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Koens wins 2023 Banjo Prize for Fiction

Tuesday, 26 September 2023
Stefanie Koens has won the HarperCollins Banjo Prize for Fiction for her unpublished manuscript ‘Islands of Secrets’. In ‘Island of Secrets’, ‘a woman searching for answers in her own life...

Transit Lounge acquires Jung novel

Tuesday, 26 September 2023
Transit Lounge has acquired world rights to My Name Is Gucci, a second novel from Sun Jung. Publisher Barry Scott describes My Name Is Gucci as ‘a charming novel about...

In Other Words 2023 program announced

Monday, 25 September 2023
OzAsia Festival has announced the program for In Other Words, its three-day writing and ideas event, to be held in Adelaide from 3 to 5 November, as part of the festival's...

Martin, Picoult among authors in Authors Guild lawsuit against OpenAI

Monday, 25 September 2023
The Authors Guild—along with 17 authors including George R R Martin, Jodi Picoult, John Grisham and Jonathan Franzen—filed a class-action lawsuit against OpenAI in the United States last Tuesday, said...

UWAP acquires Steed’s third book

Monday, 25 September 2023
UWA Publishing (UWAP) has acquired world rights to Laurie Steed’s third book, short story collection Greater City Shadows. Greater City Shadows previously won the 2021 Henry Handel Richardson flagship fellowship for...

Rockpool acquires Forsyth’s oracle deck

Friday, 22 September 2023
Rockpool Publishing has acquired world rights to Kate Forsyth’s Fairy Tale Wisdom Oracle. Forsyth’s first oracle deck will ‘spin together myth, folklore and history in new and surprising ways’. The deck...

Fraser receives inaugural Australian Short Story Festival mentorship

Friday, 22 September 2023
The Australian Short Story Festival (ASSF) has announced John A D Fraser as the winner of the 2023 ASSF Mentorship prize, for the story ‘Seven Smokes’. Fraser receives a three-month...

PANZ Book Design Awards 2023 winners announced

Friday, 22 September 2023
The Publishers Association of New Zealand Te Rau o Tākupu (PANZ) has announced the winners of its Book Design Awards 2023. The winners in each category are: Gerard Reid Award...

Booker Prize 2023 shortlist announced

Friday, 22 September 2023
The shortlist for the 2023 Booker Prize has been announced. The six books shortlisted for the £50,000 (A$95,756) prize are: Study for Obedience (Sarah Bernstein, Granta) If I Survive You (Jonathan Escoffery,...

SRB, WSU, City of Parramatta to award Laureateship in Literature

Thursday, 21 September 2023
The Sydney Review of Books (SRB) has announced a call for applications for the inaugural $50,000 Parramatta Laureateship in Literature, in partnership with the City of Parramatta and the Western...

HarperCollins acquires Serong novel

Thursday, 21 September 2023
HarperCollins has acquired ANZ rights to Jock Serong's novel Cherrywood, in an auction brokered by Melanie Ostell of Melanie Ostell Literary. The publisher called the novel ‘an imaginative delight', and...

ALA report shows surge in book challenges

Thursday, 21 September 2023
In the US, new data from the American Library Association (ALA) shows a continuing surge in attempts to censor books in libraries this year, reports Publishers Weekly. The ALA documented...

NewSouth acquires Jacobson memoir

Thursday, 21 September 2023
NewSouth has acquired world rights to How to Knit a Human, a memoir from poet, writer and artist Anna Jacobson. Described by the publisher as a lyrical memoir about ‘Jacobson’s...

Upswell acquires Dominic Gordon debut

Wednesday, 20 September 2023
Upswell Publishing has acquired world rights to Excitable Boy: Essays on risk, a debut book of essays by Melbourne writer Dominic Gordon. The publisher said that the book 'tracks the...

Sport and sportspeople in Australian youth literature

Wednesday, 20 September 2023
Former bookseller Georgia Strobel recently undertook research into how sport and sportspeople are represented in Australian children's literature. Here, she shares her findings. Earlier this year I was lucky enough...

Affirm acquires King debut novel

Wednesday, 20 September 2023
Affirm Press has acquired world rights to Birds of a Feather, a debut novel from Rhianna King, via Rochelle Fernandez of Alex Adsett Literary. Described by Fernandez as ‘a gorgeously...

Brown announced as new Magabala CEO

Wednesday, 20 September 2023
Magabala Books has announced that Gumbaynggirr educator, researcher and advocate Lilly Brown will be its next CEO. Brown—who has most recently held an executive director role at youth mental health...

Federal judge blocks Texas book rating law

Wednesday, 20 September 2023
In the US, a federal judge has officially blocked Texas’s controversial book rating law, HB 900, from taking effect, reports Publishers Weekly. The 59-page opinion and order is a victory...

Writing NSW diverse writers mentorship 2023 recipients announced

Tuesday, 19 September 2023
Writing NSW has announced the nine recipients of its 2023 mentoring program for emerging writers from First Nations or culturally diverse backgrounds. This year’s winners are: Celine Eigner Tamara Haque...

Malaviya appointed permanent CEO of PRH

Tuesday, 19 September 2023
Bertelsmann has officially appointed Nihar Malaviya as Penguin Random House (PRH) CEO, reports Publishers Weekly. Malaviya was appointed interim CEO following Markus Dohle’s resignation in December last year. Bertelsmann chair...