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[CCBC-Net] Australian children's books
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From: Judith Ridge <judithr>
Date: Tue, 16 Jul 2002 21:45:12 +1000
I meant to reply to this earlier, I hope people remember the original post from Norma Jean Sawicki. I have a few observations to add to her most enlightening post.
I find this very interesting. I have worked for a couple of Australian publishers, and my impression has been that it's not possible for Aus publishers to be as selective in finding a US publisher as Norma Jean suggests. Getting a US deal can make or break an Australian publication our print runs are considerably smaller, given our small population, and an international sale can make it possible to publish a book. (Jen McVeity has articulated some of the problems besieging Australian publishing at the moment.) Not all books, obviously, or we'd have no local industry! I'm also not aware of any author having a say in this process at all! Perhaps big name authors, such as Bob Graham and Graeme Base have more clout. I don't mean to contradict Norma Jean's experience, it's simply not my experience.
(disclaimer! - when I say experience, I have not personally been involved in international negotiations.)
This is very true. In recent years, fewer international books have been available in Australia. I have written about this myself, in an article entitled "Reverse Cultural Cringe" in the Autumn 2000 edition of "Viewpoint: On Books for Young Adults" (published by the Department of Language, Literacy & Arts Education, Faculty of Education, University of Melbourne). I don't know that it's so much that Australians think that US or UK books are
"too foreign", rather that book buyers - parents, teachers and librarians want Australian books for Australian children. This is fine, of course, to a point, but my argument is that Australian children are exposed to
(especially) US culture through movies, TV and the internet, and ought to have access to different views via literature.
As per the name of my article, I believe there has been a "backlash" against non-Australian children's books, since our own publishing industry has taken off and so many great Australian children's authors have emerged - since the
"golden age" of the 80s, I would suggest. And that's all well and good again, to a point. But I personally feel it's gone a bit too far. We Aussies can be a parochial lot, as our recent political climate would attest (but that's a whole other story).
I find both these statements intriguing, as they are certainly not opinions I've heard. And in fact, our histories are quite different. As I understand it, the US was colonised by people seeking freedom from religious persecution and those seeking financial gain from tobacco crops etc. Australia was a penal colony. (yes, I know that convicts were sent to the US, but surely that was long after the Pilgrims etc arrived?) The US won its independence through war, Australia remains a constitutional monarchy under the UK (regrettably, say I!). I would say we have more in common with Canada, but there are very few Canadian books available here, far less than US or UK titles. Culturally, and traditionally, we have been much closer to the UK, although of course US culture is increasingly dominant and has been for decades. It's hardly a foreign culture. "Friends" is our top rating TV show and US movies dominate the box office. American and UK authors for adults are widely read and bestsellers. But when it comes to children's books, we have become fiercely protective of our young readers.
Having said all of the above, Harry Potter and Lemony Snicket and Artemis Fowl and Philip Pullman and Redwall and Tamora Pierce and so on and so on are popular with Australian children. Publishers such as Allen and Unwin publish children's and YA books in translation and great US books such as
"The Folk Keeper" and "The Goats".
I see that Elizabeth Honey's marvellous "Remote Man" has just been published in the US. Yay!
Amen and goodnight. (see! US culture takes hold in Australia! MASH is on re-runs here AGAIN!)
Judith Ridge (watching "Blackadder" special from the UK, after "CSI" from the US, and waiting for "Angel" after last night's devastating "Buffy" episode....)
Received on Tue 16 Jul 2002 06:45:12 AM CDT
Date: Tue, 16 Jul 2002 21:45:12 +1000
I meant to reply to this earlier, I hope people remember the original post from Norma Jean Sawicki. I have a few observations to add to her most enlightening post.
I find this very interesting. I have worked for a couple of Australian publishers, and my impression has been that it's not possible for Aus publishers to be as selective in finding a US publisher as Norma Jean suggests. Getting a US deal can make or break an Australian publication our print runs are considerably smaller, given our small population, and an international sale can make it possible to publish a book. (Jen McVeity has articulated some of the problems besieging Australian publishing at the moment.) Not all books, obviously, or we'd have no local industry! I'm also not aware of any author having a say in this process at all! Perhaps big name authors, such as Bob Graham and Graeme Base have more clout. I don't mean to contradict Norma Jean's experience, it's simply not my experience.
(disclaimer! - when I say experience, I have not personally been involved in international negotiations.)
This is very true. In recent years, fewer international books have been available in Australia. I have written about this myself, in an article entitled "Reverse Cultural Cringe" in the Autumn 2000 edition of "Viewpoint: On Books for Young Adults" (published by the Department of Language, Literacy & Arts Education, Faculty of Education, University of Melbourne). I don't know that it's so much that Australians think that US or UK books are
"too foreign", rather that book buyers - parents, teachers and librarians want Australian books for Australian children. This is fine, of course, to a point, but my argument is that Australian children are exposed to
(especially) US culture through movies, TV and the internet, and ought to have access to different views via literature.
As per the name of my article, I believe there has been a "backlash" against non-Australian children's books, since our own publishing industry has taken off and so many great Australian children's authors have emerged - since the
"golden age" of the 80s, I would suggest. And that's all well and good again, to a point. But I personally feel it's gone a bit too far. We Aussies can be a parochial lot, as our recent political climate would attest (but that's a whole other story).
I find both these statements intriguing, as they are certainly not opinions I've heard. And in fact, our histories are quite different. As I understand it, the US was colonised by people seeking freedom from religious persecution and those seeking financial gain from tobacco crops etc. Australia was a penal colony. (yes, I know that convicts were sent to the US, but surely that was long after the Pilgrims etc arrived?) The US won its independence through war, Australia remains a constitutional monarchy under the UK (regrettably, say I!). I would say we have more in common with Canada, but there are very few Canadian books available here, far less than US or UK titles. Culturally, and traditionally, we have been much closer to the UK, although of course US culture is increasingly dominant and has been for decades. It's hardly a foreign culture. "Friends" is our top rating TV show and US movies dominate the box office. American and UK authors for adults are widely read and bestsellers. But when it comes to children's books, we have become fiercely protective of our young readers.
Having said all of the above, Harry Potter and Lemony Snicket and Artemis Fowl and Philip Pullman and Redwall and Tamora Pierce and so on and so on are popular with Australian children. Publishers such as Allen and Unwin publish children's and YA books in translation and great US books such as
"The Folk Keeper" and "The Goats".
I see that Elizabeth Honey's marvellous "Remote Man" has just been published in the US. Yay!
Amen and goodnight. (see! US culture takes hold in Australia! MASH is on re-runs here AGAIN!)
Judith Ridge (watching "Blackadder" special from the UK, after "CSI" from the US, and waiting for "Angel" after last night's devastating "Buffy" episode....)
Received on Tue 16 Jul 2002 06:45:12 AM CDT
