departure of Finlay MacDonald. Hedley will start the role on... Read more

Simon & Schuster Australia congratulates Ian McGuire (The North Water) and Virginia Reeves (Work Like Any Other) on being longlisted for the Man Booker Prize 2016. The shortlist will be announced 13 September.

We also congratulate Ann Turner (The Lost Swimmer) and Sue Smethurst (Behind Closed Doors) for their longlist nominations in the Debut and Nonfiction categories for the Sisters in Crime’s 16th Davitt Awards. The awards will be announced 27 August.

Mark Tedeschi (Kidnapped) and Rebecca Poulson (Killing Love) have also been shortlisted for the Best True Crime Award for the 2016 Ned Kelly Awards. The winner will be announced on 28 August.

To order copies contact United Book Distributors on 1800 33 88 36 or via email (orders@unitedbookdistributors.com.au).

We are very happy to welcome Angela Carruthers to the Walker sales team in the newly created role of Senior Territory Sales Manager.

Angela will look after the Melbourne territory and also manage the Australian Sales Rep team.

With over 20 years’ experience as a sales representative in Melbourne, Angela comes to Walker with a passion for children’s books and sales knowledge.

Angela will start on 8 August, and will be available on 0404 858 390.

Allen & Unwin has acquired a new junior fiction basketball series by NBA star and Olympian Patty Mills. Launching in August 2017, the three-book series is loosely based on Patty’s experiences as an Indigenous kid who dreamt of playing professional basketball.

‘We are so excited to be publishing this terrific new series from such an ambassador for the game,’ says publisher Jodie Webster. ‘Patty is an amazing role model for children everywhere.’ The series will be co-written by Jared Thomas, and aims to inspire kids to achieve their goals through sport. The deal was brokered with the assistance of Curtis Brown Australia and HIBIS Sports Marketing.

Text Publishing has acquired ANZ rights to Graeme Macrae Burnet’s gripping Booker-longlisted novel His Bloody Project, and will publish on 29 August.

The novel deals with a triple murder in a farming village in the Scottish Highlands in the 1860s.

Details: 9781925498257, B format, $19.99.

Booksellers, please order from UBD.

NewSouth is delighted to congratulate its authors shortlisted for the 2016 Educational Publishing Awards. Ned Kelly (Hugh Dolan) is shortlisted in the Student Resource—Junior category, and The Australian Schoolkids’ Guide to Debating and Public Speaking (Claire Duffy) is shortlisted for the Reference Resource award.

To order please contact TL Distribution (P: +61(2) 8778 9999, E:orders@tldistribution.com.au).

Text has brought forward the release date for J M Coetzee’s extraordinary new book, The Schooldays of Jesus, following its longlisting for the 2016 Man Booker Prize.

The novel (HB, $34.99, 9781925355789) will now be published on 18 August.

Booksellers, please order from UBD.