Mentoring matters: Arpita Das on the myths, realities and importance of mentoring
Tuesday, 30 July 2024
Arpita Das will appear at the Australian Publishers Association's BookUp conference in Melbourne in August as a keynote speaker. Das is the founder and publisher of the New Delhi–based independent...
Hasib Hourani on ‘rock flight’
Tuesday, 30 July 2024
Hasib Hourani is a Lebanese-Palestinian writer, editor, arts worker and educator living on Wangal Country in Sydney. His debut book, rock flight (Giramondo, September 2024), is a 'structurally experimental long-form poem...
Tinsel time: Christmas 2024 children’s books
Wednesday, 24 July 2024
Books+Publishing asked publishers to highlight their key local children’s and young adult titles releasing in time for Christmas 2024. From heartfelt picture books on social issues to everything a child...
Arnold opens Ladyhawke bookshop in Ivanhoe
Wednesday, 24 July 2024
After a ‘three-year sunny accident’ in Queensland, editor and bookseller Alison Arnold sold The Junction Bookstore in Noosa Junction and returned to Melbourne. Arnold spoke to Books+Publishing about the new...
Meet the Rising Stars: Rebecca Allen
Wednesday, 24 July 2024
The Australian Publishers Association Rising Star award recognises an emerging talent in Australian publishing who has spent less than 10 years in the industry. In the lead-up to the winner announcement...
Tigest Girma on ‘Immortal Dark’
Tuesday, 23 July 2024
Tigest Girma, an Ethiopian writer and teacher based in Melbourne, draws richly from East African history and cultures and blends Black stories with dark and fantastical elements. Books+Publishing reviewer Stefen...
Tinsel time: Christmas 2024 nonfiction
Wednesday, 17 July 2024
Following on from last week's life writing highlights, publishers are looking forward to a colourful range of new nonfiction books that will enliven kitchens, inform conversations, inspire reflections, and maybe...
Meet the Rising Stars: Katherine Rajwar
Wednesday, 17 July 2024
The Australian Publishers Association Rising Star award recognises an emerging talent in Australian publishing who has spent less than 10 years in the industry. In the lead-up to the winner announcement...
Christopher Cheng on ‘Dragon Folding’
Tuesday, 16 July 2024
Christopher Cheng is a Sydney-based, award-winning children's author of over 40 fiction and nonfiction titles. His latest picture book, Dragon Folding (illus Lucia Masciullo, Puffin, September 2024), shows readers 'how...
Tinsel time: Christmas 2024 biographies and memoirs
Wednesday, 10 July 2024
From a soccer superstar to familiar faces in children's entertainment, and an equally wide range of non-celebrity (but far from ordinary) stories, Books+Publishing rounds up the local adult biography and...
Robbie Egan: ‘A centralised ecommerce platform … would be transformative’
Wednesday, 10 July 2024
Robbie Egan is CEO of BookPeople, the Australian Booksellers Association. Here, he argues that the mainstream media’s 'gloom and doom' narrative following Booktopia’s entry into voluntary administration has been 'quarantined...
Meet the Rising Stars: Riikka Dunn
Wednesday, 10 July 2024
The Australian Publishers Association Rising Star award recognises an emerging talent in Australian publishing who has spent less than 10 years in the industry. In the lead-up to the winner announcement...
Raelke Grimmer on ‘White Noise’
Tuesday, 9 July 2024
Raelke Grimmer is an author and linguist from the Northern Territory. Her debut young adult novel, White Noise (UWAP, September 2024), is set in Darwin and explores grief, autism, friendship and...
Tinsel time: Christmas 2024 fiction
Wednesday, 3 July 2024
From the big names to the surprising debuts (and a whole lot of crime in between), Books+Publishing rounds up Australian publishers’ top local adult fiction titles releasing in time for Christmas...
Meet the Rising Stars 2024: Justin Wolfers
Wednesday, 3 July 2024
The Australian Publishers Association Rising Star award recognises an emerging talent in Australian publishing who has spent less than 10 years in the industry. In the lead-up to the winner announcement...
