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Visiting International Publishers (VIPs) Program

The Visiting International Publishers (VIPs) program supports international publishers, scouts and literary agents to participate in a week-long schedule of business meetings, networking events, industry forums, Writers’ Festival events, and panel discussions with Australian publishers and agents.

May 01, 2025
Man browsing book shelf at bookstore

Visiting International Publishers (VIPs) Program

When

Monday 19 to Friday 23 May 2025

Where

Sydney

The visiting delegation is immersed in Australia’s unique literary culture, share insights into global publishing trends, strengthen relationships with their Australian counterparts, and expand opportunities for Australian authors overseas.

For more details on eligibility and how to apply, please click here


Contact

For more information on the VIPs program, please contact Alice Cottrell at alice.cottrell@creative.gov.au


Meet this year’s VIPs! 

We are delighted to announce the twelve international publishers, editors, scouts and literary agents participating in the 24th year of the Visiting International Publishers (VIPs) program. The in-person program will be held alongside the dates for the Sydney Writers’ Festival from 19-23 May 2025. 

The selection of this year’s participants was made by the VIPs Committee in collaboration with Creative Australia staff. The VIPs represent a range of territories; genre specialties; boutique and multinational publishers; and English-language and translation markets.  

We are excited to welcome participants from Brazil, Poland and Taiwan for the first time in many years, as well as VIPs from some of Australia’s strongest selling markets of the USA, Germany, Netherlands and France.

Click below to view the full bios and areas of interest of this year’s VIPs.

Marine Alata, Editorial Manager, Foreign – HarperCollins, France

Main areas of interest:

  • Crime fiction (commercial and upmarket)
  • Feel-good/cosy fiction
  • Historical women’s fiction

Marine Alata holds a Master of Modern Literature degree from the Sorbonne and a Master of Publishing degree from Villetaneuse, completed with a semester at New York University. She held internships at Fleuve Éditions, Éditions Robert Laffont, and Grove/Atlantic in New York before returning to Éditions Robert Laffont as a Publishing Assistant in 2014. In 2017, as Editor, she was responsible for the Pavillons Poche line, revitalising the collection and giving it new visibility with booksellers and readers.

She also led the Pavillons collection list which released new editions of great 20th century novels such as La Famille Aubrey (The Saga of the Century trilogy) by Rebecca West and La Servante écarlate (The Handmaid’s Tale) by Margaret Atwood; enriching the titles of the collection with original prefaces by authors including Alain Mabanckou, Douglas Kennedy, Philippe Claudel and Lydie Salvayre. Marine also published new releases from authors in the Pavillons collection, including Les Graciées (The Mercies) by Kiran Milwood Hargrave and Les Testaments (The Testaments) by Margaret Atwood.

Marine joined HarperCollins France in September 2022 as Editorial Manager, Foreign, in charge of fiction and non-fiction acquisitions. The translated program is made up of 30 titles per year, which used to be mainly crime, with major authors such as Don Winslow, Karin Slaughter, David Lagercrantz and Val McDermid. Marine also recently acquired the first adult thriller by phenomenon Holly Jackson.

Since her arrival, she has launched a new collection of historical women’s fiction to enrich the HarperCollins France list, called “Au gré du monde”. For this collection, she acquired the works of best-selling German author Anne Jacobs, Swedish author Katarina Widholm and American author Adrienne Young. In non-fiction, Marine publishes the memoirs of great personalities such as Pope Francis and the American singer Cher.

Which books do you wish you had published?  

Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens; The Cherry Robbers by Sarai Walker; the Blackwater series by Michael McDowell (which has only recently been published in France in the most gorgeous, innovative way).

Camila Berto, Executive Editor – Companhia das Letras, Brazil

Main areas of interest:

  • Contemporary literary fiction
  • Modern classics
  • Narrative non-fiction (current affairs, memoir, politics)

Camila Berto is executive editor at Companhia das Letras in Brazil, where she started her career as an intern in 2015. She edits literary fiction and narrative non-fiction, both domestic and in translation. Some of her authors include Tove Ditlevsen, Gwendolyn Brooks, Alba de Céspedes, Torborg Nedreaas, Montserrat Roig, Raven Leilani, Abdulrazak Gurnah and Hanya Yanagihara. She also works with some of Companhia’s historic authors, such as Italo Calvino, Milan Kundera and Ismail Kadaré. She lives in São Paulo, Brazil.

