A closer look at First Nations publishing

In this London Book Fair preview edition of Think Australian we take a closer look at Australian First Nations publishing. While a handful of Australian publishers have been publishing Indigenous authors for many years, including Indigenous-owned publisher Magabala Books and this year’s ABIA Small Publisher of the Year winner UQP, more and more publishers are now seeking First Nations voices for their lists.

What’s gratifying to see is the outward signs of their success. In this newsletter alone we report on recent international rights sales for Julie Janson’s novel Benevolence (Magabala) and Tony Birch’s The White Girl (UQP); a screen rights deal for Tara June Winch’s Miles Franklin Award-winning novel The Yield (Penguin); multiple award wins for Ellen van Neervan’s ‘explosive’ poetry collection Throat (UQP); and the ongoing presence of Bruce Pascoe’s Dark Emu (Magabala) in the Australian nonfiction bestseller charts.

In this newsletter we also profile three independent Australian publishers with a strong international focus: Spinifex Press, Big Sky Publishing—which recently launched its adult fiction list—and Exisle Publishing; and interview Natasha Solomun, founder of The Rights Hive, a literary rights agency that represents mostly independent Australian publishers. No doubt they would have been roaming the halls of the London Book Fair had it been possible.

As previously, this issue of Think Australian is being distributed by Publishers Weekly and BookBrunch. You can read our recent Bologna preview edition here. For more information on Think Australian and to sign up directly, click here.

Andrea Hanke
Editor
Think Australian
thinkaustralian@booksandpublishing.com.au

Category: Think Australian editorial