Rashida Murphy has published her short fiction and poetry in various literary journals and anthologies, in Australia, India, U.K and U.S.A. The Historian's Daughter was shortlisted in the Dundee International Book Prize in 2015. I am writing to express, along with hundreds of others, my deep regret and grief at the impending closure of UWA Publishing. Without UWA Publishing, I, as a young immigrant in the mid 1980s, would not have known my place.The books I bought from the Press showed me an Australia I could inhabit in my own skin. More than 20 years after I began buying this imprint, UWAP published my debut novel, which was straight out of a university writing program. UWAP gave me a platform to add my own voice to the multitudes that had informed mine. As Roanna Gonsalves has already pointed out, debut and migrant writers are regularly published by this publisher, which surely adds to “internationalisation as much as possible” to quote your own words back at you, Mr Shah. Further, if you are really invested in creating “real world impact” and are serious about “contributing to our cultural foundations” you would be working to ensure that UWA Publishing continues and prospers, rather than presiding over its demise. I hope you will reconsider your decision and ensure the continuing presence of our state’s cultural curator, custodian of our stories and an exemplar of ethical and forward-thinking publishing. Enticing international fee-paying students to the university need not come at the cost of writing and publishing in this state. Sincerely Dr Rashida Murphy https://uwap.uwa.edu.au/collections/rashida-murphy https://rashidawritenow.com/ *** ***** Support UWAP by signing the petition at Change.org Comments are closed.
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