Since we began in 1976, Scribe has been proudly independent. Our editorial-led approach to publishing means we have a reputation for championing original ideas, powerful writing, and bold points of view, and we’ve often taken on books that other publishers have shied away from: the difficult, the unconventional, the necessary. With offices in Australia, the UK, and the US, our outlook and reach are global and have enabled us to carve out an utterly unique place in the publishing landscape.

We have a celebrated history of developing new authors, and books we’ve published have received or been finalists for every major literary prize in Australia, alongside numerous international prizes including the International Booker Prize, the National Book Award for Translated Literature, PEN Translation Prize, and more. Our editors in Melbourne and London spend each day finding stories and writers that matter — sifting through submissions and manuscripts from around the world in an uncompromising pursuit of the best books we can find, develop, and deliver to readers.

We love what we do, and we hope you will, too.

Scribe was founded in 1976 by publisher Henry Rosenbloom to publish ‘serious nonfiction’ and ‘books that matter’. Today, Scribe is a unique, independent publisher with a global reputation for publishing the very best in nonfiction and fiction on the world stage.

Scribe’s nonfiction programme strives to publish books that are deeply researched, explore important ideas, and drive conversations about perpetually relevant topics such as climate change, politics and justice, health, science, and technology. We are fiercely committed to bringing substantial nonfiction to a broad and diverse audience.

Our nonfiction list features prominent thinkers, journalists, politicians, and writers such as Barry Jones, Niki Savva, Julian Burnside, Veronica Gorrie, Antony Loewenstein, Jenny Hocking, Rebecca Giggs, Josh Bornstein, Gideon Haigh, and Jeff Sparrow.

Scribe has also brought vital new work from the world to Australia, publishing authors of international acclaim, including David Finkel, Katherine Boo, Thomas Piketty, Jane Mayer, and Michael E. Mann. We have championed books at the very forefront of their scientific fields, publishing groundbreaking titles like Gut, Come as You Are, and The Brain That Changes Itself, and we’ve published books by global heads of state, including Emmanuel Macron and Joe Biden.

Scribe’s fiction list is made up of powerful and original voices, and its translated fiction programme brings some of the most exciting international authors and books to our shores.

Our fiction authors are highly awarded, and books on our list have won or been shortlisted for every major literary award in Australia, including the NSW, QLD, SA, and Victorian Premiers Literary Awards, the Miles Franklin Award, and The Stella Prize. Our translated fiction programme features many acclaimed authors and translators, including the 2025 International Booker Prize winners, author Banu Mushtaq and translator Deepa Bhasthi. Other translated works have won The National Book Award for Translated Literature and been shortlisted for The International Booker Prize, as well as attracting multiple awards in their originating territories. Scribe is a four-time winner of the ABIA Small Publisher of the Year Award.

In 2013 we established Scribe UK. More than ten years later, our London office is publishing UK, Australian and international authors, as well as bestselling nonfiction like Billion-Dollar Whale and The Changing of the Guard; important biographies of figures like Jan Clements, Charles Darwin, and April Ashley; and serious literary work from writers including Marina Benjamin, Gavin McCrea, Tessa McWatt, and Ryan O’Connor. Scribe UK was shortlisted for Independent Publisher of the Year at The Bookseller’s British Book Awards in 2018.

In 2017 we began publishing directly into the US, and now bring our books to English-language readers all over the world.

2026 will mark the 50th anniversary of Scribe Publications in Australia. The Scribe team will continue to bring you the books that matter.