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The Clennett Report – 8 May 2026

Welcome to The Clennett Report

Everything Books and Publishing Australia

Estimated reading time: 7 minutes

Hello everyone 😄

Simon & Schuster has a new global distribution service, called Simon Global.
Better Reading will be launching a new app on the 20^th of May designed for readers to track reading, discover books and connect with others. It is said to offer a local alternative, and the data will come from TitlePage ensuring Australian editions can be found and reviewed properly.
Craig Silvey pleaded guilty to his charges on child exploitation material.
The US has seen a record high of over 5000+ books banned in libraries in 2025.
Lauren Matrosa, who wrote an erotic fiction titled Daddy’s Little Girl (which was reported previously), has been spared from jail over child exploitation material, but has been sentenced to 18-month community service and has been placed on the NSW Child Protection Register for 8 years.
Australian editor Jessica Staheli has announced the development of a new group called the Young Book Editors Association Melbourne. This group is aimed at early-career editors (0-5 years experiences). Expressions of interest can be submitted here.
Publishers in the US are suing Meta and Mark Zuckerberg for copyright infringement.
UK Publisher Latana Publishing has announced it’s launch into the Australian market for it’s children’s list. Simon & Schuster have made a distribution agreement with the company and submissions are currently open.
The winners of the 2026 Age Book of the Year awards have been announced. Moreno Giovannoni won the fiction category for The Immigrants and Kate Wild won the nonfiction category for The Red House.
The winners of the 2026 Australian Book Design Awards have been announced. Our very own Keely Mackinnon came third in Emerging Book Designer of the Year which we are very excited and proud about!
- OPUS Group ABDA Cover of the Year
  
  Dymocks Classics (Dymocks), designed by Susan Le
- OPUS Group ABDA Book of the Year
  
  Textiles x Art (Ramona Barry & Beck Jobson, Thames & Hudson), designed by Hope Lumsden-Barry
- Hachette Australia Designers’ Choice Award
  
  Dymocks Classics (Dymocks), designed by Susan Le
- OPUS Group Best Designed General Fiction Cover
  
  Stinkbug (Sinéad Stubbins, Affirm Press), designed by George Saad
- Simon & Schuster Australia Best Designed Literary Fiction/Poetry Cover
  
  The Furphy Anthology 2025 (Furphy Literary Awards, Hardie Grant Books), designed by Design by Committee
- C&C Offset Printing Best Designed Nonfiction Cover
  
  Gather Up Your World in One Long Breath (S Shakthidharan, NewSouth Books), designed by Rekha Dhanaram (with internal design by Rekha Dhanaram & Susiman Nirmalavasan)
- HarperCollins Publishers Australia Best Designed Series
  
  Dymocks Classics (Dymocks), designed by Susan Le
- Hardie Grant Books Best Designed Illustrated Book under $50
  
  Trinkets (Cat Rabbit, Smith Street), designed by Michelle Mackintosh
- Smith Street Books Best Designed Illustrated Book over $50
  
  Textiles x Art (Ramona Barry & Beck Jobson, Thames & Hudson), designed by Hope Lumsden-Barry
- Australian Book Connection Best Designed Catalogue/Exhibition Book
  
  Westwood Kawakubo (NGV), designed by Karina Soraya and Dirk Hiscock
- Adams Print Best Designed Cookbook
  
  The Japanese Art of Pickling & Fermenting (Yoko Nakazawa, Smith Street Books), designed by Michelle Mackintosh
- C&C Offset Printing Best Designed Children’s Nonfiction Book
  
  Diary of a Marine Biologist (Anita Thomas, illus by Sarah Wilkins & Anita Thomas, Walker Books), designed by Sarah Mitchell
- Penguin Random House Australia Best Designed Children’s Picture Book
  
  Gone (Michel Streich, Thames & Hudson), designed by Sasha Beekman and Michel Streich
- Best Designed Children’s Fiction Book
  
  Willow Bright’s Secret Plot (A L Tait, Scholastic), designed by Grace Felstead
- Gildings Best Designed Children’s/YA Series
  
  How to Help | What to Do | What to Say (Davina Bell, illus by Hilary Jean Tapper, Lothian), designed by Kirby Armstrong
- Best Designed YA Cover
  
  Black River (Ruby Jean Cottle, Atria), designed by Hannah Janzen, illustrated by Carolina Rodriguez Fuenmayor
  
  This Fatal Kiss (Alicia Jasinska, Walker Books), designed by Nicolette Treanor
- Tafeda Best Designed Small-run Book
  
  Work / Play (Zoë Sadokierski, Page/Screen Books), designed by Zoë Sadokierski
- Adobe Best Designed Student Book
  
  The Surprising Book, designed by Madison de Sousa, RMIT
- Best Designed Student Series/Cover
  
  Gentle and Fierce (Vanessa Berry), designed by Nicole Tan, RMIT
- Penguin Random House Australia Deb Brash Emerging Designer of the Year
  
  Eloise Myatt