Winch wins Miles Franklin, Nielsen predicts book sales rebound and more

Tara June Winch has won the 2020 Miles Franklin Literary Award for her second novel The Yield (Hamish Hamilton), becoming the fourth First Nations writer to win the award in its 63-year history.

At the online ABA conference, Nielsen reported a huge pre-lockdown sales surge and predicted a rebound for the industry. In Melbourne, a number of publishers have worked with Readings and a community not-for-profit to donate more than 1000 children’s books to residents in public housing towers. Michaela McGuire has been appointed artistic director of Melbourne Writers Festival, while in other festival news, ACT Writers published an open letter about this year’s Canberra Writers Festival.

In awards news, the winners of the Griffith Review Novella Project were announced, as were the shortlists for the Davitt Awards and the shortlist for Kill Your Darlings’ Unpublished Manuscript Award.

Overseas, UK customers have expressed unease about returning to bookshops, while Frankfurt Book Fair has revealed details of its virtual program.

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Category: This week’s news