UNFAIR USE OF WRITERS' WORK
Authors and publishers were quick to oppose the Productivity Commission's latest proposals to allow foreign editions of books unrestricted sales in Australia and to drastically reduce authors' (and all creators') copyright in their work - their right to profit from sales and to control use - from their lifetime plus 70 years to 15-25 years from creation. Most persuasive was the simple argument in an open letter from children's author Jackie French: "Now, in my 60s, I have been told by the ill-named 'Productivity Commission' that 'Writers rarely write for financial reasons', and I may only own my work for 15 years. If I had spent my time renovating houses, or investing in shares, I'd own them. So would my heirs. If you built a bicycle or a house, would you give it to anyone who cares to grab it, in 15 years' time? Does Thomas Keneally have no moral right to Bring Larks and Heroes? Does Mem Fox no longer have a right to Possum Magic nor I to Diary of a Wombat? Will Malcolm Turnbull give away his investments when he has owned them for 15 years?" It's a complex issue but the Copyright Agency argues a looser "fair use" law in the US has allowed Google to digitise 20 million books without the authors' or publishers' permission; such a change here "would pose one of the greatest dangers to Australian-made content in a generation".
JUDGING A BOOK BY ITS SALES
I can't say too much about the Australian Book Industry Awards shortlists, which I recently helped judge (with 15 publishers, booksellers and other experts) but it's fascinating to consider a book's success from the perspective of its production, marketing and sales as well as the writing and illustration that are assessed in most book awards. It's not always the most obvious candidates that win. But all 44 finalists in 11 categories - chosen from longlists voted by the wider industry - have proved themselves at every level. How do you choose a winner from this literary fiction list: The Natural Way of Things by Charlotte Wood, The Other Side of the World by Stephanie Bishop, The Secret Chord by Geraldine Brooks, The World Without Us by Mireille Juchau? Or from the general non-fiction list: Australia's Second Chance by George Megalogenis, Island Home by Tim Winton, One Life by Kate Grenville, The Dismissal by Paul Kelly with Troy Bramston? It's great to see both Magda Szubanski's The Reckoning and Rosie Waterland's The Anti-Cool Girl on both the biography and new writers shortlists - two funny women who have developed into serious writers. Winners will be announced at the ABIA dinner on May 19 by presenters including Richard Flanagan, Jonathan Franzen, Gloria Steinem and Jeanette Winterson. Details at abiawards.com.au.
AUSSIES GO GLOBAL
Sydney crime writer Michael Robotham is a truly international success. His Life or Death, which had already won the British Crime Writers' Association Gold Dagger for best crime novel, was shortlisted for the US Edgar Award for best crime novel, but was beaten last week by Lori Roy for Let Me Die in His Footsteps. Another Australian, Adrian McKinty, was on the shortlist for best paperback original with Gun Street Girl, but lost to The Long and Faraway Gone by Lou Berney. I was pleased to see my American friend Allen Kurzweil (best known for his 1992 novel A Case of Curiosities) win the best fact crime prize for Whipping Boy: The Forty-Year Search for My Twelve-Year Bully, which combines poignant memoir with an astonishing crime investigation. See all winners at theedgars.com.
