Media Release: STEERING A CITY FOR LITERATURE

FROM THE MINISTER FOR ARTS

DATE: Tuesday, June 26, 2007

STEERING A CITY FOR LITERATURE

Minister for the Arts Lynne Kosky today announced the steering committee that will drive Melbourne’s bid to UNESCO as a City of Literature.

UNESCO’s prestigious Creative Cities Network already includes Berlin, Buenos Aires and Montreal as Cities of Design and Bologna and Seville as Cities of Music.

Ms Kosky said that Melbourne is to submit a bid to UNESCO to join Edinburgh as a City of Literature.

“Victoria’s long history of leadership in the arts, culture and literature, as well as Victorians’ love of books makes Melbourne a natural home for writers, books and ideas, and an ideal candidate to become a City of Literature,” Ms Kosky said.

“The steering committee has been appointed to harness the strength of Victoria’s literary sector and drive the development of the bid to UNESCO.

“Chaired by Crikey publisher Eric Beecher, the committee is representative of our dynamic literary sector and includes writers, academics, and representatives from retail, publishing and Government. Their input and energy into the bid will be invaluable.”

One third of Australia’s authors live in Melbourne; Victorians buy more books, newspapers and magazines than other Australians; and Melbourne is home to more bookshops per head of population than any other city.

Melbourne is also Australia’s home of publishing with both large and small presses headquartered here, from the city’s international successes Lonely Planet and Penguin to smaller creative publishers such as Black Inc., Melbourne University Press and Scribe Publications.

Ms Kosky said that for the bid to UNESCO, the steering committee will emphasise Melbourne’s cultural assets.

“We will present our strengths in areas including the quality and diversity of literature, the contribution of literature to Melbourne’s lifestyle and character, education, literary events and festivals and libraries and bookstores,” Ms Kosky said.

“The City of Literature is part of a Bracks Government initiative to increase the profile of literature in Victoria. The whole project will encompass the State Library’s new Centre for Books and Ideas, enhanced Premiers Literary Awards and new literary festivals, events and promotions.”

Chair of the City of Literature Bid Steering Committee is Mr Eric Beecher, who has worked as a journalist with Fairfax and News Limited. He has been editor of the Sydney Morning Herald and editor-in-chief of the Melbourne Herald and Weekly Times newspaper group. He was a co-founder of The Text Media Group and is currently co-owner of Private Media Partners, publishers of crikey.com.

Members of the Bid Steering Committee are:

§ Eric Beecher, Private Media Partners (Committee Chair)
§ Joel Becker, Director, Victorian Writers’ Centre
§ Tom Bentley, Executive Director – Policy & Cabinet, Department of Premier & Cabinet
§ Grant Caldwell, Board member, Australian Poetry Centre
§ Rosemary Cameron, Director/CEO, The Age Melbourne Writers’ Festival
§ Morris Gleitzman, author
§ Sandy Grant, CEO, Hardie Grant Publishing
§ Penny Hutchinson, Director, Arts Victoria
§ Kirsty Murray, author
§ David Pitchford, CEO, City of Melbourne
§ Mark Rubbo, Director, Readings Books and Music
§ Anne-Marie Schwirtlich, CEO, State Library of Victoria
§ Bob Sessions, Publishing Director, Penguin Group (Australia)
§ Rohini Sharma, Artistic Director, Express Media
§ Carrie Tiffany, author
§ Michael Webster, Senior Lecturer, RMIT; Principal Consultant, Nielsen BookScan

The Steering Committee will submit Melbourne’s bid to UNESCO by October 2007.