BSANZ member profile

I’m an inveterate booklover who has luckily spent most of her life working with words. I do some writing, editing and translating (from Spanish) to earn my keep, and I’ve previously worked in publishing houses and as a bookseller. I also got a librarian qualification along the way. Nowadays, I’m studying a Master of Communication for Social Change at The University of Queensland, focusing on contemporary Australian publishing and small presses. What I’m interested in is how books can change the world! I completed my thesis in 2020, which investigated the strategies used by two Australian small presses (Wild Dingo and Spinifex) to publish silenced and underrepresented voices. I interviewed both publishing staff and authors they published, and I’ll be converting my thesis into a journal article and an industry publication (through the Small Press Network) over the summer. As a collector, I have my Lesbian Library – I collect fiction, non-fiction and poetry, in English plus some Spanish-language titles. I’m particularly keen to get “lifesavers”, works that were lifelines for queer women who sought books as their community. I joined BSANZ to expand my knowledge of book-related scholarship, and in the November conference I so enjoyed the diversity of periods, issues and techniques discussed, and the kind enthusiasm that members showed for research so unlike their own.

Contact Jodie via Twitter: @jodiemartire; or her website: www.jodiemartire.net.

Originally published in Broadsheet, No. 115, May 2021.