Wednesday, 17 March 2021
In a big week for events announcements, the Sydney and Auckland writers’ festival programs have been revealed, and the first speakers for the BookUp and IPEd conferences—the second of which...

Thursday, 11 March 2021
The longlist for this year’s Stella Prize, announced last week, includes short fiction, a young adult novel, three works of nonfiction and a novel in translation, and comprises five works...

Wednesday, 3 March 2021
Simon & Schuster Australia has reported a record year of sales in 2020, which were up 15% on 2019 and topped $50 million for the first time. Byron Writers Festival...

Wednesday, 24 February 2021
Late last week, a number of local publishers, literary journals and booksellers had their Facebook pages wiped of content after the social media company responded to the federal government's proposed...

Wednesday, 17 February 2021
HarperCollins Australia is launching a new ‘design-led’ illustrated imprint, Harper by Design. In industry events, IPEd and BWF are collaborating on an Authors and Editors in Conversation series, while EWF...

Wednesday, 10 February 2021
Book sales in Australia were up 17.5% in the 10 weeks to 5 December 2020, data from Nielsen BookScan shows. Rebecca Giggs won the American Library Association's (ALA) Andrew Carnegie...

Wednesday, 3 February 2021
Laura Jean McKay has won Australia’s richest literary prize, the $100,000 Victorian Prize for Literature, for The Animals in That Country (Scribe), at this year’s Victorian Premier's Literary Awards. In...

Thursday, 28 January 2021
A handful of book industry figures have been recognised in the annual Australia Day honours. The full line-up for the 2021 Perth Festival Literature & Ideas program—which runs from 8–28...

Wednesday, 20 January 2021
Australian book sales were up nearly 8% in 2020, led by strong growth in adult fiction and children’s titles, according to Nielsen. Meanwhile, the ASA has reported that royalties declined for...

Wednesday, 13 January 2021
In December last year, the University of Western Australia announced the university’s publishing arm will become a ‘hybrid’ publisher, with the library to take over internal management of the press....

Wednesday, 9 December 2020
Former UWA Publishing director Terri-ann White has launched a new not-for-profit imprint, Upswell, to be distributed within the Black Inc. list. In other news from the past week, online bookseller...

Wednesday, 2 December 2020
Penguin Random House’s parent company Bertelsmann announced it will acquire Simon & Schuster from media company ViacomCBS for US$2.175 billion. Last week, a federal court judge dismissed a defamation case...

Wednesday, 25 November 2020
A new survey by the Australian Society of Authors shows more than half of full-time writers earn below $15,000 per year. The first guests for next year’s Perth Festival Literature...

Wednesday, 18 November 2020
Pan Macmillan is finalising its contractual relationship with Pete Evans, following a social media post by the cookbook author that included a symbol appropriated by Nazis and recognised as a...

Wednesday, 11 November 2020
In industry moves, Vanessa Radnidge is taking on literary at Hachette, with Fiona Hazard to head a newly created lifestyle list, while former Hachette managing editor Brigid Mullane has joined...

Thursday, 5 November 2020
According to a new report, Australia’s overall book sales in the 2021 financial year will be up 4% on the previous year. The report, from consultants Frost & Sullivan, was...

Wednesday, 28 October 2020
In awards news this week, crime writer Michael Robotham won this year’s CWA Gold Dagger award for best crime novel, becoming the first Australian to win the award twice. Maria...

Wednesday, 21 October 2020
The winners of the CBCA Book of the Year awards were announced last week, while a new study found CBCA early childhood category shortlisted books to be overwhelmingly white. In...

Wednesday, 14 October 2020
The ABA and APA have launched a new campaign to encourage Australians to do their Christmas shopping early as the global supply chain strains under the pressure of the Covid-19...

Wednesday, 7 October 2020
This week Booktopia announced a slate of senior appointments, including a new CFO. Meanwhile, the Big Issue released its 2020 fiction edition line-up and the Queensland Poetry Festival received funding...

Wednesday, 30 September 2020
Bookselling chains QBD and Dymocks have each written to Victorian premier Daniel Andrews asking that bookstores be allowed to open in Melbourne, which has been under stage four lockdown since...

Wednesday, 23 September 2020
Books by Trent Dalton, Scott Pape and Bluey have topped Nielsen BookScan’s Australian charts for the year to the end of August. Perth bookshop Rabble Books and Games will no...

Wednesday, 16 September 2020
Hardie Grant has announced the launch of Ultimo Press, a new Sydney-based publishing house to be led by former HarperCollins ANZ CEO James Kellow. In Victoria, the state government has revealed...

Wednesday, 9 September 2020
At the time of writing, over 18,000 people have viewed this year’s virtual Indigenous Literacy Day event, which was streamed live on YouTube on Wednesday, 2 September. Booktopia and QBD...

Wednesday, 2 September 2020
This year’s Melbourne Writers Festival (MWF)—which ran as a digital event due to the Covid-19 pandemic—attracted around 34,200 attendees. A new ‘profit for purpose’ bookshop has been announced for Noosa...

Wednesday, 26 August 2020
The ILF will hold its annual Indigenous Literacy Day celebration as a ‘visual event’ on its YouTube channel on Wednesday, 2 September. Allen & Unwin has announced that writer, actor...

Wednesday, 19 August 2020
The federal government will propose reforms to Australia’s copyright laws in exposure draft legislation it expects to release later this year, and former Wheeler Centre director Michael Williams has been...

Wednesday, 12 August 2020
The future of Writing NSW is under threat after the organisation missed out on multi-year Create NSW funding. In pandemic-related news, the federal government has released guidelines for its $75m...

Wednesday, 5 August 2020
Under stage four lockdown restrictions introduced on Sunday, Melbourne bookshops have closed to the public and can only operate online or via the contactless click and collect method. The ASA,...

Wednesday, 29 July 2020
The Booker Prize longlist—which features writers from the UK, US, Zimbabwe, Ireland and Ethiopia—headlines this week’s awards news. In local awards news, Rodney Hall and Krissy Kneen have received $80,000...