Books+Publishing is currently conducting its annual Christmas survey of booksellers and publishers. Please take a few minutes to complete the survey online. We are accepting submissions... Read more
|
| |
The shortlists for the 2025 Indie Book Awards have been announced. The shortlisted titles in each category are: Fiction Dusk (Robbie Arnott, Picador) Cherrywood (Jock Serong, Fourth... Read more
|
| |
In Aotearoa New Zealand, Erena and Balamohan Shingade have launched Spoor Books. Spoor Books is ‘an independent publisher, a community-oriented platform, and a bookshop featuring... Read more
|
| |
The National Library of Australia (NLA) has announced its 2025 Fellows, awarded to local and international scholars. The recipients and their research projects are: NLA... Read more
|
| |
In the UK, Peter Gizzi has won the 2024 TS Eliot Prize, worth £25,000 (A$49,319), for Fierce Elegy (Penguin), reports Book Brunch. Fierce Elegy was... Read more
|

Nielsen BookScan figures show that the Australian and Aotearoa book markets were down in the year just ended, by 3% and 6.6% in value respectively; Nagi Maehashi’s RecipeTin Eats: Tonight (Macmillan) has topped the 2024 Australian Christmas bestsellers list, while in Aotearoa New Zealand it was In Too Deep (Lee Child & Andrew Child, Bantam) that took out number one on the Christmas bestseller list.
Creative Australia revealed the delegates for the 2025 New York Publishers Program; Varuna introduced a new fellowship program; the National Library of Australia announced its 2025 fellows; new independent publisher Spoor Books launched in Aotearoa New Zealand; and Text is discontinuing the Text Prize, with the 2024 recipient to be in the final in the award’s 16-year history.
In other awards news, Vahida Berberovic won the inaugural WestWords Prize for her novel Piggy Tales; Lilian Pearce is the winner of this year’s PF Rowland Manuscript Development Grant; and the longlists for the 2025 Tasmanian Literary Awards and shortlists for the Indie Book Awards and the ABR Peter Porter Poetry Prize have been announced.
Meanwhile, in the US, Reuters reports that a group of authors is alleging Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg approved the use of pirated books to train Meta’s AI systems; and Simon & Schuster has launched Simon Maverick, an audio-first imprint.
In acquisitions, HarperVia acquired world English rights to two novels by Tiffany Tsao, in a pre-empt deal; and Riveted Press acquired worldwide rights to the middle-grade fantasy series Farwood by Jayne McIntyre, in a three-book deal.
Elsewhere in book industry news, Vulture spoke with eight women, including Aotearoa New Zealand resident Scarlett Pavlovich, for its report on allegations of sexual assault against author Neil Gaiman – following a series of accusations initially covered by Tortoise Media.
|
| |
Megan Brown and Lucy Sussex bring Mary Fortune, one of Australia’s most prolific yet overlooked woman crime writers, and her criminal son, George, to light... Read more
|
| |
Natasha Lester’s The Disappearance of Astrid Bricard. I really enjoyed it because it weaves fact and fiction together, but not in a forced way or... Read more
|
| |
Restless Dolly Maunder by Kate Grenville, which captures the female Australian voice and experience so well – just like Mary Fortune.
|
Sales Nonfiction Allen & Unwin has sold traditional Chinese rights for Good With Money (Emma Edwards) to Sun Color Culture. Black Inc. has sold Ukrainian... Read more
|
| |
Top 10 bestsellers RecipeTin Eats: Tonight (Nagi Maehashi, Macmillan) Escaping Peril (Wings of Fire graphic novel #8) (Tui Sutherland, Scholastic) Here One Moment (Liane Moriarty,... Read more
|
| |
Teachers Michael Lawrence (Testing 3, 2, 1) and Fabio D’Agostin (whose PhD was called ‘Task-Related Emotions in Mathematics Education’) have written an informed and considered... Read more
Books+Publishing pre-publication reviews are supported by the Copyright Agency Cultural Fund. |
| |
Half Truth follows Zahra, a young Moroccan Australian woman, and her grandmother, Khadija. In alternating narratives, the novel follows the pair as they come of age... Read more
Books+Publishing pre-publication reviews are supported by the Copyright Agency Cultural Fund. |
| |
Brenda Niall’s portrait of author Joan Lindsay is bookended by her charming recollections of meeting Lindsay in 1984, just months before her death. In the... Read more
Books+Publishing pre-publication reviews are supported by the Copyright Agency Cultural Fund. |
| |
Camille works for a semi-famous florist in Armadale, where she commutes daily from her home in the country. She yearns for a life full of... Read more
Books+Publishing pre-publication reviews are supported by the Copyright Agency Cultural Fund. |
| |
‘Mary Fortune’ might sound like a pseudonym but it’s the name of one of Australia’s most prolific—if often overlooked—woman crime writers. Outrageous Fortunes is a... Read more
Books+Publishing pre-publication reviews are supported by the Copyright Agency Cultural Fund. |
| |
In their debut poetry collection, Past & Parallel Lives, Kaya Ortiz explores what it means to wrestle with your identity and find belonging. Their poetry... Read more
Books+Publishing pre-publication reviews are supported by the Copyright Agency Cultural Fund. |
| |
Billie Rooney’s educational picture book, Creature Corridors, explores how human infrastructure impacts animal habitats and highlights the role of wildlife corridors in helping animals travel... Read more
Books+Publishing pre-publication reviews are supported by the Copyright Agency Cultural Fund. |
| |
Noongar-Yamatji youth advocate Brooke Blurton has teamed up with Bigambul and Wakka Wakka author and academic Melanie Saward (Love Unleashed) for a new YA series, beginning... Read more
Books+Publishing pre-publication reviews are supported by the Copyright Agency Cultural Fund. |
| |
Fiona McIntosh (The Sugar Palace), the much-celebrated author for grown-ups, makes her debut in picture books with the simply delicious Harry and Gran Bake a... Read more
Books+Publishing pre-publication reviews are supported by the Copyright Agency Cultural Fund. |
| |
Monty and Mandy Take on Camp Spaloonka is a junior graphic novel that follows the hilarious adventures of Monty and Mandy, two best friends who... Read more
Books+Publishing pre-publication reviews are supported by the Copyright Agency Cultural Fund. |
| |
Sunny and Shadow is a heartfelt junior fiction novel and intergenerational tale that follows Calla and her descendants, who all have the precious gift of... Read more
Books+Publishing pre-publication reviews are supported by the Copyright Agency Cultural Fund. |
| |
Author Kerri Lane, who also wrote as Kaz Delaney, has died. Across both pseudonyms, Lane wrote more than 70 novels for children, young adults, and... Read more
|
| |
The author Brenda Walker has died. Walker was the author of the novels Crush, One More River, Poe’s Cat and The Wing of Night. The latter won the 2006... 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
|
Jon Page has been appointed book buyer at WHSmith. Page was previously general manager of Dymocks Sydney.
|

