News and Updates

Nardi Simpson has won the 2021 Australian Literature Society (ALS) Gold Medal for Song of the Crocodile (Hachette). Song of the Crocodile is Simpson’s debut novel, and was the winner of the 2018 black&write! Writing Fellowship. An intergenerational family saga, the novel charts the experiences of Billymil family as their rural town undergoes social and environmental...

Amanda Lohrey has won the $60,000 Miles Franklin Literary Award for her seventh novel, The Labyrinth (Text). Lohrey, the second Tasmanian writer to win the Miles Franklin in its 64-year history, has twice been shortlisted for the award, with her shortlisted novel Camille’s Bread (Fourth Estate) winning the Australian Literature Society Gold Medal in 1996....

UQP has sold world English rights (ex ANZ) for The White Girl by Tony Birch to HarperCollins imprint HarperVia. The deal was handled by UQP rights manager Kate McCormack in negotiation with Judith Curr and Rosie Black from HarperVia. Curr said The White Girl ‘helps us understand the history, struggles, and culture of Aboriginal Australians’....

Michael Robotham has won the UK Crime Writers’ Association (CWA) Ian Fleming Steel Dagger award for best thriller for his novel When She Was Good (Hachette). The judges praised Robotham’s novel as ‘an urgent, poignant and terrifying thriller’. ‘This page-turner will hold your attention until you get to the very last page,’ the judges said....

Hachette Australia has acquired ANZ rights to Sydney author Dianne Yarwood’s debut novel The Wakes in a ‘hotly contested’ international auction. The six-figure, two-book deal was struck with Catherine Drayton at InkWell Management, while UK and Commonwealth rights (ex ANZ) were sold to Francesca Main at Phoenix, an imprint of Orion. Set in Sydney, and...

Affirm Press has acquired world rights to nutritionist and podcast host Lola Berry’s new personal development book Fearlessly Failing. Affirm said Fearlessly Failing is ‘a guide to embracing challenges and learning from mistakes, told with refreshing candour from Lola—someone eminently qualified in failing without fear.’ Fearlessly Failing is the first acquisition by Affirm’s commercial publisher...

Aquarius Films has acquired all development and production rights to Clementine Ford’s nonfiction book Fight Like a Girl (A&U), in a deal negotiated by Jacinta Dimase at Jacinta Dimase Management. The production company will develop the memoir for television as a comedy drama series of six 30-minute episodes, to be created by Ford and Lou...

Nakkiah Lui has won the $10,000 biennial Russell Prize for Humour Writing for Black is the New White (A&U), the book of her play of the same name. Judges Mark Dapin, Joy Lawn, Piers Grove and Bernard Cohen chose Lui’s work from 48 entries and a shortlist of six announced in May. ‘Lui reminds us...

The shortlist for the 2021 Miles Franklin Literary Award has been announced. The six shortlisted novels, chosen from a longlist of 12, are: Amnesty (Aravind Adiga, Picador) The Rain Heron (Robbie Arnott, Text) At the Edge of the Solid World (Daniel Davis Wood, Brio) The Labyrinth (Amanda Lohrey, Text) Lucky’s (Andrew Pippos, Picador) The Inland Sea (Madeleine Watts, Pushkin Press). Each...

Ultimo Press has acquired world rights to Canticle Creek and a second book by crime writer Adrian Hyland. ‘When Adam Lawson’s wrecked car is found a kilometre from Daisy Baker’s body, the whole town assumes it’s an open and shut case. But Jesse Redpath isn’t from Canticle Creek,’ says Ultimo of the novel. ‘When Jesse...

Screen adaptation rights to crime novel The Nancys by Melbourne-based New Zealand author R W R McDonald (A&U) have been optioned by Queensland production company Hoodlum Entertainment, via Grace Heifetz of Left Bank Literary Agency. The Nancys, which won the best first novel award at the 2020 New Zealand Ngaio Marsh awards for crime writing,...

After joining the rights team at Penguin Random House Australia three years ago, Jordan Meek now manages the publisher’s children’s rights in translation markets. She spoke to Think Australian. How did you get into rights management? It was luck that I stumbled into the world of selling rights. I was a fresh Masters of Publishing...

Tara June Winch’s 2020 Miles Franklin Literary Award-winning novel The Yield (Penguin) has been optioned for screen adaptation. Winch is represented by Melanie Ostell Literary with the option and purchase negotiated by Penguin Random House Australia. The project is currently slated for development, with Tony Briggs and Damienne Pradier to co-produce for their company Typecast...

