The Australian Society of Authors, the peak national body for authors and illustrators, calls on the University of Western Australia to reverse its decision to close UWA Publishing, a highly successful university publisher for almost 85 years.
Of course the University can and should support its academic writing and research under the UWA Scholarly imprint but a complete move to an open access model will result in the loss of opportunities for many Australian authors who are professional writers rather than tenured academics. It is UWA Publishing’s trade publishing that generates essential royalties for authors and enriches diversity of publishing for the broader Australian community. Under the management of current publisher Terri-ann White, the press has in recent years gained national and international recognition for literary fiction, for example the Miles Franklin winning Extinctions by Josephine Wilson. UWA Publishing is also one of the largest poetry publishers in the country, publishes many important Western Australia-specific works which otherwise would not be seen in book form, and actively supports the publication of works in language, including internationally acclaimed author Kim Scott’s series of storybooks in the Noongar language. This short-sighted and damaging decision puts the future earnings of 350 backlist authors in jeopardy, destroys the plans of the authors with new works under contract and puts a team of talented publishing staff out of work. Chris Pash ASA Chair says, “The ASA is appalled by this move that will further narrow opportunities for authors around Australia. A move to modern digital publishing should not mean the closure of a fine publisher. Open access publishing may be suitable for academic writers but does not remunerate our poets and novelists.” The ASA supports the Small Press Network statement here, and encourages further support via the petition on Change.org to condemn this short-sighted and damaging decision. Comments are closed.
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