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Styles wins UK Wilbur Smith Prize for No Country for Girls

Thursday, 19 October 2023
Australian author Emma Styles has won the UK’s Wilbur Smith Adventure Writing Prize for Best Published Novel, worth £10,000 (A$19,160), for her debut outback noir No Country for Girls (Sphere)....

Rural and regional writers’ festival programs announced

Thursday, 19 October 2023
Several rural and regional writers’ festivals have announced details about their upcoming events. Blue Mountains Writers' Festival The Blue Mountains Writers’ Festival, presented by Varuna, the National Writers’ House, will...

Garner awarded 2023 ASA Medal

Thursday, 19 October 2023
The Australian Society of Authors (ASA) has announced Helen Garner is the recipient of the 2023 ASA Medal. Established in 2003, the ASA Medal is awarded biennially to an Australian...

Barnes wins Wesley Michel Wright Prize

Thursday, 19 October 2023
Stuart Barnes has won the 2023 Wesley Michel Wright Prize for his poetry collection Like to the Lark (Upswell). The prize selection committee described Barnes’ work as filled with ‘extraordinary...

Global book revenue up in 2023

Thursday, 19 October 2023
A joint market report from Nielsen BookData and GfK Entertainment, analysing 16 countries, shows an increase in turnover for the majority of book markets in the first eight months of...

Bragg UNSW Press Prize for Science Writing 2023 shortlist announced

Thursday, 19 October 2023
The shortlist for this year’s Bragg UNSW Press Prize for Science Writing has been announced. The shortlisted pieces are: ‘Buried treasure’ by Jo Chandler ‘Point of view’ by Lauren Fuge...

What do teens want to read? Six key insights from the Deakin University Teen Reading research team

Wednesday, 18 October 2023
On 4 October in Melbourne, the Deakin University Teen Reading research team presented a preview of their final report for the project ‘Discovering a “Good Read”: Cultural pathways to reading...

Martin awarded 2023 Writing NSW Varuna Fellowship

Wednesday, 18 October 2023
Writing NSW has awarded its 2023 Varuna fellowship to Alison Martin for her novel manuscript, 'The Wild'. 'The Wild' is about the last woman hanged in New South Wales, who...

Booksellers Aotearoa New Zealand launches BookHub

Wednesday, 18 October 2023
Booksellers Aotearoa New Zealand (BSANZ) has launched a consumer-facing centralised website called BookHub for book sales from bricks and mortar bookstores in that market. The new BookHub site follows a...

S&S acquires Callahan’s yoga book

Wednesday, 18 October 2023
Simon & Schuster has acquired world rights to Growing with Grace by Simone Callahan. A Melbourne-based yoga teacher, Callahan shares her insights on how yoga has been instrumental in ‘embracing...

US$75K Cundill History Prize finalists announced

Wednesday, 18 October 2023
The finalists for the 2023 Cundill History Prize, which ‘rewards the best history writing in English’, have been announced. The finalists are: Red Memory: Living, remembering and forgetting China’s Cultural...

Michelle Upton on ‘Emergency Exit Only’

Tuesday, 17 October 2023
Originally hailing from Birmingham, England, Michelle Upton now calls the Redlands Coast in Queensland home. Her debut novel Terms of Inheritance (HarperCollins, 2022) was shortlisted for the 2021 Banjo Prize,...

Arab publishing orgs pull out of Frankfurt

Tuesday, 17 October 2023
The Arab Publishers’ Association, the Emirates Publishers Association, the Sharjah Book Authority and the PublisHer network have withdrawn from the Frankfurt Book Fair (FBF), following the fair’s statement at the...

MEAA surveys publishing employees

Tuesday, 17 October 2023
The Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance (MEAA) has created a survey for publishing industry employees. The survey considers age, gender, diversity factors, employment status and number of years in the...

Affirm acquires Hills novel

Tuesday, 17 October 2023
Affirm Press has acquired ANZ rights to the novel The Desert Knows Her Name by Lia Hills, via InkWell Management. The Desert Knows Her Name revolves around a girl who...

Nielsen: LYBD sales down on last year, up on 2021

Monday, 16 October 2023
Nielsen BookData has reported a decline in book sales during Love Your Bookshop Day (LYBD) week 2023, compared to the same week last year, although there was a considerable increase...

Margaret and Colin Roderick Literary Award prize money increases to $50k

Monday, 16 October 2023
The winner of next year’s Margaret and Colin Roderick Literary Award will receive $50,000, up from $30,000 in 2023. The increase in prize money is due to an annual contribution...

QBD, My Little Bookshop among National Retail Awards finalists

Monday, 16 October 2023
Bookstore chain QBD and West Australian indie bookstore My Little Bookshop—as well as a QBD bookseller—are among the 2023 finalists for the National Retail Association’s National Retail Awards. QBD is...

US print book sales down 4.1%

Monday, 16 October 2023
In the US, print book sales fell 4.1% in the first nine months of 2023 at outlets reporting to Circana BookScan, compared to the same period in 2022, reports Publishers...

UK Society of Authors questions Spotify deal

Friday, 13 October 2023
The UK Society of Authors (SoA) has expressed ‘deep concern’ about Spotify’s deal with major book publishers announced last week, reports Publishing Perspectives. In a statement to Publishing Perspectives, the...

Australian Political Book of the Year 2023 shortlist revealed

Friday, 13 October 2023
The shortlist for the 2023 Australian Political Book of the Year award has been announced. This year’s shortlist includes four titles: Australia’s China Odyssey: From euphoria to fear (James Curran, NewSouth)...

Walkley Book Award longlist announced

Friday, 13 October 2023
The longlist for the Walkley Book Award has been announced. The longlisted works are: The Great Dead Body Teachers (Jackie Dent, Ultimo Press) Ghosts of the Orphanage (Christine Kenneally, Hachette Australia) The...

Robinsons Bookshop celebrates 60th anniversary

Friday, 13 October 2023
Independent chain Robinsons Bookshop is celebrating its 60th anniversary this month. Philip and Moira Robinson opened the first Robinsons Bookshop in Frankston, Victoria, in 1963. The shop moved in 1992...

Inaugural Varuna Ann Moyal Nonfiction Fellowship winners

Thursday, 12 October 2023
Varuna, the National Writers’ House, has announced Sarah Holland-Batt, Cathy Perkins and Geordie Williamson as the recipients of the inaugural Ann Moyal Nonfiction Fellowship. Holland-Batt, Perkins and Williamson were chosen...