We have some wonderful news to share from the 2026 ABIA Business Award shortlists...
We are beyond delighted to announce that our very own Aviva Tuffield has been shortlisted for Commissioning Editor/Publisher of the Year! This recognition is so well deserved, and we are very proud of you. 💌
Congratulations to all the shortlisted publishers and editors.
This award is sponsored by Media Super. The awards are presented by Books+Publishing (@booksandpublishing ), in partnership with the Australian Publishers Association.
The Awards Ceremony will take place on Thursday 21 May at Linseed House in Sydney.
You can learn more about the shortlist via the UQP blog.
#ABIA2026 #AustralianBooks
Some snippets from an @_artshub piece by @avivatuffield ;
‘Why I started Readers and Writers Against the Genocide (RWAG)
As a literary community, we trade in creative freedom, free speech and the contestation of ideas,’ says RWAG founder Aviva Tuffield.’
Go to 👏 .au 👏 to read the whole piece. But here’s one snippet speaking to the radical community support of RWAG;
RWAG: too much to bear
The existence of RWAG has literally kept me functioning this past year. To wake every day to images of maimed, orphaned children; to parents digging through rubble with their hands after returning from searching for food for their now-bombed children; and not to have people in my professional life to talk to about these horrors was becoming too much to bear.
And I wasn’t alone. The multi-award-winning Australian author @michelle_de_kretser told me: ‘The sight of a friend or stranger in a RWAG tee is a welcome reminder that millions around the world oppose Israel’s war crimes and stand in solidarity with a free Palestine.’
Fellow prizewinning author @hannahkentwrites has said: ‘My RWAG shirt does not just communicate my outrage and horror at what is happening in Palestine and to Palestinians – it also invites conversation and statements of support from others. It is an invitation to action. It is an affirmation that we stand together in compassion.’
In short, RWAG makes justice-oriented solidarity and community visible, and spurs us to collective action.
❤️💚🖤🤍 🇵🇸 and follow the link in our bio to find our where you can preorder @ezzideenshehab ’s book from - out on November 10!
#DiaryofaYoungDoctorNotesfromtheGenocideinGaza #EzzideenShehab #DiaryofaYoungDoctor
#ReadersAndWritersAgainstTheGenocide #FreePalestine #DrEzzideenShehab #Gaza #Palestine #Book #Bookstagram #Read #Reading #Memoir #reads #AvivaTuffield #ArtsHub
On 22 July 2025, the first sitting day of the new parliament, individuals and groups from around Australia protested outside Parliament House to tell our government to SANCTION ISRAEL NOW. After 654 days of genocide — of ethnic cleansing, collective punishment, forced starvation, and war crime after war crime by the Israeli government — we demanded our government act to stop the genocide in Gaza.
It was an honour to speak there on behalf of @readerswritersagainstgenocide about the ‘silence’ from so many official organisations in the literary sector as well as the ‘silencing’ of Palestinian writers — such as Dr Randa Abdel-Fatteh and Sara M Saleh — and of others who have spoken up, including Antoinette Lattouf, Omar Sakr, Ren Wyld, Clementine Ford and Grace Tame.
@randaafattah@instasaranade@antoinette_lattouf@omarsakrpoet@meanderingwyld@clementine_ford@tamepunk
Statement of solidarity
24 April 2026
We, the undersigned, who are staff members of UQP, wish to show our support to Wiradjuri poet @jazzmoney_______ . We are deeply disappointed that the University of Queensland has cancelled the publication of Bila, a river cycle — a beautiful and gentle children’s picture book written by Money and illustrated by Matt Chun, scheduled for publication by UQP later this year.
Bila is a First Nations story about waterways and environmental pollution, and would have been an important addition to children’s literature. It was thoughtful, considered and created with care. Hours upon hours of labour were poured into it by its creators, and by our small team. We are devastated to see that labour dismissed so completely.
We are greatly concerned about the precedent the University of Queensland has set by cancelling this book contract.
We feel this decision is in direct opposition to our commitment to our authors and the community to uplift culturally significant, diverse stories. We stand in solidarity with Jazz Money and those who are, like us, feeling distressed and betrayed.
We ask that the University of Queensland reconsiders its decision and continues with the publication of Bila.
Signed:
Amelie Soper (@ameliesoper ), Aviva Tuffield (@avivatuffield ), Cathy Vallance, Erin Sandiford (@erin_sandiford ), Jean Smith, Katy Bedford (@katwattle ), Kirsty Wilson (@kirstyewilson ), Lauren Mitchell (@la.mitc ), Yasmin Smith and three private UQP staff members.
We were briefly a 4 dog household — but Percy the white Maltese terrier, who’s the @amanihaydar art aficionado at the end, has gone home but Ron Ron the kelpie is still on holiday with us.
Slide 2: current vibes. Two spoodles and a kelpie on the bed with the footy on TV.
@sarahrschwa
What a poignant evening. First watching the lowering of the Palestinian flag in Darebin due to new council rules. Shame. With beautiful music and dance from the @tarab_ensemble and the company of @clarewrighthistorian@jacintadimase@thisgirl_writes et al
And then a shared meal of friendship, flexible rituals and solidarity on the 2nd night of Passover at @sarahrschwa ’s Seder (bonus catch-up with @mmb_bennett )
Today I had the pleasure of dogsitting a very special dog. Thanks for entrusting her to us @sarahrschwa
I sent many doggy daycare update photos throughout the day to the owner/parent.
Ron Ron was a bit stand-offish at first but that didn’t last long. There was some doggy jealousy and staking out the poo-brown sofa from my dogs.
By the end all the family were won over!
Doing it all again very soon 🐾♥️♥️♥️🐾
Happy International Women's Day! May your feminism include BIPOC decolonial, anti-capitalist and anti-imperialist stories like the stories of the three women in my debut novel Hailstones Fell without Rain.
Graciela is a Uruguayan migrant struggling to raise her three daughters in Western Sydney: her life feels like one bill after another, and she’s reaching breaking point. Chula, her elderly aunt, is still waiting for justice after living through the civic-military coup of 1973 in Uruguay. And Rita, Graciela’s eldest daughter, wants to escape the constraints of her family but finds herself indelibly tied to the ghosts of her mother’s past.
‘Red Tape’ has found its forever home.
Thank you @amanihaydar for your immense talent, to @randaafattah for the book that inspired this picture, ‘Red Tape’ for being the perfect artwork to capture the novel DISCIPLINE and the repressive times we live in, and @rosie.rodger for being a (somewhat) willing model who was unable to carry both dogs to showcase this stunner. Shoutout to Reni and to Roo (not pictured) 🐾🐾🐾🐾
Congratulations to all the 2026 Victorian Premier’s Literary Award winners especially @randaafattah and @evelynaraluen
Came home to find that my new 🍉 doormat had arrived. Kids put the ‘red carpet’ out for me but didn’t pick up the old one 🙄