Companhia das Letras was founded in 1986 with an original focus on literature and humanities, and is Brazil’s leading trade publisher. One of its first titles was To the Finland Station by Edmund Wilson, which quickly became a bestseller. In addition to the homonymous imprint dedicated to literary fiction and narrative non-fiction, there are currently 15+ imprints specialised in several audiences and genres, such as Companhia das Letrinhas (children’s books), Penguin-Companhia (classics), Quadrinhos na Cia (graphic novels) and Seguinte (YA). Companhia das Letras publishes around 350 titles per year. Throughout its history, Companhia das Letras has been the home of 6,000+ titles and 30+ Nobel Prize winners.

Their authors include Anna Funder, Tove Ditlevsen, Jorge Luis Borges, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, James Baldwin, José Saramago, Chico Buarque, Mia Couto, Raduan Nassar, Abdulrazak Gurnah, Thomas Mann, Toni Morrison, Sally Rooney, Yuval Noah Harari, Eric Hobsbawm, Malala Yousafzai, Jorge Amado, Italo Calvino, Natalia Ginzburg, Orhan Pamuk, Karl Ove Knausgård, Nadine Gordimer, V.S. Naipaul, Milan Kundera, Ismail Kadaré, Vinicius de Moraes, Svetlana Aleksievitch and Amartya Sen. Since 2018, Penguin Random House has held a major stake in the company.

Which books do you wish you had published?

On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong; A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara; The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion.

Mieke Chew, Editor and Executive Director of Publicity – New Directions Publishing, USA

Main areas of interest:

  • Literary fiction and non-fiction
  • Poetry

Mieke Chew studied at the University of Melbourne and founded the Melbourne-based art and literature magazine Higher Arc in 2011. She moved to New York in 2013 and began her publishing career at Archipelago Books. She has been working at New Directions since 2014 and is currently an editor and the executive director of publicity.

Recent titles include: The Book Against Death by Elias Canetti translated by Peter Filkins, introduced by Joshua Cohen (2024), I Don’t Care by Agota Kristof translated by Chris Andrews (2024), Living Statues by Günter Grass translated by Michael Hofmann (2024), Praiseworthy and Carpentaria by Alexis Wright (2024), The Love of Singular Men by Victor Heringer translated by James Young (2023), Alindarka’s Children by Alhierd Bacharevic translated from Belarussian by Petra Hardt and Russian by Jim Dingley (2023).

Which books do you wish you had published?  

Dodge Rose by Jack Cox; The Notebook trilogy by Agota Kristof; Three by Ann Quin.

Lettice Franklin, Publishing Director – Weidenfeld and Nicolson, Orion, Hachette, UK

Main areas of interest:

  • Literary fiction
  • Modern classics
  • Narrative non-fiction

Lettice Franklin is Publishing Director at Weidenfeld and Nicolson (W&N), a prestigious literary imprint that sits within the Orion Publishing Group at Hachette UK.

In 2021, she appeared on the Bookseller 150 list, a selection of the British and Irish book industry’s 150 most influential people. In 2023, she attended the Toronto International Festival of Authors as a Distinguished Guest.

Her authors include Naoise Dolan, Madeleine Gray, Georgi Gospodinov, Claire Lombardo, Arinze Ifeakandu, Tea Obreht, Stephanie Bishop, Lauren Aimee Curtis, Niamh Campbell, Cathy Sweeney and Maria Semple. Her authors have received the International Booker Prize, the Women’s Prize, the Sunday Times Short Story Award, the Dylan Thomas Prize, and the Rooney Prize, amongst others.

In 2020, Lettice launched W&N Essentials, a list of classic books for modern readers. On that list she has published Helen Garner, Jane Bowles, Renata Adler, Vladimir Nabokov, Susanna Moore, JG Farrell, Elspeth Barker and Laurie Colwin.

