Literature board
The literature board affirms the role of literature as a celebration of language, the keystone of human communication.
The board aims to support the excellence, diversity, vitality, viability and distinctiveness of Australian literature. It does this by providing direct financial support to outstanding literary creators, and grants to organisations that offer infrastructure support to the literature sector and income-generating opportunities for writers. Professional development opportunities for individual writers, including Australian and overseas residencies, are also supported.
Through its support for book, magazine and online publishing, the literature board encourages the dissemination of a wide range of excellent work by Australian writers, both in Australia and overseas. The board offers opportunities to create new resources for the benefit of Australian writers and the literature sector as a whole through its initiatives and partnerships.
In recognition of the changing parameters of literary activity, the board particularly encourages cross-artform collaborations and emerging forms of practice.
The promotion and marketing of Australian literature to a wider reading audience is extremely important. Accordingly, the board initiates and supports a variety of projects, most notably metropolitan, regional and overseas writers’ festivals and other promotional activities.
The main focus of the literature board is the creation of literary works. It does not assist in the creation of film and television scripts; textbooks and other works created for primary, secondary and tertiary educational purposes; newsletters; books which are primarily works of interviews; local and oral histories; military studies; instruction manuals; how-to books; academic theses or course work; bibliographies; dictionaries; encyclopaedias; professional reference titles; guide books; catalogues; personal growth, lifestyle and hobby books; or works of physical or natural sciences, theology, psychology, cooking, medicine or law.
The literature board presents an annual award to acknowledge the achievement of eminent literary writers over the age of 65 who have made a life-long contribution to Australian literature.