Ultimo acquires Hyland crime fiction in two-book deal
Thursday, 3 June 2021
Ultimo Press has acquired world rights to Canticle Creek and a second book by crime writer Adrian Hyland. ‘When Adam Lawson's wrecked car is found a kilometre from Daisy Baker’s...
‘The Nancys’ optioned for screen
Wednesday, 2 June 2021
Screen adaptation rights to crime novel The Nancys by Melbourne-based New Zealand author R W R McDonald (A&U) have been optioned by Queensland production company Hoodlum Entertainment, via Grace Heifetz...
Albert Namatjira (Vincent Namatjira, Magabala)
Wednesday, 2 June 2021
In his picture book biography Albert Namatjira, Vincent Namatjira paints a stoic and quietly devastating portrait of his great-grandfather Albert, one of the most iconic figures in Australian painting. An...
The Night Village (Zoe Deleuil, Fremantle Press)
Tuesday, 1 June 2021
A year ago, Paul and Simone met at a party—young, carefree and living separate lives. Now, they’re parents to a tiny new baby and nothing between them is the same....
Meet PRH Australia rights executive for children’s books Jordan Meek
Wednesday, 26 May 2021
After joining the rights team at Penguin Random House Australia three years ago, Jordan Meek now manages the publisher’s children’s rights in translation markets. She spoke to Think Australian. How...
Australian children’s publishing ahead of Bologna
Wednesday, 26 May 2021
While many Australian rights managers and literary agents will be missing the book fair halls (and bars and restaurants) of Bologna, they couldn’t be busier as in-person fairs have effectively...
‘Treehouse’ titles top children’s fiction, nonfiction charts
Wednesday, 26 May 2021
Andy Griffiths and Terry Denton’s ‘Treehouse’ series—which celebrates 10 years in print this year—has topped the Australian children’s fiction chart (The 130-Storey Treehouse) and Australian children’s/YA nonfiction chart (The Treehouse...
Bookshop-set middle-grade adventure bags multiple prizes
Wednesday, 26 May 2021
The Grandest Bookshop in the World by Amelia Mellor (Affirm Press)—a middle-grade adventure novel set in Melbourne’s historic Cole’s Book Arcade—has picked up three major book prizes in recent months:...
YA psychological thriller to be adapted for film
Wednesday, 26 May 2021
Gordon Reece’s 2010 YA novel Mice (Allen & Unwin) will be adapted into a feature film by Nicole Kidman’s production company Blossom Films and Bruna Papandrea’s Made Up Stories. Mice...
Magabala picture book scores North American sale
Wednesday, 26 May 2021
A number of Australian children’s picture books have been sold into international markets over the past few months, including a North American sale for Indigenous publisher Magabala Books. Magabala Books...
Text signs Sheppard in two-book deal
Wednesday, 26 May 2021
Text Publishing has acquired world rights to the second YA novel by Holden Sheppard, in a two-book deal via Gaby Naher of Left Bank Literary. The Brink (2022) follows a...
Small press, big picture: New picture books from Windy Hollow, Berbay, Magabala and Fremantle Press
Wednesday, 26 May 2021
Four Australian small presses—Windy Hollow Books, Berbay Publishing, Magabala Books and Fremantle Press—are taking their picture books to the world. The world is starting to take notice of Windy Hollow...
Keeping it real: The latest YA Own Voices titles from Australian publishers
Wednesday, 26 May 2021
As the Own Voices movement gains momentum around the world, Australian publishers have been filling their YA lists with diverse and exciting Own Voices titles. In 2018 Fremantle Press published...
‘Treehouse’ titles top children’s fiction, nonfiction charts YTD
Wednesday, 26 May 2021
Andy Griffiths and Terry Denton’s ‘Treehouse’ series—which celebrates 10 years in print this year—has topped the Australian children’s fiction chart (The 130-Storey Treehouse) and Australian children’s/YA nonfiction chart (The Treehouse...