Before joining W&N, Lettice worked at 4th Estate, where she worked on books by Joan Didion, Craig Brown, Katherine Heiny and Lena Dunham. Prior to that Lettice worked for the scouts, Eccles Fisher Associates, and as a bookseller at Hatchards bookshop. She received an MPhil in English Literature, following a First-Class undergraduate degree, from Cambridge University.

Which books do you wish you had published?

My Phantoms by Gwendoline Riley; Citizen by Claudia Rankine; Question 7 by Richard Flanagan.

Arthur A Levine, President and Editor-in-Chief – Levine Querido, USA 

Main areas of interest:

  • Graphic novels
  • Literary books for young readers (picture books to YA)
  • Literary fiction and non-fiction

Arthur A Levine founded the small independent publisher, Levine Querido in April 2019 after 35 years in publishing. His determination to bring a diverse selection of “The Best of the World’s Literature for Young People” to American readers has been the defining principle in all of his publishing. This has resulted in his being the first to introduce such writers as J.K. Rowling, Markus Zusak, Yu Pei-Yun, Luis Sepulveda and Lee Gee-Eun, while collaborating with great writers such as Shaun Tan, Philip Pullman, and Jaclyn Moriarty.

He sees the search for great talents from around the world as a continuum, with Levine Querido’s hunger for diverse, powerful, unique voices and visions from the multitude of cultures closer to home. LQ’s award-winning publication of Daniel Nayeri, Darcie Little Badger, Donna Barba Higuera, Anton Treuer, Cat Min, and Sacha Lamb exemplify that tradition, giving voice to Black, Latine, Queer, Disabled, Indigenous, and Asian voices as well as those from minority religions.

Which books do you wish you had published?

The Adventures of Beekle: The Unimaginary Friend by Dan Santat.

Joanna Maciuk, Acquiring Editor – Grupa Wydawnicza Foksal, WAB, Poland

Main areas of interest:

  • Classics/modern classics
  • Commercial fiction (crime and thriller, women’s fiction)
  • Literary fiction

Joanna Maciuk holds an MA in Cultural Studies and German Literature from the University of Warsaw. She started out in publishing as the assistant to editor-in-chief of Bertelsmann Media/Świat Książki. Later she moved to Graal Literary agency where for over six years she successfully represented international publishers and agencies as a translation rights agent, mainly focusing on German-speaking countries. She returned to the editorial side of publishing in 2015, to work as an acquiring editor and later editor-in-chief of the Foreign Fiction Department at Proszyński Media.

Since December 2018, Joanna has worked as an acquiring editor for the WAB imprint of Foksal Publishing Group, one of the biggest publishing houses in Poland, focusing on foreign fiction. Founded in 1987, the publishing house is the home to bestselling authors such as Sally Rooney, Alex Michaelides, Milan Kundera, Hanya Yanagihara, Hernan Diaz, Han Kang, Michel Houellebecq and Ali Smith.

Joanna acquires literary and upmarket fiction, classics and modern classics, as well as commercial fiction.

Which books do you wish you had published?   

Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan; Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart; Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo; Trespasses by Louise Kennedy; Das achte Leben (fuer Brilka) by Nino Haratischwili; Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens; The Chalk Man by CJ Tudor.

Anna Michels, Editorial Director – Sourcebooks and Poisoned Pen Press, USA

Main areas of interest:

  • Adult non-fiction
  • Commercial fiction and non-fiction
  • Crime fiction

Anna Michels has been at Sourcebooks for more than twelve years and is Editorial Director of Sourcebooks and Poisoned Pen Press. She worked as a historical interpreter, Norwegian tutor, farmhand, and waitress before building a career in books. Anna spearheaded the development of a crime fiction program at Sourcebooks, leading the acquisition of independent, Arizona-based publisher Poisoned Pen Press (PPP).

