Weekly Book Newsletter (end March 2022)
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11 October 2017

Queensland Literary Awards 2017 winners announced

The winners of the 2017 Queensland Literary Awards (QLAs) were announced on 4 October. The winning titles in each category are: Fiction The Birdman’s Wife... Read more
 
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Tynan wins CHASS Australia Book Prize 2017 for ‘Atomic Thunder’

Elizabeth Tynan has won the Council for the Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences’ (CHASS) 2017 Australia Book Prize, for her book Atomic Thunder: The Maralinga... Read more
 

 

Finch Publishing celebrates 25th Anniversary

Finch Publishing is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year. Founder Rex Finch said he is ‘pleased (and slightly amazed)’ to be celebrating the occasion. The... Read more
 
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The rights stuff 2017: Healthy year for Australian rights sales

For the 15th year in a row, Books+Publishing has surveyed Australian rights managers and literary agents to gauge the health of Australian rights trading and... Read more
 

IBBY Australia selects two refugee stories for 2018 Honour List x

IBBY Australia has selected two refugee stories for the 2018 International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY) Honour List. The Bone Sparrow (Zana Fraillon,... Read more
 
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Echo to publish Jabour’s debut novel ‘The Way Things Should Be’

Bonnier Publishing Australia’s Echo imprint will publish Guardian Australia journalist Bridie Jabour’s debut novel in May 2018. The Way Things Should Be centres on four adult... Read more
 

 

Pan Macmillan signs two-book deal with debut YA author Guillaume

Pan Macmillan Australia has signed a two-book deal with debut YA author and BuzzFeed Australia editor Jenna Guillaume, via Danielle Binks for Jacinta di Mase Management.... Read more
 

 

PRH to publish ‘a heartfelt tribute’ to Australian women

Penguin Random House (PRH) Australia has announced it will publish Shout Out to the Girls: A Celebration of Awesome Australian Women, a hardcover children’s nonfiction... Read more
 

 

Hardie Grant Books to publish Yumi Stynes’ debut cookbook

Hardie Grant Books has announced the acquisition of broadcaster Yumi Stynes’ debut cookbook, The Zero F*cks Cookbook: Best Food Least Effort. The cookbook includes 60... Read more
 

New Varuna fellowship program announced for Indigenous writers

A three-year, $30,000 grant from the Copyright Agency will fund a new fellowship program for Indigenous writers at Varuna. The Copyright Agency Fellowships for First... Read more
 

Queensland Writers Fellowships, ‘Griffith Review’ Fellowships announced

The winners of the 2017 Queensland Writers Fellowships and Griffith Review Fellowships were announced at the Queensland Literary Awards ceremony on 4 October. The winners... Read more
 

Scribe Nonfiction Prize for Young Writers shortlist announced

Scribe and Express Media have announced the shortlist for this year’s Scribe Nonfiction Prize for Young Writers. The shortlisted writers and their works are: Sian... Read more
 

Carey to headline Geelong’s Word for Word Nonfiction festival

Novelist Peter Carey will headline this year’s Word for Word Nonfiction festival, which runs at the Geelong Library & Heritage Centre from 17-19 November. Carey... Read more
 

 

Almost 28,000 votes cast for Dymocks members’ favourite children’s book of all time

Dymocks Booklovers members have cast almost 28,000 votes for their favourite children’s book of all time, with 18 Australian titles making the top 51—up from... Read more
 

Schrader wins 2017 CLNZ Writers’ Award

Freelance historian Ben Schrader has won the second annual Copyright Licensing New Zealand (CLNZ) Writers’ Award for nonfiction, worth NZ$25,000 (A$22,720), to help support his... Read more
 

 

Cornerstone to publish E L James’ retelling of ‘Fifty Shades Darker’

Cornerstone has acquired UK and Commonwealth (ex Canada) rights to E L James’ Darker, a retelling of  Fifty Shades Darker from the perspective of the... Read more
 

S&S UK profit up in 2016

In the UK, Simon & Schuster made a before-tax profit of £3.76m (A$6.37m) in 2016, up from a loss of £132,000 (A$223,000) in 2015, reports... Read more
 

Shortlist announced for 2017 Baillie Gifford Prize

The shortlist for the £30,000 (A$50,812) Baillie Gifford Prize, which recognises nonfiction writing by authors of any nationality, has been announced. The shortlisted titles are:... Read more
 

Troubled publisher Freight Books asks writers to buy their own books back

In the UK, Scottish publisher Freight Books has asked writers if they wanted to buy their own books back, as the publisher faces an ‘extremely... Read more
 

US report finds only 7.8% of romance titles by people of colour

In the US, romance-specialist bookstore The Ripped Bodice has published a report on the racial diversity of romance publishing in 2016, reports Entertainment Weekly. The... Read more
 

 

Ishiguro wins 2017 Nobel Prize in Literature

Japanese-born UK author Kazuo Ishiguro has won the 2017 Nobel Prize in Literature for his ‘novels of great emotional force’. The author is best known... Read more
 