Stellarphant
Wednesday, 26 May 2021
Stella wants to be an astronaut. There is only one problem: Stella is an elephant. Every time she applies to Space Command, they come up with a new reason she...
Grandma’s Knicker Tree
Wednesday, 26 May 2021
A charming story about the importance of gardens, grandparents and families doing things together. When our dads say, ‘Money doesn’t grow on trees you know,’ Grandma smiles and says, ‘Mmm,...
Sardines and the Angel
Wednesday, 26 May 2021
A vintage children’s story written and illustrated by Bettina Ehrlich. Miss Patricia Higgins’ painting holiday in a picturesque Italian fishing village isn’t going according to plan. As soon as her...
Shine
Wednesday, 26 May 2021
Shine is a love song between a parent and a child, celebrating the beauty and joy of everyday family life, through mess and chaos and daily routines. This is a...
The Monster of Her Age
Wednesday, 26 May 2021
Ellie Marsden was born into the legendary Lovinger acting dynasty. Granddaughter of the infamous Lottie Lovinger, as a child Ellie shared the silver screen with Lottie in her one-and-only role...
Sunburnt Veils
Wednesday, 26 May 2021
Tara wears hijab even though her parents hate it, and in a swipe right world she’s looking for the ‘will go to the ends of the earth for you’ type...
The Mother Wound (Amani Haydar, Macmillan)
Tuesday, 25 May 2021
Like her own mother before her, Amani Haydar lost her mother young. In 2006 Haydar’s grandmother was killed in the 2006 Israeli–Lebanese conflict. In 2015 Haydar’s mother was murdered by...
‘The Yield’ optioned for screen
Thursday, 20 May 2021
Tara June Winch's 2020 Miles Franklin Literary Award-winning novel The Yield (Penguin) has been optioned for screen adaptation. Winch is represented by Melanie Ostell Literary with the option and purchase...
Amazon picks up ‘The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart’ series adaptation
Wednesday, 19 May 2021
Amazon Prime Video has announced it has commissioned production on a seven-part series adaptation of Holly Ringland's 2018 novel The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart (Fourth Estate), with Sigourney Weaver set...
Williams, Pape top 2021 YTD Australian charts
Wednesday, 19 May 2021
Pip Williams’s lockdown bestseller The Dictionary of Lost Words—which was number six on the overall Australian fiction bestsellers chart in 2020—has risen to number one in the chart for the...
Miles Franklin Literary Award 2021 longlist announced
Tuesday, 18 May 2021
The longlist for the 2021 Miles Franklin Literary Award, worth $60,000, has been announced. The 12 longlisted novels are: Amnesty (Aravind Adiga, Picador) The Rain Heron (Robbie Arnott, Text) At the...
Reece YA novel ‘Mice’ to be adapted for film
Friday, 7 May 2021
Gordon Reece's 2010 young adult novel Mice (A&U) will be adapted into a feature film by Nicole Kidman’s production company Blossom Films and Bruna Papandrea’s Made Up Stories. Mice is a psychological...
‘Now That I See You’ wins 2021 Vogel
Monday, 3 May 2021
Now That I See You by Canberra author Emma Batchelor is the winner of this year's $20,000 Australian/Vogel’s Literary Award, for an unpublished manuscript by an author under the age...
Crawford’s ‘No Document’ sells to US
Thursday, 29 April 2021
North American rights to Anwen Crawford’s nonfiction work No Document have been sold to Transit Books. Adam Levy and Ashley Nelson Levy from Transit acquired rights from Nick Tapper at Giramondo....
‘Phosphorescence’ wins 2021 ABIA Book of the Year
Wednesday, 28 April 2021
The winners of the 2021 Australian Book Industry Awards (ABIAs) have been announced. In the business awards, Penguin Random House Australia won publisher of the year while the University of...
Baxter’s ‘New Animal’ sells to US, UK, optioned for TV
Wednesday, 28 April 2021
US rights to Ella Baxter's debut novel New Animal (A&U) have been sold to independent publisher Two Dollar Radio by The Book Group on behalf of Grace Heifetz at Left Bank Literary....