Nominations are currently open for the 2025 Australian Book Industry Awards.
- Book Award nominations are open until Wednesday 29 January
- Audiobook and Publisher Business Award nominations are open until Wednesday 12 February
- Nominations for all 2025 Retail Awards can be made by completing this form by Tuesday 21 January.
You can visit the ABIA website to learn more about the Awards and eligibility criteria for each category, and to start nominating.
|

Thames & Hudson would like to inform our customers about the procedure for placing last orders with ADS before the switch to PRHD (UBD) from 1 February 2025.
Orders
Last EDI or manual orders to ADS must be placed by COB Tuesday 28 January 2025 and will be dispatched by Friday 31 January 2025. The final dispatch date of all orders from ADS is Friday 31 January 2025.
From 7am on Friday 31 January 2025, retailers are to switch over EDI ordering from ADS to PRHD, and orders can be placed with PRHD, with the first dispatch from Monday 3 February 2025 (PRHD SAN: 9000011).
All new-release orders and backorders (both EDI and non-EDI) placed with ADS will be transferred to PRHD.
Backorders will be transferred from ADS to PRHD on Friday 31 January 2025, with the first dispatch from Monday 3 February 2025.
Returns (as previously communicated)
The last day for returns authorisation requests to be processed by ADS is Friday 28 February 2025. Valid requests must be received by COB Thursday 27 February 2025.
The last day for authorised returned stock to be accepted by ADS is Monday 31 March 2025. Any returns received after this date will be rejected and pulped, unless the retailer accepts the costs of returning the stock within two days of being notified of a rejected return.
The first date that PRHD will accept returns for stock invoiced by ADS (within agreed sale-or-return parameters – 3 to 12 months from invoice date) is 1 March 2025.
|
Pantera Press moves from PRH Distribution to TDLC for distribution in Australia and New Zealand
Pantera Press would like to inform our customers that, with the change of distribution to Hardie Grant (TDLC) from 1 March 2025, PRH Distribution (PRHD) will continue to service Pantera Press through to the end of February 2025.
New release titles
The last new releases to be supplied by PRHD will be February 2025.
Orders for March new release titles and beyond are to be sent to TDLC. The order cut-off for March new releases at TDLC is 3 February 2025.
Backlist
All backlist orders for Pantera Press are to continue to be sent to PRHD up to and including 24 February and will be dispatched by PRHD by 28 February 2025.
Backorders recorded with PRHD will be cancelled on 25 February. Customers will need to place a new order with TDLC.
All backlist orders after 24 February are to be sent to TDLC.
Returns
Return Authorisations for books invoiced by PRHD will cease to be issued after 28 March 2025. All authorised returns must be received by PRHD no later than 30 April 2025.
Returns received by PRHD after 30 April 2025, or sent to PRHD without a valid Return Authorisation, will be returned to the customer at the customer’s expense.
Contact details for customers
PRHD Customer Service
Phone: 1800 33 88 36
Email: aftersales@unitedbookdistributors.com.au
TDLC Customer Service
Phone: 1300 65 90 82
Email: enquiries@tdlc.com.au
|
|