Children’s Book Council of Australia (CBCA)
The Children’s Book Council of Australia (CBCA) seeks to engage the community with literature for young Australians by celebrating and promoting Australian writers and illustrators of books for children and young adults. Through community literature events such as ‘Children’s Book Week’ and the ‘Book of the Year Awards’, the CBCA raises awareness of the important part that reading plays in the development of all Australian children. The CBCA is a volunteer run, not for profit, organisation that was established in 1945 and is comprised of branches of individual members who are passionate about children’s and young adult literature.
Books in Homes Australia was founded on the realisation that failure in adult life often stems from childhoods spent in homes without books. Children who cannot read, become adults who cannot communicate and this is unacceptable in a world that operates on the written word. Books in Homes Australia provides books-of-choice to families and children living in remote and low socio-economic circumstances, ensuring crucial early literacy engagement and the development of reading skills needed for lifelong success. 25% of titles on offer are written by Indigenous Authors. This Programme aims to break the education inequality found in remote and disadvantaged communities where resources are often scarce and generational poverty endemic.
Room to Read builds a library every four hours in developing countries in SE Asia and Africa. It has brought books and literacy to more than 6.6 million children working in collaboration with communities and local governments developing literacy skills and reading among primary school children, and support girls to complete secondary school with the life skills they’ll need to succeed in school and beyond.
National Centre for Australian Children’s Literature
The National Centre for Australian Children’s Literature (formerly Lu Rees Archives) is a comprehensive collection of Australian books and other resources about authors, illustrators, publishers and their creative works. The collection includes over 32,000 books, with some 3,800 of these in overseas translations in 55 languages, over 475 research files, and significant collections of authors’, illustrators’ and publishers’ papers, manuscripts and artwork. The resources are publicly available, and visitors are welcome during opening hours.
The mission of the Centre is to enhance the appreciation of Australian children’s literature by collecting, preserving and making available wide-ranging resources through programs, events and exhibitions. Lu Rees, the founding President of the ACT Branch of The Children’s Book Council of Australia proposed in 1974 that there should be a collection of research files about Australian children’s authors and illustrators together with a collection of their books. In 1980 this collection was deposited at the University of Canberra Library so it could be publicly available.
The Sydney Story Factory is a not-for-profit creative writing centre for young people at 176 Redfern Street, Redfern, Sydney. Our trained volunteer tutors offer free help to write stories of all kinds. Programs target marginalised young people, and those from Indigenous and non-English speaking backgrounds, but are open to everyone.
Australian Society of Authors (ASA)
The Australian Society of Authors is the professional association for Australia’s literary creators, with around 3,000 members in Australia and overseas. The ASA can represent anyone who writes or illustrates for publication. Our achievements for authors and illustrators include the introduction of Public Lending Rights and Educational Lending Rights, establishing the Copyright Agency and setting up the Australian Copyright Council. Our current campaigns include fairer eBook royalties and contracts, and the introduction of tax-free grants, awards and prizes. SCBWI members get the partner rate on ASA courses.
Award winning Monkey Baa Theatre adapts outstanding Australian youth literature into theatre. The creative directors Eva di Cesare, Tim McGarry and Sandra Eldridge have adapted much loved works including Margaret Wild and Ron Brook’s ‘Fox; Sonya Hartnett’s ‘Thursday’s Child’, Duncan Ball’s ‘Emily Eyefinger’, Tim Winton’s ‘Bugalugs Bum Thief’. Australia’s widest reaching touring company, it has performed to audiences across metropolitan, rural and remote Australia. Over 900,000 young people aged 3-18 have engaged with the company over the last 15 years. Located in the Lend Lease Darling Quarter Theatre, there are regular performances in the heart of Sydney in this state of the art theatre. Their mission is to create and produce exceptional quality theatre and programs for young people and their families, teachers and communities throughout Australia and internationally. Jackie French’s ‘Hitler’s Daughter’ and Susanne Gervay’s ‘I Am Jack’ will tour USA theatres in major tours.
Marian Street Theatre for Young People
Marian Street Theatre for Young People is Australia’s longest running children’s theatre and drama school. For over 40 years, children’s theatre and drama classes at Marian Street Theatre for Young People have provided children with their first rich experience of theatre, and young people of all ages with invaluable training in theatrical and life skills. It has inspired and nurtured some of today’s leaders in the community and the arts.
Indigenous Literacy Foundation
The Indigenous Literacy Foundation believes that Australia’s Indigenous people should enjoy the same education, employment and societal opportunities as other citizens. However, a lack of literacy skills among Indigenous communities is a common and critical barrier to participating in activities that many of us take for granted. To help alleviate this literacy disadvantage, our Foundation works to provide access to books and literacy resources to over 200 remote Indigenous communities in Northern Territory, Queensland, Western Australia, South Australia and New South Wales.
The Copyright Agency is a not for profit rights management organisation. We enable the use of text and images in return for fair payment to writers, visual artists and publishers. This includes managing the Viscopy business: services to artists and users of images. The Copyright Agency’s Board is authorised by Copyright Agency’s Constitution to allocate 1.5% of its income to cultural development. This is known as the Cultural Fund. The Cultural Fund supports a wide variety of projects which aim to encourage, and provide practical assistance to Copyright Agency’s members and the Australian cultural community.
International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY)
The International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY) is a non-profit organization which helps to build bridges to international understanding through children’s books. IBBY is committed to the principles of the International Convention on the Rights of the Child, ratified by the United Nations in 1990.
Australian Publishers Association (APA)
The Australian Publishers Association (APA) is the peak industry body for Australian book, journal and electronic publishers. Established in 1948, the association is an advocate for all Australian publishers: large or small; commercial or non-profit; academic or popular; locally or overseas owned.
Illustrators Australia is not an illustrator agency. It is a not-for-profit organization which aims to strengthen the illustration community while giving our professional, practicing members the tools they need to develop fair and fulfilling relationships with their clients.
The Society of Women Writers NSW Inc. was established in 1925 and incorporated in1987 and is the longest-standing literary society in Australia. The Society aims to enable women writers in all genres to meet and network, and to benefit from regular seminars and workshops. In addition to monthly workshops and luncheon meetings, the Society administers a number of Awards and Competitions, and issues an informative quarterly magazine Images to its members and a monthly electronic newsletter.
Western Australia Writers’ Centre