AustLit

'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)