Record-breaking week for book sales, PMLAs shortlists

Australian book sales for the week ending 16 October broke the 10-year average BookScan weekly sales record for this time of year, as New South Wales booksellers were finally able to open up to customers.

The program for the 10th annual SPN Independent Publishing Conference, which runs from 25–27 November, has been announced. Meanwhile, the Aotearoa NZ industry has been shocked by a NZ$500k government grant for a book recommendation site.

The shortlists for the Prime Minister’s Literary Awards have been announced. Jock Serong and Katrina Nannestad were named the winners of this year’s Historical Novel Prizes, worth a total of $100,000. The Australian nominees for the 2022 Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award were announced, as was the shortlist for the SPN Book of the Year Award, and this year’s Writers Victoria Writeability fellows.

Overseas, Frankfurt reported that over 70,000 attended this year’s fair in person. Meanwhile, there was controversy over the presence of a far-right wing German publisher, over which a handful of authors boycotted the fair. The winner of the German Book Prize was announced, as were the three finalists for the Cundill History Prize.

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Category: This week’s news