Dispatch #023
Does listening to an audio book count as reading? Plus, the chance to win an Akubra hat! Yes, a real one! Details inside.
AUDIO BOOKS: There’s a new report on the uptake of audiobooks, and it makes for interesting reading. Audiobooks and Digital Book Culture: Australian Books and Publishing at a Time of Global Disruption is a research project led by Dr Millicent Weber out of the School of Literature, Languages and Linguistics at the Australian National University and funded by the Australian Research Council. It suggests that \a third of Australians listen to audiobooks, a rate lower than in many European markets, which is surprising because we have such long commutes. Most Australians consider listening to an audiobook to “count” as reading (they don’t really believe that overseas) and nearly 60 per cent of those who listen do so at least weekly, mainly to books with a US accent, and mainly while multitasking. You can read the whole report here.
MILES FRANKLIN: It’s that time of year again, with all eyes on the Miles Franklin. It’s still the most important prize for Australian literature. There has always been controversy. Remember when they refused to give it to Frank Moorhouse on the grounds that his wonderful book about Edith Campbell Berry wasn’t Australian enough? Please. There’s nothing more Australian than a talented young woman from a country town striding forth into a big, bright, international future. Remember when women couldn’t win it? Then men couldn’t win it? In case you don’t know, Stella Miles Franklin, who wrote My Brilliant Career, left a chunk of money to celebrate excellence in Australian writing. It’s for Stella that the prize is named. People like to use it as a political plaything when it should just go to the best book. Let’s see what the judges do this year. Winner to be announced on Wednesday, 5 August, at The Gallery Room, Mitchell Building, State Library of New South Wales.
BLUEY: Penguin Random House (PRH) Australia will publish the first-ever Bluey audiobook collection, Bluey: The Beach and Other Stories, on 1 September 2026. It is the first time Bluey stories have been released in audiobook format globally, and they will be narrated by Australian actress Miranda Tapsell, a Larrakia and Tiwi woman from Darwin, known for her work on The Sapphires and for Top End Wedding, which she co-wrote, produced and starred in. Miranda’s distinctive voice is perfect for the Bluey stories, and we will all love putting them on in the car for those long drives to the beach (no more: "Are we there yet?").
AI: This is very disturbing. The Publishing Perspectives website says AI companies are buying large quantities of second-hand books in German-speaking countries to train their language models. Secondhand booksellers across Germany have reported unusually large orders from the Canadian–American company Zoom Books, which is looking for titles published from the 1970s onward. The rumour is that the books are scanned … and then destroyed. And once these books are gone, they are gone. Most will be out of print. More here.
SALES DATA: I came across some sales data from the US, and it’s not great news, but not all bad, either. Print sales are flat for the first six months of 2026. The only million-copy seller so far this year is Theo of Golden by Allen Levi, which sold nearly 1.2 million copies. Andrew Weir’s Project Hail Mary came in at #2, selling more than 829,000 copies, and Frieda McFadden’s The Housemaid continues to sell well, as does Mel Robbins’ The Let Them Theory (more than 566,000 copies sold to date).
BOOKER PRIZE: Prize money for the International Booker Prize has doubled under the new sponsors, Bukhman Philanthropies, which has agreed to fund the next 10 years of the International Booker Prize. Dmitry and Daria Bukhman are British entrepreneurs and philanthropists who made their money from the gaming company Playrix. Their support will enable the prize cheque to jump from £50,000 to £100,000, split equally between author and translator. They will also support the gifting of shortlisted books to British libraries and prison reading programs. The prize will now be called the Bukhman International Booker Prize.
WINNER: Jamir Nazir (above left) has won the 2026 Commonwealth Short Story Prize. You may remember that social media warriors accused him of using AI to write The Serpent in the Grove. He denied it, saying chronic health conditions had made “sustained, desk-bound typing physically challenging, so he has developed his own writing process using speech-to-text tools. After visualising the story and walking through versions in his head, he records the story and follows up with an intense editing process on small sections of text.” You can read more about the controversy and Nazir’s ultimate victory here.
