Books+Publishing is currently conducting its annual pre-Christmas survey of booksellers and publishers. Please take a few minutes to complete the survey online. Booksellers If you... Read more

Company Last day of business in 2016 First day of business in 2017 Allen & Unwin Friday 23 December (Closing 1pm) Tuesday 3 January Alliance... Read more

The shortlists for the Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards for 2017 have been announced. The shortlisted books in each category are: Fiction Between a Wolf and... Read more

Former Text publicity manager Jane Novak has launched a literary agency following the retirement of literary agent Barbara Mobbs. Novak told Books+Publishing that ‘almost all... Read more

Author and doctor Leah Kaminsky has won the 2016 Voss Literary Prize for her debut novel The Waiting Room (Vintage). The Voss Literary Prize is... Read more

Journalist and author Stan Grant has won the 2016 Walkley Book Award for his memoir Talking to My Country (HarperCollins). Grant was chosen from a... Read more

Liane Moriarty’s Truly Madly Guilty (Pan Macmillan) has won the fiction category in the Goodreads Choice Awards Best Books of 2016. Moriarty won the category with... Read more

South Australian author Carol Lefevre has been chosen as the second Copyright Agency J M Coetzee Writing Fellow at the University of Adelaide. The $30,000... Read more

writingWA has launched a campaign to raise awareness of the writing and publishing sector and the inequity of its funding compared to other art forms,... Read more

Hardie Grant Egmont has announced the shortlist for its 2016 Ampersand Prize for unpublished YA and middle-grade authors. The five shortlisted authors and their works... Read more

Danielle Binks has sold her first manuscript as ‘agent-at-large’ with Jacinta Dimase Management. Binks sold world rights to Aboriginal writer and academic Graham Akhurst’s debut... Read more

The Copyright Agency and APRA AMCOS, which supports Australian music creators, have launched a celebrity social media campaign ‘aimed at encouraging Australian audiences to respect... Read more

Linsay Knight has been appointed to the newly created position of publisher at Walker Books Australia and New Zealand. Knight previously held the role of... Read more

Xoum Publishing has announced the shortlist for its inaugural XO Romance Prize for an unpublished manuscript. The shortlisted works and their authors are: Wendy Lee... Read more

The Saturday Paper and cosmetics company Aesop have announced the shortlist for the inaugural $15,000 Horne Prize for essay writing. The shortlisted writers are: Chelsea... Read more

The 13 participants selected for the Australian Society of Authors (ASA) Emerging Writers and Illustrators Mentorship program have been announced. The recipients of the 12... Read more

The Australian Book Review (ABR) has asked a dozen publishers to nominate their favourite books of 2016 published by other houses for a feature in... Read more

The Readings Foundation has chosen 10 Victorian organisations to share $128,349 worth of grants in 2017. The grant recipients are: African Communities Foundation Australia: $15,000... Read more

Australian philanthropic organisations the Myer Foundation, the Tim Fairfax Family Foundation and the Keir Foundation are offering $1.65 million for the establishment of an Australian... Read more

The Australian Booksellers Association (ABA) has announced that marketing and conference manager Steve Jones has left the ABA to pursue other interests. ABA CEO Joel... Read more

Writers Victoria has announced the shortlist for the second Deborah Cass Prize for emerging writers from migrant backgrounds. The shortlisted writers and their works are:... Read more

Books+Publishing has conducted an overview of its book reviews from 2016 to analyse the representation of female and male authors. In total, 242 pre-publication reviews... Read more

In the UK and US, publisher Abrams is discontinuing publication of Bad Little Children’s Books after criticism on social media over the book’s ‘unabashedly un-PC, rude,... Read more

In the UK, the Bookseller has announced the winners of this year’s FutureBook Innovation Awards. Pan Macmillan digital communications director Sara Lloyd was named Digital... Read more

Ebooks sold in the European Union are likely to face a lower VAT (value-added tax) next year following the European Commission’s (EC) proposal to ‘enable... Read more

Italian author Erri De Luca has recieved the 2016 Bad S-x in Fiction award, the Literary Review’s annual prize for ‘poorly written, perfunctory or redundant... Read more

In the UK, Doubleday has announced details of a new novel by Paula Hawkins, the bestselling author of The Girl on the Train, to be... Read more

