Issue Details: First known date: 2020... 2020 The Conventions and Regulation of Book Culture
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AbstractHistoryArchive Description

'Government policy has long shaped the production, circulation and consumption of literary texts in Australia. Copyright legislation, importation regulations and the public funding of authors, events and prizes are integral parts of the fabric of Australian publishing, influencing author careers, book production, bookselling and national literary tastes. In his articulation of contemporary cultural policy, David Throsby (Economics 26; ‘Commerce’) observes the ways in which government support for arts and culture, through public funding and legislative regulation, is motivated by a desire for growth within the cultural sectors. The publishing industry, structured as it is by both cultural and commercial imperatives, shares common goals with cultural policy, leading to the development of a mutually beneficial and often commercially generative relationship between the two. The production of books in Australia exists within a policy framework that, often through regulatory mechanisms, is economically supportive. The result of this framework has profound radiating effects (Australian Society of Authors; Donoughue; Glover; Shapcott). Authors, who are supported financially to produce literary texts; literary events, that celebrate authors and the public life of literature; publications and small publishers, that curate and disseminate literary works; and structures of bookselling in Australia: each of these individuals and institutions operates explicitly within a system of policy decisions.' (Paragraph two)

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    y separately published work icon Australian Humanities Review no. 66 May 2020 19476172 2020 periodical issue 'The production, reception and consumption of books are shaped by complex systems of policy, conventions and traditions. These range from formally consecrated legislation and official industry and organisational codes of conduct, through to those conventions that govern literary merit, genres, questions of ‘taste’, and the value placed on the book as a cultural object. This special section of the Australian Humanities Review explores the ways—both tacit and explicit—in which book culture is regulated, with a particular focus on contemporary Australian book publishing. The essays engage with the laws of book culture, identifying these formal and informal rules, and exploring how they influence the workings of the field.' (Millicent Weber and Alexandra Dane : Introduction) 2020
Last amended 2 Jun 2020 06:36:18
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