Features | Books+Publishing

Meet the ABIA Rising Stars 2021: Stef Italia

Friday, 16 April 2021
The Australian Book Industry Awards (ABIA) Rising Star of the Year is awarded to an emerging talent in Australian publishing who has spent less than 10 years in the industry. In the...

Meet literary agent Jacinta di Mase

Wednesday, 14 April 2021
As the pandemic keeps rights sellers from meeting face-to-face, Books+Publishing is shining a regular spotlight on the work of Australian rights agents. Today, we hear from Jacinta di Mase, the founder and lead agent...

Meet the ABIA Rising Stars 2021: Pooja Desai

Wednesday, 14 April 2021
The Australian Book Industry Awards (ABIA) Rising Star of the Year is awarded to an emerging talent in Australian publishing who has spent less than 10 years in the industry. In...

May reviews round-up

Thursday, 8 April 2021
In May Anita Heiss will release her latest work of historical fiction, Bila Yarrudhanggalangdhuray (River of Dreams), which reviewer Joanne Shiells loved and said deserves to be read by all...

The rights approach: Australians on rights sales and acquisitions in Latin America

Thursday, 8 April 2021
This year the Australian Publishers Association is running a series of rights networking events to help Australian publishers connect with overseas markets. In the lead-up to its event with Latin...

Alice Pung on ‘One Hundred Days’

Wednesday, 7 April 2021
One Hundred Days (Black Inc., June), Alice Pung's first novel for adults, is described as a fractured fairytale about 16-year-old Karuna, who is locked in her family's housing commission flat...

Melbourne City of Lit meets Kraków’s Massolit Books

Wednesday, 31 March 2021
In this series, run in partnership with the Melbourne City of Literature Office, we get to know some of the bookshops in the UNESCO Cities of Literature network. 'Massolit is...

Shirley Marr on ‘A Glasshouse of Stars’

Wednesday, 31 March 2021
Perth author Shirley Marr's fourth children's book, A Glasshouse of Stars (Puffin, May), is a semi-autobiographical middle-grade novel inspired by Marr's experiences growing up as a first-generation Chinese–Australian migrant. Reviewer...

Meet literary agent Alex Adsett

Wednesday, 24 March 2021
As the pandemic keeps rights sellers from meeting face-to-face, Books+Publishing is shining a regular spotlight on the work of Australian rights agents. Today, we hear from Alex Adsett, a literary agent representing authors across...

Anita Heiss on ‘Bila Yarrudangga-langdhuray’

Tuesday, 23 March 2021
Anita Heiss's new historical novel Bila Yarrudanggalangdhuray (S&S, May), the first Australian commercial fiction release to feature the title on the cover solely in an Aboriginal language, follows protagonist Wagadhaany,...

Lift-off: Non-profit Parachute Press launches in regional Vic

Wednesday, 17 March 2021
Parachute Press is a new children’s publisher based in Castlemaine, regional Victoria. Co-founded by award-winning author Martine Murray and artist, ceramicist and musician Anna Read, Parachute Press is described by...

New talent: Australian publishers, agents nominate their top new authors

Wednesday, 17 March 2021
The first issue for 2021 of Books+Publishing’s sister publication Think Australian is shining a spotlight on debut and early-career authors. In this preview, Think Australian asked Australian publishers and literary...

Jacqueline Bublitz on ‘Before You Knew My Name’

Tuesday, 16 March 2021
Jacqueline Bublitz's debut novel Before You Knew My Name (A&U, May) takes the crime fiction trope of a jogger discovering a dead body and turns it on its head. Bublitz's novel...

International outlook: Translated books in the Australian market

Thursday, 11 March 2021
In Australia, the reading public's appetite for translated books has been growing steadily over the years. With international travel at a standstill, now more than ever there appears to be...

Krissy Kneen on ‘The Three Burials of Lotty Kneen’

Wednesday, 10 March 2021
In Krissy Kneen's new memoir The Three Burials of Lotty Kneen (Text, May), the death of her beloved grandmother is the catalyst for the excavation of long-buried family history, taking Kneen—and the...

April reviews round-up

Wednesday, 3 March 2021
With Mother's Day just around the corner, April is chock full of great literary book club titles. Jacqueline Maley's debut novel The Truth About Her, about a journalist juggling motherhood,...

Katherine Rajwar on interning at Hachette

Wednesday, 3 March 2021
The annual paid Hachette Australia summer internship was established in 2020 as part of a suite of activities the company has created to attract new talent into book publishing. Katherine...

How international book markets performed in 2020

Wednesday, 24 February 2021
Through the PubMagNet initiative—a collaboration between book industry trade magazines from around the world—representatives from publications in the UK, US, Germany, France, Italy, Sweden, Japan, Brazil and China have shared...

Sara Haghdoosti on ‘Sunburnt Veils’

Tuesday, 23 February 2021
Sara Haghdoosti's debut YA novel Sunburnt Veils (Wakefield, April) follows protagonist Tara as she navigates relationships, racism and political activism during her first year of university. Reviewer Mischa Parkee said...

Mothers and daughters: Jacqueline Maley on ‘The Truth About Her’

Wednesday, 17 February 2021
Jacqueline Maley's debut novel The Truth About Her (Fourth Estate, April) follows Suzy, a journalist and single parent who's blamed for the suicide of a young wellness blogger and drawn...

Meet Scholastic Australia rights manager Claire Pretyman

Wednesday, 17 February 2021
As the pandemic keeps rights sellers from meeting face-to-face, Books+Publishing is shining a regular spotlight on the work of Australian rights agents. Today, we hear from Scholastic Australia rights manager Claire Pretyman. How...

Christmas 2020 survey results

Wednesday, 17 February 2021
Over the past week, Books+Publishing has published the results from its latest annual Christmas survey of booksellers and publishers. The survey included feedback from over 60 bookshops around Australia, with...

Christmas 2020: Strong sales across all categories

Monday, 15 February 2021
Most booksellers surveyed by Books+Publishing were pleased to report that sales were spread across all sections of their shops, with this reflected in the most mentioned titles spanning a diverse range...

The state of accessible publishing in Australia

Wednesday, 10 February 2021
Last year, Sydney University's Agata Mrva-Montoya undertook research into the issues affecting the production of accessible books in Australia. Mrva-Montoya conducted surveys aimed at Australian publishers and disability organisations involved...