SPN announces Isdahl, Dattner as conference keynotes
The Small Press Network (SPN) has announced the keynote speakers for the 2018 Independent Publishing Conference, which runs from 22-24 November 2018 in Melbourne.
Danika Isdahl, production manager at US-based non-profit literary press Sarabande Books, will deliver the trade day keynote address on Friday, 23 November. Established in 1994, the Kentucky-based Sarabande Books publishes 10-12 books each year across poetry, short fiction and essays.
Isdahl, who was named a Publishers Weekly Rising Star Honoree in 2018, will also appear on a panel with academics Per Henningsgaard and Emmett Stinson to discuss the role of non-New York based publishers in the current US political environment. Isdahl is attending the conference with support from the Melbourne UNESCO City of Literature Office.
Former publisher of Sleepers Publishing Zoe Dattner will deliver the fundamentals day keynote on Saturday, 24 November. Dattner was a founding member and general manager of the Small Press Network, and spent 15 years in the book trade before moving to Private Media, where she is a publisher and leads the flagship business publication SmartCompany.
As previously announced, Rebecca Giblin will deliver the research day keynote address, titled ‘#NotAllPublishers: The case for rethinking author contracts’, on Thursday, 22 November.
Other presenters at the conference will include Yvette Holt (First Nations Australia Writers Network), Bianca Whiteley (Nielsen BookScan), Robert Watkins (Hachette), Rebecca Lim (Voices from the Intersection), Michael Gordon-Smith (Australian Publishers Association), Rachel Bin Salleh (Magabala), Glen Jones (Amazon Australia), Jonathan Seifman (Booktopia), Belinda Bolliger (Scholastic), Caitlin Yates (Black Inc.), Shalini Kunahlan (Text Publishing), Michael Mohammed Ahmad (Sweatshop) and Chiara Priorelli (Wavesound).
As well as the research day on Thursday and the trade day on Friday, the conference will also feature a fundamentals day for beginners and those interested in entering publishing on Saturday, 24 November, as well as the presentation of the 2018 Most Underrated Book Award.
The full conference program will be released this Friday. Tickets are now available.
Category: Conferences Local news
