Cirrus@Austlit

This report presents the findings of a research project that examined the effectiveness, both critical and financial, of Literature Board subsidies to Australian publishers over the ten years 1995-2005. Individual interviews were conducted with eighteen prominent publishers and commissioning editors who were active in the period in Australian-based publishing companies. Detailed case studies were prepared of sixteen books that were assisted into publication by publishing subsidies. The case studies include titles in all literary genres - fiction, poetry, short fiction, non-fiction (including life writing and the essay) and the literary anthology. Some were significant as prizewinners, some as bestsellers; some were socially or culturally significant. The report offers a number of recommendations arising from the research.