PRH acquires Text; Restructure, redundancies at Hardie Grant; Christmas sales up
Penguin Random House Australia has acquired Text Publishing, Hardie Grant has announced a restructure of its marketing and communications team and four redundancies; HarperCollins New Zealand has announced the retirement of general manager Karen Ferns and the appointment of Sandy Weir in the role; the Emerging Writers’ Festival has named Jess Zanoni as its new artistic director and co-CEO, and children’s publisher Ethicool Books has been deregistered by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission.
Meanwhile, Christmas sales – those during the four weeks to 28 December 2024 – were up slightly by value compared to Christmas 2023, even as sales for the 2024 year overall were down.
In awards news, several works by authors from Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand are longlisted for the 2025 Dublin Literary Award; a manuscript by local author Hollen Singleton is shortlisted for the Novel Prize; Paula Green was named the 2025 recipient of the Storylines Margaret Mahy Medal; Aotearoa New Zealand authors were among those recognised in the 2025 New Year’s Honours List; two writers were named recipients of the 2025 Sargeson Fellowship; and Writers Victoria announced the shortlist for the 2025 Hazel Rowley Literary Fellowship.
In local acquisitions news this week, UQP acquired world rights to a first work of adult fiction by writer and activist Randa Abdel-Fattah; Ulverscroft acquired world rights to Thea Astley’s 1962 novel The Well Dressed Explorer; Melbourne Books acquired world rights to Circus Oz: From the Pram to the World Stage by Jesse Jensen-Kohl, and Aniko Press has acquired its first title — debut short story collection The Slip by Miriam Webster.
In the UK, the London Book Fair has announced its keynote speakers and sessions, unit sales of books by Julia Donaldson have overtaken those of JK Rowling, and the Bookseller reported a ‘small decline’ in the number of independent bookstores in 2024. In the US, meanwhile, TikTok announced it is restoring access to the social media platform after incoming president Donald Trump indicated that one of his first acts will be to issue an executive order granting TikTok owner ByteDance more time to find a buyer of the platform.
In other international book-related news, Publishers Weekly has provided a wrap on how Neil Gaiman’s publishers have responded to the accusations shared in Vulture last week; and Fred Harter wrote for the Guardian on the availability of African literature: ‘Africa has no shortage of celebrated writers – so why is it so hard for African readers to get hold of their books?’
Get your local news each weekday – sign up here for the daily Books+Publishing newsletter.
Category: This week’s news
