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... Read more

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... Read more

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... Read more

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... Read more

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... Read more

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... Read more

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... Read more

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... Read more

Brotherless Night by V V Ganeshananthan (Penguin) has won the 2024 Carol Shields Prize for Fiction, worth US$150,000 (A$226,385). The judging jury—made up of Jen... Read more

The Voice to Parliament Handbook (Thomas Mayo & Kerry O’Brien, HG Explore) took out the overall book of the year award at the ABIAs late last week—along with category wins for general nonfiction book of the year and social impact book of the year.

In other local news over the last week, in Australia, the NT Writers Festival announced its 2024 program, while three other regional/suburban writers’ festivals also revealed details about upcoming events; and Book Face has opened its fifth store in the Sydney suburb of Northbridge.

Meanwhile, in Aotearoa New Zealand, PRHNZ head of publishing Claire Murdoch and nonfiction publisher Rachel Eadie will depart the organisation amid ‘structural changes’; Queensland-based distributor Brumby Sunstate has acquired Bookreps NZ, and its distribution arm Publishers Distribution NZ, based in Auckland; and Wellington bookstore Good Books has ceased trading.

In other local awards news this week, the winners of the Age book of the year awards were revealed, with Tony Birch winning the fiction award for Women & Children (UQP) and Ross McMullin winning the nonfiction prize for Life So Full of Promise: Further biographies of Australia’s Lost Generations (Scribe); the shortlist for the Aotearoa Book Industry Awards Booksellers Choice Award has been announced; and the State Library of NSW has announced the creation of a new $50,000 creative writing fellowship, alongside its announcement of a new Summer Scholars program.

Further afield, there was more restructuring news this week, with Hachette announcing planned changes to its US and UK operations. In overseas awards news, Murdle, a collection of murder mystery puzzles by G T Karber (Souvenir Press), has won book of the year at the 2024 British Book Awards; and Mystery Writers of America has announced the winners of the 2024 Edgar Allan Poe Awards.

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... Read more

Sales Fiction Pantera has sold world German rights to Everyone and Everything (Nadine J Cohen) to Luebbe, through the Michael Meller agency; and world large... Read more

Top 10 bestsellers King of Sloth (Ana Huang, Hachette) Wholesome by Sarah (Sarah Pound, Plum) Funny Story (Emily Henry, Viking) My Favourite Mistake (Marian Keyes,... Read more

Moving, profound and deeply layered, The End and Everything Before It is a soulful debut novel from award-winning playwright Finegan Kruckemeyer. Emma arrives in a small... Read more

Lost & Found is the latest book by author, speaker and leader of Australia’s positive psychology movement, Dr Tim Sharp (aka ‘Dr Happy’). A self-help... Read more

Tina Makereti’s latest novel, The Mires, is a masterclass in social realism with just a touch of magic. Opening from the perspective of the swampland of... Read more

Chris Palazzolo is a poet based in the East Kimberley region whose works have previously won the Viva La Novella prize and the ABC Fiction... Read more

The Book Star is a fun and engaging story about the importance of being yourself and following your interests. Centred around Book Week, this picture... Read more

Ella and the Amazing Frog Orchestra by Cassy Polimeni (The Garden at the End of the World) is a beautifully written junior fiction story exploring... Read more

What Do You Call Your Dad? is a love letter to fathers by writer Ashleigh Barton (Freddie Spector, Fact Collector: Space Cadet) and illustrator Martina Heiduczek... Read more

Bookseller Mark Johnson, longtime proprietor of Forest Bookshop, Forestville, NSW, died on Anzac Day, aged 86 years. Johnson was the partner of Max Oliver of... Read more

Books+Publishing is partnering with US trade news magazine Publishers Weekly to provide our subscribers with exclusive access to the weekly digital edition of PW magazine.... Read more

Aconyte Books will no longer be distributed by Simon & Schuster Australia after 31 August 2024. All requests for returns authorisations must be with HEDS by 5 October 2024. Requests after this date will be rejected. All physical stock that has a prior valid returns authorisation must be returned to HEDS by 30 November 2024. Stock received after this date will be rejected and returned to customers at their expense.

Educational publisher Amba Press welcomes clinical psychologist Andrew Fuller (author of The A to Z of Feelings, Unlocking Your Child’s Genius, Your Best Life at Any Age, Tricky Behaviours, Tricky Teens, Tricky Kids) and Georgie Brooks (author of Semi-Educated) from Bad Apple Press.