LEADING THE CHARGE

Dear Editor,

It was welcome indeed to read your editorial setting out Australian Book Review’s full-throated support for the proper payment of young writers (May 2015). In the current economic climate, forging a literary career is extremely difficult. Cuts to universities and books pages have diminished opportunities for young writers, like myself, to work full-time in literature. Egregiously, some major commercial news outlets exploit writers by publishing their work for free (or near as dammit), in exchange for the much-needed byline. Unpaid internships are another gloomy reality. All of this risks our professional literary life being reserved for the rich.