Publisher Profile: University of Queensland Press
Greg Bain, General Manager
How long has the University of Queensland Press been around, and what was your original title?
Always been called University of Queensland Press, formed in 1948. Now known as UQP. Initially established to publish the scholarly output of the university’s own academics, UQP instigated a major investment in Australian Literature in the 60’s and 70’s. This launched impressive careers including Peter Carey (2 Booker Prizes), David Malouf, Thea Astley, Kate Grenville, and so on.
What benefits do you get from working with a major university?
University of Queensland has supported UQP as a fiercely independent voice in Australian Publishing. While the traditional role of publishing academic work at UQ, many other academics around Australia and overseas are now published by UQP. Institutional support is critical to any university press, to ensure the long-term investment in developing writers can be sustained, and UQ has demonstrated this commitment for many decades.
Do you read ebooks and or use any ebook devices? What role do you see ebooks playing in publishing in Australia in the next few years?
Yes, I have a Sony eReader and also use my iPhone for eBooks. EBooks will become very prominent in Australia once Australian publishers contribute more content to these platforms. With the launch of Apple’s iPad, perhaps we will see an explosion of interest from consumers here and a timely response from publishers. These devices are clearly bringing new readers into the market; those who did not read printed books before but have “rediscovered” reading on a screen...this quote from a recent blog about the Kindle:
“@Mark: The Kindle app for the iPod touch totally changed my reading habits. Before the app, I hadn't read a book in five years. Glancing through my Kindle book collection, I have read nearly two dozen since it hit the App Store a couple months ago.”
Who are some of your favorite Australian poets?
David Malouf, Jaya Savige, John Tranter, Sarah Holland-Batt. Unsurprisingly, all published by UQP, but after all we do have the strongest poetry list in the nation!
How do you decide what types of children's and young adult titles to publish?
Our Children’s Publisher, Kristina Schulz, takes great care in identifying new writing talent for our children’s and young adult list. While some are “discovered” through unsolicited submission which we offer at times, we have a large stable of talented writers who we continue to nurture beyond their first book. Literary agents also play a part in alerting us to new talent.
UQP publishes across middle readers and young adult predominantly, but we do publish picture books occasionally when a delicious project looms.
How do you feel having UQP titles available in accessible formats will benefit your press? Is there a specific title that you are particularly excited to see in accessible editions?
Access to a range of formats is critical for a publishing house representing a university. Our university is committed to developing strong equity policies, and UQP welcomes the opportunities RHYW offers to develop improved access to our books. The opportunity to provide our young adult and children’s titles in a range of formats to support learning difficulties is a wonderful development, and I look forward to seeing many of these titles from our list launched through this channel.