Since its acquisition by Sourcebooks in 2019, PPP has become one of the US publishing industry’s leading genre imprints and home to #1 New York Times bestselling phenomenon Freida McFadden. Anna has acquired and edited multiple bestselling authors under the PPP imprint, including Joshua Moehling, Sulari Gentill and Randall Silvis. In non-fiction, Anna acquired and edited the million-copy bestselling parenting classic 1-2-3 Magic by Thomas W. Phelan, PhD; New York Times bestsellers Chase Darkness with Me by Billy Jensen and College Girl, Missing by Shawn Cohen; and dozens of other impactful books across narrative and prescriptive non-fiction categories.

Along with acquiring for her own list, Anna oversees a team of five editors acquiring broadly across commercial fiction and non-fiction categories.

Which books do you wish you had published?

The Witch Elm by Tana French; The River by Peter Heller; Ordinary Grace by William Kent Krueger; The Emerald Mile by Kevin Fedarko; The Boys in the Boat by Daniel James Brown.

Hannerlie Modderman, Senior Commissioning Editor for Children’s and YA – Uitgeverij Luitingh-Sijthoff, Netherlands 

Main areas of interest:

  • Graphic novels
  • Middle-grade
  • Picture books
  • YA

Hannerlie Modderman is the Senior Commissioning Editor for Children’s and YA books at Luitingh-Sijthoff in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. As a child, she was an avid reader, devouring every book she could get her hands on. She studied Journalism and Politics, aiming to become a political journalist, but luckily fate led her to books. While working in a bookshop during her final year of political studies, she became captivated by the transformation of children’s literature. Books for young readers had evolved into works of art, featuring clever writing, engaging characters, and real insights into human emotions.

Hannerlie first worked at a small publishing house focused on children’s and YA books. She later worked with adult books at Prometheus/Bert Bakker, but returned to children’s publishing at Unieboek and Pimento. When Pimento merged with the Moon imprint at Overamstel, Hannerlie partnered with publisher Thille Dop to launch a new children’s and YA list at Luitingh-Sijthoff. Over the last decade, their books have won several jury and literary awards. They publish a wide range of books, from picture books to YA fiction and non-fiction, including both Dutch originals and translations. Their mission: making books that children love to read and that (grand)parents and teachers recommend for their quality. The authors on their list include Jessica Townsend, Meg Rosoff, Jenny Valentine, Benji Davies, Katherine Rundell, Eva Amores, Matt Cosgrove and Aaron Blabey.

Hannerlie attends the Frankfurt Book Fair and the Bologna Children’s Book Fair annually and is honoured to participate in the Creative Australia VIPs program. She is excited to discover and publish voices that inspire and delight young readers.

Which books do you wish you had published?

The Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling; the Homecoming series by Cynthia Voigt; I’ll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson.

Sandra Rothmund, Editor – Thienemann Esslinger Verlag, Germany 

Main areas of interest:

  • Fantasy
  • Middle-grade fiction
  • YA fiction (commercial and literary)

Sandra Rothmund has an M.A. in German and English. Her love for books started early and as far back as during her school days she knew that she wanted to become an editor for children’s books and YA. Sandra Rothmund wrote her master’s thesis about children’s fantasy (Lewis Carroll and Michael Ende). Since 2009, she has been an editor at Thienemann-Esslinger Verlag in Stuttgart.

Thienemann-Esslinger Verlag was founded in 1849 and has a long tradition in children’s books and young adult fiction. It is famous for classics such as Krabat, The Little Witch and The Robber Hotzenplotz by Otfried Preußler and Momo and The Neverending Story by Michael Ende. Thienemann also works with contemporary authors such as Oliver Scherz and Davide Morosinotto.

Sandra herself mostly acquires YA fiction (authors include Cindy R. X. He and Steven Herrick) and middle-grade fiction (authors include Julie Berry and Bobbie Pyron). She especially loves to work on literary titles: By the River by Steven Herrick won the most important award for children’s books and YA in Germany, the Deutscher Jugendliteraturpreis, in 2019, and Die Sonne, so strahlend und Schwarz by Chantal-Fleur Sandjon won in 2023. Sandra is happy that she also has the opportunity to publish outstanding picture books on the Aladin imprint (authors include Shaun Tan and Benji Davies) and she loves to work on the Elmer series by David McKee.

