‘Dying for a Chat’ wins Human Rights Literature Award 2013
Dying for a Chat: The Communication Breakdown between Doctors and Patients by Ranjana Srivastava (Penguin) has won this year’s Human Rights Literature Award. Dying for a Chat was selected from...
The Women’s Bookshop named Penguin NZ Independent Bookseller of the Year
The Women’s Bookshop in Auckland has been named the Penguin New Zealand Independent Bookseller of the Year for 2013. The Women’s Bookshop is owned by Carole Beu. In a statement published...
Penguin UK to relaunch Pelican imprint
In the UK, Penguin is set to relaunch its nonfiction imprint Pelican, reports the Bookseller. Pelican will return in May 2014 with the publication of five ‘concise introductory books’ aimed...
‘Too Many Elephants in This House’ selected for 2014 National Simultaneous Storytime
Too Many Elephants in This House by Ursula Dubosarsky and Andrew Joyner (Viking) has been selected for next year’s National Simultaneous Storytime, to be held at 11am on 21 May 2014....
Penguin launches Australian Classics
Penguin has launched its first series of Australian Classics, beginning with six titles spanning several generations of Australian writers. Launched in late November, the first six titles are: The Getting...
Latest ‘Wimpy Kid’ book sells over 1 million copies worldwide in first week
The latest instalment in Jeff Kinney’s ‘Diary of a Wimpy Kid’ series has sold over one million copies worldwide in its first week, reports Publishers Weekly. Hard Luck (Puffin), the eighth book...
Penguin creates free Teachers’ Academy iPad app
Penguin Australia has created a Penguin Teachers’ Academy app for iPad, which is available as a free download from Apple’s Newsstand and iTunes. The app, which has been designed in-house by...
Art and the industry: Adrian Newstead on ‘The Dealer is the Devil’
The Dealer is the Devil (Brandl & Schlesinger, February) is Adrian Newstead’s guide to the Australian Indigenous art industry. He spoke to Clive Tilsley. Read Tilsley’s review here. Why is the...
Read ahead: Preview of 2014 titles
Kate Blackwood rounds up publishers’ top picks for 2014. Fiction Maxine Beneba Clarke’s debut short-story collection is Hodder and Headline sales and marketing director Justin Ractliffe’s top pick for 2014....
Keen for 2014: A preview of forthcoming junior titles
Publishers tell Brad Jefferies about their favourite forthcoming children’s and YA books. Allen & Unwin Redgum’s popular Vietnam War song I Was Only Nineteen (John Schumann, illus by Craig Smith)...
Bob Sessions: Farewell to the book trade
In September, Bob Sessions retired from the book trade after more than 27 years at Penguin Australia, including 22 years as head of publishing. This is his parting letter to...
Penguin US ebooks available to libraries through OverDrive again
Libraries in the US can now access Penguin ebooks through OverDrive, more than 18 months after the publisher announced that it was ending its relationship with the library supplier, reports...
Ballarat children to receive 60 free Penguin books from Imagination Library
Families in Ballarat in regional Victoria are being encouraged to sign up their children to a local version of the Imagination Library, which will launch in November. The program, which originated...
Orion to publish ‘A Suitable Boy’ sequel
Orion has acquired the rights to publish A Suitable Girl, the sequel to Vikram Seth’s bestselling A Suitable Boy, after it was originally signed to Penguin, reports the Bookseller. The announcement...
Penguin launches teen readers website
Penguin Australia has launched a new website for teenage readers. Penguin Teen Australia, which was launched this month, replaces teen blogs that Penguin has been running for the past six...
Penguin launches True Stories website
Penguin Australia has launched a new website for ‘immersive reading experiences based on real life Australian stories’, called True Stories. The site launched this week with an ‘online portrait’ of Father Bob...
Penguin to relaunch Book Country, open online bookstore
Penguin will relaunch Book Country, an online community for genre fiction writers, in July, reports the Bookseller. The revamped website, which was first established in 2011, will include a broader range...
Gibbs recognised at Australian Produce Awards
Lantern publishing director Julie Gibbs has been awarded the Maggie Beer Award for Outstanding Contribution to Australian Food at this year’s Produce Awards, presented by ABC magazine delicious. Gibbs received...
Enter the tiger: Fiona McFarlane on ‘The Night Guest’
Fiona McFarlane’s debut novel The Night Guest (Hamish Hamilton, September) ‘brims with fine detail’, writes reviewer Joanne Shiells. She spoke to the author. How did you manage to inhabit the...
Coyne appointed Penguin Random House Asia Pacific CEO
Gabrielle Coyne, previously CEO of Penguin Asia Pacific, has been appointed as CEO of Penguin Random House Asia Pacific, following the completion of the merger of Penguin and Random House...