UWA Publishing is a Western Australian publisher established in 1935 by the University of Western Australia (UWA). It publishes a wide range of fiction and non-fiction titles.
This week the University of Western Australia announced plans to shut down UWA Publishing in its current form, citing budgetary constraints. It is a radically short-sighted move that will significantly damage the cultural landscape in WA and beyond, not to mention UWA as an institution.
What we publish
UWA Publishing publishes a wide range of works including literary fiction, non-fiction, poetry and scholarly works. We aim to publish important books that have a social and cultural impact. Our list includes works by many well-known writers and scholars, as well as voices that might otherwise go unrecognised.
We also work hard to support local writing that explores Australian society, politics and culture. We champion endangered literary forms such as poetry and short stories. Our list also includes an extensive range of scholarly books about Australia and Western Australian history, as well as works of Indigenous stories, language, art and culture.
As a small but nimble team, we aim to provide authors with a meaningful publishing experience and readers with books that they find worth reading. We also take pride in promoting new and emerging writers through our awards program, including the Dorothy Hewett Award for an unpublished manuscript and the Western Australian Premier’s Book Awards for Emerging Writers.
Despite its longstanding heritage, the University of Western Australia has recently announced plans to close down UWA Publishing after 85 years of service. An internal memo from the university’s Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Tayyeb Shah, has informed staff that UWA Publishing will undergo a progressive closure, with director Terri-ann White and four other staff understood to be losing their jobs.
The decision to shut down the UWA Publishing is a blow to Australian literature, and to our country’s literary community. The closure is a direct assault on the diversity of voices on our list. It would also be a great loss for our country’s poetry scene, which has long been part of the national collective conscience.
In the wake of this news, we are honoured to have been invited to participate in UWA’s consultation process, and hope that we can assist in a future that allows UWA Publishing to adapt to a changing world while ensuring that its mission remains intact. In addition to the consultation, we are keen to hear from any potential partners who might be interested in working with us.
In the meantime, please consider signing our petition to reinstate UWA Publishing. You can also help us by sharing this page on your social media channels.
UWAP Scholarly
UWA Publishing publishes a range of scholarly monographs and non-fiction works in the humanities, social sciences and natural sciences. These titles offer a rich and diverse array of ideas, presenting research that is both accessible and thought-provoking.
Unlike many commercial publishers, we've always balanced our scholarly commitments with significant literary offerings. This has helped to develop our reputation for cultivating authors and bringing significant titles to a wider readership.
Our scholarly books are characterised by lively writing and coherent arguments, tackling topics that are crucial to the advancement of knowledge in the academic community and beyond. They are produced by the same people who work on our other publications, with editorial boards drawn from across the university and beyond.
We also have a small number of open access titles available to read on our website. These are free to view in our online catalogue, and the University Library subscribes to a variety of databases that allow you to search for them and access full-text articles for free.
The University of Western Australia is one of the world's most research intensive universities, attracting international leaders from a wide range of disciplines. Its Perth campus is home to Nobel prize laureate Professor Barry Marshall, and is a founder member of the Matariki Network of high-quality, research-intensive universities with a particular focus on student experience.
Students have the opportunity to gain practical experience through internships, professional placements and other career-focused opportunities. This experience can help to enhance their employability after graduation.
UWA’s academic staff have a strong record of excellence in their fields and are recognised around the world for their research. Their graduates often outperform the national average starting salaries and employment rates, highlighting the value of a UWA degree.
A recent internal memo from UWA’s deputy vice-chancellor Tayyeb Shah has proposed a progressive close down of UWA Publishing in its “current form” from the end of November with a view to replace it with an open-source digital publishing model. This would mean that a significant proportion of UWA Publishing’s staff and director Terri-ann White would lose their jobs.
UWAP Poetry
UWA Publishing is proud to publish the work of both renowned and emerging voices in Australian poetry. Its acclaimed series has been a major force in the nation’s poetry publishing scene since its inception in 2016, responding to the Australia Council’s funding cuts that sent numerous boutique publishers under.
In the past five years alone, UWAP has published groundbreaking poetry from Josephine Wilson (Miles Franklin Award-winner Extinctions), Anna Haebich (Dancing in Shadows, Prime Minister’s Literary Award shortlist), Rozanna Lilley (Do Oysters Get Bored?, National Biography Award shortlist) and Renee Pettit-Schipp (The Sky Runs Right Through Us, WA Premier’s Book Awards for Emerging Writers).
As part of its commitment to publishing the work of emerging writers, UWAP runs the Dorothy Hewett Award, a $10,000 prize for unpublished manuscripts. It also offers a range of grants and prizes to help support new writers, including the Perth Writing Prize for emerging authors.
With its prestigious reputation for bringing important and established voices to the page, UWAP is an essential part of Australian literary culture. The news that the 85-year-old publishing house would be closing has alarmed and angered the literary sector, with many writers circulating a petition to keep it open.
The decision to close UWAP is a blow not just to the literary community at the University of Western Australia, but for literature in general. It will sever many ties and disrupt countless conversations already begun or prevent other conversations, especially of conscience, from taking place.
It is not an easy task to be a writer in Western Australia: it can be challenging to live and work in a place where you might have to go against the tide of public opinion. But it can also be a rich and rewarding experience.
That is why I am extremely concerned about UWA’s decision to close its poetry publishing arm. UWAP, under its director Terri-Ann White, is a national treasure and it’s cessation will leave an enormous hole in the Australian literary landscape.
I am signing the petition to compel the University of Western Australia to reconsider its decision and reinstate UWAP. The decision to shut down UWAP is a serious blow for Australian literary culture and I am calling on writers and readers across the country to sign this petition.
Contact us
UWA Publishing is one of Australia's most respected literary publishers. Founded in 1935, it produces books of fiction, poetry, non-fiction and scholarly works for an academic and general readership. Its list includes titles by multiple Miles Franklin award winners, and works of Indigenous culture, language, history and art.
The university's decision to shut down UWA Publishing has prompted outrage in the Australian literary community, and is an important part of a larger debate about how we can support literature in our time. A memo sent by deputy vice-chancellor Tayyeb Shah to staff last Tuesday said that UWA Publishing was to undergo a "progressive close down of operations".
Terri-ann White, who has been director of the publishing house for 14 years, has told the Australian she was'shocked and saddened' to learn of the decision. She said it would be a huge loss to the Australian literary community, and pointed to Josephine Wilson's 2017 Miles Franklin Literary Award-winning novel Extinctions as proof of its impact.
She also cited the 35 books scheduled to publish next year, and expressed concern about a lack of provision for servicing the 350 authors on UWAP's backlist. She hoped UWA Publishing would be reinstated but in a hybrid model that sees some works published in paper, while others are released through an open-access digital publishing model.
But as Emmett Stinson points out in The Conversation, it is laughable to claim that UWA Publishing's cultural impact can simply be replaced through open access. That is why its closure is so hard to swallow, and why it's important that writers across the country take up Stinson's call for action.
Fortunately, the University of Western Australia has backpedalled on its decision to shut down UWA Publishing. After hearing fierce backlash from writers throughout the country, UWA vice-chancellor Amit Chakma announced that the publisher would be restored but under a new hybrid model. Mr Chakma said the university's publishing arm had a proud heritage and a commitment to promoting the university's research and academic successes. He added that the publisher had a unique approach to publishing and a strong commitment to social, cultural and intellectual renewal.