Sophisticated nations support literary culture
September 8, 2025
Karl Quinn writing on the end of literary journal Meanjinhighlights the poor state of our literary culture and the low regard increasingly given to it by successive state and federal governments (“Hardly anyone reads Meanjin any more. So why does its end even matter?” 7/9). Many sophisticated countries actively support and encourage their literary culture. In France the VAT on books is 5.5 per cent (compared with 20 per cent on other goods) and in the UK it is zero. France has numerous measures to support bookshops, with the result that Paris has about 800 bookshops serving a population of 10.5 million. Melbourne by contrast has about 100 bookshops for its population of 5.5 million.
The best way to support authors is by buying their books, which gives them royalties, but as our booksellers shrink and the opportunities to discover our writers also shrink, the task is left to the few surviving bookshops. According to Nielsen Bookscan, Meanjin’s Winter Edition has sold 169 copies and Readings sold 61 of those. If you add on a few hundred copies sold to subscribers, it’s apparent that nobody appreciates Meanjin enough to support it. The federal government’s new initiative Writers Australia has a hazy brief and a meagre budget. I fear it will only give grants to writers to write books that won’t sell because there won’t be enough bookshops that care.
Mark Rubbo, chairman, Readings
The best way to support authors is by buying their books, which gives them royalties, but as our booksellers shrink and the opportunities to discover our writers also shrink, the task is left to the few surviving bookshops. According to Nielsen Bookscan, Meanjin’s Winter Edition has sold 169 copies and Readings sold 61 of those. If you add on a few hundred copies sold to subscribers, it’s apparent that nobody appreciates Meanjin enough to support it. The federal government’s new initiative Writers Australia has a hazy brief and a meagre budget. I fear it will only give grants to writers to write books that won’t sell because there won’t be enough bookshops that care.
Mark Rubbo, chairman, Readings
U2 and a Harlem Choir Sing ‘I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For’
In 1987, choir director Dennis Bell arranged a version of U2’s #1 hit I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For for his choir, the New Voices of Freedom. After hearing a recording of the arrangement, U2 asked Bell & the choir to join the band for an upcoming show at Madison Square Garden in NYC. Before the show, the band and the choir rehearsed together at Greater Calvary Baptist Church in Harlem
A list of 29 heroes and interesting people that few people have heard of. I’ve only heard of one or two of these folks.
A list of 29 heroes and interesting people that few people have heard of. I’ve only heard of one or two of these folks.
We’re All in the Network of Time
“The Network of Time is a project that links people together, in the style of six degrees of separation, by appearance together in photographs. Every photo you take with someone else links you into the vast network of people caught together in images.
It’s a collage millions of pictures deep – every actor you’ve seen on screen, every politician you’ve seen in the news, almost everyone you’ve seen in a history textbook. Network Of Time is the world’s first interactive snapshot of this network. For instance, LeBron James can be linked to Joseph Stalin in just five photographs.
James appears in a photo with Canadian broadcaster George Stroumboulopoulos, who was photographed with former Canadian PM Jean Chrétien. Chrétien was in a photo with Queen Elizabeth II, who appeared in a photo with Winston Churchill, and Churchill was photographed with Stalin. The Network of Time is conceptually adjacent to the Great Span…”
