Established in 1948, University of Queensland Press (UQP) is a dynamic publishing house known for its innovative philosophy and commitment to producing books of high quality and cultural significance. It has launched the careers of many Australian writers, such as David Malouf, Peter Carey, Kate Grenville, Doris Pilkington and Nick Earls.

Originally founded as a traditional university press, UQP has since branched into publishing books for general readers in the areas of fiction, non-fiction, poetry, Indigenous writing and youth literature.

UQP's books and authors have received national and international recognition through literary prizes, rights sales and writers’ festivals.

From 2010, UQP has been meeting the challenges of a changing publishing landscape by releasing selected out-of-print titles in digital formats, in addition to the digital and print publishing of new books.

History

UQP began as a publisher of scholarly works in 1948, and made its transition into trade publishing in the mid 1960s through its Paperback Poets series. The Paperback Poets series came into being when Australian novelist and poet

Poet

A poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...

 David Malouf

David Malouf

David George Joseph Malouf is an acclaimed Australian writer. He was awarded the Neustadt International Prize for Literature in 2000, his 1993 novel Remembering Babylon won the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award in 1996, he won the inaugural Australia-Asia Literary Award in 2008, and he was...

 approached publisher Frank Thompson and suggested that poetry ought to be made available widely and inexpensively. Thompson agreed, and UQP's poetry list began with Malouf's first book, Bicycle and Other Poems, alongside volumes by Michael Dransfield

Michael Dransfield

Michael Dransfield was an Australian poet active in the 1960s and early 1970s who wrote close to 1000 poems. He has been described as "one of the most widely read poets of his generation." -Early life:...

 and Rodney Hall

Rodney Hall

-Biography:Born in Solihull, Warwickshire, England, Hall came to Australia as a child after World War II and studied at the University of Queensland . In the 1960s Hall began working as a freelance writer, and a book and film reviewer. He also worked as an actor, and was often engaged by the...

. Since then, UQP has become Australia's leading poetry publisher, maintaining a poetry list that includes John Tranter

John Tranter

John Ernest Tranter is an Australian poet, publisher and editor. He has a long list of achievements in writing, publishing and broadcasting...

, David Malouf

David Malouf

David George Joseph Malouf is an acclaimed Australian writer. He was awarded the Neustadt International Prize for Literature in 2000, his 1993 novel Remembering Babylon won the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award in 1996, he won the inaugural Australia-Asia Literary Award in 2008, and he was...

, Thomas Shapcott, and many others.

UQP today

UQP currently publishes books for general readers in the areas of fiction

Fiction

Fiction is the form of any narrative or informative work that deals, in part or in whole, with information or events that are not factual, but rather, imaginary—that is, invented by the author. Although fiction describes a major branch of literary work, it may also refer to theatrical,...

, poetry

Poetry

Poetry is a form of literary art in which language is used for its aesthetic and evocative qualities in addition to, or in lieu of, its apparent meaning...

, non-fiction

Non-fiction

Non-fiction is the form of any narrative, account, or other communicative work whose assertions and descriptions are understood to be fact...

, Indigenous

Indigenous Australians

Indigenous Australians are the original inhabitants of the Australian continent and nearby islands. The Aboriginal Indigenous Australians migrated from the Indian continent around 75,000 to 100,000 years ago....

 writing and youth literature

Young adult literature

Young-adult fiction or young adult literature , also juvenile fiction, is fiction written for, published for, or marketed to adolescents and young adults, roughly ages 14 to 21. The Young Adult Library Services of the American Library Association defines a young adult as "someone between the...

. Many of UQP's recent fiction and poetry titles have won significant international acclaim, including Peter Carey's True History of the Kelly Gang

True History of the Kelly Gang

True History of the Kelly Gang is an historical novel by Australian writer Peter Carey. It was first published in Brisbane by the University of Queensland Press in 2000. It won the 2001 Man Booker Prize and the Commonwealth Writers Prize in the same year. Despite its title, the book is fiction and...

, which won the 2001 Man Booker Prize

Man Booker Prize

The Man Booker Prize for Fiction is a literary prize awarded each year for the best original full-length novel, written in the English language, by a citizen of the Commonwealth of Nations, Ireland, or Zimbabwe. The winner of the Man Booker Prize is generally assured of international renown and...

 and the Commonwealth Writers Prize.

In 2010, UQP announced that it will release selected out-of-print titles in digital formats, in addition to the digital and print publishing of new books.

Books and authors

The UQP publication list includes novels, short stories

Short Stories

Short Stories may refer to:*A plural for Short story*Short Stories , an American pulp magazine published from 1890-1959*Short Stories, a 1954 collection by O. E...

