News | Books+Publishing

Craig leaves Ultimo

Monday, 5 February 2024
Ultimo Press has announced that Alex Craig has departed the business. Craig ‘joined Ultimo Press at the very beginning of the imprint and was responsible for publishing critically acclaimed and...

Vivendi considers plans to put Hachette on stock market

Monday, 5 February 2024
In France, Vivendi, which acquired Hachette parent company Lagardère in 2023, has detailed plans to split Vivendi into four entities, each of which would be listed on the stock market,...

Yee wins 2024 Victorian Prize for Literature at VPLAs

Friday, 2 February 2024
Grace Yee has won Australia’s single richest literary prize, the $100,000 Victorian Prize for Literature, for her poetry collection Chinese Fish (Giramondo) at this year’s Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards (VPLAs)....

Children’s authors, editors sign open letter calling for ceasefire

Thursday, 1 February 2024
In the US, over 3500 children’s authors, illustrators, agents, editors, and other members of the children's literature community have signed an open letter to US President Joe Biden as the...

Ockham 2024 longlists announced

Thursday, 1 February 2024
The longlists for the 2024 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards have been announced. The longlisted titles in each category are: Jann Medlicott Acorn Prize for Fiction (NZ$65,000) Audition (Pip Adam,...

APA to join Attorney-General’s AI reference group

Thursday, 1 February 2024
The Australian Publishers Association (APA) has been invited onto the Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus’s Copyright and Artificial Intelligence Reference Group. The reference group, which was announced at the end of 2023...

APA releases diversity and inclusion plan

Thursday, 1 February 2024
The Australian Publishers Association (APA) has released a diversity and inclusion plan ‘to guide and support industry progress over the next two years’. Listed on the organisation’s website, the plan...

Romantasy, audio and b-format: Bookseller and publisher predictions for 2024

Wednesday, 31 January 2024
Booksellers and publishers who responded to Books+Publishing's Christmas survey were asked to predict what trends and developments might unfold in 2024. From buying habits to trendy genres, we share some...

Publishers on Christmas 2023: Black Friday changes buying patterns as fiction holds strong

Wednesday, 31 January 2024
Publisher responses to this year's Books+Publishing Christmas survey show the key selling season was better than expected for half of respondents, and close to expectations for the remaining 50% of...

Adelaide Writers’ Week announces 2024 program

Wednesday, 31 January 2024
Adelaide Writers’ Week (AWW) has announced its 2024 program, running from 2 to 7 March. Held in Adelaide's Pioneer Women’s Memorial Garden, the week features 194 writers across 135 sessions, under...

Forrest wins Newcastle Short Story Award

Wednesday, 31 January 2024
Western Sydney writer Patrick Cruz Forrest has taken first place in the 2023 Newcastle Short Story Award for his short story ‘Kuya’. The winners, which will be published in an...

Inaugural Nero Book Award category winners announced

Wednesday, 31 January 2024
The four category winners of the inaugural Nero Book Awards have been announced. Winners are: Children’s fiction The Swifts (Beth Lincoln, illus by Claire Powell, Puffin) Debut fiction Close to...

Horman, Robinsons Books apologise for X comments

Tuesday, 30 January 2024
Susanne Horman, owner of Robinsons Bookshop, has apologised for comments about diverse books posted to her X account, reported the Age yesterday. On the weekend, Instagrammer @coffeebooksandmagic posted screenshots from...

Hardie Grant to move distribution to TDLC

Tuesday, 30 January 2024
Hardie Grant Publishing will move its Australian distribution from HEDS (Harper Entertainment Distribution Services) to TDLC (The Distribution and Logistics Company). Distribution with TDLC will commence on 1 July 2024,...

Authors among Australia Day honours

Monday, 29 January 2024
Several authors have been recognised in the annual Australia Day honours. Aotearoa New Zealand children's writer and illustrator Pamela Allen has been appointed as a Member of the Order of...

A&U acquires Scolyer memoir

Monday, 29 January 2024
Allen & Unwin (A&U) has announced it has acquired world rights to a memoir from Australian of the Year Richard Scolyer. Scolyer and Georgina Long, co–medical directors of the Sydney-based...

Bacon nominated for Philip K Dick Award

Monday, 29 January 2024
Local author Eugen Bacon is among the six nominees for the 2024 Philip K Dick Awards. Nominated titles include: Danged Black Thing (Eugen Bacon, Apex Book Company) The Museum of...

Staff changes at Red Room Poetry

Thursday, 25 January 2024
Red Room Poetry has announced several staff changes, including appointments of joint artistic directors, a new CEO, and two new managers, as part of the organisation's 'restructured director and management...

Texas book rating law blocked in Court of Appeals

Thursday, 25 January 2024
In a development Publishers Weekly described as ‘a major victory for freedom to read advocates’, the Fifth Circuit of the US Court of Appeals upheld a lower court decision to...

Ultimo acquires debut Evans novel

Thursday, 25 January 2024
Ultimo Press has acquired ANZ rights to Liz Evans’ debut novel, Catherine Wheel, via Tara Wynne at Curtis Brown in a two-book deal. The publisher described the book as 'a...

‘Better than expected’ Christmas for booksellers, despite almost a quarter reporting sales dropped

Wednesday, 24 January 2024
While a small number of booksellers (4.4%) reported an ‘excellent’ Christmas in 2023, sales for the period were down on 2022 for almost a quarter of booksellers who responded to...

Gecko Press acquired by Lerner Publishing Group

Wednesday, 24 January 2024
Aotearoa New Zealand publishing house Gecko Press has been acquired by US Lerner Publishing Group, reported the Publishers Association of New Zealand Te Rau o Tākupu (PANZ). According to an...

Hachette acquires Hampton, Daniher picture books

Wednesday, 24 January 2024
Hachette has acquired world rights to two picture books celebrating First Nations culture by Taylor Hampton and Jacinta Daniher via Rochelle Fernandez at Alex Adsett Literary. According to the publisher,...

Hogan wins 2024 ABR Peter Porter Poetry Prize

Wednesday, 24 January 2024
Australian poet Dan Hogan has won the Australian Book Review (ABR) 2024 Peter Porter Poetry Prize for their poem ‘Workarounds’. Hogan receives $6000, while the other four shortlisted poets—Judith Nangala Crispin,...

S&S acquires Aston’s ‘The Chairman’s Lounge’

Tuesday, 23 January 2024
Simon & Schuster (S&S) Australia has acquired world rights to The Chairman’s Lounge, an ‘explosive work of narrative nonfiction’ with 'fresh interviews and revelations' about Qantas’s handling of the Covid-19...

First Nations Storytelling funding recipients announced

Tuesday, 23 January 2024
Creative Australia has announced the recipients of its Elevate: First Nations Storytelling (Literature) career development funding. The six successful applicants to share almost $60,000 through the program are: Tisha Perrurle...

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