Which books do you wish you had published?

The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas; Looking for Alaska by John Green; 13 Reasons Why by Jay Asher.

Daniela Schlingmann, Company Director – Daniela Schlingmann Literary Scouting, UK

Main areas of interest:

  • Children’s
  • Commercial women’s fiction
  • Literary fiction and non-fiction (with a focus on First Nations voices and narratives)
  • Saga and romance (including romantasy)
  • Suspense
  • YA

Daniela Schlingmann is the director of Daniela Schlingmann Literary Scouting (DSLS), one of the world’s largest international literary scouting agencies. Daniela was born in Germany and lives in London; she holds German and British citizenship, and an MA in children’s literature.

Daniela started her publishing career in Frankfurt, the home of the bookfair, where she worked in the editorial department of Eichborn, then an independent publishing house. She took a position as commissioning editor at Random House in Munich soon after, where she acquired fiction from German and international writers and specialised in the Nordic markets for the Heyne list. The acquisition of Stieg Larsson’s The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo fell into her remit and taught her about the great value of literary scouts.

Daniela moved to London in 2005 and founded DSLS. The agency celebrates its 20th year in 2025. The DSLS team of 12 staff serve a broad client base of more than 15 international publishing houses with over 50 imprints. DSLS also scouts for a number of significant film and TV producers. The agency operates out of London, with team members also working from New York City, Stockholm and Barcelona. DSLS scouts books from all genres and all over the world, bringing exciting new voices to new markets and connecting major players of the global publishing world.

Which books do you wish you had facilitated the sale of?

Small Things like These by Claire Keegan; Persepolis by Mariane Satrapi; Men Explain Things to Me by Rebecca Solnit.

Gray Tan, Founder and President – The Grayhawk Agency, Taiwan 

Main areas of interest:

  • Crime and thriller
  • Fantasy, science-fiction and horror
  • Fiction (literary and upmarket)
  • Narrative non-fiction (history, current affairs and popular science)

Gray Tan came to publishing as a fantasy nerd, translating A Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin when he studied English at National Taiwan University. He started agenting in 2004 and founded his own company, The Grayhawk Agency (GHA), four years later. Today GHA has offices in Taipei and Bangkok, with a team of 27 people, selling translation rights in Taiwan, China, Thailand, Vietnam, and Indonesia on behalf of clients from all over the world. GHA also represents a carefully curated list of Asian authors in the translation markets and has sold their works in over 30 countries.

Mainly a fiction reader, Gray is proud to represent authors such as Khaled Hosseini, Carlos Ruiz Zafon, Jonathan Franzen, Hernan Diaz, Rachel Joyce, Barbara Kingsolver, Brandon Sanderson, Gabrielle Zevin, R. F. Kuang, Hugh Howey, Rebecca Yarros, Laura Lippman, Richard Osman, and Michael McDowell.

Some of GHA’s big non-fiction titles are Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari, Peak: Secrets from the New Science of Expertise by Anders Ericsson, I May Be Wrong: And Other Wisdoms From Life by Björn Natthiko Lindeblad and Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner.

Gray has a keen interest in Australian authors, especially since his first (short) VIP trip in 2017. He is particularly fond of Australian crime fiction and has sold books by Peter Temple, Michael Robotham, Chris Hammer, Candice Fox, Garry Disher, and Katharine Kovacic. Other highlights include Boy Swallows Universe by Trent Dalton, The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart by Holly Ringland, Prima Facie by Suzie Miller and Too Much Lip by Melissa Lucashenko.

Still a fantasy nerd at heart, Gray is also eager to build connections with Australia’s science-fiction community. Authors he represents include Garth Nix, TR Napper, Angela Slatter, Jo Anderton, Alan Baxter, Jeremy Szal, and Trent Jamieson.

Gray is always happy to talk about his new obsession with the horror genre and audiobooks, with which he does most of his “reading”.

Which books do you wish you had represented?

The Dry by Jane Harper; The Fisherman by John Langan; The Reformatory by Tananarive Due; The Bright Sword by Lev Grossman.

