Take Your Small Press to Asia, Part1 [22.07.2011]
Stay tuned for Part 2 on details of the Asialink Touring Program, also pertinent to small presses
The Asialink Residency Program isn’t just for writers. For those of you in the publishing business, you can apply for an arts management residency and get a first-hand look at the rapidly changing reading and publishing cultures of Asia.
If you’re successful, you’ll get up to $12,000 to cover the cost of travelling, living and working in an Asian country of your choice. You can apply to one of our host organisations, but most likely you’ll want to come up with your own. Find a publishing house, a festival, a writers centre, a university – any organisation in Asia that’s doing relevant work and who can show you the ropes.
A recent example is Kabita Dhara, publisher at Brass Monkey Books. She started her imprint to bring new Indian writing to Australia after a residency in Delhi with Katha. She worked with their staff on books translated into English from the country’s multitude of regional languages. She also spent some good time in Macmillan’s Indian offices learning how they assess the suitability of overseas titles for the Indian market, and how international publishers can get their books distributed in India.
There are two main ideas behind the program. This first is professional development. We’re interested in how a residency will help you build your skills, networks and breadth of experience. Where are you at in your career? Where do you want to go? How will a residency help you get there?
The second main idea is to build strong links between Australian and Asian publishers, writers and readers. So with that in mind, we want to know how you’ll connect to your host. How will your residency benefit them, and what kinds of links and outcomes might it lead to in the future?
Most residencies result in plenty of outcomes – bringing books to print, trading rights, programming a section of a festival, organising successful author tours – but that’s not the main point. One of the best things about the program is that it’s to give you time to think, research and develop ideas and skills.
Another great aspect of the program is that we make it easy to apply. We’re just after a CV, a one-page statement on what you want to do and why, and a cover sheet. If you’re proposing your own host we need a letter from them. It’s as simple as that.
The program is currently open to Australian citizens and permanent residents, and applications close on the 1st of August. You can undertake your residency at any point in 2012. More info can be found here.
Nicolas (Nic) Low is Manager, Writing Program of Asialink, University of Melbourne.
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