6 - Publishing the Australian Novel

Summary

This chapter charts how the rise of book history and publishing studies has reshaped the Australian literary field. In the 1990s, it was widely believed that Australia-based publishers were in danger of being absorbed into transnational corporate behemoths. The twenty-first century, by contrast, has witnessed a resurgence in Australian literary publishing. Firms such as Text and Giramondo were able to distribute their books internationally, while also fashioning local models of literary discernment. Although not economically lucrative in an absolute sense, the branding of a literary style of Australian book has reinvigorated the visibility of the Australian novel in the twenty-first century.