30.10.19
The ASA was delighted to meet the Hon Paul Fletcher MP last Friday. We were joined by Jacqueline Harvey, as ASA member and author advocate. We had the opportunity to explain author and illustrator issues to the Minister. In summary, we spoke about:
-our concerns that literature is being overlooked; receiving the lowest funding out of all the arts forms and lacking in an overall strategic vision
-the disparity in bargaining power between authors and publishers and the need to embed into legislation some baseline protections for authors as has happened elsewhere in the world, rather than leave author rights to be determined solely by contractual negotiations between two unequal parties
-our support for copyright modernisation while maintaining respect for creators' rights
- tax-free literary prizes.
We were appreciative of the Minister's attentiveness and hope to continue this dialogue with his Department. Our huge thanks to Jacqueline Harvey who spoke so eloquently about life as an author, including the significant challenges and joys.
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