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Les Thomas

ABIA Shortlist 2022
By News

Monash University Publishing shortlisted for Small Publisher of the Year, ABIA Awards

The Monash University Publishing team has been shortlisted for Small Publisher of the Year in the Australian Book Industry Awards (ABIAs). This is the first time the press has been nominated for this award, which recognises the strength of a publisher’s list, the growth in sales and marketing and the degree of editorial care. The judging panel noted of the shortlist, ‘We were impressed by the commitment to diversity, environmental issues and promotion of Australian storytelling alongside innovative approaches to reaching new audiences and finding new voices.’

This wonderful news come in addition to Sam van der Plank being nominated for ABIA’s Rising Star of the Year. 

Sam van der Plank
By News

Publishing Officer Sam van der Plank Shortlisted for the 2022 ABIA Rising Star Award

Monash University Publishing is thrilled to announce that Publishing Officer Sam van der Plank has been shortlisted for the 2022 ABIA Rising Star award. The Rising Star award recognises emerging talent in the Australian book industry whose record reflects ongoing excellence and growth in contribution to their profession. They must be currently working in the Australian book industry, and have been part of the industry for no more than 10 years.

Sam occupies a broad but pivotal role within the Publishing team, working across sales, marketing, operations, production and acquisitions. He was recently the driving force behind Monash University Publishing’s onboarding onto BooksoniX, a title management and ONIX dissemination system.

The winner of the Rising Star award will be announced at the 2022 Australian Book Industry Awards night gala event in Sydney on Thursday 9 June.

‘While those with a talent for operations often remain behind the scenes, Sam is the very definition of a team player, and his intelligence, ingenuity and commitment to improve Monash Publishing is truly exceptional,’ says publisher Julia Carlomagno, who nominated van der Plank for the Rising Star Award.

Read Sam’s full interview courtesy of Books+Publishing.

What key things do you wish you’d known when you were starting out?

I wish I’d known when I first started that there was more to publishing than editorial and commissioning! Like many, I entered the publishing industry thinking that I might become an editor. By chance, my first entry-level role was focused more on the sales side of things. Since then this is the area I’ve progressed in, and now I love all things sales, stock and data.

What has been your biggest achievement/proudest professional moment?

Setting up Monash University Publishing’s entire backlist on a title management system was a big and rewarding project – don’t worry, bulk uploads were involved! Hitting send on our automated ONIX feeds for the first time was a great feeling.

What’s the most valuable thing you’ve learned on the job?

It’s been hugely valuable to gain insights into how the ‘business’ of publishing works through my roles. Learning about the money side of the industry and my employers has been fascinating. Be it running costings on new titles, assessing a potential reprint, or analysing our sales data, I really appreciate the opportunities I’ve had to see what makes a particular book – and a company’s operations – financially viable.

What do you think this industry could do better?

Data! I think that historically many of us have shied away from looking too closely at metadata or thinking about what an ONIX file is, exactly. But these aspects of communicating our books to retailers and other partners are only going to become more important moving forward. Those publishers who recognise the importance of good metadata and ONIX practices – and who resource these areas accordingly – are likely to reap the rewards.

Where would you like to be in five (or 10, or 20) years’ time? And what do you hope the industry will look like then?

In a few years I would love to be in a role related to one or some of the areas that I’m currently involved in: sales, stock and data. Perhaps I would have greater responsibilities and have become more specialised in a particular direction.

For the industry, I would love it if it turns out in many years’ time that print books are still flourishing and that independent, physical bookshops continue to play a central role in our bookish culture. It would also be a wonderful development if in this future scenario we have an even greater multitude of successful Australian publishers, publishing a more diverse range of authors and employing a more diverse array of publishing people – who, as we all know, are the best people!

 

 

Suzanne Hampel, Rivke Margolis, Freda Freiberg (nee Fink), launcher Michael Gawenda and author Margaret Taft at the March 21 launch, Australian Centre for Jewish Civilisation.
By News

Michael Gawenda launch speech for Leo and Mina Fink: For the Greater Good

IN NOVEMBER 1949, the passenger ship the Continental arrived at the docks in Port Melbourne. Among the 200 or so passengers on board, most of them Jews from the displaced persons (DP) camps in Austria and Germany, was my family. My mother, my father, my three older sisters and me. I was born in a DP camp in Linz, Austria, and lived there with my family for almost the first three years of my life.

