Publishers have welcomed the sale of Booktopia to Shant Kradjian, the owner of electronics retailer digiDirect, who has been meeting with publishers and authors to... Read more

The books editor at the Age and Sydney Morning Herald, Jason Steger, is among dozens of journalists leaving the newspapers, reports the Guardian. The Guardian... Read more

Readings has announced the shortlist for the 2024 Readings New Australian Fiction Prize. This year’s six shortlisted books are: Thanks for Having Me (Emma Darragh,... Read more

The 2024 Copyright Licensing New Zealand (CLNZ) and New Zealand Society of Authors Te Puni Kaituhi o Aotearoa PEN NZ Inc (NZSA) Research Grants have... Read more

Allen & Unwin (A&U) has acquired ANZ rights to Lyrebird, the second adult novel by Jane Caro, in a deal brokered by Jacinta di Mase... Read more

Last Thursday, Creative Australia announced the titles shortlisted for the 2024 Prime Minister’s Literary Awards, with winners to be revealed on 12 September.

Headlining other local news this week, the administrators of online bookseller Booktopia have confirmed the sale of Booktopia’s business and related assets to the owner of Australian consumer electronics retailer digiDirect, a development that was welcomed by local publishers. And Age and Sydney Morning Herald books editor Jason Steger is among dozens of journalists leaving the newspapers, according to the Guardian.

Elsewhere in the book industry, First Nations literature festival Blak & Bright appointed Bebe Oliver as its new artistic director and CEO; the APA selected 26 editors to participate in the Children’s Editorial Program’s inaugural initiative, the Picture Book Editing Intensive; Jason Lake and Katherine Woehlert, former owners of Adelaide bookstore Imprints Booksellers, have sold the business to Amelia Eitel; and QBD will open a new store in Orion Springfield Central in Ipswich, Queensland.

Meanwhile, in other awards news, the CBCA announced the winners of its 2024 Book of the Year Awards; Readings announced the shortlist for the 2024 Readings Young Adult and New Australian Fiction book prizes; and Romance Writers of Australia announced the winners of the 2024 Ruby Awards. In Aotearoa New Zealand, Stacy Gregg (Ngāti Mahuta, Ngāti Pūkeko, Ngāti Maru Hauraki) won the overall Margaret Mahy Book of the Year Award at the 2024 New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults for Nine Girls (Penguin); and the CLNZ and NZSA Research Grants have been awarded to four writers.

Overseas, the Bookseller reported this week that Weltbild, once one of Germany’s largest bookselling operations, is closing down on 31 August, while the German book trade paper BuchMarkt will close on 31 December after 59 years of operation, and in Paris, booksellers reported significant sales drops during the 2024 Olympic Games.

In acquisitions news this week, Simon & Schuster acquired ANZ rights to I Want Everything, a debut novel by Dominic Amerena, in a pre-emptive offer, via agent Grace Heifetz at Left Bank Literary; Transit Lounge acquired world rights to The Maskeys, a new novel from Stuart Everly-Wilson; and Allen & Unwin acquired world rights to Living a Life of Greatness by podcaster Sarah Grynberg, and ANZ rights to Lyrebird, the second adult novel by Jane Caro, in a deal brokered by Jacinta di Mase Management.

In other literary news, the Guardian reported that US-based journalist and Russia critic Masha Gessen claimed Australia had ‘functionally denied’ them a visa, after a delay in the processing of their visa by the Department of Home Affairs, which initially requested a police check from Russia and then from the US, according to organisers of the Festival of Dangerous Ideas in Sydney, where the writer is due to speak this weekend.

The annual BookUp conference for 2024, presented by the Australian Publishers Association (APA), was held at the State Library Victoria, Melbourne, on Wednesday 7 August, with wide-ranging... Read more

Sales Nonfiction Black Inc. has sold world English (ex ANZ) rights to Whitewash: Poland and the Jews (Jan Grabowski, Jewish Quarterly) to Toronto University Press; Russian rights... Read more

Top 10 bestsellers It Ends with Us (Colleen Hoover, S&S)* A Death in Cornwall (Daniel Silva, Harper) Girl Falling (Hayley Scrivenor, Macmillan) It Starts with... Read more

Written with the same lyrical prowess and evocative tone as her award-winning debut, Song of the Crocodile, Yuwaalaraay storyteller Nardi Simpson’s second novel, The Belburd,... Read more

Alan Carter’s latest crime novel, Prize Catch, is a page-turning thrill ride set on Australia’s Emerald Isle. With the action taking place in Hobart and... Read more

C A Wright’s debut novel, Skysong, is inspired by the Hans Christian Andersen fairytale ‘The Nightingale’. Oriane is the latest in a long line of... Read more

Gamilaroi man, professional footballer, and radio and TV personality Tony Armstrong adds ‘children’s author’ to his CV with George the Wizard. It’s the first picture... Read more

A Lot of Silly is a collection of poems and short stories for young children by the prolific Aotearoa New Zealand writer Joy Cowley (Good... Read more

The message of Jenny Brockis’s The Natural Advantage is straightforward: the cure for stress in our increasingly hectic modern world is to spend more time... Read more

Former Penguin Books Australia rights and contracts manager Peg McColl died on 19 August. Bob Sessions, Penguin Books Australia publishing director from 1988 to 2017,... Read more

Books+Publishing is partnering with US trade news magazine Publishers Weekly to provide our subscribers with exclusive access to the weekly digital edition of PW magazine.... Read more

The awards recognise entrepreneurs, businesspeople and business owners who have written and published a book demonstrating their skill, knowledge and experience in their industry or area of expertise. The awards also support the Indigenous Literacy Foundation.

For more information or to enter, visit www.businessbookawards.com.au

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Evoking the spirit of 1970s London through the world of squatting and political protests, street parties, encounter groups and gurus, and the mayhem of a... Read more

Luke Icarus Simon’s compelling and groundbreaking work was first published in the 1980s and he has since become one of the quiet achievers of Australian... Read more