, memoirs, essays, and poetry

Poetry

Poetry is a form of literary art in which language is used for its aesthetic and evocative qualities in addition to, or in lieu of, its apparent meaning...

 by writers such as Les Murray

Les Murray (poet)

Leslie Allan Murray, AO , known as Les Murray, is an Australian poet, anthologist and critic. His career spans over forty years, and he has published nearly 30 volumes of poetry, as well as two verse novels and collections of his prose writings...

, Peter Carey, David Malouf

David Malouf

David George Joseph Malouf is an acclaimed Australian writer. He was awarded the Neustadt International Prize for Literature in 2000, his 1993 novel Remembering Babylon won the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award in 1996, he won the inaugural Australia-Asia Literary Award in 2008, and he was...

, Katharine Susannah Prichard

Katharine Susannah Prichard

Katharine Susannah Prichard was an Australian author and co-founding member of the Communist Party of Australia.-Biography:...

, Kenneth Slessor

Kenneth Slessor

Kenneth Adolf Slessor OBE was an Australian poet and journalist. He was one of Australia's leading poets, notable particularly for the absorption of modernist influences into Australian poetry. The Kenneth Slessor Prize for Poetry is named after him.-Life:Slessor was born Kenneth Adolphe...

, Thea Astley

Thea Astley

Thea Astley was an Australian novelist and short story writer. She was a prolific writer who was published for over 40 years from 1958. At the time of her death, she had won more Miles Franklin Awards, Australia's major literary award, than any other writer...

, Janette Turner Hospital

Janette Turner Hospital

Janette Turner Hospital is a novelist and short story writer who has lived for most of her adult life in Canada or the U.S., principally Boston , Kingston and Columbia...

, Kate Grenville

Kate Grenville

Kate Grenville is one of Australia's best-known authors. She's published nine novels, a collection of short stories, and four books about the writing process....

, Beverley Farmer

Beverley Farmer

Beverley Anne Farmer is an Australian novelist and short story writer.Beverley Farmer was born in Melbourne. She was educated at Mac.Robertson Girls' High School and the University of Melbourne where she graduated with a BA in 1960.She has worked in various jobs, mainly teaching and waitressing...

, Lily Brett

Lily Brett

Lily Brett is an award-winning Australian novelist, essayist and poet who now lives in New York City. Much of her writing deals with her Jewish family semi-biographically and with her feelings about the Holocaust....

, Frank Brennan, Ian Lowe

Ian Lowe

Ian Lowe is President of the Australian Conservation Foundation, Professor of Science, Technology and Society and former Head of the School of Science at Griffith University, as well as an adjunct professor at Sunshine Coast University and Flinders University. In 1996 he was chair-person of the...

, Bernhard Schlink

Bernhard Schlink

Bernhard Schlink is a German jurist and writer. He was born in Bethel, Germany, to a German father and a Swiss mother, the youngest of four children. Both his parents were theology students, although his father lost his job as a Professor of Theology due to the Nazis, and had to settle on being a...

, Olga Masters

Olga Masters

Olga Masters née Lawler was an Australian journalist, novelist and short story writer.-Life:Olga Masters was born in Pambula, New South Wales, the second of eight children. Her early life was characterised by the poverty of the depression era, her family moving around the South Coast region in...

, Randolph Stow

Randolph Stow

Julian Randolph Stow was an Australian writer.-Life:Born in Geraldton, Western Australia, Randolph Stow attended Guildford Grammar School and the University of Western Australia. He lectured in English Literature at the University of Adelaide, the University of Western Australia and the...

, Michael Dransfield

Michael Dransfield

Michael Dransfield was an Australian poet active in the 1960s and early 1970s who wrote close to 1000 poems. He has been described as "one of the most widely read poets of his generation." -Early life:...

, Bruce Beaver

Bruce Beaver

Bruce Victor Beaver was an Australian poet and novelist.-Biography:Beaver was born in Manly, New South Wales. He was educated at the Manly Public School and at the Sydney Boys' High School...

, Jennifer Mills

Jennifer Mills

Jennifer Mills is an Australian novelist, short story writer and poet. She is the author of the novels 'The Diamond Anchor' and 'Gone' , both published by University of Queensland Press, and a chapbook of poems, Treading Earth....

, Gwen Harwood

Gwen Harwood

Gwen Harwood AO , née Gwendoline Nessie Foster, was an Australian poet and librettist. Gwen Harwood is regarded as one of Australia's finest poets, publishing over 420 works, including 386 poems and 13 librettos. She won numerous poetry awards and prizes...

 and Elizabeth Jolley

Elizabeth Jolley

Monica Elizabeth Jolley AO was an English-born writer who settled in Western Australia in the late 1950s. She was 53 when her first book was published, and she went on to publish fifteen novels , four short story collections and three non-fiction books, publishing well into her 70s and achieving...

.