AustLit

This study attempts to examine the tension between commerce and culture in the dynamic development of the Australian children's publishing industry. It includes a history of the industry from its inception but concentrates on the period after World War Two, during which most of its growth occurred. It focuses on those houses which contributed to children's publishing flourishing in the post-war period, documenting the major landmarks, but also attempting to contextualise the development of children's publishing within other post-war developments. The ultimate aim of the study is to refute a commonly stated truism - that the conflict between the cultural value of a book and the need to market it threatens the integrity of the authors, publishers and the books themselves. Instead, it demonstrates that the tension between cultural and commercial definitions of the book publisher's role lie at the heart of the dynamism which creates really innovative publishing.