Federal budget: APA welcomes government investment in copyright/AI review
15 May 2024
Following the announcement of the 2024–25 federal budget last night, the Australian Publishers Association (APA) has welcomed an allocation of funding for the Office of the Attorney-General to review copyright...
Hinkler acquires US publisher Piccadilly
15 May 2024
Melbourne publisher and distributor Hinkler has acquired US-based journal and sketchbook publisher Piccadilly. ‘This is a significant acquisition for Hinkler, aligning with strategic plans for growth in North America and...
SPN to pause operations, gauge ‘ongoing viability’
15 May 2024
The board of the Small Press Network (SPN) has announced it will halt operations and social media for two months as it seeks to gauge the ongoing viability of the...
Money wins 2024 UQP Quentin Bryce Award
15 May 2024
UQP has announced that Jazz Money has won the 2024 Quentin Bryce Award for her poetry collection mark the dawn. mark the dawn is described by the publisher as asking...
Wakefield acquires Pollock novel ‘Starry Eyed’
15 May 2024
Wakefield Press has acquired ANZ rights to a second novel from Katharine Pollock, provisionally titled Starry Eyed, via Benython Oldfield at Zeitgeist Agency. In Starry Eyed, when Addilyn Acker is...
black&write! 2024 fellowship recipients announced
15 May 2024
The State Library of Queensland (SLQ) has announced that the recipients of the 2024 black&write! fellowships are poets Meleika Gesa-Fatafehi and Lulu Houdini. Gesa-Fatafehi is a Torres Strait Islander and...
Palmer wins 2024 Ernest Scott Prize
15 May 2024
Unmaking Angas Downs: Myth and history on a Central Australian pastoral station (Shannyn Palmer, MUP) has won the 2024 Ernest Scott Prize for History. Award judges Grace Karskens and Frank...
ALS Gold Medal 2024 longlist announced
15 May 2024
The longlist for the 2024 Australian Literature Society (ALS) Gold Medal has been announced. Longlisted works include: Frank (Jordie Albiston, NLA Publishing) The Prize (Kim E Anderson, Pantera) Like to...
Book Face opens store in Northbridge, NSW
14 May 2024
Bookselling chain Book Face has opened its fifth store—a bookstore in the Sydney suburb of Northbridge. Store manager Luke Holmes said that the company opened a bookstore in the area...
Yankovich’s ‘Just Friends’ North American rights sold
14 May 2024
North American rights for Just Friends (Gyan Yankovich, Ultimo) have been sold to The Experiment, via Rach Crawford at Wolf Literary Services. Just Friends—which The Experiment will publish as Friendship...
Regional, suburban writers’ festival programs announced
14 May 2024
Several writers’ festivals have revealed the programs for their upcoming events. The Words on the Waves Writers Festival will run on the NSW Central Coast from 29 May to 3...
Wellington bookstore Good Books closed
14 May 2024
Good Books, in Wellington, Aotearoa New Zealand, has ceased trading. The bookshop, established in late 2020 by writers Catherine Robertson and Jane Arthur, had its final day of operation last...
SLNSW offers new $50K creative writing fellowship
13 May 2024
The State Library of NSW (SLNSW) has announced the creation of a new $50,000 creative writing fellowship, as well as a new Summer Scholars Program. The $50,000 Imago Creative Writing...
NT Writers Festival announces 2024 program
13 May 2024
The NT Writers Festival has announced the program for its 2024 festival, which will run from 27 to 30 June on Larrakia Country in Darwin (Garramilla). Events will take place outdoors at...
Aotearoa Booksellers Choice Award shortlist announced
13 May 2024
The shortlist for the Aotearoa Book Industry Awards Booksellers Choice Award has been announced. The 16 books in the running for the award, which will be voted for by booksellers,...
Pantera acquires Eley’s romantasy ‘The Rule’
13 May 2024
Pantera Press has acquired world rights to The Rule by Bronwyn Eley in a two-book deal. The Rule is a fantasy novel following Zinha, a member of the underground assassin...
