US ebook and audiobook subscription service Scribd has officially thrown its hat into the Australian ring – and it’s got Amazon and Audible firmly in its sights. For $13.99 month, Scribd users will get unlimited access to a vast library of ebooks, audiobooks, magazines, podcasts, and sheet music. And to sweeten the deal, the Scribd…
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After having to cancel last year’s festival due to COVID, Sydney Writers Festival is coming back stronger and bolder in 2021. According to Artistic Director Michael Williams, who joined the Festival last year, the theme for the 2021 Festival is “Within Reach”, and will highlight the writers who are shaping Australian literature right now. “It…
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Early this morning the longlist for the 2021 Women’s Prize for Fiction was announced. This year’s sixteen strong longlist honours and celebrates a selection of both new and well-established writers. The list also draws from across a range of genres, and the sixteen novels explore a variety of themes, from family and motherhood, to themes…
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Now in its eighth year, The Stella Prize is the latest award to announce its 2021 longlist. Named for celebrated author Miles Franklin, prize’s goal is to address gender imbalances in Australian literary awards, and to celebrate the work of the country’s finest female and non-binary writers. Over 160 entries were whittled down to just…
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Well, it’s that time of the year again, book fans! The Australian Book Industry Awards have just revealed the contenders for the 2021 prizes! Here’s all the nominees – get ready to grow your bookish wishlist! Biography Book of the Year A Bigger Picture – Malcolm Turnbull (Hardie Grant Publishing, Hardie Grant Books) A Repurposed…
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This morning the shortlist for the 2021 Indie Book Awards have been unveiled. The twenty-four shortlisted books, the best books of the year as nominated by Australian independent booksellers, now go on to vie for the coveted Overall Indie ‘Book of the Year’ for 2021. A panel of judge will choose the winners in each…
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“Hello Perth, this is Bergen calling.” Perth and Writing WA will be featured, along with ten other international locations, in LitFestBergen’s Literature Live Around The World on February 12th. One of the few positives that has come from the global Covid-19 pandemic, is the increasing use of the virtual. In 2020, Literary Awards and Book Festivals…
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This morning the longlist for the 2021 Indie Book Award has been announced. The award, which celebrates the best Australian writing, is made up of titles nominated by Australian independent booksellers. The Awards cover the best Australian book across six categories: Fiction, Non-Fiction, Debut Fiction, Illustrated Non-Fiction, Young Adult (12+) and Children’s. The Shortlist will…
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Sydney Writers’ Festival and Sydney Festival are joining forces for one weekend in January to present four major events at Carriageworks. The four events, presented under the banner Something to Talk About will see Sydney audiences spending time with the 2020 Booker Prize Winner, Douglas Stuart; perennial Festival favourites Jennifer Byrne, Michael Mohammed Ahmad and…
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Karrinyup author Maria Papas has tonight been announced the winner of the 2020 City of Fremantle Hungerford Award for her manuscript I Belong to the Lake. The win sees Papas take home a $15,000 cash prize and a coveted publishing contract with Fremantle Press. The Hungerford, is a biennial award, and in 2020 is celebrating…
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The full program for this year’s BAD Sydney Crime Writers Festival has been announced. Despite concerns over COVID restrictions, the Festival will take place in-person at the State Library of NSW over the weekend of November 7-8th. The BAD Writers Festival is an opportunity for fans of crime fiction and true crime to come together…
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Next month Australia’s largest performing writer’s program, Word Travels’ Story Week returns. Running from November 6th to 14th, this year’s program will be entirely virtual and feature a range of international and Australian guests and performers. This year’s line-up explores themes of race, ancestry, identity and more. “The global pandemic has had a large impact…
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Today the Booker Prize judges announced the six books that make up their 2020 Shortlist. The shortlist was selected from the 162 books submitted for the award. Those 162 were whittled down to an eclectic longlist of thirteen titles back in July, and now the field has been tightened further. What was already shaping up to…
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Overnight it has been announced that Maggie O’Farrell has won the 2020 Women’s Prize for Fiction with her eighth novel Hamnet. As has become the norm in the age of COVID, the announcement was made during a live digital awards ceremony, with 2020 Chair of Judges Martha Lane Fox announcing O’Farrell as this year’s winner…
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Back in May COVID-19 forced the inaugural Yarra Valley Writers Festival online. At the time organisers promised a jam-packed day of author live streams for the main festival day in May. But, there was also the promise of continued events into the future, in the form of virtual book clubs and author chats. Four months…
