Literary News Bites
Did you ‘Get Reading’ last month? Don’t know what I’m talking about? Get Reading! (formerly Books Alive) is an initiative of the Federal Government, administered by the Australia Council to encourage reluctant and lapsed readers to, well, get reading!
If you’ve missed it and are reading this, then that’s probably OK, because it wasn’t aimed at you. The Get Reading! campaign had its genesis in the capitulation of the Australian Democrat leader Meg Lees to the Howard government’s GST on books. Prior to the GST, books had attracted no sales taxes in recognition of their unique educational value. The Democrats, who held the balance of power in the Senate, had no GST on books as a central element of their GST policy.
In return for Meg Lees’ vote, the Howard government announced a $400 million dollar Book Industry Assistance Package over four years. Part of the package was $2 million per annum for the promotion of books and reading.
Arts Minister Rod Kemp was a great supporter of the Books Alive program and had it extended. Subsequent governments have done the same and sadly the program’s use, effectiveness and originality has diminished over time. It’s probably time to reassess Get Reading!
I had the great privilege to be a judge for the Melbourne Prize for Literature last month. I read most of the books on Google’s Nexus 7 and bought them as Readings ebooks (they were all available). I have to say that I really like the Nexus 7, a seven inch Android tablet, which connected easily to our ebook site (and other websites). And if I do say so myself, the Readings ebooks were very pleasant to read – nice simple technology invented in Melbourne.
It was with great sadness that I heard about the death of Jean McCaughey, wife of former governor Davis McCaughey. Prior to her marriage, she had studied medicine but gave that away when she started a family. Later, in the late sixties, and at the behest of her daughters, she studied computer programming and became an early pioneer in the field, especially in the area of social research and the use of new technologies in identifying disadvantage. Her grandson, Michael Williams, remarks that this was ironic as she grew very suspicious of the internet and its superficiality.
