Text Publishing is an Australian publisher of

fiction Fiction is any creative work, chiefly any narrative work, portraying character (arts), individuals, events, or setting (narrative), places that are imagination, imaginary or in ways that are imaginary. Fictional portrayals are thus inconsistent ...

and

non-fiction Non-fiction (or nonfiction) is any document or content (media), media content that attempts, in good faith, to convey information only about the real life, real world, rather than being grounded in imagination. Non-fiction typically aims to pre ...

, based in

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

, Victoria.

Company background

Text Media was founded in Melbourne in 1990 by Diana Gribble and Eric Beecher, along with designer Chong Weng Ho and others, with a small book publishing division known as Text Publishing. Michael Heyward joined in 1992, and the small publishing house became independent in 1994. When Text Media was taken over by

Fairfax Media Fairfax Media was a media (communication), media company in Australia and New Zealand, with investments in newspaper, magazines, radio and digital properties. The company was founded by John Fairfax as John Fairfax and Sons, who purchased ''The ...

in 2004, Michael Heyward and his wife Penny Hueston entered into a joint venture with Scottish publisher

Canongate The Canongate is a street and associated district in central Edinburgh, the capital city of Scotland. The street forms the main eastern length of the Royal Mile while the district is the main eastern section of Edinburgh's Old Town. David ...

. Maureen and Tony Wheeler, founders of

Lonely Planet Lonely Planet is a travel guide book publisher. Founded in Australia in 1973, the company has printed over 150 million books. History 20th century Lonely Planet was founded by married couple Maureen Wheeler, Maureen and Tony Wheeler. In 19 ...

, bought Canongate's share in Text in 2011, making it a wholly Australian-owned company. In 2012, Text launched a series of Australian classics, republishing out-of-print works. In January 2025, Text announced that it had been acquired by

Penguin Random House Penguin Random House Limited is a British-American multinational corporation, multinational conglomerate (company), conglomerate publishing company formed on July 1, 2013, with the merger of Penguin Books and Random House. Penguin Books was or ...

People

As of August 2022, Heyward was the publisher.

Awards

Text awards

The Text Prize for Young Adult and Children’s Writing was inaugurated in 2008 and is awarded annually. As of 2021 it was valued at AU$10,000. In January 2025, Text announced that it had discontinued this award. In 2021 Text announced the Steph Bowe Mentorship for Young Writers. It is open to writers under 25 years of age and provides 20 hours of manuscript development assistance and writers' centre membership to the winner.

Awards won by Text

Text has won the ABIA Small Publisher of the Year award three times, and in both 2018 and 2019 was awarded the Leading Edge Books Small Publisher of the Year award.

Significant publications

Notable publications by Text include: *''

Eucalyptus ''Eucalyptus'' () is a genus of more than 700 species of flowering plants in the family Myrtaceae. Most species of ''Eucalyptus'' are trees, often Mallee (habit), mallees, and a few are shrubs. Along with several other genera in the tribe Eucalyp ...

'' by Murray Bail *''Dancing with Strangers'' by

Inga Clendinnen Inga Vivienne Clendinnen, (; 17 August 1934 – 8 September 2016) was an Australian author, historian, anthropologist, and academic. Her work focused on social history, and the history of cultural encounters. She was an authority on Aztec civili ...

*'' The Weather Makers'' by

Tim Flannery Timothy Fridtjof Flannery (born 28 January 1956) is an Australian mammalogist, palaeontologist, environmentalist, conservationist, explorer, author, science communicator Science communication encompasses a wide range of activities tha ...

*''

Stasiland ''Stasiland'' by Anna Funder is a book published in 2003 about individuals who resisted the German Democratic Republic, East German regime, and others who worked for its secret police, the Stasi. It tells the story of what it was like to work for ...

'' by

Anna Funder Anna Funder (born 1966) is an Australian author. She is the author of ''Stasiland'', ''All That I Am (novel), All That I Am'', ''Wifedom: Mrs Orwell’s Invisible Life'' and the novella ''The Girl With the Dogs.'' Anna’s book ''Wifedom'' w ...

*''

The Secret River ''The Secret River'' is a 2005 historical novel by Kate Grenville about an early 19th-century Englishman transported to Australia for theft. The story explores what might have happened when Europeans colonised land already inhabited by Aborigi ...

'' by

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 Fiction, Orange Prize for ...

*'' The Rosie Project'' by Graeme Simsion (2013) *''

Truth Truth or verity is the Property (philosophy), property of being in accord with fact or reality.Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionarytruth, 2005 In everyday language, it is typically ascribed to things that aim to represent reality or otherwise cor ...

'' by Peter Temple Winners of the

Miles Franklin Award The Miles Franklin Literary Award is an annual literary prize awarded to "a novel which is of the highest literary merit and presents Australian life in any of its phases". The award was set up according to the Will (law), will of Miles Franklin ...

published by Text include: * '' Bodies of Light'' by Jennifer Down * '' The Labyrinth'' by Amanda Lohrey * ''

'' by Peter Temple

References

External links

*{{official website, https://www.textpublishing.com.au/ Publishing companies of Australia Companies based in Melbourne Book publishing companies of Australia