Established in 1948, University of Queensland Press (UQP) is an Australian publishing house. Founded as a traditional university press, UQP has since branched into publishing books for general readers in the areas of fiction, non-fiction, poetry, Indigenous writing and youth literature. From 2010, UQP has been releasing selected out-of-print titles in digital formats, in addition to the digital and print publishing of new books. In 2021, UQP was awarded Small Publisher of the Year by the Australian Book Industry Awards (ABIAs).

History

UQP began as a publisher of scholarly works in 1948, and made its transition into trade publishing in the mid-1960s through its Paperback Poets series. The Paperback Poets series came into being when Australian

novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living writing novels and other fiction, while others asp ...

and

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems ( oral or wri ...

David Malouf David George Joseph Malouf AO (; born 20 March 1934) is an Australian poet, novelist, short story writer, playwright and librettist. Elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 2008, Malouf has lectured at both the University of Que ...

approached publisher Frank Thompson and suggested that poetry ought to be made available widely and inexpensively. Thompson agreed, and UQP's poetry list began with Malouf's first book, ''

Bicycle and Other Poems ''Bicycle and Other Poems'' (1970) is the debut poetry collection by Australian poet and author David Malouf. The collection consists of 41 poems, several of which were previously published in various Australian poetry and general magazines, w ...

'', alongside volumes by

Michael Dransfield Michael Dransfield (12 September 1948 – 20 April 1973) was an Australian poet active in the 1960s and early 1970s who wrote close to 1,000 poems.

and Rodney Hall.Sam Martin (March 2010)
Publish or Perish? Re-Imagining the University Press
Media and Culture Journal. Volume 13 Issue 1. Since then, UQP has become Australia's leading poetry publisher, maintaining a poetry list that includes John Tranter,

, Thomas Shapcott, and many others. It has launched the careers of many Australian writers, such as

Peter Carey (novelist) Peter Philip Carey AO (born 7 May 1943) is an Australian novelist. Carey has won the Miles Franklin Award three times and is frequently named as Australia's next contender for the Nobel Prize in Literature. Carey is one of only five writers to ...

Kate Grenville Catherine Elizabeth Grenville (born 1950) is an Australian author. She has published fifteen books, including fiction, non-fiction, biography, and books about the writing process. In 2001, she won the Orange Prize for '' The Idea of Perfectio ...

, Doris Pilkington, Melissa Lucashenko and

Nick Earls Nicholas Francis Ward Earls (born 8 October 1963) is a novelist from Brisbane, Australia, who writes humorous popular fiction about everyday life. The majority of his novels are set in his home town of Brisbane. He fronted a major Brisbane tour ...

. In 1978 the press published its first title in its UQP Studies in Australian Literature series. In 1972, during a time of "Australia’s developing awareness of her place in Asia", UQP launched the Asian and Pacific Writing Series, edited by

Michael Wilding Michael Charles Gauntlet Wilding (23 July 1912 – 8 July 1979) was an English stage, television, and film actor. He is best known for a series of films he made with Anna Neagle; he also made two films with Alfred Hitchcock, '' Under Capric ...

and later Harry Aveling. In 1980 the press launched the Leaders of Asia Series, with K. G. Tregonning as the general editor.

API Network

Founded in 1997, Australian Public Intellectual Network (API Network) is an organisation focused on linking Australian

public intellectual An intellectual is a person who engages in critical thinking, research, and reflection about the reality of society, and who proposes solutions for the normative problems of society. Coming from the world of culture, either as a creator or ...

s, and a registered publisher as Network Books. API Network was a scholarly imprint through the University of Queensland Press until 2004. Over this period it gradually transferred to

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth i ...

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

, where its imprint Network Books was formed as a not-for-profit publisher of scholarly titles on Australia. ''Creative Arts Review'' was edited by Ffion Murphy and included as a supplement to the ''Journal of Australian Studies'' between 1998 and 2008. It was produced at the Australia Research Institute,

Curtin University of Technology Curtin University, formerly known as Curtin University of Technology and Western Australian Institute of Technology (WAIT), is an Australian public research university based in Bentley, Perth, Western Australia. It is named after John Curtin, P ...

, and published by UQ Press and the API Network. ''Journal of Nutritional Studies'' was also produced in this way. In 2002 API Network was also associated with Fremantle Centre Press. As of 2006 it published the refereed journals ''Journal of Australian Studies'', ''Australian Cultural History'', and ''Life Writing'' (from 2005), as well as four book series: ''Australian Scholarly Classics'', ''Symposia'', ''Australian Essay'', and ''Fresh Cuts''. It also published the ''API Review of Books'' (''JAS (Journal of Australian Studies) Review of Books'' from 2001-2005), ''Altitude 21C'' electronically. the API Network continues to publish ''ACH: International Journal of Culture and History in Australia'', which has been published electronically since 2003.

