Text Prize 2024 shortlist announced
Tuesday, 28 May 2024
The shortlist for the 2024 Text Prize for Young Adult and Children’s Writing, worth $10,000, has been announced. Shortlisted manuscripts are: ‘The Feathers of Farwood’ by Jayne McIntyre (middle grade),...
Bloomsbury reports record year of revenue and profit
Tuesday, 28 May 2024
In the UK, Bloomsbury has reported its highest revenue and profit in its 37-year history, reports the Bookseller, which also said sales of titles by Bloomsbury author Sarah J Maas...
‘Solenoid’ wins 2024 Dublin Literary Award
Monday, 27 May 2024
Solenoid by Romanian author Mircea Cărtărescu (Deep Vellum Publishing), translated by US translator Sean Cotter, has won the €100,000 (A$163,706) international Dublin Literary Award, the world’s most valuable annual prize...
Bacon awarded 2024 Hedberg Writer-in-Residence
Monday, 27 May 2024
African Australian speculative fiction author Eugen Bacon has been named the 2024 University of Tasmania Hedberg Writer-in-Residence, worth $30,000. Eugen will use the Hobart residency, which consists of three months writing, working...
‘Who’s Afraid of the Light?’ wins ABDA book of the year
Monday, 27 May 2024
The winners for the 2024 Australian Book Design Awards, presented by the Australian Book Designers Association (ABDA), have been announced. The winners in each category are: Book of the year...
Affirm to distribute Gemini Books
Thursday, 23 May 2024
Affirm Press will distribute titles from new UK-based publishing house Gemini Books in Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand from July. Gemini Books was founded by Marcus Leaver, co-founder of Welbeck...
Spotify adds Bonnier and Blackstone audiobooks
Thursday, 23 May 2024
Spotify has announced that audiobooks from Bonnier Books UK and Blackstone Publishing have been added to the platform’s Premium audiobook offering. In announcing the ‘two new publishing partners’, Spotify audiobook...
Text acquires Stanley’s ‘Consider Yourself Kissed’
Thursday, 23 May 2024
Text Publishing has acquired ANZ rights to London-based Australian novelist Jessica Stanley’s Consider Yourself Kissed, via Lizzy Kremer at David Higham Associates. Kremer also sold US rights to Sarah McGrath...
Affirm acquires Art Simone anthology
Thursday, 23 May 2024
Affirm Press has acquired world rights to Drag Queens Down Under, an anthology curated by Art Simone. The anthology is described by the publisher as ‘a glorious celebration of life...
S&S acquires Behrendt novel
Wednesday, 22 May 2024
Simon & Schuster Australia (S&S) imprint Bundyi has acquired world rights to a new commercial novel by Larissa Behrendt. Friends for nearly four decades, Behrendt and Bundyi publisher-at-large Anita Heiss...
BookUp 2024 first guests announced
Wednesday, 22 May 2024
The Australian Publishers Association (APA) has announced this year’s BookUp conference will take place on 7 August at State Library Victoria in Melbourne, with tickets now on sale. Thames &...
Erpenbeck, Hofmann win 2024 International Booker for ‘Kairos’
Wednesday, 22 May 2024
The novel Kairos, written by Jenny Erpenbeck and translated from German by Michael Hofmann (Granta), has won the £50,000 (A$95,325) International Booker Prize, reports the Bookseller. Kairos was chosen from...
Phommavanh charged for alleged grooming
Tuesday, 21 May 2024
Sydney children’s author Oliver Phommavanh has been charged for allegedly grooming a minor online, reports the ABC. According to ABC News, it is alleged that Phommavanh ‘sent inappropriate photos and...
PRH merges Penguin Business and Penguin Life imprints
Tuesday, 21 May 2024
In the UK, Penguin Random House has announced it is merging its Penguin Business and Penguin Life imprints with immediate effect, under the name Penguin Life, reports the Bookseller. Publishing...
NSW Premier’s Literary Awards 2024 winners announced
Tuesday, 21 May 2024
The winners of the 2024 NSW Premier’s Literary Awards were announced on 20 May. Ali Cobby Eckermann's verse novel She Is the Earth won the overall $10,000 Book of the...
