A group of academics specialising in books and publishing has launched a community publishing project in the Burdekin region, drawn by the area’s vibrant arts culture and commitment to creativity. The project was inspired by a noticeable increase in publishing activity across Australia, highlighted by the AustLit database. The team was eager to meet the people driving this activity and those interested in publishing but not yet involved.
The Burdekin region stood out to the team due to its strong arts culture and recent commitment to the arts through the Arts and Cultural Strategy (2021). This strategy aligns perfectly with the project's goals of encouraging creativity, preserving heritage, and fostering community spirit. The academics have enjoyed working closely with the Burdekin Library and the Burdekin Readers and Writers Association, which has made a significant impact on the local literary scene. The team is also keen to connect with the active writing groups in the community and learn more about their publishing efforts.
Additionally, the presence of a strong Indigenous community in Ayr has attracted the team, particularly through the connections of team member Professor Sandra Phillips, who is Indigenous. The project seeks to engage with this community and explore the role of Indigenous stories in the region's publishing landscape.
The team’s goals are to understand why people in the Burdekin create books and to make the process of book publishing more accessible to regional Australians. By conducting interviews with local authors and offering workshops on book creation, the project aims to develop a digital toolkit that will empower more people to publish their stories. This toolkit, grounded in the lived experiences of regional authors, will be freely accessible and aims to increase the visibility of regional publications.
One of the challenges faced by the team is organising interviews before arriving in a new location. To overcome this, they start by connecting with a few individuals and then expanding their network through referrals. The team approaches their interviews with genuine curiosity, viewing the people they meet as experts on their own experiences of writing and publishing in the region.
Ultimately, the project aims to strengthen the connections between regional areas like the Burdekin and the broader Australian audience. By setting up an exhibition of regional community publishing on AustLit, they hope to draw national attention to the valuable contributions of regional authors. The project’s success will be measured not just in data, but in the meaningful human experiences of joy, satisfaction, and a sense of community that come from engaging in the arts.
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