Amplify Bookstore’s winter picks
Wednesday, 26 June 2024
Amplify Bookstore is an independent online bookseller specialising in books by Black, Indigenous and People of Colour (BIPOC) authors, founded by Jing Xuan Teo and Marina Sano. Here, they share...
Louise Southerden on ‘Tiny: A memoir about love, letting go and a very small house’
Tuesday, 25 June 2024
Author and travel writer Louise Southerden has written four nonfiction books, including the world’s first surfing guide for women. Her latest book, Tiny (Hardie Grant Explore, August 2024), is also...
Anita Heiss on ‘Dirrayawadha’
Tuesday, 18 June 2024
Anita Heiss is one of Australia’s most prolific and celebrated authors, known for her works across genres including nonfiction, historical fiction, commercial fiction and children's books. Books+Publishing reviewer Melissa Mantle...
Liz Evans on ‘Catherine Wheel’
Wednesday, 5 June 2024
Based in Tasmania, Liz Evans is a British-born journalist, author, former psychotherapist and academic with a PhD in creative writing. Her latest novel, Catherine Wheel (Ultimo, August 2024), is ‘a...
Brittany Schulz of ‘Fiction & Friction’ on selling only indie authors
Wednesday, 29 May 2024
Bookseller Brittany Schulz started online before moving into a physical space. Within months the business—which exclusively stocks books by self-published authors—outgrew that space too, and has since moved into a...
ABIAs 2024: This year’s winners on their books, and the industry that produced them
Wednesday, 15 May 2024
At this year’s Australian Book Industry Awards (ABIAs), Books+Publishing digital producer Andrew Wrathall spoke with some of the winners about their books, bookshops and the trends affecting the industry. Those...
Niki Horin on new venture Hobartisan Books
Wednesday, 15 May 2024
Niki Horin is an editor and author with experience in children's trade publishing at Hardie Grant Egmont and as publishing director at Five Mile from 2018 to 2022. Now located...
Report: What the Creative Australia ‘Artists as Workers’ economic study has to tell us about writers
Wednesday, 8 May 2024
A new report from Creative Australia, Artists as Workers: An economic study of professional artists in Australia by David Throsby and Katya Petetskaya, ‘shows it is now harder than ever...
Michelle See-Tho on ‘Jade and Emerald’
Tuesday, 7 May 2024
Michelle See-Tho is a freelance writer and copywriter whose debut novel, Jade and Emerald (Vintage, July 2024), won the 2023 Penguin Literary Prize. The novel is 'a wonderful escape into the...
Culture, pride and engagement: A report from the RISE program
Wednesday, 1 May 2024
Bookseller Melissa Mantle attended the RISE ('Resilience, Innovation and Sustainability for the Enhancement of Bookselling') program at the 2024 Bookselling Ireland Irish Book Trade Conference. Mantle reports on the experience,...
Ashleigh Barton on ‘Freddie Spector, Fact Collector: Space Cadet’
Wednesday, 24 April 2024
Ashleigh Barton is a children's author and copywriter from Sydney who draws on her rich experience in publishing and marketing, including work on Jessica Townsend's Nevermoor. Her latest, Freddie Spector,...
Yvonne Sewankambo on ‘Good Hair’
Tuesday, 16 April 2024
Sydney-based Yvonne Sewankambo is a Ugandan-Canadian writer and publicist whose debut picture book, Good Hair (Walker, June 2024), is ‘a wonderfully inclusive book representing various cultures and subcultures, showcasing the...
AI and publishing: Concerns beyond copyright
Wednesday, 10 April 2024
The publishing sector’s response to last year’s revelations about the materials used to train generative AI has been characterised by concern over the unauthorised use of pirated books in these...
Explainer: What is generative AI, and what does it have to do with books?
Wednesday, 10 April 2024
Millicent Weber, Julienne van Loon and Bronwyn Coate write: The term generative artificial intelligence, or generative AI, refers to algorithms that can be used to generate text, images, and audiovisual...
Bleedthrough: censorship and book banning in Australia
Wednesday, 3 April 2024
When Australian writers, publishers, and librarians look at the state of US book banning, we are shocked at the violence and scale of book banning groups. Could attempts to fire...
