A key fixture of Australia’s literary scene, the Australian Book Industry Awards (ABIAs) celebrates the very best in homegrown literature and publishing. This year, as we collectively navigate the COVID-19 pandemic, the ABIAs team have made the decision to forego their usual awards ceremony. Instead, they’ll be livestreaming the event, turning it from a 500 guest…
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The bestselling and much beloved author and LGBT activist, Armistead Maupin is returning to Australia in July. Tales Of The City with Armistead Maupin will see the author recount his favourite stories from the past five decades, and offer his observations on contemporary society. Armistead Maupin has been a part of US popular culture since…
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The longlist for the 2020 Women’s Prize for Fiction was announced at midnight GMT on March 3rd, with many avid UK booklovers staying up in anticipation of the announcement. Now in its 25th year, the prize was previously known as the Orange Prize for Fiction and until recently was the Bailey’s Prize for Fiction. It…
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Sisonke Msimang, the new curator for Perth Festival’s Literature and Ideas festival, delivered her full program for the late February event on Thursday night to an enthusiastic crowd at the Octagon Theatre. Her program, designed around the concepts of ‘Land, Money, Power, and Sex’ has been curated with a goal of inviting a new intake…
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It’s only been a week since Aussie satire newspaper The Betoota Advocate launched their second book, How Good’s Australia, and the team are already about to restock their copies – which can be bought through the website, as editor Clancy Overell has been quick to remind me. More than just a stocking filler for the Christmas – or, as Overall…
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See Pictures and Apogee Pictures have teamed up to produce a television adaptation of Emily Bitto‘s The Strays, with Picnic At Hanging Rock screenwriter Beatrix Christian attached as head writer. Author Bitto said: “I’m absolutely delighted to have The Strays adapted for television and couldn’t be more excited about the brilliant group of creatives who will be working…
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In partnership with Wooden Horse, award winning production company Aquarius Films has optioned Matt Okine‘s Being Black ‘N Chicken & Chips. Aquarius Films have lent their expertise to the Academy Award nominated Lion, upcoming Tim Winton adaptation, Dirt Music, and Stan comedy series The Other Guy, alongside Okine and Wooden Horse. Okine’s debut novel draws on the…
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Award-winning author Margaret Atwood will be making her way down to Australia early next year for a series of ‘In Conversation’ events across the country. Margaret Atwood is the author of more than fifty books of fiction, poetry and critical essays. Her novels include Cat’s Eye, The Robber Bride, Alias Grace, The Blind Assassin and the MaddAddam Trilogy. Her 1985…
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Today the Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Minister for Communications, Cyber Safety and the Arts, the Hon Paul Fletcher have announced the winners of the Prime Minister’s Literary Awards for 2019. These awards are given in recognition of the significant contribution literature, history and poetry make towards shaping our Australian identity. The Awards are presented across six categories:…
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In a surprising turn of events Margaret Atwood and Bernardine Evaristo have been jointly awarded the 2019 Booker Prize for Fiction for The Testaments and Girl, Woman, Other respectively. Whilst it is not the first time the prize has been awarded jointly, the rules were changed back in the 90’s to rule out such an occasion. But, cut to 2019…
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Starting the process with more than 150 submissions, The Booker Prize has announced its 2019 shortlist, with six novels vying for one of the most coveted prizes in English literature. Open to writers of any nationality, the prize celebrates work published in the UK or Ireland, from the previous October to the coming end of…
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Brisbane based writer Melissa Lucashenko has been awarded the Miles Franklin Literary Award for her novel Too Much Lip, beating out five other shortlisted works to the $60,000 prize. Lucashenko’s win makes her the third Indigenous author to take home the prize, alongside past winners Kim Scott and Alexis Wright. Published by UQP, Too Much Lip follows…
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The longlist for the 2019 Booker Prize is out, but readers will have to wait a little while to pick up copies of a few of the contenders, with books such as The Testaments not due out until September 2019. This list, hotly anticipated by bibliophiles everywhere, is notoriously difficult to predict, and 2019 is…
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After a terrifying clash with the enemy in the Havennesse mountains, our gang of rebels and Valian warriors have headed back to Queen Eydis’ castle to regroup and plan for the war ahead. But with Bleak’s head still reeling from revelations about her past, and the captive they planned to use as leverage against Ines…
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Six Australian writers have been shortlisted for the 2019 Miles Franklin Award at a ceremony held this evening at the State Library of NSW. Among those shortlisted are debut authors, Michael Mohammed Ahmad (The Lebs) and Jennifer Mills (Dyschronia), and two-time Miles Franklin award winner, Rodney Hall (A Stolen Season). Gail Jones, whose book The Death of Noah…