Lucas Wetzel, Senior Editor – Andrews McMeel Publishing, USA 

Main areas of interest:

  • Graphic novels (ages 8-12, YA and adult)
  • Illustrated humour and pop culture
  • Illustrated non-fiction and pop science
  • Offbeat humour and inspiration
  • Puzzles, games, and activity books

Lucas Wetzel is a senior editor at Andrews McMeel Publishing, the home of beloved comic features such as The Far Side by Gary Larson, Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson, Doonesbury by G. B Trudeau and The Magic Eye series. He edits and acquires illustrated humour and graphic novel titles, including New York Times bestsellers The Mysteries by Bill Watterson, Fangs by Sarah Andersen, Bad Dreams in the Night by Adam Ellis, and middle-grade children’s series including Big Nate by Lincoln Peirce and Phoebe and Her Unicorn by Dana Simpson. In 2020, he was named a Star Watch honouree by Publisher’s Weekly.

Before editing books, he was an editor in Andrews McMeel’s newspaper and online syndication department and has worked as a newspaper editor, columnist, and feature writer covering arts and culture. As a creative writer, he has taken part in numerous public art initiatives, artist residencies, and independent publishing projects.

He earned degrees in Journalism, English, and Germanic Languages and Literature at the University of Kansas, and also studied at the Universities of Bonn and Hamburg in Germany. He enjoys travel, tennis, music, and meeting authors, artists, and publishing professionals from around the world.

Which books do you wish you had published?

Strange Planet by Nathan Pyle; I Ate The Whole World to Find You by Rachel Ang (my favourite Australian cartoonist); and the Marcel Dzama illustrated version of Momo by Michael Ende.

Program events

Industry forum and networking lunch – Wednesday 21 May 2025

Venue: Terrace Room, Australian National Maritime Museum, 2 Murray Street, Darling Harbour, Sydney

Australian publishers or literary agents who publish or represent literary titles in the areas of fiction, narrative non-fiction, poetry, or children’s books (i.e. creative writing) are invited to register for the free industry forum sessions, networking lunch, and networking drinks outlined below.

9.00am – 9.30am
Arrival, tea and coffee

9.30am – 9.35am
Welcome to Country, Introduction

9.35am – 10.15am
Panel 1 – Children’s Publishing in Turbulent Times
Facilitator: Emma Dorph
Panellists: Arthur A Levine, Hannerlie Modderman and Sandra Rothmund

In a period of unprecedented volatility – with climate change, political and economic instability and conflicts causing huge global turbulence – the stakes of publishing have never felt higher.

A recent study found that 59% of banned books in the US were children’s books featuring diverse characters, or nonfiction books about historical figures and social movements, emphasising the power of children’s publishing to educate readers and affect social change.

Our panel will discuss how publishers are responding to global events as they publish for the readers and citizens of the future.

10.20am – 11.00am
Panel 2 – China, Taiwan and South-East Asia: Markets Update
Speaker: Gray Tan

In this session you’ll hear from one of Asia’s most experienced rights sellers about the current trends, challenges, successes and opportunities for Australian publishers and agents in East and South-East Asia.

Gray Tan is the founder of The Grayhawk Agency (GHA), which has offices in Taipei and Bangkok. A team of 27 people at the agency sell translation rights in Taiwan, China, Thailand, Vietnam, and Indonesia on behalf of clients all over the world.

Given our geographic proximity, how can Australian agents and publishers engage more fully with publishers and agents in these markets?

11.00am – 11:25am
Morning tea

11.25am – 12.05pm
Panel 3 – Digital Disruption: The Impact of Artificial Intelligence on the Publishing Industry
Facilitator: Patrizia Di Biase-Dyson
Panellists: Mieke Chew, Marine Alata, Daniela Schlingmann

Artificial Intelligence (AI) may be the most talked about topic in publishing right now. The pace of development over the last two years has been dizzying, and the technology offers both huge benefits and significant threats to our industry.

What risk does AI pose to the most creative aspects of publishing, from editing to translation to cover design? How can we prioritise intellectual property and protections for authors while making the most of this emerging set of technologies? What might a human-centred approach to working with AI look like?