UQP today

UQP currently publishes books for general readers in the areas of fiction,

poetry Poetry (derived from the Greek ''poiesis'', "making"), also called verse, is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language − such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre − to evoke meanings i ...

non-fiction Nonfiction, or non-fiction, is any document or media content that attempts, in good faith, to provide information (and sometimes opinions) grounded only in facts and real life, rather than in imagination. Nonfiction is often associated with b ...

Indigenous Indigenous may refer to: *Indigenous peoples *Indigenous (ecology), presence in a region as the result of only natural processes, with no human intervention *Indigenous (band), an American blues-rock band *Indigenous (horse), a Hong Kong racehorse ...

writing and youth literature. Many of UQP's recent fiction and poetry titles have won significant international acclaim, including Peter Carey's

True History of the Kelly Gang ''True History of the Kelly Gang'' is a novel by Australian writer Peter Carey, based loosely on the history of the Kelly Gang. It was first published in Brisbane by the University of Queensland Press in 2000. It won the 2001 Booker Prize an ...

, which won the 2001 Man Booker Prize and the Commonwealth Writers Prize. In 2019, Melissa Lucashenko won the Miles Franklin Award for her novel ''Too Much Lip''. In 2010, UQP announced that it will release selected out-of-print titles in digital formats, in addition to the digital and print publishing of new books. In 2021, UQP was awarded Small Publisher of the Year by the Australian Book Industry Awards (ABIAs). Judges commented: 'UQP has been recognised with 13 award wins and 30 shortlistings in 2020. In the wake of COVID-19, it launched several initiatives: the UQP Quentin Bryce Award, the UQP Writing Mentorship, and Extraordinary Voices for Extraordinary Times podcast. It supported and actively promoted local bookshops and partnered with the Queensland Department of Education – to beam animated readings of UQP picture books into homes and classrooms. To improve diversity and career pathways for the literary sector – UQP launched its Indigenous Placement Program which has since been recognised as an industry-leading initiative – and hosted six internships for people from diverse and minority backgrounds, including an intern from Vision Australia.' The UQP Bookshop on the St Lucia campus of the University of Queensland opened in September 2021. Located in the Biological Sciences Library, it exclusively stocks UQP titles including new releases, children's books, poetry titles, and classics.

Books and authors

The UQP publication list includes novels,

short stories A short story is a piece of prose fiction that typically can be read in one sitting and focuses on a self-contained incident or series of linked incidents, with the intent of evoking a single effect or mood. The short story is one of the oldest t ...

, memoirs,

essays An essay is, generally, a piece of writing that gives the author's own argument, but the definition is vague, overlapping with those of a letter, a paper, an article, a pamphlet, and a short story. Essays have been sub-classified as formal a ...

, and

by writers such as Les Murray, Peter Carey,

Katharine Susannah Prichard Katharine Susannah Prichard (4 December 18832 October 1969) was an Australian author and co-founding member of the Communist Party of Australia. Early life Prichard was born in Levuka, Fiji in 1883 to Australian parents. She spent her childhood ...

Kenneth Slessor Kenneth Adolphe Slessor (27 March 190130 June 1971) was an Australian poet, journalist and official war correspondent in World War II. He was one of Australia's leading poets, notable particularly for the absorption of modernist influences int ...

Thea Astley Thea Beatrice May Astley (25 August 1925 – 17 August 2004) was an Australian novelist and short story writer. She was a prolific writer who was published for over 40 years from 1958. At the time of her death, she had won more Miles Franklin ...

, Janette Turner Hospital,

, Beverley Farmer,

Lily Brett Lily Brett (born Lilijahne Brajtsztajn 5 September 1946, Feldafing displaced persons camp, Bavaria, Germany) is an Australian novelist, essayist and poet. She lived in North Carlton and then Elwood/Caulfield (suburbs of Melbourne) from 1948 to ...

, Frank Brennan, Ian Lowe, Bernhard Schlink, Olga Masters, Randolph Stow,

Michael Dransfield Michael Dransfield (12 September 1948 – 20 April 1973) was an Australian poet active in the 1960s and early 1970s who wrote close to 1,000 poems.

, Bruce Beaver,

Jennifer Mills Jennifer Mills (born 1977) is an Australian novelist, short story writer and poet. Career Mills lived in Alice Springs. She was the winner of the 2008 Marian Eldridge Award for Young Emerging Women Writers, the Pacific Region of the 2008-9 Comm ...

Gwen Harwood Gwen Harwood (née Gwendoline Nessie Foster, 8 June 19205 December 1995) was an Australian poet and librettist. Harwood is regarded as one of Australia's finest poets, publishing over 420 works, including 386 poems and 13 librettos. She won nu ...

, Melissa Lucashenko, Tony Birch and

Elizabeth Jolley Monica Elizabeth Jolley AO (4 June 1923 – 13 February 2007) was an English-born Australian writer who settled in Western Australia in the late 1950s and forged an illustrious literary career there. She was 53 when her first book was publishe ...

References

External links