Visiting International Publishers 2008
Visiting International Publishers (VIP) is an industry program to promote rights sales of Australian titles into overseas markets and to strengthen the links between Australian and overseas publishing.
The annual program involves eight to twelve overseas guests hosted at one of Australia’s prominent literary festivals, such as Adelaide Writers’ Week or the Sydney Writers’ Festival.
Since the program commenced in 1998, more than 120 visiting editors, publishers and literary agents from Europe, the UK, USA, Canada, China, Japan, Korea, Israel, Brazil and India have been hosted. VIP guests meet with a wide selection of Australian publishers and agents over an intensive short visit against the background of a writers' festival or industry-related event.
Well over 300 Australian titles have been sold as a result of VIP program meetings, generating in excess of $AUD3 million in rights sales.
Sales to a range of territories include Molvania by Rob Sitch and Santo Cilauro, The Broken Shore by Peter Temple, The Secret River by Kate Grenville, The Weather Makers by Tim Flannery, The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts, Unpolished Gem by Alice Pung, Does My Head Look Big in This? by Randa Abdel-Fattah, The Shifting Fog by Kate Morton, East of Time by Jacob Rosenberg.
The results of the VIP program highlight the significant international interest in Australian fiction and non-fiction.
The 2008 VIP program will be held at Adelaide Writers’ Week from 2 - 7 March. The following guests will participate in the program:
- Richard Beswick, managing director, Little, Brown and Abacus, UK
- Andreas Campomar, commissioning editor, Constable & Robinson, UK
- Anthony Cheetham, chairman, Quercus Publishing, UK
- Maria Dürig, editor-in-chief, Blanvalet Verlag and Limes Verlag, Germany
- Nelleke Geel, publisher, Signatuur, The Netherlands
- Lisa Highton, deputy managing director, Hodder & Stoughton, UK
- Patrick Janson-Smith, literary agent, UK
- Jackie Kaiser, literary agent, Westwood Creative Artists, Canada
- Sidharth Malhotra, publisher, Orient Paperbacks, India
- Peter McGuigan, agent, Foundry Literary + Media, USA
- Michael Moynahan, chairman, Random House New Zealand and managing director, Random House India
- Peng Lun, vice editor-in-chief, Shanghai 99 Readers’ Culture, China
- Neal Porter, editorial director, Neal Porter Books, Roaring Brook Press, USA
- Sebastian Ritscher, vice-director, Mohrbooks AG Literary Agency, Switzerland
- Nancy Siscoe, associate publishing director and executive editor, Knopf & Crown Books for Young Readers, USA
- Anne Tente, senior editor paperback fiction, Heyne Verlage, Random House Germany.
For more information, contact Margaret Burke on +61 2 9215 9091 or email m.burke@australiacouncil.gov.au.