Other People’s Words

We started out with an ethos rather than a profit-motive, an idea rather than a
money-making venture ... in order to publish the books we wanted.

It was a way of working as remote now as the moon.

Other People's Words is the story of fifteen years in which a small independent company was a force in Australian publishing. From McPhee Gribble came many new writers, including Helen Garner, Tim Winton, Drusilla Modjeska and Kaz Cooke, fresh perspectives on Australian life and history - and, fleetingly, hope that an Australian company could become a fully fledged player in the international publishing industry.

This is the story of a friendship between Hilary McPhee and Diana Gribble and the company they built, with its unique way of working that at once mirrored the times and changed them, how it thrived and how it fell.

It is also a portrait of a woman who accidentally became a legendary editor and publisher. Hilary McPhee grew up surrounded by books and stories, and also by some of the silences and gaps in the record that defined Australia until recent years. Her belief in publishing not just as a process but as a means of transmission of ideas and imagination had its origins in every corner of her life.

Other People's Words is a rare and often moving insight into the transforming power of words. This updated edition contains a new chapter on technology and its likely effects on literature and the creative arts.