Welcome to The Sharpe Report

Everything Books and Publishing Australia

clock - estimated reading time  Estimated reading time: 5 minutes

Good afternoon everyone 😄
 
  • There was a strange glitch that happened within the last week that appeared on Goodreads. Several books (including Ali Hazelwood’s new book titled Mate) were showing the cover of Eric Trumps’ memoir with a message in the blurb area of the platform that was a bit of a rant on how Goodreads removed negative reviews of his book. People are arguing that this is a form of censorship regarding a political person of power.
  • The Australian Society of Authors has announced that Ann-Marie Priest is the 2025 winner of the Blake-Beckett Trust Scholarship. You can read more here about the winner and the prize.
  • The First Nation’s Literary Festival Blak and Bright has been moved to 3-6 Sept 2026. It was a strategic and curational decision.
  • The publishing industry has had a positive reaction to the news that the Australian Government has ruled out on relaxing copyright rules for generative AI training. This is a big win for the creative industry.
  • The literary journal ‘Southerly’ has returned after a hiatus of 3 years! For more information see here.
  • The NSW State Library has announced their 2026 fellowships. The fellowships cover a wide range of original research topics. For more information see here.
  • Darren Rix and Craig Cormick have won the ACT Book of the Year award for their book Warra Warra Wai.
  • UWA Publishing has announced their shortlist for their Spiers Prize. This prize is a national unpublished children’s fiction manuscript prize. Winners are offered a publishing contract with UWAP and a cash prize.
  • The nominees for the 2026 Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award have been announced. This is awarded annually to a person/organisation for their contribution to children’s and young adult literature.

 

Books in the Media

National

 

ACT

 

NSW

 

QLD + SA

 

TAS

 

VIC

 

Information gathered from Books+Publishing, X

 

Featured Blog Posts:

Featured Blog Posts

Interested in publishing your book but unsure where to start or what is even involved? Tell us about your project and we will post you a copy of our:

 

The Little Book of
Big Publishing Tips.

 

In just a quick 8,000 words, this little book will equip you with the knowledge you need to successfully publish your book.

The Little Book of Big Publishing tips goes into the essentials of self-publishing a book, outlining the business and financial side of publishing, legal issues, design, editing, sales and marketing. There's even a section on how to identify a vanity-publishing scam.