S&S acquires Rogers novel in three-book deal
Thursday, 29 February 2024
Simon & Schuster Australia (S&S) has acquired world rights to Matt Rogers’ novel The Forsaken in a three-book deal via Daniel Pilkington. The publisher said The Forsaken is the first...
HarperCollins acquires Gorman’s ‘Lost Pleasure’
Thursday, 29 February 2024
HarperCollins has acquired world rights to Lost Pleasure: Searching for the sex straight women are missing by Alyx Gorman. Gorman is the lifestyle editor of Guardian Australia and has been writing...
Kat Muscat Fellowship 2024 shortlist announced
Thursday, 29 February 2024
Express Media and the Kat Muscat Fellowship Committee have announced the shortlist for the 2024 Kat Muscat Fellowship, which offers support and development to a young Australian writer and/or editor...
MidnightSun acquires Siemienowicz novel ‘Double Happiness’
Thursday, 29 February 2024
MidnightSun has acquired world rights to Double Happiness, a novel by Rochelle Siemienowicz. The publisher said that Double Happiness is ‘a novel about the complexities of polyamorous relationships’. ‘Overcome with...
MWF announces Cunningham, Murray and Jamison as first guests
Thursday, 29 February 2024
Melbourne Writers Festival (MWF) has announced the first guests for the 2024 event, which will take place from 6 to 12 May. Pulitzer Prize–winner Michael Cunningham, Booker-nominee Paul Murray and New York Times bestselling...
2024 Prime Minister’s Literary Awards dates announced
Thursday, 29 February 2024
Creative Australia has announced the dates for the 2024 Prime Minister’s Literary Awards, with the winner announcement brought forward two months from the previous year. Entries for the 2024 awards...
Lagardère global publishing revenue up 2.2%
Thursday, 29 February 2024
Lagardère, the parent company of Hachette, has reported its publishing revenue for 2023 came in at €2.8 billion (A$4.7b) for 2023, up 2.2% on 2022 as reported and up 1.9%...
Gender pay gaps revealed for larger Australian publishers
Thursday, 29 February 2024
Many larger Australian publishing houses’ gender pay gaps are now viewable through the Australian Government’s Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA) data explorer, which was made available this week. As reported...
Bri Lee recommends
Wednesday, 28 February 2024
Stone Yard Devotional by Charlotte Wood! She’s the G.O.A.T. Huge fan. How she does so much in so few pages always astounds me. A master at work, for sure.
Reti resigns from MWF board over program
Wednesday, 28 February 2024
Retired clinician Leslie Reti has resigned from his position as Melbourne Writers Festival (MWF) deputy chair. In a statement to the Age, Reti said his reasons for resigning from the...
Hardie Grant Explore, Intrepid Travel announce publishing joint venture
Wednesday, 28 February 2024
Hardie Grant Explore (HG Explore) has announced a new joint venture with Intrepid Travel to publish a new series of travel books. The list will begin with The Intrepid List,...
S&S acquires Garside memoir ‘The Good Fight’
Wednesday, 28 February 2024
Simon & Schuster Australia (S&S) has acquired world rights to The Good Fight, a memoir by boxer Harry Garside. Garside rose to prominence following his bronze medal win at the...
Pantera acquires Lenton debut ‘Spite Pie’
Wednesday, 28 February 2024
Pantera Press has acquired world rights to the debut novel Spite Pie by journalist and writer Patrick Lenton in a two-book deal brokered by Lou Johnson at Key People Literary...
Self-publishing platform secures funding for AI-powered publishing
Wednesday, 28 February 2024
Publishing figures Stefan von Holtzbrinck, the owner of Holtzbrinck Publishing Group, which owns Macmillan, and former Penguin CEO Michael Lynton are among those investing in Inkitt, a self-described data-driven publishing...
CBCA 2024 Notable Books announced
Tuesday, 27 February 2024
The Children’s Book Council of Australia (CBCA) has announced its list of Notable Books for 2024. The list acts as the longlist for the CBCA Book of the Year Awards....