Given my age when I was carried off the Continental by my oldest sister, who by then was married and pregnant with her first child, I have no memory of the moment I first touched the ground in Australia. Nor do I recall who was there to greet these Jews, most of them refugees and Holocaust survivors.

But my father and my sisters told me when I was old enough to listen, that some lovely Jewish people had been there on the dock to greet us. They did not, as far as I can recall, say that Mina or Leo Fink were among them.

But having now read Margaret Taft’s book, Leo and Mina Fink: For the Greater Good, having read about the way Leo and Mina had been there for virtually every ship arrival carrying Jewish refugees—how they had worked so tirelessly to get the Australian government to accept these Holocaust survivors, how they had been key players in establishing the refugee and welfare organisations that helped bring thousands of these broken traumatised people to Australia, I was pretty sure that either Leo or Mina Fink, or both of them, were there on the dock to greet us.

Read the full launch speech at plus61j.net.au

In the National Interest at Adelaide Writers Festival
By News

In The National Interest at the Adelaide Writers Festival

For this year’s Adelaide Writers Festival, head to the Gardens every day at 12pm for Writers’ Week’s In the National Interest series. We are delighted to partner with Monash University Publishing on their series of the same name to present some of Australia’s most incisive thinkers exploring the critical issues facing Australia today.

Writers’ Week speakers include Kevin Rudd, Malcolm Turnbull, Rachel Doyle, Michael Bradley, Saxon Mullins, Martin Parkinson, Mark Willacy, Samantha Crompvoets and Fiona McLeod on topics ranging from Leadership, Courage, Accountability, Law Reform and Military Culture. Drawing on experiences from their working and personal lives, our contributors interrogate current realities and propose pathways to a better future.

 

In the National Interest Program

Sat 5 Mar, 12pm / East Stage
How Fast Things Fall with Kevin Rudd and Malcolm Turnbull

Sun 6 Mar, 12pm / East Stage
Our Nation’s Shame with Samantha Crompvoets and Mark Willacy

Mon 7 Mar, 12pm / East Stage
Compounding Damage with Michael Bradley, Rachel Doyle and Saxon Mullins

Tue 8 Mar, 12pm / East Stage
Good International Citizenship: The Case For Decency with Gareth Evans

Wed 9 Mar, 12pm / West Stage
Policy Drift with John Daley and Martin Parkinson

Thu 10 Mar, 12pm / East Stage
Grift, Lies and Influence with Fiona McLeod and Michael West

  • Blood Lust, Trust & Blame

    Samantha Crompvoets
  • Good International Citizenship

    Gareth Evans

 

IWD 2022
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Monash University Publishing’s 10 Great International Women’s Day Books

Monash University Publishing is offering 10% off a range of titles that focus on women and their stories. Just use the code WOMEN2022 in our ecart upon purchasing. This offer expires at the end of March 2022.

  • Eve Langley and The Pea Pickers

    Helen Vines
  • The Shelf Life of Zora Cross

    Cathy Perkins
  • Respectable Radicals

    Marian Quartly and Judith Smart
  • Jean Blackburn

    Craig Campbell and Debra Hayes
  • Gender Violence in Australia

    Alana Piper and Ana Stevenson

 

 

 

Essential Pre-poll Reading
By News

Monash University Publishing’s Essential Pre-Poll Reading

In the lead-up to this federal election, Monash University Publishing has your reading list covered. From our In the National Interest Series:

In Who Dares Loses: Pariah Policies, Wayne Errington and Peter van Onselen explain the political constraints on policymakers and the ways in which they are changing.

In Challenging Politics, Scott Ryan discusses the loss in faith in politics.

In Easy Lies & Influence, Fiona McLeod tells us what corruption can do, and why it’s imperative that we address it.

In Tides that Bind, ALP Deputy Leader Richard Marles implores us to step up our support for Pacific nations threatened by climate change and under-development.

In Governing in the Internet Age, Communications Minister Paul Fletcher outlines the key challenges the internet has posed for governments.

In Fortune’s Fool, Satyajit Das dissects the pandemic, global trends, Australia’s narrow ‘house and holes’ economy and its dependency on China.

In Population Shock, Abul Rizvi asks: how will government chart our larger and older population’s economic future?

In Good International Citizenship, Gareth Evans argues that to be, and be seen to be, a good international citizen is both a moral imperative and a matter of hard-headed national interest.

In Burning Down the House, Jo Dyer looks at how Australian politics has gone awry and how a range of independents are determined to burn it all down and build something new.

