Ms Jenny Lee
Sessional Lecturer and Fellow, Publishing and Communications
Biography
Jenny Lee became an editor by accident in 1982, when she began working on a multi-author critical history of Australia (A People's History of Australia, 4 vols, 1988). She edited the literary and cultural quarterly Meanjin from 1987 to 1994, then spent six years working as a freelance book editor. Drawing on her experience in editing and publishing, she taught in the Professional Writing program at Deakin University from 2000 to 2002.
Jenny has been co-ordinator of the postgraduate Publishing and Communications program in the School of Culture and Communication at the University of Melbourne since the beginning of 2003. Her research interests include the history of books and reading, and technological and cultural change in the contemporary publishing industry. She is deputy chair of the OL Society, which publishes Overland magazine.
Publications
Recent publications
- Making Modern Melbourne (Melbourne: Arcade Publications, 2008).
- 'Exploiting the Imprint', in David Carter and Anne Galligan (eds), Making Books (St Lucia: UQP, 2007).
- 'Australia in Colour', Southern Review, September 2007.
- 'Editing', in Carolyne Lee, Power Prose (Hardie Grant, 2003), pp. 61-76.
- 'Beyond Gatekeeping: Publishing in an Age of Information Overload', International Journal of the Book, vol. 1, no. 1, December 2003, pp. 271-77; republished on The Book & the Computer, May 2005
- 'Out from Down Under', The Book and the Computer May 2004.
- 'Clem Christesen and his Legacy', Australian Literary Studies, vol. 21, no. 3, 2004, pp. 410-12.
- 'Against the Odds: Australian book publishers become global', Logos (UK), vol. 15, no. 3, 2004, pp. 154-59.
Books edited: A selection
- (with Philip Mead and Gerald Murnane), The Temperament of Generations: Fifty Years of Writing in 'Meanjin' (Meanjin/Melbourne University Press, 1990)
- Lily Brett, Things Could Be Worse (Meanjin/Melbourne University Press, March 1990; pb University of Queensland Press, 1992)
- Sudesh Mishra, Tandava (Meanjin Press, 1992)
- Alida Belair, Out of Step (Melbourne University Press, 1993 hb, 1994, 1995 pb)
- Laurent Vitel, Recollections of Ludowyck B. (Meanjin Press, 1994)
- Simon During, Patrick White (OUP, February 1996)
- Ben Winch, Liadhen (Wakefield Press, 1995)
- Bary Dowling, Mudeye (Wakefield Press, 1995; short-listed for NSW Premier's Award for Non-fiction, 1996)
- Barbara Santich, The Original Mediterranean Cuisine (Wakefield Press, 1995; subsequently published in USA and UK, and in translation in France, Italy, Spain and Germany)
- Ben Winch, My Boyfriend's Father (Wakefield Press, 1996; short-listed for New South Wales Premier's Award for Fiction, 1996)
- Judith Armstrong, The Christesen Romance (Melbourne University Press, 1996; short-listed for Age Book of the Year, 1996)
- Frank Bongiorno, The People's Party. Victorian Labor and the Radical Tradition 1875-1914 (Melbourne University Press, 1996)
- John Chesterman, Legal Radicals. A History of the Fitzroy Legal Service (Melbourne University Press, 1996)
- Ty André, On My Brothers' Shoulders (Wakefield Press, 1997)
- Dorothy Johnston, One for the Master (Wakefield Press, 1997; short-listed for Miles Franklin Award, 1998)
- Libby Robin, Saving the Little Desert (Melbourne University Press, 1998)
- Harry Gallagher, Memories of a Fox (autobiography, Wakefield Press, 1998)
- Rob Hess and Bob Stewart (ed.), More than a Game: An Unauthorised History of Australian Football (Melbourne University Press, 1998)
- C. B. Christesen, Ebb-Tide (The Stanhope Press, 1997)
- Allan Campion and Michele Curtis, The Goods: Melbourne's Best Food Shops (Wakefield Press, 1997)
- Christine Wallace, Greer, Untamed Shrew (Pan Macmillan Australia, hb 1997; pb 1998; republished Faber (UK and US) 1998)
- Mark Davis, Gangland: Cultural Elites and the New Generationalism (Allen & Unwin, 1997, second edition 1999; short-listed for Gleebooks Award, New South Wales Premier's Awards, 1999)
- Humphrey McQueen, Suspect History: Manning Clark, John Howard and the History Wars (Wakefield Press, 1997)
- Stewart Henderson, In Elizabeth (novel; Wakefield Press, August 1997)
- Brian Johnston, Into the Never-Never: Travels in Australia (Melbourne University Press, 1997)
- Anne Maxwell, Colonial Exhibitions and Photography (cultural studies/history, Cassell (UK), 1999).
- Jan Critchett, Untold Stories (Melbourne University Press, 1998; winner, Victorian Community and Local History Award, 1999)
- Bill Guy, A Life on the Left. A biography of Clyde Cameron (Wakefield Press, 1999)
- Barry Dickins, Ordinary Heroes (Hardie Grant, 1999)
- Malcolm Turnbull, Fighting for the Republic (Hardie Grant, November 1999)
- (with Belinda Probert and Rob Watts), Work in the New Economy: Policies, Programs, Populations (Centre for Applied Social Research, RMIT, 1999)
- Richard Teese, Academic Success and Social Power (Melbourne University Press, 2000)
- Donald Denoon, Getting Under the Skin. The Bougainville Copper Agreement and the Creation of the Panguna Mine (Melbourne University Press, 2000)
- Dorothy Johnson, The Trojan Dog (Wakefield Press, 2000; republished by St Martin's Press, New York, 2005)
- Robin Bowles, Justice Denied (Pan Macmillan, 1999)
- Robin Gerster, Legless in Ginza: Orientating Japan (Melbourne University Press, 1999)
- Jennifer Isaacs, Spirit Country (Hardie Grant/Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, 1999)
- Peter Timms (ed.), The Nature of Gardens (Allen & Unwin, 1999).
- Will Studd, Chalk and Cheese (Purple Egg, 1999; silver medallist, Best Food Book section, World Food Media Awards, 1999; runner-up, Best Hardcover Book Award, Food Media Club, 1999).
- Robin Bowles, No Justice (Macmillan, 2000).
- Tim Bonyhady, The Colonial Earth (Miegunyah/Melbourne University Press, 2000 (hb), 2002 (pb); winner, NSW Premier's Award for Australian History, 2001; winner, Queensland Premier's Award for Non-fiction, 2001; shortlisted for NSW and Victorian Premier's Awards for non-fiction, and for Age Book of the Year Award, 2001).
- Libby Robin, The Flight of the Emu (Melbourne University Press, 2001; winner, Victorian Premier's Award for Science Writing, 2003).
- Humphrey McQueen, The Essence of Capitalism (Hodder Headline, 2001).
- Rebe Taylor, Unearthed (Wakefield Press, 2002; winner, Adelaide Festival Prize for Non-fiction, 2004)
- Stephen Downes, Advanced Australian Fare (Allen & Unwin, 2002; winner, Best Culinary History Book in English, Gourmand Cookbook Awards, 2003; winner, Vittoria Australian Food Media Award, 2003).
- Marc Bowles, Relearning to E-learn (Melbourne University Press, 2004; inaugural title in the press's electronic publishing series).
- Paul Fox, Clearings: Six Colonial Gardeners and their Landscapes (Miegunyah/Melbourne University Press, 2004).
- Stephen Downes, Adagio (Lothian, 2005).