Making herself the third woman in history to be awarded the top literary prize more than once, Michelle de Kretser has taken home the prestigious Miles Franklin Literary Award for 2018. Divulging the complexities that dance around the world of writer Pippa, Michelle de Kretser’s sophisticated novel The Life to Come blends the sharp satire…
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This week the shortlist for the 2018 ABR Elizabeth Jolley Short Story Prize was unveiled to the public, with Claire Aman (NSW), Sharmini Aphrodite (Singapore) & Madelaine Lucas (NSW/USA) each getting the nod. This year the prize attracted almost 1,200 entries from writers from across the globe. The winning author will receive $7,000, whilst the shortlisted…
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Marlon Bundo, that lonely bunny who’s been making headlines this week, will be making his Australian debut next month, with the local release of this bestselling new children’s book. The book, A Day in the life of Marlon Bundo, was launched by comedian John Oliver earlier this week on HBO’s Last Week Tonight, and is in…
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An acclaimed group of Australian authors will travel to China next week for the tenth annual Australian Writers Week. The event, supported by the Copyright Agency’s ‘Cultural Fund’ since 2014, is a significant opportunity for cultural exchange, with Australian authors getting the chance to travel across China sharing their stories, whilst also raising awareness of the…
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The program for the 20th Sydney Writers’ Festival was announced at the end of last week – and for those literary types not in Sydney there is going to be some serious festival envy. Taking place across six days from May 22nd to May 28th, the festival boasts over 450 writers taking part in 400…
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In an announcement timed to coincide with International Women’s Day, the longlist for the 2017 Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction has been unveiled. Now in its 22nd year, and fourth year in partnership with Baileys, the prize celebrates excellence, originality and accessibility in writing by women, in English, from around the world. Set up in…
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International Women’s Day is the backdrop for yet another literary award announcement, with the shortlist for the 2017 Stella Prize being unveiled to the public. The Stella Prize, named for Stella Maria Sarah ‘Miles’ Franklin, is an annual prize dedicated to celebrating Australian women’s contribution to literature and is open to both fiction and non-fiction…
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In recent weeks, all across Australia, teachers and children have headed back into the classroom and jumped into the new school year. Classrooms have been organised and decorated. Lessons have been planned and resources printed and created. In 2017, however, there will be a new set of resources made available to primary school teachers across…
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Paul Beatty has taken home the 2016 Man Booker Prize for his novel The Sellout – becoming the first American to win the award. The Sellout is a searing and, incredibly topical, satire of race relations in contemporary America. The novel is narrated by African-American Bonbon, a resident of a run-down town in Los Angeles, which…
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It’s been announced today that Bob Dylan has been awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature for 2016 – marking the first time the prize has gone to a recipient who is primarily a musician. The Swedish Academy in awarding the prized cited that Dylan had “created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition”….
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The 2016 Shortlist for the Man Booker Prize has been unveiled, and once again it makes for some interesting reading. Past winners, and literary heavyweights have found themselves dispensed with as the judges have agonisingly whittled down the long list to a mere six titles. The six authors and books that made the shortlist then…
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The short story, is perhaps one of the most underappreciated of the literary forms. Certainly it’s a format with its readers and, naturally, writers, but it’s never quite had the audience or the celebrity it’s longer form cousins – the novel – have. But all that could be able to change, with the launch of…
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Earlier this week, the shortlist for this year’s Readings Prize for New Australian Fiction was announced. The Readings Prize, created by the award winning independent book retailer, unsurprisingly (given it’s title) celebrates new works for Australian authors, with the judges considering the first or second books by an author, and shining a light on those…
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Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is on track to be the fastest selling book this decade, with the script book shifting approximately 170,000 copies in Australia alone since it’s release on Sunday. Though official figures will not be released until next week, that is a staggering figure, but will come as no surprise to those…
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The longlist for the 2016 Man Booker Prize was announced overnight in the UK. The thirteen books on the list were whittled down from over 150 submissions by a panel of five judges. Those five judges now have until 13th September to decide on a six book shortlist, before the eventual winner is announced on the…
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April 23rd marks the 400th anniversary of the death of William Shakespeare. To commemorate the occasion the State Library of NSW is staging a major Shakespeare celebration; headlined by acclaimed Australian singer-songwriter Paul Kelly. The celebration will see Kelly launch his new Shakespeare inspired album, Seven Sonnets & A Song, in the atmospheric Mitchell Reading…
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Ubisoft® and Scholastic have announced a collaboration on a new young adult book series, Last Descendants, based on the hit video game franchise Assassin’s Creed®. Written for readers ages 12 and up by award-winning author Matthew J. Kirby, the first book in the “Last Descendants” series will launch simultaneously in September 2016 in the United…
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Carriageworks and Sydney Writers’ Festival are partnering to present a Sydney Writers’ Festival Carriageworks Edition with two talks by internationally renowned authors: Simon Winchester, for his only Sydney appearance to discuss his new biography Pacific Ocean, and Andrew O’Hagan author of The Illuminations, which was long-listed for the 2015 Man Booker Prize. The public will have a chance to join bestselling author Simon…
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A whole host of local and international authors, writers and public thinkers will be decamping to Adelaide at the end of February for the 31st instalment of the Adelaide Writers’ Week; a week long celebration as part of the Adelaide Festival. The event will feature over 90 writers in conversation, across six days from the…
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A Rock & Roll Writers Festival is a curated, weekend long literary festival devoted to exploring and celebrating the creative spark between writing and music. The festival is to be held on the 2nd and 3rd of April at The Brightside, 27 Warner Street, Fortitude Valley. The fearless program is designed for fans and lovers of music…
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