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It has today been announced that Tayari Jones’ novel An American Marriage has won the 2019 Women’s Prize for Fiction, taking home the £30,000 prize money. Endorsed by both President Obama and Oprah Winfrey, An American Marriage, Jones’ fourth novel, follows the devastating aftermath of a young African-American man’s incarceration following a wrongful accusation of…
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ABIA Book of the Year winner Boy Swallows Universe heads up a ten-strong list of contenders for the prestigious Miles Franklin Literary Award. Established in 1957 with funds from an unexpected bequest from the My Brilliant Career author, Miles Franklin‘s will stipulated that: “[the] prize shall be awarded for the Novel for the year which is of…
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The first teaser trailer for the forthcoming TV adaptation of His Dark Materials has been released out into the world, and we for one are excited! Set for release later in the year, the BBC and HBO co-production has amassed a sterling cast of small screen and big screen talent. Logan actress Dafne Keen has…
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Tonight the best and brightest of Australian publishing descended on Sydney and the Grand Ballroom of the International Convention Centre for the 2019 Australian Book Industry Awards – the Australian equivalent of the Oscars for the bookishly inclined. If you’ve been even vaguely following the Australian literary world over the last twelve months then the…
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With just under a month to go until the ABIA Awards Night on May 2nd in Sydney, the folks at the Australian Publishers Association have whittled down the longlisted titles to what is an admittedly still healthy six titles per category. The ABIA Awards celebrate the very best of Australia’s literary scene, heralding the achievements of authors, publishers,…
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At an event held last night ats Art Centre Melbourne, the $50,000 Stella Prize was announced. First time author Vicki Laveau-Harvie snapped up the title, for her dark, yet moving, memoir The Erratics. It is the first time a memoir has won the prize and only the second time it has been awarded to a…
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Since 2008, the Indie Book Awards have been celebrating both the work of independent Aussie booksellers and the books they’ve raved about to customers over the previous year. Last night, the 2019 winners were announced, with Trent Dalton’s coming of age tale Boy Swallows Universe taking out the top honour of Book of the Year.Speaking…
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The Stella Prize judges have revealed the six authors who have made it to their 2019 shortlist. Timing the announcement with International Women’s Day, judging panel chair Louise Swinn described the chosen works as “an incredibly diverse knot of books. […] The books on this shortlist inform and entertain, and while they speak absolutely to our…
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The Australian Book Industry Awards are back again for 2019! An initiative of the Australian Publishers Association, the ABIAs applaud the achievements of writer, illustrator, publicist and publisher alike. A 250 strong team, made up of representatives across the industry, came together to craft this latest longlist, celebrating the bookish best of 2018. The 2019…
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The $50,000 Stella Prize celebrates literature penned by Australian women. First awarded in 2013, the Stella Prize is named for My Brilliant Career author Stella Maria Sarah ‘Miles’ Franklin, and has become a landmark prize in the Australian literary scene. This year, some 170 entries were narrowed down to just twelve, with every longlisted author…
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Established in 2008, the Indie Book Awards recognise and celebrate both best in Australian writing as well as the country’s most passionate independent booksellers. This year’s nominations include Markus Zusak‘s Bridge of Clay, his first novel since global phenomenon The Book Thief was published in 2005 and Jessica Townsend‘s Wundersmith, the sequel to last year’s Nevermoor, which…
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Milkman by Anna Burns has been announced as the winner of the 2018 Man Booker Prize for Fiction. The 56 year old author is the sixteenth woman, and remarkably the first Northern Irish writer to win the prestigious award. Burns drew upon the experiences of her home country to write her third full length novel….
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The shortlists for the 2018 Prime Minister’s Literary Awards have been announced today, bringing together some of Australia’s most prominent and decorated writers. The Fiction shortlist, for example, features two former Man Booker winners, and two Miles Franklin winners. The Awards recognise Australia’s literary talent across six different categories: fiction, non-fiction, Australian history, young adult…
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Today the shortlist for the Man Booker Prize has been unveiled, with the thirteen strong longest whittled down to just six. The six authors making the cut are Anna Burns, Esi Edugyan, Daisy Johnson, Rachel Kushner, Richard Powers and Robin Robertson. Although, still a strong shortlist, it is not without its surprises. There’s no room on the…
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Tomorrow, September 5th, marks the 12th annual Indigenous Literacy Day, “a celebration of Indigenous culture, stories, language and literacy” hosted by the Indigenous Literacy Foundation (ILF), with events kicking off in Sydney, Melbourne and nationwide. This year, the ILF are launching a range of moving new books with big events in the major cities, alongside…
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