Aurealis Awards 2023 winners announced
Tuesday, 21 May 2024
The winners of the 2023 Aurealis Awards, presented for science fiction, fantasy and horror writing published last year in Australia, have been announced. Among longer-form winners, chosen from shortlists announced...
S&S acquires Murphy memoir ‘Madam’
Tuesday, 21 May 2024
Simon & Schuster Australia (S&S) has acquired UK and Commonwealth rights to Antonia Murphy’s forthcoming memoir, Madam, at auction, via Alice Tasman and Cole Hildebrand at Jean V Naggar Literary...
BookPeople 2024 Bookseller of the Year shortlists announced
Monday, 20 May 2024
BookPeople has announced the shortlists for its 2024 Bookseller of the Year awards. The awards recognise an individual bookseller for outstanding achievement in the past 12 months, with the young...
Levens resigns as Booktopia CFO
Monday, 20 May 2024
Booktopia chief financial officer (CFO) Fiona Levens has resigned from the company, effective 15 May. In a statement, Booktopia CEO David Nenke acknowledged Levens’ ‘strong leadership during her time with...
Big W opens in Stanhope Gardens
Monday, 20 May 2024
Big W has opened its first new large-format store since 2019 at Stanhope Gardens in north-western Sydney. In a statement, Big W said that the new store will have ‘an...
Azumah Nelson wins Dylan Thomas Prize
Monday, 20 May 2024
In the UK, British-Ghanaian author Caleb Azumah Nelson has won this year’s Swansea University Dylan Thomas Prize for his second novel, Small Worlds (Viking), reports the Guardian. Established in 2006,...
Michael Gifkins Prize 2024 shortlist announced
Monday, 20 May 2024
Text Publishing and the New Zealand Society of Authors Te Puni Kaituhi O Aotearoa (PEN NZ Inc) have announced the shortlist for the 2024 Michael Gifkins Prize for an unpublished...
New $5000 award for Aotearoa NZ writers
Monday, 20 May 2024
The New Zealand Society of Authors Te Puni Kaituhi o Aotearoa (PEN NZ Inc) has announced a new NZ$5000 award for Aotearoa NZ writers. The NZSA Shaw Writer’s Award, established by...
Walker acquires Marr, Speechley picture book
Monday, 20 May 2024
Walker Books Australia has acquired world rights to the picture book One Day, written by Shirley Marr and illustrated by Michael Speechley, in a two-book deal. One Day introduces a...
Huang wins Blake Poetry Prize
Monday, 20 May 2024
Coco X Huang has won the 68th Blake Poetry Prize, worth $5000, for her poem 'Three Lessons'. Huang is a Chinese-Australian writer, musician and scientist, who creates interdisciplinary works that...
Dao, Morrissey and O’Grady named SMH Best Young Australian Novelists 2024
Sunday, 19 May 2024
The Sydney Morning Herald (SMH) has announced the Best Young Australian Novelists for 2024. The writers and their books are: André Dao for Anam (Hamish Hamilton) John Morrissey for Firelight...
Dorothy Hewett Award 2024 shortlist announced
Friday, 17 May 2024
UWA Publishing has announced the shortlist for the 2024 Dorothy Hewett Award for an unpublished manuscript. The shortlisted manuscripts, chosen from over 200 entries, are: ‘The Protector of Fledglings’ by...
Miles Franklin 2024 longlist announced
Thursday, 16 May 2024
The longlist for the 2024 Miles Franklin Literary Award has been announced. The longlisted titles, selected from 104 books, are: Only Sound Remains (Hossein Asgari, Puncher & Wattmann) Wall (Jen...
Ockham NZ Book Awards 2024 winners announced
Thursday, 16 May 2024
The winners of the 2024 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards have been announced. The fiction prize went to Emily Perkins for Lioness (Bloomsbury). Convenor of fiction judges Juliet Blyth said: ‘At...
Cumberland City Council overturns ban on same-sex parenting books in libraries
Thursday, 16 May 2024
Cumberland City Council in Western Sydney has voted to overturn its recent motion to ban same-sex parenting books from its libraries, reports the ABC. According to the ABC, the motion...
