diff --git a/core/src/main/scala/kafka/common/UnknownTopicException.scala b/core/src/main/scala/kafka/common/UnknownTopicException.scala
deleted file mode 100644
index 710d3bf..0000000
--- a/core/src/main/scala/kafka/common/UnknownTopicException.scala
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,25 +0,0 @@
-/**
- * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one or more
- * contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file distributed with
- * this work for additional information regarding copyright ownership.
- * The ASF licenses this file to You under the Apache License, Version 2.0
- * (the "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance with
- * the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
- *
- *    http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
- *
- * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
- * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
- * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
- * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
- * limitations under the License.
- */
-
-package kafka.common
-
-/**
- * Thrown when a request is made for a topic, that hasn't been created in a Kafka cluster
- */
-class UnknownTopicException(message: String) extends RuntimeException(message) {
-  def this() = this(null)
-}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/core/src/main/scala/kafka/producer/async/DefaultEventHandler.scala b/core/src/main/scala/kafka/producer/async/DefaultEventHandler.scala
index 1a74951..084b8e6 100644
--- a/core/src/main/scala/kafka/producer/async/DefaultEventHandler.scala
+++ b/core/src/main/scala/kafka/producer/async/DefaultEventHandler.scala
@@ -149,7 +149,7 @@ class DefaultEventHandler[K,V](config: ProducerConfig,
     try {
       for (message <- messages) {
         val topicPartitionsList = getPartitionListForTopic(message)
-        val partitionIndex = getPartition(message.key, topicPartitionsList)
+        val partitionIndex = getPartition(message.topic, message.key, topicPartitionsList)
         val brokerPartition = topicPartitionsList(partitionIndex)
 
         // postpone the failure until the send operation, so that requests for other brokers are handled correctly
@@ -177,9 +177,9 @@ class DefaultEventHandler[K,V](config: ProducerConfig,
       }
       Some(ret)
     }catch {    // Swallow recoverable exceptions and return None so that they can be retried.
-      case ute: UnknownTopicException => warn("Failed to collate messages by topic,partition due to", ute); None
-      case lnae: LeaderNotAvailableException => warn("Failed to collate messages by topic,partition due to", lnae); None
-      case oe => error("Failed to collate messages by topic, partition due to", oe); None
+      case ute: UnknownTopicOrPartitionException => warn("Failed to collate messages by topic,partition due to: " + ute.getMessage); None
+      case lnae: LeaderNotAvailableException => warn("Failed to collate messages by topic,partition due to: " + lnae.getMessage); None
+      case oe => error("Failed to collate messages by topic, partition due to: " + oe.getMessage); None
     }
   }
 
@@ -200,25 +200,24 @@ class DefaultEventHandler[K,V](config: ProducerConfig,
    * @param topicPartitionList the list of available partitions
    * @return the partition id
    */
-  private def getPartition(key: K, topicPartitionList: Seq[PartitionAndLeader]): Int = {
+  private def getPartition(topic: String, key: K, topicPartitionList: Seq[PartitionAndLeader]): Int = {
     val numPartitions = topicPartitionList.size
     if(numPartitions <= 0)
-      throw new UnknownTopicOrPartitionException("Invalid number of partitions: " + numPartitions +
-        "\n Valid values are > 0")
+      throw new UnknownTopicOrPartitionException("Topic " + topic + " doesn't exist")
     val partition =
       if(key == null) {
         // If the key is null, we don't really need a partitioner so we just send to the next
         // available partition
         val availablePartitions = topicPartitionList.filter(_.leaderBrokerIdOpt.isDefined)
         if (availablePartitions.isEmpty)
-          throw new LeaderNotAvailableException("No leader for any partition")
+          throw new LeaderNotAvailableException("No leader for any partition in topic " + topic)
         val index = Utils.abs(partitionCounter.getAndIncrement()) % availablePartitions.size
         availablePartitions(index).partitionId
       } else
         partitioner.partition(key, numPartitions)
     if(partition < 0 || partition >= numPartitions)
-      throw new UnknownTopicOrPartitionException("Invalid partition id : " + partition +
-        "\n Valid values are in the range inclusive [0, " + (numPartitions-1) + "]")
+      throw new UnknownTopicOrPartitionException("Invalid partition id: " + partition + " for topic " + topic +
+        "; Valid values are in the inclusive range of [0, " + (numPartitions-1) + "]")
     partition
   }