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In a virtual ceremony Marieke Lucas Rijneveld’s debut novel, The Discomfort of Evening, translated into English by Michelle Hutchison has been unveiled as the winner of the 2020 International Booker Prize. The £50,000 prize will be split equally between Rijneveld and Hutchison, giving both the author and translator equal recognition. The Discomfort of Evening was…
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COVID-19 continues to disrupt events across Australia. With this disruption also comes opportunities. Events to mark Indigenous Literacy Day usually take place outside the Sydney Opera House. This year due to COVID-19, the event is going online and will be open, for the first time, to everyone Australia wide. The celebrations will be held live…
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The 2020 BAD Sydney Crime Writers Festival is all set to go ahead from 10-13 September. This year the festival will be held virtually, in what organisers are describing as a “4-day virtual crime extravaganza”. Each year, the BAD Sydney Crime Writers Festival showcases some of the best writers of crime fiction. This year, eight prominent…
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The 2020 Longlist for the Booker Prize has today been unveiled, bringing with it its fair share of surprises. Though the inclusion of one title, Hilary Mantel‘s The Mirror & The Light, will likely shock no-one. That said this year’s longlist looks to be an eclectic mixture of established talents and debut authors. That the majority…
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Tara June Winch has taken out the top prize in Australia’s most prestigious literary award for 2020 for her stunning novel, The Yield. The Miles Franklin Literary Award was announced during a live Youtube broadcast hosted by ABC Radio Sydney/ The Bookshelf‘s Cassie McCullagh. The virtual event was another of the many examples we have seen in…
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The shortlist for the 2020 Miles Franklin Literary Award was announced yesterday evening. As has become the new norm during the COVID-19 pandemic the announcement was made online via a live YouTube presentation. The award, established in 1954, celebrates the best of Australian character and creativity whilst recognising “the novel of the highest literary merit…
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This afternoon, the 2020 ABIAs (Australian Book Industry Awards) were live streamed into the homes of book lovers across Australia. Winners were toasted, writers celebrated, and history was made, in more ways than one. Thanks to COVID-19 2020 saw the Award’s Gala held virtually for the first time in the event’s history. 2020 also marks the…
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The shortlist for the 2020 Australian Book Industry Awards (ABIAs) has been unveiled today. The awards are a key fixture in the Australian literary scene, and are designed to celebrate the very best in homegrown literature and publishing. Usually a red carpet affair, this year the awards gala will be heading online, with the winners…
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The shortlist for the 2020 Women’s Prize for Fiction has been announced overnight during a special online event (Covid-19 strikes again!). Now celebrating its 25th anniversary, the prize was previously known as the Orange Prize for Fiction and until recently was the Bailey’s Prize for Fiction. It is awarded annually to the best work of…
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Tasmanian writer K. M. Kruimink has been awarded this year’s The Australian/Vogel’s Literary Award. Set in the 1800s, A Treacherous Country follows newly arrived migrant Gabriel Fox. Intent on finding a woman named Maryanne Maginn, Kruimink’s manscript sends Fox through the Tasmanian wilderness, accompanied by a guide who is not all he seems. The award…
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“The world is in crisis but our artists are expressing themselves as powerfully and eloquently as ever…” That’s the message from the judging panel tasked with the unenviable duty of selecting the winner of the 2020 Stella Prize. This year, journalist Jess Hill took home the $50,000 prize for See What You Made Me Do,…
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It was announced late last month that the inaugural Yarra Valley Writers Festival would be an online-only event. Today, organisers have revealed a jam-packed livestream line-up for the May 9th celebration. Programmed by playwright Hannie Rayson, the festival will extend its reach beyond a single Saturday, with book clubs and author chats running into late…
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The Yarra Valley Writers Festival isn’t letting a pandemic get in the way of its inaugural celebrations! Instead, the team have today announced a switch to a digital format, with a series of events streaming live on Saturday 9th May. Festival programmer and playwright Hannie Rayson (Hotel Sorento, Inheritance) said: ‘’The way audiences experience art,…
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Event organisers have confirmed the cancellation of the 2020 Byron Writers Festival. Due to take place in August, tickets had not yet gone on sale. In a statement released today, the festival said: “Regrettably and with a heavy heart we have made the decision to cancel Byron Writers Festival 2020, which was scheduled to run…
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With Covid-19 causing mass disruption to everyday lives, including the cancellation of the Leading Edge Books Conference, the winners of 2020 Indie Book Awards have been announced online. This is the first time the Indie book Awards have been announced online. The big winner for 2020 was Favel Parrett, who takes home The Indie Awards…
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