Stella Prize shortlist, APA launches rights networking events

Last week the shortlist for the 2021 Stella Prize was announced, as was the program for the second StoryFest festival, which takes place on the NSW South Coast in June.

The APA launched a series of rights networking events to help Australian publishers connect with international publishers, beginning with an event run in conjunction with Livres Canada Books in late January. Meanwhile, the Small Press Network announced the dates of this year’s Independent Publishing Conference, which includes the return of the Industry Research Day, and the federal government announced it will increase the amount of funding available through its Restart Investment to Sustain and Expand (RISE) fund from $75 million to $200 million.

Melbourne’s Feminist Writers Festival is closing due to lack of funding, while across the ditch Luke Finnigan has been awarded Penguin Random House New Zealand’s inaugural Māori and Pasifika Publishing Scholarship.

In overseas news, Carmen Maria Machado won the 2021 Folio Prize for her memoir In the Dream House (Serpent’s Tail), the winners of the National Book Critics Circle Awards were announced, and the shortlist for the €100,000 (A$155,200) Dublin Literary Award was unveiled. Finally, HarperCollins parent company News Corp will purchase the trade publishing division of US publisher Houghton Mifflin Harcourt after failing in its bid to buy Simon & Schuster last year.

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