European Commission orders Amazon to pay €250m in back taxes

The European Commission (EC) has ordered Amazon to pay €250m (A$374m) after finding the company received tax benefits in Luxembourg which were illegal under EU... Read more
 

2017 National Book Award shortlists announced

In the US, the finalists for the 2017 National Book Awards have been announced in the categories of fiction, nonfiction, poetry and young people’s literature,... Read more
 

Rights round-up

Sales Fiction—Black Inc. has sold world audio rights to The Unexpected Education of Emily Dean (Mira Robertson) to Wavesound. Nonfiction—Black Inc. has sold world audio... Read more
 

 

Bestsellers this week x

Jane Harper’s second novel, Force of Nature (Macmillan), is showing all signs of living up to her bestselling debut The Dry, landing in second spot... Read more
 

Michelle de Kretser’s ‘The Life to Come’ x

‘The Life to Come is Michelle de Kretser’s first novel since her Miles Franklin Literary Award-winning Questions of Travel in 2012, and it affirms her... Read more
 

Quote of the week

‘It’s not enough to secure a deal on a small or average advance. We need to work closely with the foreign publishers to secure publicity and marketing to lead to increased sales and increased earnings for authors’—one publisher’s response to Books+Publishing’s annual rights survey.

 

New ‘Books+Publishing Junior’ reviews out now

Books+Publishing’s latest Junior newsletter contains six reviews of books publishing in December 2017 to February 2018. Two books scored four-and-a-half stars: Catherine Pelosi’s junior-fiction debut... Read more
 

Victorian library invests in books for people with dyslexia

Mitchell Shire Council in Victoria has invested $5000 in books for people with dyslexia, in response to community feedback, reports the ABC. The books are... Read more
 

 

Teen power inc.: Launching teen advisory boards in bookstores x

Jackie Tang asks booksellers how bookshops can meaningfully engage with teen readers. When Readings launched its inaugural Teen Advisory Board (TAB) in June this year,... Read more
 

Varuna announces Copyright Agency Fellowships for First Nations Writers x

Indigenous writers will be able to apply for fellowships under a new program developed by the National Writers’ House Varuna, Magabala Books, Sydney University and... Read more

RM Marketing Services: Helping publishers do what they do best

As advertised recently, Rachael McDiarmid has returned to RM Marketing Services (www.rmmarketingservices.com) on a full-time basis. RMMS provides a suite of sales, marketing, promotions and communications services to the book industry at a competitive hourly rate. Freelance and/or project work. Take advantage of 27 years experience in the local publishing industry and start ticking off your to-do list today! Phone 0409 772 850 or email info@rmmarketingservices.com.

 

Andrew Davis—Chief Operating Officer appointment Hardie Grant

Andrew Davis, formerly Deputy CEO Asia Pacific at Penguin Random House and APA Vice President, has joined Hardie Grant as COO and will be working closely with Sandy Grant and Julie Pinkham on business development and strategy whilst taking full responsibility for Operations including finance and distribution.

Hardie Grant includes three divisions (book publishers Hardie Grant Publishing, with offices in Melbourne, London and San Francisco) and five publishing units (Hardie Grant Books Melbourne, Hardie Grant Books London, Quadrille London, Hardie Grant Travel and Hardie Grant Egmont), as well as Hardie Grant Media (a publishing and content agency) and HGX (a consumer-facing largely digital publisher).

Andrew will be closely involved with all three divisions.

Sandy Grant commented, ‘We are really pleased to have someone with Andrew’s industry knowledge, reputation and experience join our business as we start our 20th birthday year’.

Andrew Davis said, ‘I have long admired Hardie Grant’s rapid growth, international reach and high quality, stylish books and digital content—I am delighted to be joining the team’.

 

Walker Books acquires new series from Cassandra Clare: 'Ghosts of the Shadow Market'

Walker Books Australia has announced the acquisition of Ghosts of the Shadow Market, a collection of ten short stories, co-written with Maureen Johnson, Robin Wasserman, Sarah Rees Brennan and Kelly Link. The first eight stories will be published as ebooks from March/April 2018 onwards, with the final two exclusively available in a print bind-up of all the stories, published in 2019. The stories will centre on the Shadow Markets of the Shadowhunter world, with each one focusing on a different character. Jem Carstairs, of ‘The Infernal Devices’ series, will appear in each.

The Shadowhunter world has captivated millions of readers worldwide, with over 50 million copies in print in more than 35 languages. The books have made bestseller lists all over the world, have been adapted into a feature film and the Shadowhunters TV series is currently in its third season.

Walker Books will also be publishing a 10th anniversary hardback edition of the first title, City of Bones, in November this year.

 

NewSouth congratulates Elizabeth Tynan for winning the 2017 CHASS Australia Book Prize

We’re thrilled to congratulate Elizabeth Tynan for Atomic Thunder: The Maralinga Story, which received the 2017 CHASS Australia Book Prize. The prize is awarded to a nonfiction book the judges believe to contribute most to cultural and intellectual life in Australia. To order, please contact TL Distribution on (02) 8778 9999 or orders@tldistribution.com.au.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

 

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