Amazon Prime Video has announced it has commissioned production on a seven-part series adaptation of Holly Ringland’s 2018 novel The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart (Fourth Estate), with Sigourney Weaver set to star and serve as an executive producer. The adaptation will launch in over 240 countries and territories and will be produced by Amazon Studios,...

The longlist for the 2021 Miles Franklin Literary Award, worth $60,000, has been announced. The 12 longlisted novels are: Amnesty (Aravind Adiga, Picador) The Rain Heron (Robbie Arnott, Text) At the Edge of the Solid World (Daniel Davis Wood, Brio) Our Shadows (Gail Jones, Text) Infinite Splendours (Sofie Laguna, A&U) The Labyrinth (Amanda Lohrey, Text) The Animals...

Gordon Reece’s 2010 young adult novel Mice (A&U) will be adapted into a feature film by Nicole Kidman’s production company Blossom Films and Bruna Papandrea’s Made Up Stories. Mice is a psychological thriller that follows 16-year-old Shelley and her mother who, after moving to the country to escape bullying and trauma, are menaced by an intruder in...

Now That I See You by Canberra author Emma Batchelor is the winner of this year’s $20,000 Australian/Vogel’s Literary Award, for an unpublished manuscript by an author under the age of 35. Publisher Allen & Unwin said the the novel ‘details the breakdown of a long-term relationship after one partner discloses to the other that...

North American rights to Anwen Crawford’s nonfiction work No Document have been sold to Transit Books. Adam Levy and Ashley Nelson Levy from Transit acquired rights from Nick Tapper at Giramondo. Adam Levy said of the acquisition: ‘No Document explores the space between activism and art, friendship and grief, political violence and the violence of language....

The winners of the 2021 Australian Book Industry Awards (ABIAs) have been announced. In the business awards, Penguin Random House Australia won publisher of the year while the University of Queensland Press was named small publisher of the year. In retailing, Avid Reader in Brisbane was awarded bookshop of the year and Readings was named...

Evie Wyld has won the 2021 Stella Prize, worth $50,000, for her novel The Bass Rock (Vintage). Judging panel chair Zoya Patel said the novel was ‘a consuming and perplexing book, one that forces the reader to think and engage with the unique narrative structure, but in a way that feels effortless, so engaged are...

Simon & Schuster Australia (S&S) has acquired world rights to Be You Be Free by Shreen El Masry. El Masry is a non-diet, body inclusive and Health At Every Size (HAES) personal trainer and the owner of the Sydney-based Be You Be Free fitness and wellbeing community. Be You Be Free ‘will present a special...

Pan Macmillan Australia has sold US and UK rights to debut nonfiction title Heartsick (Jessie Stephens) after ‘a highly contested auction’. US rights were sold to Henry Holt in a deal negotiated by Dan Lazar at Writers House and UK rights were sold to Macmillan UK, which is also representing translation rights. Heartsick, a work...

Magabala Books has sold US and UK rights in Benevolence by Julie Janson to HarperCollins imprint HarperVia, in a deal negotiated by Natasha Solomun at The Rights Hive. ‘Benevolence is an engaging work of historical fiction that transports us back to 1800s Sydney and surrounds,’ Magabala publisher Rachel Bin Salleh said of the 2020 novel,...

The shortlists for the 2021 Australian Book Industry Awards (ABIA) have been announced. The titles in each category are: General fiction book of the year The Dictionary of Lost Words (Pip Williams, Affirm) The Godmothers (Monica McInerney, Michael Joseph) The Good Turn (Dervla McTiernan, HarperCollins) The Morbids (Ewa Ramsey, A&U) The Survivors (Jane Harper, Macmillan)...

Perth science fiction author Amanda Bridgeman’s novel The Subjugate (Watkins) will be adapted into a dystopian crime thriller series by independent production companies Aquarius Films and Anonymous Content. The development and production rights deal was brokered by agent Alex Adsett of Alex Adsett Publishing Services. Bridgeman’s novel is set in 2040, when a series of...

The Children’s Book Council of Australia (CBCA) has announced its 2021 Book of the Year shortlists. The shortlisted books in each category are: Older readers The End of the World is Bigger than Love (Davina Bell, Text) The Lost Soul Atlas (Zana Fraillon, Lothian) When Rain Turns to Snow (Jane Godwin, Lothian) Metal Fish, Falling Snow (Cath Moore, Text)...

MidnightSun Publishing has acquired debut novel Tank Water by Michael Burge, a story of homophobic hate crimes and the dangers of growing up feeling different in rural Australia. Burge met MidnightSun publisher Anna Solding at a pitch session hosted by New England Writers Centre in 2018. ‘From the first time I met Michael, when he...