Join our panel for an international and distinctly human discussion on how AI is already impacting publishing worldwide, the ethical challenges it poses, and what might come next.

12.10pm – 1.00pm
Panel 4 – The Power of the Backlist
Facilitator: Alexandra Christie
Panellists: Camila Berto, Lettice Franklin, Joanna Maciuk and Anna Michels

Publishers’ backlists have never been more vital or valuable. Bookshop tables are full of new editions of some of the world’s best-loved books, TikTok has catapulted books published years ago into bestseller lists, and many publishers are re-releasing books written decades ago for a new readership to discover and enjoy.

Join our panel for a discussion about how publishers can better utilise their backlist gems.

1.00pm – 3.00pm
Networking Lunch – Free

Join our VIPs and your Australian industry colleagues for an informal stand-up networking lunch, directly following the industry forum.

Networking drinks – Thursday 22 May 2025

Venue: Creative Australia Offices, Level 5, 60 Union Street, Pyrmont, Sydney

5.00pm – 7.00pm
Networking Drinks – Free

Join our VIPs and your Australian industry colleagues for informal networking drinks at the Creative Australia Offices, delivered in partnership with the Australian Publishers Association (APA).

Register here for all events

Click here to register for the free industry forum sessions, free networking lunch, and/or the free networking drinks – places are strictly limited, so book soon!

VIPs committee

Since its inception, Creative Australia’s Visiting International Publishers (VIPs) program has been delivered in consultation with a committee of industry representatives.  

The committee members are selected on the basis of their extensive industry expertise and international market knowledge, representing a range of skills and experience across the Australian publishing industry. Having worked in independent publishing houses, multinational publishing houses, and literary agencies across the industry; they have strong connections internationally and are passionate about Australian writers and writing.  

We are delighted to announce that the new member of the VIPs steering committee for the 2025-2027 programs is Alexandra Christie, Literary Agent at Curtis Brown Australia. 

Alexandra joins Emma Dorph, Rights, Contracts and International Sales Manager at Hachette Australia and New Zealand and Marika Webb-Pullman, Publisher at Scribe Publications, who continue their tenure on the committee. They will steward the design of the program in collaboration with Creative Australia. 

We sincerely thank outgoing committee member Annabel Barker, Director at the Annabel Barker Agency, for her hard work, dedication and enthusiasm over the last five pandemic-disrupted years of the program. Her skills, expertise, grace and humour were invaluable and we wish her every success. 

Responsibilities of the committee each year include:  

  • selection of the VIPs delegates
  • assistance with planning and events for the program, including the industry forum
  • hosting the VIPs throughout their time in Sydney
  • promoting the program internationally to encourage applications from potential VIPs. 

View the full bios of the current VIPs committee members below. 

 


 

Committee: Alexandra Christie – Literary Agent at Curtis Brown Australia

Alexandra Christie began her career as a literary agent in the New York office of The Wylie Agency where she represented both debut and established bestselling writers, including winners of the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Awards, and the International Booker Prize.

A passionate advocate for her authors, she is an omnivorous reader with a particular interest in literary fiction and narrative nonfiction. She finds it difficult to resist a beautifully written cookbook or a future classic for children. Above all, she is drawn to distinctive voices with an underlying intelligence, a precise eye for detail, and a sense of curiosity.

Previously, Alexandra was Rights Director at Giramondo Publishing Company and Editor of HEAT, Australia’s international literary magazine; she is now on the magazine’s editorial advisory board. She has also held positions at Pan Macmillan Australia and Allen & Unwin. A graduate of the University of Sydney, she has presented at the University of New South Wales, the Faber Academy, Sarah Lawrence College, Columbia University, the University of Florida and The Wheeler Centre.

Committee: Emma Dorph – Rights, Contracts and International Sales Manager, Hachette Australia & New Zealand

Emma has been working as Rights, Contracts and International Sales Manager at Hachette Australia & New Zealand since 2019, however her career in rights began as an assistant at HarperCollins UK in 2014. Since her return to Australia she has worked at both multinational and independent Australian publishing houses, and counts herself lucky to have represented a wide range of incredible adult and children’s books from Australian and New Zealand creators.

