Mapping literature infrastructure in Australia

This report, a partnership project co-funded by the University of Wollongong and the Australia Council for the Arts, presents findings from research into the literature infrastructure of Australia. ‘Literature infrastructure’ refers to the organisations within the literature sector that actively support writers and their work: state writers’ centres, Varuna – The Writers’ Centre, the Australian Society of Authors, literary journals, genrebased organisations, and writers’ festivals. The study aims to determine where each organisation sits in the ‘supply chain’ of support and what contribution it makes to the literature sector as a whole: what services and opportunities are offered to writers, how it contributes to the training and development of writers, whether it contributes to readership/audience development or community engagement, the extent of its national/international reach and how well it is served by its operational, financial and governance model. The research also seeks to identify trends in the sector as well as gaps in the support currently available to Australian writers.