The shortlist for the 2021 Stella Prize, worth $50,000, has been announced. The six shortlisted books are: Fathoms: The world in the whale (Rebecca Giggs, Scribe) Revenge: Murder in Three Parts (S L Lim, Transit Lounge) The Animals in That Country (Laura Jean McKay, Scribe) Witness (Louise Milligan, Hachette) Stone Sky Gold Mountain (Mirandi Riwoe, UQP) The Bass Rock (Evie...

Three out of the five books shortlisted for the £25,000 (A$44,900) Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction are by Australian authors. The five shortlisted novels are: The Tolstoy Estate (Steven Conte, Fourth Estate) A Room Made of Leaves (Kate Grenville, Text) The Mirror and the Light (Hilary Mantel, Fourth Estate) Hamnet (Maggie O’Farrell, Tinder Press) The Dictionary of Lost...

Pip Williams’s debut novel The Dictionary of Lost Words (Affirm) has been named Book of the Year at the 2021 Indie Book Awards, presented by Leading Edge Books. The winning titles in each category are: Fiction Honeybee (Craig Silvey, A&U) Nonfiction Phosphorescence (Julia Baird, Fourth Estate) Debut fiction The Dictionary of Lost Words (Pip Williams, Affirm) Illustrated nonfiction...

The first issue for 2021 of Books+Publishing’s sister publication Think Australian is shining a spotlight on debut and early-career authors. In this preview, Think Australian asked Australian publishers and literary agents to nominate their most promising new authors, whose debut or second books would appeal to an international readership. To sign up for Think Australian,...

Penguin Random House Australia (PRH) has acquired ANZ rights to The Matchmaker by debut Pakistani–Australian author Saman Shad via Tara Wynne at Curtis Brown. It is the first local adult commission from PRH commissioning editor Radhiah Chowdhury. The Matchmaker is a romantic comedy about love, marriage and ‘mistaking your own identity’, set in Sydney’s South-Asian...

Sally Piper’s 2018 novel The Geography of Friendship (UQP) will be adapted for television as a six-part series. Dollhouse Pictures, a creative collective and independent production company founded by actress Rose Byrne alongside Krew Boylan, Jessica Carrera, Shannon Murphy and Gracie Otto, has partnered with Aquarius Films to develop the work for television, in a...

Black Inc. has sold world English-language rights (ex ANZ) to Return to Uluru by Mark McKenna to Stephen Morrow at Dutton, Penguin USA. McKenna’s history–true crime hybrid addresses the actions of Bill McKinnon, a Northern Territory police officer who shot and killed unarmed Indigenous man Yokununna at Uluru in 1934, and the resultant trial. Black...

The longlist for the 2021 Stella Prize, worth $50,000, has been announced. The longlisted titles are: Fathoms: The World in the Whale (Rebecca Giggs, Scribe) Revenge: Murder in Three Parts (S L Lim, Transit Lounge) The Animals in That Country (Laura Jean McKay, Scribe) Witness (Louise Milligan, Hachette) Metal Fish, Falling Snow (Cath Moore, Text)...

Pantera Press has acquired world rights to The Scarlet Cross, a ‘gripping debut psychological thriller’ by Liv McFarlane, from Jane Novak Literary Agency. McFarlane said she is ‘delighted to be working with the team at Pantera Press, who share my belief in the power of story to spark and transform’ and looks forward to introducing...

The Children’s Book Council of Australia (CBCA) has announced its list of Notable Books for 2021. The books in each category are: Older readers The F Team (Rawah Arja, Giramondo) Future Girl (Asphyxia, A&U) The End of the World is Bigger than Love (Davina Bell, Text) When It Drops (Alex Dyson, Hardie Grant Children’s Publishing)...

Simon & Schuster (S&S) has acquired world rights to The Understudy, a historical fiction debut by Julie Bennett. ‘The Understudy is set in 1973, the year the Opera House opened. Two days before opening night, the female lead disappears and the understudy steps in, winning the hearts of the audience and her male lead. But...

The longlists for the 2021 Australian Book Industry Awards (ABIAs) have been announced. The titles in each category are: General fiction book of the year The Bluffs (Kyle Perry, Michael Joseph) The Dictionary of Lost Words (Pip Williams, Affirm) The Godmothers (Monica McInerney, Michael Joseph) The Good Turn (Dervla McTiernan, HarperCollins) The Morbids (Ewa Ramsey,...

