Setback and Discovery

I'm not sure how this happened but I managed to lose some of my research notes. It could have been during the time a plague of locusts invaded my house in the form of several of my son's friends. Or it could have been during a spot of frenzied spring cleaning on my part. Nevertheless, I needed to repeat some of my research.

I happened to be browsing the bookshelves belonging to the mother of one of my son's friends and I came upon a copy of "Paper Empires: a History of the Book in Australia 1946-2005". A valuable resource that provides me with some detailed information about the history of writers, booksellers, publishers and readers in Australia. It makes up for some of the lost notes.

Of particular interest to me is the chapter titled "Into the Global Era". A period in Australia's publishing history as the State Library of Victoria's exhibition The Independent Type describes it: " we have turned from importers of culture to exporters".

The chapter includes information about some of the publishers I had intended to research, including Allen & Unwin, McPhee Gribble, Magabala Books and Text Publishing.

I read "Other People's Words" by Hilary McPhee, one half of McPhee Gribble. It chronicles the story of the publishing house that was between 1975 and 1989 a company that nurtured and published works of Australian writers that greatly contributed to our culture. Some of those authors included Kathy Lette and Gabrielle Carey, Helen Garner, Tim Winton and Kaz Cooke.