sleeper / noun 2. a timber, concrete or steel beam forming part of a railway track, serving as a foundation or support for the rails. 7. Colloquial a. someone or something that unexpectedly achieves success or fame. b. a book... which has slow but constant sales. 8. A spy who is allowed to carry on a normal life sometimes for years before being requested to undertake any espionage.
Macquarie dictionary, 3rd edition
Sleepers Profile and Press Page
Based in Melbourne, Victoria, Sleepers was founded by Zoe Dattner and Louise Swinn in July 2003. Zoe and Louise are aided and abetted by a team of interns and work experiencers, too many and too valuable to mention, as well as a veritable smorgasbord of mentors and friends, not to mention our long-suffering families. But basically it's just us. Sleepers' goals are to:
- make Australian writing a profitable enterprise for both writers and publishers
- build a broad desire for and recognition of good writing
- publish and establish a highly reputed and stable backlist of Australian literary fiction
- assist writers in their careers, and promote Australia's literary publishing houses
- create an interweaving network in which writers can collaborate with artists from other disciplines to redefine the accepted notions of literature
Since its inception, Sleepers has been running regular Sleepers Salons in Melbourne, one in Sydney and one in Hobart. These are opportunities for diverse members of Australia's literary and bookish community to come together for entertainment, networking, knowledge sharing and, mainly, play.
As well as the Salons, Sleepers publishes books. The annual Sleepers Almanac has met with wide acclaim. We're also publishing novels, a collection of short stories, and we have published a book of illustrations, not to mention a book about toast! To be kept in the Sleepers loop, make sure you join our mailing list here.
Sleepers is proud to be a member of SPUNC: the Small Press Underground Networking Community.
SPUNC was formed in 2006 by some of Australia's most committed independent publishing houses. To find out more about SPUNC, click here.
Louise and Zoe
Louise Swinn
After graduating from Monash with a BA in Critical Theory, Lou's publishing career kicked off at CAD User being inducted into the world of magazine layout and subediting. While completing a Diploma of Professional Writing & Editing at RMIT she was president of Visible Ink, and worked as an Editorial Assistant at Meanjin.
After graduating from RMIT, Lou worked at Pan Macmillan and then MEA and was General Manager of a web publishing software company before founding Sleepers with Zoe. Lou has been involved in judging the Age Book of the Year, the Age Short Story Competition, the Victorian Premier's awards, and was on the advisory committee for the Melbourne Prize for Literature, and she currently sits on the programming committee of the Melbourne Writers' Festival. Lou is the Editorial Director of Sleepers.
Zoe Dattner
While studying for RMIT's Diploma of Professional Writing & Editing with Lou in 1998/99, Zoe became the Treasurer and designer for Visible Ink. Zoe then took her keen eye for design into a position as Marketing Coordinator at Macmillan Education Australia where she worked for two-and-a-half years before quitting her job to start Sleepers in 2003. She has worked on many freelance design, public relations and marketing projects in the Arts and in Business Management.
Zoe sits on the Industry Advisory Board for RMIT's Department of Creative Media. Zoe is the Creative Director of Sleepers.
Reviews
Interviews and feature stories
Zoe and Lou have also been in interviews and discussions on radio stations RRR 102.7 FM, ABC 774's Jon Faine show, ABC Radio National's Books and Writing, ABC News Radio, Radio 3CR, PBS FM and RMIT's SynFM as well as appearing on Channel 31's Yartz show.