Text Publishing was founded initially as a joint venture with Reed Australia, and over two dozen non-fiction titles were produced 'in quick succession' during 1991 and 1992. Michael Heyward whose work at Scripsi had impressed Diana Gribble was invited to join the company in 1992; award-winning designer Chong Weng Ho joined in the same year. In 1993, the arrangement with Reed was dismantled, with Reed retaining rights to all books, both published and in production. In 1994, Gribble and Heyward set about recreating their environment with the development of a carefully edited list. (Anne Galligan, 'Case-study: Text Publishing', in Paper Empires, 2006, pp. 113-117)
On the occasion of Text's 10th anniversary in 2004, publisher Michael Heyward wrote, 'we knew what we wanted to create: a lively, curious company committed to finding and nurturing writers whose work we loved. We knew we had to draw on the talent around us but we wanted to throw the net wide. We believed, as we still do, that there were more good writers in Australia than publishers to look after them, and this would be our opportunity. We would be obsessive about quality but our list would be broad and we would publish for many readerships.' (Text Publishing website, www.textpublishing.com.au/)
In November 2003, Text Media, including Text Publishing, was sold to the Fairfax Group. In June 2004, as part of a management buy-out, Text Publishing entered a co-publishing arrangement with British independent publisher, Canongate. Heyward who has copublished a number of Text titles with Jamie Bung of Canongate, remarked at the time of the announcement that the alliance was 'in keeping with the way that Jamie and I have grown up together as publishers.' (Weekly Book Newsletter, 12 November 2003, 4 February 2006 and 23 June 2004.)
In 2006, two Text/Canongate books - Kate Grenville's The Secret River
and M. J. Hyland's Carry Me Down - were shortlisted for the prestigious Man Booker Prize. (Man Booker website)