She has attended Frankfurt, London, Bologna and Shanghai Children’s International Book Fairs, and most recently has visited publishers across New York as part of a Creative Australia delegation. Her focus includes film and audiobook licensing, as well as rights-sales and distribution across English language markets, and due to a long-distant degree in Modern Languages she has always held a particular fascination for translation publishing. Emma feels very fortunate to have the chance to share Hachette ANZ’s stunning, thought-provoking, beautiful and memorable books with the world.

Committee: Marika Webb-Pullman – Publisher, Scribe Publications

Marika Webb-Pullman is the Australian publisher at Scribe Publications, one of Australia’s key independent publishing houses, where she oversees a list that includes literary fiction, narrative nonfiction, and projects in translation. Marika has been working in publishing and online media for more than fifteen years, across roles in marketing, editorial, and digital strategy. Before joining Scribe, she was the marketing and subscriptions manager at Crikey.

Program impacts

Since its inception in 1998, the VIPs program has welcomed 307 international guests to Australia, from 30 countries, with more than 300 Australian titles sold into overseas markets through the program. 

These titles include: Stone Yard Devotional by Charlotte Wood, The Gowkaran Tree in the Middle of Our Kitchen by Shokoofeh Azar, Afloat by Kirli Saunders and Freya Blackwood, Boy Swallows Universe  by Trent Dalton,  Scrublands  by Chris Hammer,  The Patchwork Bike  by Maxine Beneba Clarke, The Secret River  by Kate Grenville,  The Weather Makers  by Tim Flannery,  The Book Thief  by Markus Zusak, and  Picnic at Hanging Rock  by Joan Lindsay. 

Click here  to view the VIPs alumni. 

In 2017, we completed a five-year longitudinal evaluation of the VIPs program from 2011-2016, which included a survey of Australian publishers and agents. The report is  available here

The evaluation revealed that: 

  • for every $1 we invest in the VIPs program, $5.45 is generated for the Australian literature sector – a 445% return on investment
  • more than $4.1 million in rights sales was reported over the five years ($3.8 million in direct sales to VIPs who attended, and a further $300,000 in indirect sales through referrals from VIPs to other international publishers)
  • participation in the VIPs program in 2016 accounted for 15% of all rights sales for Australian publishers. 

In 2020, in partnership with Macquarie University and the Copyright Agency, Creative Australia released a research report,   Success Story: International rights sales of Australian-authored books 2008– 2018. The research highlights the growth of Australian books in international markets, and the huge potential of international sales to the Australian publishing industry.  

Findings included:  

  • in the decade from 2008-2018, rights to Australian literature were sold into 92 different territories, with Australian-authored books translated into 70 languages. The number of absolute deals also increased
  • children’s titles, including picture books and those aimed at younger readers, made up more than half of all rights deals
  • Chinese translations accounted for the highest number of translations (14%), highlighting the importance of the Chinese language market
  • international rights sales provide vital revenue to Australian writers and the wider book publishing industry.  

Success Story  represents the first time that international rights sales for Australian literature have been mapped and quantified in this way, revealing an important market that can be leveraged for further success. You can read more here.  

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We acknowledge the many Traditional Custodians of Country throughout Australia and honour their Elders past and present.

We respect their deep enduring connection to their lands, waterways and surrounding clan groups since time immemorial. We cherish the richness of First Nations Peoples’ artistic and cultural expressions.

We are privileged to gather on this Country and through this website to share knowledge, culture and art now, and with future generations.

First Nations Peoples should be aware that this website may contain images or names of people who have died.

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We acknowledge the many Traditional Custodians of Country throughout Australia and honour their Elders past and present.

We respect their deep enduring connection to their lands, waterways, and surrounding clan groups since time immemorial. We cherish the richness of First Nations peoples’ artistic and cultural expressions. We are privileged to gather on this Country and to share knowledge, culture and art, now and with future generations.

Art by Jordan Lovegrove