Featuring: The experiences of Louise’s parents in Europe and her father’s time in the French Resistance; how her parents' passion for the arts impacted Louise’s life; an early obsession with books; studying and teaching at Columbia University; her time as Edward Said’s teaching assistant; being socially engaged; her major roles in publishing and the arts, and what she learnt from them; a love of commissioning; finding Australian stories and readers; Hilary McPhee’s brief for MUP; the role of a publisher; some stand-out titles Louise published in the past and what she is publishing now (and some wonderful reading recommendations).
Louise Adler is one of the most significant figures in Australian publishing. Born in Melbourne, Louise was educated locally and studied in Israel at the Hebrew University and Tel Aviv University, then in Britain at the University of Reading, and in America at Columbia University. She taught literature at Columbia for ten years and also taught at the University of Melbourne.
Louise has since had a range of impressive roles that include Editor of Australian Book Review, Publishing Director of Reed Books Australia, Arts and Entertainment Editor for The Melbourne Age and Presenter of Arts Today on Radio National. More recently she was CEO and Publisher-in-Chief of Melbourne University Publishing and served on the boards of both the Melbourne International Arts Festival and the Australian Centre for Contemporary Art for over a decade. Louise is currently Publisher at Large at Hachette Australia and on the board of the Monash University Museum of Art. She has been awarded the Order of Australia for services to literature.