Murdoch, Eadie to depart amid ‘structural changes’ at PRHNZ
13 May 2024
Penguin Random House New Zealand (PRHNZ) director Becky Innes has confirmed the publisher is undertaking ‘structural changes’, with the Spinoff reporting that head of publishing Claire Murdoch and nonfiction publisher...
The Voice to Parliament Handbook wins ABIA book of the year
9 May 2024
The winners of the 2024 Australian Book Industry Awards (ABIAs) have been announced, with The Voice to Parliament Handbook (Thomas Mayo & Kerry O’Brien, HG Explore) taking out the overall book...
UQP sells First Nations Classics series to Bolinda
9 May 2024
UQP has sold world audio rights to the First Nations Classics series to Bolinda, in a 15-book deal brokered by rights and contracts manager Erin Sandiford. In 2023, UQP launched...
Birch, McMullin win 2024 Age Book of the Year awards
9 May 2024
The winners of the Age Book of the Year awards have been announced. Tony Birch won the fiction award for his novel Women & Children (UQP) and Ross McMullin won...
Brumby Sunstate acquires Bookreps NZ
9 May 2024
Queensland-based distributor Brumby Sunstate has acquired Bookreps NZ, and its distribution arm Publishers Distribution NZ, based in Auckland. Established in 1996, Bookreps NZ is an agency-based book sales businesses and...
Levitina shortlisted for UK Historical Novel Society’s First Chapters Competition
8 May 2024
Sydney author Julia Levitina has been shortlisted for the UK Historical Novel Society’s (HNS) First Chapters Competition. Levitina was shortlisted in the 20th-century historical fiction category for the opening chapters...
Western Sydney council votes to remove same-sex parenting books from libraries
8 May 2024
Cumberland City Council, in Western Sydney, has passed a motion to remove same-sex parenting books from its library shelves, reports the ABC. In what the ABC described as ‘a heated...
PANZ 2024 conference first guests announced; Meredith appointed association director
7 May 2024
The first guests for the Publishers Association of New Zealand Te Rau o Tākupu (PANZ) International Conference, to be held in Auckland on 1 and 2 August, have been announced....
Slaughter wins 2024 Calibre Essay Prize
7 May 2024
Aotearoa New Zealand writer Tracey Slaughter has won the 2024 Australian Book Review (ABR) Calibre Essay Prize. Slaughter’s essay, ‘why your hair is long & your stories short’, was chosen...
Red Room to present poetry festival in partnership with BBC, ABC
7 May 2024
Red Room Poetry will present the UK poetry and spoken word festival Contains Strong Language at venues across Gadigal and Dharug lands in Sydney in late August. The BBC founded...
Varuna announces Roderick Centre Fellowship for Regional and Remote Writers
7 May 2024
Varuna, The National Writers’ House has announced a new fellowship program—the Roderick Centre Fellowship for Regional and Remote Writers. Described by Varuna as ‘the only national literary program in Australia...
S&S acquires McEwan romantasy duology
7 May 2024
Simon & Schuster Australia has acquired ANZ rights to a two-book romantasy series by Stacey McEwan, via an exclusive submission from Amy Collins at Talcott Notch Literary. S&S Australia associate...
Fremantle Press’s Bookaburras program to receive support from Premier’s Summer Reading Challenge, KindiLink
6 May 2024
Fremantle Press’s early reading program, Bookaburras, will launch a regional tour featuring Bookaburras Ambassadors across Western Australia, following the announcement of additional support from the Premier's Summer Reading Challenge and...
NSW Premier’s Literary Awards 2024 shortlists announced
6 May 2024
The shortlists for the 2024 New South Wales Premier’s Literary Awards have been announced. Shortlisted titles in each category are: Christina Stead Prize for Fiction ($40,000) The Sun Walks Down (Fiona McFarlane,...
