Jones receives Creative Australia Award for Lifetime Achievement in Literature; Flanagan wins Baillie Gifford Prize; Wright, Tiffany 2024 Melbourne Prize winners
Wednesday, 20 November 2024
Headlining awards news, Gail Jones won the Creative Australia Award for Lifetime Achievement in Literature; Alexis Wright won the Melbourne Prize for Literature, and Carrie Tiffany won the Writers Prize;...
Staff changes at Hardie Grant, Scribe; Booktopia Group traded while insolvent; Oliver children’s book withdrawn from sale
Wednesday, 13 November 2024
Hardie Grant Publishing group managing director Julie Pinkham is leaving her role at the end of 2024, moving to a non-executive advisory position with the company, with the company subsequently...
Heifetz, Gilliatt, McGuire, Slater form a4 Literary; Booktopia administrators call second creditor meeting; Walkley Book Award shortlist announced
Wednesday, 6 November 2024
Grace Heifetz, Tom Gilliatt, Michaela McGuire and Rebecca Slater have announced the creation of new literary agency a4 Literary. This follows news of the upcoming dissolution of Left Bank Literary,...
TT. O. wins Patrick White Literary Award, Hughes to leave Affirm, Pan Mac to move distribution to TDLC
Wednesday, 30 October 2024
In local news this week, Martin Hughes will leave Affirm Press, amid other staff changes; Left Bank Literary will dissolve in December; the Australia Institute is launching its own publishing...
SPN to wind up unless new board formed, Shawline liquidation affects hundreds, ‘Edenglassie’ wins Roderick Literary Award
Wednesday, 23 October 2024
The board of the Small Press Network has informed members that it will apply to Consumer Affairs Victoria to terminate the organisation in 30 days, unless a new board is...
Han Kang wins Nobel Prize; McGregor, Sakr, Apolonio awarded Copyright Agency fellowships; bookshops celebrate LYBD 2024
Wednesday, 16 October 2024
South Korean author Han Kang has won the 2024 Nobel Prize for Literature ‘for her intense poetic prose that confronts historical traumas and exposes the fragility of human life’. Also...
Van Neerven receives Creative Australia Fellowship; Shawline enters liquidation; Booksellers Aotearoa NZ launches buying group
Wednesday, 9 October 2024
Author Ellen van Neerven is the recipient of the 2024 Creative Australia Fellowship for literature, worth $80,000; Shawline Publishing has entered liquidation, with liquidator Brooke Bird stating that ‘the master...
Pantera staff moving to Hardie Grant, Magabala moves sales and distribution, Ned Kelly winners
Wednesday, 2 October 2024
After the news last week that Hardie Grant would acquire Pantera Press, the former has confirmed the Pantera staff that will be remaining with Pantera following its move to Hardie...
Hardie Grant acquires Pantera, new Perth literature festival, De Tores wins 2024 Wilbur Smith Adventure Writing Prize
Wednesday, 25 September 2024
Hardie Grant has signed an agreement to acquire Pantera Press, with completion of the sale set for 30 September, subject to customary closing conditions. Perth Festival has announced that it...
Prime Minister’s Literary Awards, Wood on Booker Prize shortlist, Hayward appointed ASA CEO
Wednesday, 18 September 2024
The 2024 Prime Minister's Literary Awards took place last Thursday, with André Dao and Daniel Browning among the winners. Also headlining awards news this week, Charlotte Wood is on the...
Queensland Literary Awards; NSW Premier’s History Awards; Melbourne Prize for Literature finalists
Wednesday, 11 September 2024
In what was a big week for literary awards, the winners of the Queensland Literary Awards and the NSW Premier’s History Awards were announced, with the former’s top prize—the Queensland...
Indigenous Literacy Day takes place today; Rubbo to run new festival; Shawline CEO denies allegations
Wednesday, 4 September 2024
Today is the Indigenous Literacy Foundation’s Indigenous Literacy Day, being celebrated this year under the theme ‘Be a proud voice for Country’, with a special event at the Sydney Opera...
S&S acquires Affirm, Booktopia trading again, Books+Publishing to produce 2025 ABIAs
Wednesday, 28 August 2024
Simon & Schuster Australia (S&S) and Affirm Press announced this week that Affirm will become part of S&S; Booktopia’s website is up and running once more, following the sale of the...
Prime Minister’s Literary Awards shortlists, CBCA winners announced; McGrathNicol confirms Booktopia sale
Wednesday, 21 August 2024
Last Thursday, Creative Australia announced the titles shortlisted for the 2024 Prime Minister’s Literary Awards, with winners to be revealed on 12 September. Headlining other local news this week, the...
Dunn named 2024 Rising Star, Hammer wins ACT Book of the Year, SA Literary Awards shortlist announced
Wednesday, 14 August 2024
In local news this week, the Australian Publishers Association (APA) has confirmed that 14 publishers will attend the 2024 Frankfurt Book Fair on the APA collective stand; attendance was up...