Bri Lee on ‘The Work’
Tuesday, 27 February 2024
Bri Lee is a celebrated author, academic and activist known for nonfiction titles Eggshell Skull (2018), Beauty (2019) and Who Gets to Be Smart (2021). Her debut fiction novel, The...
Conversation launches books and ideas newsletter
Tuesday, 27 February 2024
Research-based news and analysis website the Conversation has launched a new books and ideas newsletter. ‘With shrinking space in many newspapers for serious discussion of books and ideas, we think...
Charlotte Aitken Young Writer of the Year Award 2023 shortlist announced
Tuesday, 27 February 2024
In the UK, the shortlist for the 2023 Charlotte Aitken Young Writer of the Year Award has been announced, reported the Bookseller. The prize money for the award is £10,000...
Daisley on Walter Scott longlist
Tuesday, 27 February 2024
In the UK, Aotearoa New Zealand author Stephen Daisley has been longlisted for the Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction, worth £25,000 (A$48,500). The full list of titles longlisted for...
Hardie Grant Children’s Publishing acquires Rossell middle-grade novel
Monday, 26 February 2024
Hardie Grant Children’s Publishing (HGCP) has acquired world rights (ex North America) to The Midwatch, a middle-grade novel from author and illustrator Judith Rossell, via Annabel Barker of Annabel Barker...
HG Explore acquires Mayo’s Always Was, Always Will Be
Monday, 26 February 2024
Hardie Grant Explore (HG Explore) has acquired world rights to Thomas Mayo’s nonfiction book Always Was, Always Will Be, via Clare Forster at the Curtis Brown Agency. HG Explore said...
PRH to turn Grantham facility into new hub for PRH US in Europe
Monday, 26 February 2024
In the UK, Penguin Random House (PRH) UK’s Grantham Book Services warehouse will be retrofitted to become a new operational hub for PRH US to fulfil orders from customers in...
Brooks wins 2023 Judith Wright Poetry Prize
Monday, 26 February 2024
Overland has announced that Andrew Brooks is the winner of the 2023 Judith Wright Poetry prize, for his poem ‘Celestial Tree’. Brooks is a lecturer in media and culture, living...
Zhang wins 2023 Neilma Sidney Short Story Prize
Monday, 26 February 2024
Overland has announced that Annie Zhang is the winner of the 2023 Neilma Sidney Short Story Prize, for her story ‘Who Rattles the Night?’. Zhang is a writer and editor...
A&U promotes Forge to associate publisher
Monday, 26 February 2024
Allen & Unwin (A&U) has promoted Samantha Forge to the position of associate publisher—books for children and young adults. Forge has over 12 years’ experience in trade publishing, and was...
Smith wins 2024 Gwen Harwood Poetry Prize
Thursday, 22 February 2024
Yasmin Smith has won Island magazine’s 2024 Gwen Harwood Poetry Prize for the poem ‘The Burial Feathers’. Smith’s poem was chosen from about 500 entries. The two runners-up were Emilie...
Affirm Press sells screen rights to Funny Ethnics
Thursday, 22 February 2024
Flying Bark Productions has optioned the screen rights to Shirley Le’s Funny Ethnics (Affirm), in a deal negotiated by Bold Type Agency on behalf of Affirm Press. The 2022 novel ‘catapults...
The Heart Is a Star screen option sold to Aquarius Films
Thursday, 22 February 2024
The Heart Is a Star (Megan Rogers, HarperCollins) has been optioned by Aquarius Films, in a television deal negotiated by Zeitgeist Agency. The novel—Rogers’ debut—is ‘set predominantly in rugged Tasmania’,...
UK indies struggling to find distribution post-Grantham
Wednesday, 21 February 2024
In the UK, independent publishers are finding distribution ‘particularly challenging’ following last year’s announcement that Grantham Book Services (GBS) will close in 2025, reported the Bookseller. ‘The reality is that...
Can ChatGPT edit fiction? Four editors put it to the test
Wednesday, 21 February 2024
Editors Rose Michael, Sharon Mullins, Renée Otmar and Katherine Day have previously explored how AI tools might work, or be made to work, for editorial. In this extract from an...
