OzLit back on curriculum
By Erika Gelinard
Australian literature exports are booming as Think Australian bookseller and publishers' 2007 survey shows: 75 per cent of the rights managers polled reported a growth in rights revenue over the last year.
But OzLit's real challenge is to remain on the agenda in the country's classrooms.
Last week, New South Wales Education Minister John Della Bosca asked the Board of Studies to ensure that all children in primary and secondary schools do read Australian works. This initiative comes after the Australia Council's round table on the topic (last August) put Australian authors at the core of English curricula.
"I think it's very important that Australian literature is studied in schools because it's part of developing our own identity and culture", says Josie Emery, director of the Literature Board of the Council. "Children can access more readily Australian literature because it relates to their own environment."
Emery believes that the Education Department will have to set a list of writers to study nationwide.
"It's important that curricula are consistent nationwide because it's the way to think of ourselves as a nation", she says.
Emery says that this "surprisingly fast initiative" from the NSW Government is a step on the right path to stop OzLit study's decline.
"Australian literature is a now a dangerously healthy patient: we've seen that it was very popular at the Frankfurt Book Fair earlier this month, especially Aboriginal and feminist writer Alexis Wright's work," says Emery. "We have wonderful writers who are recognised worldwide, so they should also be recognised in their own country."
Think Australian's Frankfurt Book Fair preview notes that "children’s publishing is one the Australian industry's strengths." Among the children's picture books which sparked interest at the Fair are Margaret Wild and Ann James' Lucy Goosey or Shaun Tan's migrant story The Arrival.
Australian Society of Authors' executive director Jeremy Fisher also emphasises the high quality of our children's literature: "We have such good national children's books writers like Margaret Wild or Andy Griffiths, that we don't even need to turn to foreign works, though it's good that we also study them."
Fisher says that our education needs a variety of authors, and that educators can have the choice of those they want to study.
"Great writers such as Peter Carey, Patrick White or Kate Grenville could be studied. We could even focus more on nineteenth century works, such as Jeannie Gunns' We of the Never Never or Rolf Boldrewood's Robbery Under Arms."
The ASA director also draws attention to the benefits of studying more Australian works - for the writers themselves.
"More book sales mean that authors are able to make a living out of their writing. Lately, we've seen some quit writing after their first or second book because they couldn't sustain themselves."
