Inaugural Open Book interns announced

Bohdi Byles and Maya Hodge are the two successful applicants for the inaugural Open Book Internship pilot program, now underway in Sydney and Melbourne.

Byles, a ‘vocal queer person, a proud Indigenous person, a passionate creative, and an avid reader’ with experience in multiple book stores and as editorial team leader of issue 14 of Macquarie University creative writing publication The Quarry, will undertake the Sydney internship rotation with NewSouth Books, Pan Macmillan and Hachette, supported by mentor Bianca Jafari, product development executive at Thames & Hudson.

Hodge, a proud Lardil & Yangkaal woman, emerging writer, creative, curator and violinist, whose writing is featured in art collective this mob’s Black Wattle, the Emerging Writers Festival, Cordite Poetry Review and Overland, is undertaking the Melbourne internship rotation with Hardie Grant, Oxford University Press and Scribe, supported by mentor Hella Ibrahim, editor and founder of Djed Press.

Byles and Hodge were were selected from a shortlist of seven and over 200 applications by the Open Book Selection Committee: Grace Heifetz, Mark Campbell, Shalini Kunahlan and Raelee Lancaster, overseen by Diversity Arts Australia.

More information about Byles and Hodge, as well as the shortlisted applicants, can be found on the Open Book website.

Announced in late 2020 but delayed due to Covid, the pilot Open Book: Australian Publishing Internship offers two six-month paid placements, with interns receiving an introduction to the industry at a rotating selection of publishing houses.

The internship is aimed at increasing cultural diversity in the Australian publishing workforce and is supported by the Australia Council and the Copyright Agency’s Cultural Fund.

Pictured L–R: Byles, Hodge.

Category: Local news