In Big: The Role of the State in the Modern Economy, Richard Denniss makes the case for following the lead of the Nordic countries in the provision of great public health, education, housing and infrastructure.

In Now More than Ever, David Anderson gives us an insider’s insight into the ABC: a cultural powerhouse where Australian identity is celebrated, democracy is defended, and creativity is encouraged to flourish.

In Dismal Diplomacy, Disposable Sovereignty, Carrillo Gantner offers some modest suggestions for improving Australia’s relationship with China.

In Leadership, Don Russell reflects on politicians, the political process and the role of government, and explains why our political leaders are as they are.

In A Decade of Drift, Martin Parkinson outlines how the twists and turns in climate change policy over the past decade have contributed to the erosion of public trust in government in Australia.

Other important background reading for the election includes: Cathy Goes to Canberra by Cathy McGowan, the inspiring story of one of Australia’s most successful and influential independents; Long Half-life by Ian Lowe on Australia’s nuclear policies and energy and climate challenges; Class in Australia on Australia’s deepening social stratification; and Corporate Power in Australia by Lindy Edwards on how the ‘big end of town’ influences our politics.

  • Who Dares Loses

    Wayne Errington & Peter van Onselen
  • Governing in the Internet Age

    Paul Fletcher

 

  • Good International Citizenship

    Gareth Evans
  • Dismal Diplomacy, Disposable Sovereignty

    Carrillo Gantner

 

  • Class in Australia

    Steven Threadgold and Jessica Gerrard
  • Corporate Power in Australia

    Lindy Edwards
Authors at the Adelaide Wrtiers Festival
By News

Meet Monash University Publishing authors at the Adelaide Writers Festival

Some of Monash University Publishing’s leading authors will be appearing at this year’s Adelaide Writers Festival.

Wed 9 Mar, 9:30am / Pioneer Women’s Memorial Garden

The Legend of Charmian Clift

With Tanya Dalziell, Paul Genoni and Polly Samson / Chaired by Sophie Cunningham

Mon 7 Mar, 12pm / East Stage
Australia’s War on Whistleblowers

With Bernard Collaery, David McBride and Jennifer Robinson / Chaired by Andrew Fowler

Tue 8 Mar, 10:45am / Pioneer Women’s Memorial Garden

Bad Energy

With Ian Lowe and Jeremy Moss / Chaired by Natasha Mitchell

  • Half the Perfect World

    Paul Genoni and Tanya Dalziell
  • A Secret Australia

    Felicity Ruby and Peter Cronau
Julia Carlomagno
By News

Meet our new Publisher: Julia Carlomagno

Monash University Publishing is proud to welcome Julia Carlomagno, who commences in the new role of Publisher.

Julia joins Monash from a career in trade publishing, including roles at publishing houses Black Inc., Scribe and Penguin, and has won both Australia’s national editing awards (the Rosie Award for Editorial Excellence and the Barbara Ramsden Award). She has worked with award-winning researchers and writers such as Joëlle Gergis, John Keane, Jeff Sparrow, Alice Pung, Anna Krien and Margaret Simons, and was the deputy editor of the journal Australian Foreign Affairs. Julia’s appointment marks the continued reinvigoration of Monash’s list as it seeks to bring the best ideas and scholarship to a broad audience.

Monash Publishing Director Greg Bain says: “Monash Publishing is certainly gaining traction through the In the National Interest series, and having Julia build our nonfiction presence for a wider readership is a welcomed boost.”

Publisher Julia Carlomagno says: “It’s delightful – and dizzying – to be back on the Clayton campus after studying here many years ago. Monash, across campuses and countries, is home to many of the world’s best minds, producing ideas that change the future and shape the way we think. Our vibrant publishing team has the skills and rigour to work with authors to turn ideas into brilliant, agenda-setting books.”

Monash University Publishing is seeking book pitches and proposals from the Monash community and beyond, with a particular interest in the areas of sustainability and the environment, science, Indigenous affairs, politics, sociology, popular culture, economics, history and biography.

See our submission guidelines for further details.

Cathy Goes to Canberra: Doing Politics Differently
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Cathy Goes to Canberra: audiobook now available

Monash University Publishing is pleased to announce that following successful print and ebook editions, Cathy Goes to Canberra: Doing Politics Differently by Cathy McGowan is now available as an audiobook. Narrated by Cathy herself, the audiobook is available from all quality retailers, including Audibleaudiobooks.com and Kobo.

The paperback edition is available from our online store.