In the US, Australian writer Rebecca Giggs has won the American Library Association’s (ALA) 2021 Andrew Carnegie Medal for nonfiction for Fathoms: The world in the whale (Scribe). The Andrew Carnegie Medals, chosen by a panel of library professionals from across the country, recognise the best fiction and nonfiction books written for adult readers and published...

US production company New Regency has acquired the film and television rights to Meg Mason’s 2020 novel Sorrow and Bliss in a deal brokered by Casarotto Ramsay and HarperCollins Australia. According to HarperCollins, New Regency, whose production credits include the Oscar-winning films The Revenant, 12 Years a Slave and Birdman, acquired screen rights in a ‘competitive auction’. The...

Melbourne-based writer Jessica Au has won the inaugural Novel Prize for her work Cold Enough for Snow. Au, whose novel was selected from an international field of almost 1500 submissions and a shortlist of six, receives a US$10,000 (A$12,926) advance against royalties and simultaneous publication by Giramondo Publishing in Australia and New Zealand, Fitzcarraldo Editions in...

Penguin Random House Australia (PRH) has acquired the first book by journalist and activist Antoinette Lattouf, How to Lose Friends and Influence White People. The book was acquired at auction in a deal agented by Tara Wynne of Curtis Brown. PRH said How to Lose Friends and Influence White People explores how to be effective...

As the pandemic keeps rights sellers from meeting face-to-face, Books+Publishing is shining a regular spotlight on the work of Australian rights agents. Today, we hear from Scholastic Australia rights manager Claire Pretyman. How did you get into rights management? After a number of years working in Japan, I was delighted to take up a role in Penguin UK’s...

As the pandemic keeps rights sellers from meeting face-to-face, Books+Publishing’s Think Australian publication is shining a regular spotlight on the work of Australian rights agents. Today, we hear from Hachette Australia head of rights Sarah Brooks. How did you get into rights management? I accidentally fell into rights when I quit my job in recruitment (to...

Simon & Schuster Australia (S&S) has acquired world rights to a book by Nathan Lyons, ‘the Australian TikTok sensation behind Kooking With A Koori’. Lyons, a Wiradjuri man, is a 35-year-old transport worker from Western Sydney who has attracted more than 95,000 followers after launching cooking videos on TikTok in September 2020. ‘The popularity of...

Last week the Australian Publishers Association held the first in its series of international rights online networking events, in collaboration with Canadian counterpart, Livres Canada Books. This free event was an opportunity for Australians to connect and build new relationships with publishers and rights agents, while learning more about the Canadian publishing market. Proceedings began with...

As the pandemic keeps rights sellers from meeting face-to-face, Books+Publishing is shining a regular spotlight on the work of Australian rights agents. Today, we hear from Pantera Press rights manager Katy McEwen. How did you get into rights management? I first worked in publishing in London after finishing university—in various publicity and marketing roles both for a small...

One of our key Frankfurt initiatives for the online fair put Australian writers and publishers in the spotlight around the world as part of BOOKFEST digital. This is a day-long international festival of books that will stream live on YouTube, Facebook and the Frankfurt Book Fair website on Saturday 17 October. A panel facilitated by Benjamin Law, with authors...

By Think Australian Trent Dalton’s 2018 debut novel Boy Swallows Universe has topped the Nielsen BookScan’s Australian fiction chart for the year to date, having sold more than 80,000 copies in 2020. Literary, historical and crime fiction are all represented in the top 10, including a number of bestsellers from 2019 or earlier—indeed, only two of the...

By Think Australian Three Australian books have collected several prestigious awards and shortlistings over the past six months: Tara June Winch’s novel The Yield (Hamish Hamilton), ‘a powerful reclaiming of Indigenous language, storytelling and identity’, which won the Miles Franklin Literary Award; journalist Jess Hill’s investigation of domestic violence, See What You Made Me Do (Black Inc.), which picked up...

By Think Australian After a decade in print, Sally Rippin’s bestselling Billie B Brown junior fiction series (Hardie Grant Egmont) is finally heading to the screen. Global production company Fremantle and development partner 720 Creative have acquired screen rights to the children’s book character Billie B Brown, describing the brand as having ‘enormous potential for an international screen...

By Think Australian Australian publishers have been busy acquiring new titles over the past six months, including a kids’ guide to journalism, a ‘vital, groundbreaking book’ about gender transition, and a highly anticipated sequel to Rosalie Ham’s The Dressmaker. Adult fiction acquisitions A 2015 film adaptation of Rosalie Ham’s The Dressmaker (Duffy & Snellgrove) sent the novel to...

