Indie bookshops rebel as Sydney Writers’ Festival plays hardball

As a voracious reader, employee at Crows Nest’s Constant Reader and regular attendee at the Sydney Writers’ Festival, I am conflicted about this year’s event, from May 17-24. 

The background: The Sydney Writers’ Festival (SWF) and the State Library of NSW last year jointly received $1.5 million from the NSW government to expand events beyond the usual two-week festival into year-round programming. That’s great news for Sydney’s cultural life.

The catch? Under the agreement, authors appearing at festival events with more than 50 attendees cannot appear at similar events for four weeks before and two weeks after. And this is not just during the festival itself, but all year.

What are industry voices saying? Robbie Egan, former CEO of industry body Australian Booksellers Association, represented his members’ interests at a meeting with stakeholders last year. 

“My concern is about a large institution crowding out small business,” Egan told the Lorikeet. “The aim of the program is to expand access to literary events, but exclusivity works in direct opposition to this.

“If the State Library and SWF can’t use their millions of dollars to run successful events because bookshops also run such events - and always have - then there is something amiss in their execution. I see no justification for anti-competitive contractual clauses that amount to restraint of trade.”

Current CEO Susannah Bowen said “when authors are restricted from engaging at local bookshops, the whole community misses out. Our bookshops are cultural infrastructure, and restricting author access diminishes our cultural life”.

Why bookshops are worried: Booksellers operate on thin margins. Independent bookshops rely on hosting popular, high-selling authors to stay afloat, which in turn helps fund events with new writers.

Constant Reader owner Jay Lansdown said the new contractual requirement was a “disaster” for independent bookshops. Constant Reader runs Sydney’s longest-standing author event program in Sydney in conjunction with North Sydney’s Stanton Library, hosting around 50 authors a year.

“This issue is not with the [State] Library or the [Sydney] Writers’ Festival,” Lansdown told the Lorikeet. “It’s the exclusivity. I’m not against competition in any shape or form, but this is protectionism - restraint of trade.”

Sydney Writers’ Festival responds: SWF CEO Brooke Webb said the exclusivity clause wasn’t about shutting bookshops out.

“It helps ensure these events are viable, well-attended and [that authors are] properly remunerated for their work. The festival’s move to year-round programming is motivated by a desire to support more literary activity, not less.”

Last August, Lansdown wrote to State Minister for the Arts, John Graham, expressing concerns. There was no response. The Lorikeet sought comment from Graham, but did not receive a reply. 

There is some wiggle room for the festival to allow an author to attend a non-SWF event within the blackout period, but do we really want a situation where bookshops have to plead their case over and over just to try and get an author into the shop?

• Mel Mantle is a freelance contributor to the North Shore Lorikeet.