Wright becomes two-time Miles Franklin winner; UBD to rebrand; Hazard to join Keeperton
Wednesday, 7 August 2024
Alexis Wright has won the 2024 Miles Franklin Literary Award, worth $60,000, for her novel Praiseworthy (Giramondo), becoming a two-time winner; former Hachette Australia group publishing director Fiona Hazard has joined...
Paul appointed A&U head of operations, ASA ‘deeply concerned’ about T&F AI deal, Wood longlisted for Booker Prize
Wednesday, 31 July 2024
Following on from last week’s news about its AI deal with Microsoft, Taylor & Francis parent company Informa has confirmed it is ‘partnering with two leading AI technology companies’; the...
SLV staff, board reportedly discussed cancelled Bootcamp writers’ political views; ‘Untapped’ titles move to Ligature; academic authors ‘shocked’ at Microsoft AI agreement
Wednesday, 24 July 2024
This week, the Age and the Guardian reported that State Library Victoria board members and senior staff discussed the political views of writers who were to host the library’s Teen Writing...
Lanchester to step down from ASA, Booktopia orders not being filled, ACT Literary Awards winners
Wednesday, 17 July 2024
Olivia Lanchester, CEO of the Australian Society of Authors, is stepping down; meanwhile, in the latest Booktopia news, the website is not taking orders, and customers with outstanding orders will...
Educational Publishing Awards paused; Hachette appoints Naoum as publishing director; reports QBD, Dymocks, Kogan interested in Booktopia assets
Wednesday, 10 July 2024
The Australian Publishers Association has paused the Educational Publishing Awards Australia for 2024 to allow ‘time for a comprehensive review’, in order to ‘ensure future events are as valuable as...
Miles Franklin 2024 shortlist, Booktopia appoints administrators, PLR/ELR payments up $3.3m
Wednesday, 3 July 2024
Booktopia has appointed McGrathNicol as voluntary administrators of the company and its subsidiaries. This follows news late last week that the company requested a further extension to its voluntary trading...
APA announces Rising Stars shortlist, Gordon-Smith to step down; Booktopia requests extension to voluntary trading suspension; attendance up at MWF, SWF
Wednesday, 26 June 2024
The Australian Publishers Association (APA) has announced CEO Michael Gordon-Smith will retire from the position, with current APA chief of staff Patrizia Di Biase-Dyson to be the new CEO. The...
Booktopia in voluntary trading suspension, Stella Count returns, ‘record-breaking’ Brisbane Writers Festival
Wednesday, 19 June 2024
Trading of Booktopia shares on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) was suspended Monday, pending an announcement from the company. Meanwhile, in other local news, Stella has announced that the Stella...
Bill to establish Writing Australia, King’s Birthday Honours, WA Premier’s Book Award winners
Wednesday, 12 June 2024
Federal arts minister Tony Burke introduced a bill to parliament on 5 June to formally establish Writing Australia and First Nations Arts as bodies within Creative Australia, with Writing Australia...
Redundancies at Booktopia as CEO resigns; Coronel to depart as SPN looks to expand board; full BookUp program released
Wednesday, 5 June 2024
Some significant role changes in the book industry this week, as Booktopia CEO David Nenke resigns and the bookseller announces it is considering at least 50 roles for redundancy; meanwhile,...
ABDA winners, Text Prize shortlist announced, agency news for Affirm and Hardie Grant
Wednesday, 29 May 2024
Some agency news this week: Affirm Press will distribute titles from new UK-based publishing house Gemini Books in Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand from July; and Hardie Grant has announced new...
Miles Franklin longlist, NSW Premier’s Literary Award winners, Levens resigns as Booktopia CFO
Wednesday, 22 May 2024
The 2024 Miles Franklin Literary Award longlist and the NSW Premier's Literary Award winners were both announced this week, with Ali Cobby Eckermann’s verse novel She Is the Earth (Magabala)...
‘The Voice to Parliament Handbook’ wins ABIA book of the year; Birch, McMullin win 2024 Age book of the year awards; restructures at PRHNZ, Hachette UK and US
Wednesday, 15 May 2024
The Voice to Parliament Handbook (Thomas Mayo & Kerry O’Brien, HG Explore) took out the overall book of the year award at the ABIAs late last week—along with category wins...
Wright wins second Stella; NSW, WA premiers’ lit awards shortlists; Hachette on Best Places to Work list
Wednesday, 8 May 2024
Last Thursday Alexis Wright became the first author to win the Stella Prize twice, with her fourth novel, Praiseworthy (Giramondo), named the winner of the $60,000 award in a ceremony in...
Writers boycott SLV, Grenville shortlisted for Women’s Prize, Hardie Grant moves NZ distribution to TDLC
Wednesday, 1 May 2024
Hardie Grant has announced that its distribution in Aotearoa New Zealand will move to The Distribution and Logistics Company (TDLC), along with the previously announced move for distribution in Australia,...