Award-winners among recent rights sales successes Despite the Covid-19 pandemic putting a halt to international travel, a majority of Australian rights managers and literary agents have reported a stable rights market over the past year, with strong demand for audio and screen rights. Here are some of the highlights. Adult fiction sales A major award...

by Think Australian Despite the disruption that the Covid-19 pandemic has had on the Australian book industry this year, overall sales figures are looking surprisingly healthy. For the first eight months of 2020, adult fiction sales were up 12% in value compared to the same period in 2019, and children’s, YA and educational sales were...

by Think Australian With the Frankfurt Book Fair now purely online, Australian publishers and literary agents are gearing up to pitch their titles via the fair’s—and their own—digital channels. Here are some of their highlights: Adult fiction and nonfiction The rights team at Penguin Random House Australia (PRH)—Nerrilee Weir, Jordan Meek and Alice Richardson—is excited to be...

By Think Australian Kate McCormack has been the rights and contracts manager for Brisbane-based independent UQP for the past four years, joining the publisher after 10 years at Penguin Random House Australia and stints in the UK and India. She spoke to Think Australian about her rights list and how Covid-19 has changed the way she works....

Across Australia, the 2020 ABIAs were streamed into our homes, where winners were toasted, writers celebrated, and history made. The 2020 Australian Book Industry Awards (ABIAs) were announced on Wednesday 13th May via a Virtual Awards Event streamed on YouTube, hosted by musician and performer Casey Bennetto. The awards are judged by an academy of more than 250 respected publishing industry figures and...

The Australian Reading Hour has become the flagship event of a new 17-day books and reading festival Australia Reads! Reaching more than 11 million Australians in 2019, The Australian Reading Hour has become the most successful campaign to unite the nation to pick up a book and discover the joys of reading. This year, this major event has...

Making history, MPs and Senators discussed Bruce Pascoe’s book, Dark Emu at the first Australian Parliamentary Book Club last night. During a nation-wide call out for nominations, Pascoe’s award-winning non-fiction book was a clear favourite. Bruce Pascoe and Anna Moulton, CEO of Dark Emu publisher Magabala Books, attended the evening and had a conversation with...

by Andrea Hanke, published in Publishing Perspectives, sponsored by the Australian Publishers Association The case for publishing diverse voices is ‘self-evident’ in Australia, as books on diverse experiences become a bestselling force in the market. A memoir from Kurdish journalist Behrouz Boochani—who has been detained by the Australian government for over five years after attempting...

by Andrea Hanke, published in Publishing Perspectives, sponsored by the Australian Publishers Association ‘There has never been a better time for Indigenous publishing,’ says one publisher, as Indigenous writings find staying power on Australia’s bestseller lists. When Melissa Lucashenko became the third Indigenous author to win Australia’s prestigious Miles Franklin Literary Award for her novel Too Much Lip in...

by Andrea Hanke, published in Publishing Perspectives, sponsored by the Australian Publishers Association Far from the halls of ivy, Australia’s university presses find favor with readers in search of authoritative information in time of fake news. It’s not unusual to find titles from Australia’s university presses stocked in bookshops across Australia, from independent booksellers to airport chains. Melbourne...

Jacinta di Mase is the founder and lead agent at Jacinta di Mase Management, which she established after working under ‘formidable’ agents Lyn Tranter and Jenny Darling. She spoke to Think Australian. How did you become a literary agent? I followed advice from Australian book designer Sandy Cull on how to get into the publishing...

US rights to Ella Baxter’s debut novel New Animal (A&U) have been sold to independent publisher Two Dollar Radio by The Book Group on behalf of Grace Heifetz at Left Bank Literary. New Animal follows a young woman who works as a cosmetician in her family’s mortuary and falls in with a regional BDSM community after experiencing tragedy....

Andy Griffiths and Terry Denton’s ‘Treehouse’ series—which celebrates 10 years in print this year—has topped the Australian children’s fiction chart (The 130-Storey Treehouse) and Australian children’s/YA nonfiction chart (The Treehouse Joke Book 2) for the year-to-date. It’s one of several children’s book series charting strongly in the first four months of the year. In Australian...

Pip Williams’s lockdown bestseller The Dictionary of Lost Words—which was number six on the overall Australian fiction bestsellers chart in 2020—has risen to number one in the chart for the year-to-date. Meanwhile, Jane Harper has an impressive five titles in the Australian fiction top 10, with a film adaptation of her debut crime novel The...