Nonfiction—Black Inc. has sold US and UK rights to Thinking Machines: The Future of Artificial Intelligence (Toby Walsh) to Prometheus Books and Hurst, respectively; world... Read more

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (J K Rowling, Hachette) holds on to the top spot in this week’s top 10 bestsellers, followed by... Read more

‘Fascinating, instructive and full of astute observations on race and politics, In Search of Paul Robeson will appeal to readers passionate about social justice and the... Read more

‘I think the world has been quite focussed on politics at home and abroad this past six months. With so much uncertainly about, it’s certainly had an effect on retail’—Murdoch Books sales and marketing director Matt Hoy on why he thinks the Christmas rush has come later this year. Publishers and booksellers can respond to Books+Publishing’s annual pre-Christmas survey here.

TAFE NSW has said it will consult with staff and students over changes to Sydney’s Ultimo TAFE library, after the Australian Library and Information Association... Read more

Tony Wilson and Laura Wood’s The Cow Tripped over the Moon (Scholastic) will be read for National Simultaneous Storytime 2017, the Australian Library and Information... Read more

The British Library has acquired the PG Wodehouse archive, a collection of papers formerly held by the PG Wodehouse estate, reports the Guardian. The archive... Read more

In the USA, travellers using Chicago’s railways can browse a variety of free digital content using a smartphone or other digital device, reports Time Out... Read more

International publisher Quarto—which partners with Murdoch Books in Australia—celebrated its 40th birthday this year. Portia Lindsay spoke to director Marcus Leaver about artistry and innovation... Read more

Founded in 2011, Rag and Bone Man Press is a Melbourne-based not-for-profit publisher whose aim is to ‘track down, gather and publish unique collections of... Read more

Our congratulations to Maxine Beneba Clarke, Zana Fraillon, Deng Adut and Ben Mckelvey for their shortlistings in the 2017 Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards, for The Hate Race (9780733632280, $32.99) and Songs of a War Boy (9780733636523, $32.99) in the Non-Fiction category; Carrying the World (9780733636400, $26.99) in the Poetry category; and The Bone Sparrow (9780734417138, $19.99) in the Young Adult category.

All of these books are currently in stock at Alliance Distribution Services and can be ordered by calling (02) 4390 1300 or emailing adscs@alliancedist.com.au

The Charles Perkins Centre Writer in Residence Fellowship 2017 has been made possible thanks to the generosity of its inaugural Patron, Judy Harris.

The fellowship will support an established Australian writer to create new work within Australia’s leading interdisciplinary centre dedicated to easing the global burden of obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease and related conditions through innovative research and teaching.

The fellowship will be for one year (2017-2018), and will include:

• a grant of AUD $100,000
• an Honorary Appointment at the University of Sydney
• a base in the Charles Perkins Centre Research and Education Hub
• full library access, and
• the opportunity to meet and work with a diverse range of researchers, educators and clinicians at the Charles Perkins Centre.

Applications are open until 5pm, Friday 10 February 2017: click here to apply.

Writer in Residence Fellowship 2017 Guidelines: click here to view the Fellowship guidelines.

Walker Books Australia and New Zealand (WBA) has made two key publishing appointments—Linsay Knight as Publisher, and Nancy Conescu as Executive Commissioning Editor.

Linsay has a long and illustrious career in children’s publishing as Head of Children’s Books at Random House Australia. Nancy was previously Executive Editor, Dial Books for Young Readers at Penguin New York, and Senior Editor, Little, Brown Books for Young Readers at Hachette New York. Maryann Ballantyne will continue in her role as Publisher of the award-winning Black Dog Books imprint.

Angela Van Den Belt, President of WBA, says ‘Our local lists are very much part of our growth plans and I am thrilled to have Linsay and Nancy join us.’

To read the full media release go to: http://www.walkerbooks.com.au/News/News-Item-297

HarperCollins Publishers Australia is celebrating the acquisition of The Rúin by debut Australian author Dervla McTiernan in an exciting two-book deal with Tara Wynne at Curtis Brown. The Rúin is scheduled for publication in Australia in March 2018. Rights have also been sold in the UK, Ireland and Germany with more territories expected to follow.

The Rúin introduces DI Cormac Reilly, who has left a high-flying Dublin career to return to Galway where he is confronted with resentful colleagues and a haunting case from twenty years prior. This highly addictive novel is the first in a compelling new series from a fresh voice.