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https://theconversation.com/after-years-of-austerity-revive-writes-the-next-chapter-in-australian-literary-culture-198758>
"The Albanese government’s Revive is Australia’s first national cultural policy
in ten years. The last was the Gillard government’s Creative Australia in 2013.
Revive promises to “empower our talented artists and arts organisations”,
reaching new audiences “and telling stories in compelling new ways”.
At this morning’s launch, there was a particular emphasis on support for the
literary sector, which Arts Minister Tony Burke – who famously starts his day
reading poetry – acknowledged has been deeply underfunded in the past.
A new body, Writers Australia, will be established within Creative Australia, a
restored and revived version of the long-running Australia Council for the
Arts.
Writers Australia will provide direct support to the literature sector from
2025, including for writers and publishers, to develop local and international
audiences for Australian books. The new body will also establish a National
Poet Laureate for Australia and determine the winners of the Prime Minister’s
Literary Awards.
Another major win, for authors in particular, is the extension of the Whitlam
government’s public lending rights scheme, which gives authors a fee every time
their books are borrowed from a library, to cover digital lending. For the
first time, authors will receive fees when audio books and e-books are
borrowed. This is expected to add around 20% to authors’ earnings.
Given our country’s history of viewing writing as a nice “hobby”, those of us
working and researching in book publishing are tentatively optimistic. But
coming from a politician who reads a poem a day, it’s no surprise."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
