Reading, as the Prime Minister has reminded us, got many of us through lockdowns. And there are some major initiatives for writing and publishing in the new national cultural policy.
A new survey of Australian authors finds that while author incomes have (very slightly) grown, they remain perilously low – which makes it hard to find time to write.
What are the consequences of book publishing’s invisible workforce – for respect, wages and diversity? Alice Grundy suggests it’s time for book editors to be more visible.
Fewer than 1% of Australian publishing professionals identify as First Nations. We need better representation to authentically represent First Nations voices. Sandra Phillips explains why – and how.
‘Everything is random,’ the Penguin Random House CEO recently told a US court, about how the publishing business works. It all seemed to be a gamble. But is that how it works in Australia?
Image from big beautiful female theory by Eloise Grills (Affirm Press).
Affirm Press
Two radically inventive new works of Australian graphic nonfiction dig deep into 21st-century life. They balance critique with hopeful possibilities – of collective change and radical acceptance.
After decades of banned books, arrests and raids, Penguin Books Australia decided to take a stand against literary censorship. A new book tells the inside story.
Alexis Wright, pictured here in 2007 after winning the Miles Franklin award for her book Carpentaria, is one of many writers first published by University of Queensland Press.
Dean Lewins/AAP
The University of Queensland Press has a peerless record of discovering, nurturing and supporting Australian writers. A new anthology is a cross-section of many of their writings.
How many non-white writers are published in Australia each year? Is their job to remain at the exotic margins of our literary culture?
Siryk Denys/shutterstock
A recent attempt to broaden the Stella Count by measuring the diversity of writers reviewed proved to be a hard ask. Is the bigger problem here the whiteness of our publishing industry?
What could be better than browsing in a bookstore?
Snipergirl/flickr
Five years ago, the death knell was sounded for the bookshop. But the paper book, which offers hours of deliciously deep, screen-free reading, has not gone the way of Kodachrome. In fact, bookstores are staging a minor comeback.
Argentinian artist Raul Lemesoff drives his vehicle called “Arma de Instruccion Masiva” (weapon of mass instruction) through Buenos Aries. What is Australia doing to protect its publishing industry?
Marcos Brindicci
Books contain ideas. They enable minds to shine. Our publishing industry is under pressure on many fronts – yet cultural matters seem of little significance to the federal government.
Parallel import restrictions are bad for Australian consumers, and not the best way to support Australian books.
wiredforlego/flickr.com
The uniquely Australian literary voice is worth protecting, but parallel importation restrictions are not the way to do it. Rather, we should lift those restrictions – and subsidise Australian booksellers directly.
A new study examines the responses of Australian authors, publishers and readers to global changes in the contemporary publishing environment.
www.shutterstock.com
A study into the responses of Australian authors, publishers and readers to global changes in the contemporary publishing environment suggests authors are being innovative, but financial rewards can be elusive.
Chief Executive and Publisher of Melbourne University Press, Louise Adler, will chair the new book council.
AAP ONE
The Book Council of Australia began to take shape last week when MUP director Louise Adler was announced as its chair. But what is its purpose, and how will it embrace the industry’s new voices?
Campbell Newman is keen to be the subject of a memoir – but the University of Queensland Press doesn’t want to publish it.
AAP Image/John Pryke
The University of Queensland Press caused controversy when it turned down Campbell Newman’s memoir – but why shouldn’t a publisher be entitled to principled refusal?
The Call for Entries is now open for the 62nd annual Australian Book Design Awards which are seeking the “bravest and brightest, the most original and beautiful” books published before December 31, 2013…