The inaugural winner of the 2026 Magabala Pride Fellowship is Kamilaroi writer and editor Darby Jones (above right), for his collection of essays Country Boy. The Magabala Pride Fellowship is a partnership between Magabala Books and Pride Foundation Australia designed to support LGBTQIASB+ Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander storytellers. It provides $10,000 to a First Nations writer to develop or complete a manuscript. Darby said his story is “a portrait of a rural family and the Kamilaroi Country that made them … The Pride Fellowship has breathed life into my project. It will enable me to return home to conduct research and undertake a period of cultural consultation with my Elders.”
BAD BUSINESS: If you’re at all interested in the terrible cost blow-outs and corruption in the building industry that appears to plague every major project in Australia, you will probably be interested in Building Bad, a work of investigative nonfiction by Nick McKenzie and Ben Schneiders, described as “one of the biggest, most colourful and craziest scandals” and coming in 2027.
How Lucky Am I?: Join a gentle skeleton as he wanders through joy, loss, grief and love to find his family.
Protocols: A new book by Dr Andrew Huberman, host of the world’s leading health podcast, Huberman Lab.
All the Wrong Moves: From the White House insider-turned host of the hit podcast The Rest is Politics (US).
The Kokoro Cat Clinic: Volume 3 in the award-winning, bestselling Japanese series about cat prescriptions.
It’s still cold, and the beach is (probably) closed, so why not join us to talk about books and hear from writers? We’d love to meet you.
This month, you could even get fit with a genuine Akubra from Akubra Bondi, plus two denim pieces from Shona Joy, up for grabs at our event celebrating the publication of the raucous, brilliant new novel, Billie King by Shannon Kelly-White. She’s a female bushranger, an outlaw, a gunslinger, and you are going to love her. Details below. Also don’t miss:
Hannah Richell, An Evening with the Author, Tuesday 21st of July: Hannah Richell will be in conversation with Vashti Whitfield as they discuss her book ‘An Ocean and a Day’ at Gertrude & Alice. Click here for tickets.
On The Calculation of Volume Bookclub, Bondi Literary Salon, Wednesday 22nd of July: On the Calculation of Volume (1) by Solvej Balle, at Gertrude & Alice Cafe Bookstore. Click here for tickets.
Shannon Kelly-White, An Evening with the Author, Thursday 23rd of July: Join author Shannon Kelly-White for an author event at Gertrude & Alice. We’ll be celebrating the launch day of her debut novel, ‘Billie King’. A fantastic competition to win prizes just for wearing DOUBLE DENIM to our Author Event and go into the prize draw to win an AKUBRA hat ($400 voucher) with a fitting at Akubra Bondi. Click here for tickets.
Dr Joanna McMillan, An Evening with the Author, Tuesday 11th of August: Join Dr Joanna McMillan for an author talk about her latest book The Fibre Factor at Gertrude & Alice Cafe Bookstore. Click here for tickets.
Angel Down, Bookclub, Bondi Literary Salon, Wednesday 12th of August: Angel Down by Daniel Kraus, hosted by Anna O’Rady at Gertrude & Alice Cafe Bookstore. Click here for tickets.
Remembering Babylon Bookclub, Bondi Literary Salon, Tuesday 18th of August: Remembering Babylon by David Malouf at Gertrude & Alice Cafe Bookstore. Click here for tickets.
Dr Norman Swan, An Evening with the Author, Wednesday 2nd of September: Join us as Dr Norman Swan sits down with Fran Kelly to discuss his latest book ‘The Brain Cliff’ at Paddington Uniting Church. Click here for tickets.
And that’s all for today, folks! Thank you for reading, and please do forward our newsletter to your friends so that we can build our community here. We have over 2,000 subscribers, and we would love to welcome more!
Have something you’d like to include? Our newsletter is compiled by a Bondi local, Caroline Overington. You can follow her on Instagram or Facebook, or get in touch here if you’ve got news to share.
I’ve asked a number of librarians this question about audio books. They tell me, yes, it counts as reading.
Caroline, loved your little Insta/FB grab the other day with Meg Mason's '2 books' ... excited to hear how excited you are to read it and for what marvellous 'thing' you might be doing to help promote Meg's new one!