Austral Ed is a small business set up and owned by Kate Shepherd.

It was set up in 1993. Prior to this, I had worked at a specialist children’s bookshop called The Singing Tree for about 10 years. I was aware of International Schools since my own children had attended one for a short time in Papua New Guinea and while working with a number of these schools in Asia I gradually learned about the worldwide network.

A number of librarians complained that it was difficult to obtain Australian books for their libraries and even more difficult to get information about these books. Another librarian from the US expressed his amazement that no Australian publishers or bookshops ever displayed Australian books at the International School Conferences. Why were the Australians so slack? I had no answer to the question but the germ of an idea was sown. When ownership of The Singing Tree changed, I thought it was time to have a change and so with the strong encouragement of my husband Ron Shapiro, I set up Austral Ed.

At first Austral Ed concentrated on supplying teachers and librarians in Asia, since it was so close and there was a real need, partly because of the growing number of Australian students and teachers working in the area. A newsletter was sent out twice each year and gradually lists of recommended books were compiled. My special interests in Australian picture books and fiction and multicultural books is reflected in the lists.

Teachers and librarians at International Schools move frequently and so when teachers shifted from schools in Asia to the Middle East or in Europe, I would get calls to supply books to their new schools and also to attend Conferences in these areas. As a result, I now attend a number of International School Conferences each year in Europe, in the Middle East and in Asia. Austral Ed always puts on a very popular display ("Real books!" is usually the cry) at each Conference and I wherever possible I give a presentation on some aspect of literature.

My partner Dr Ron Shapiro worked as a Senior Lecturer in Australian and Asian literatures for many years at the University of Western Australia. He has compiled a number of lists of recommended books on Asian literature in English and Australian fiction for Senior students, especially for the World Literature component of the IB course. Teachers also find his lists excellent for their own background reading, or just for interest. We have discovered that together we make a good team for Austral Ed, with our expertise covering the years from kindergarten through to the final years at school.

In 2001, we left Perth to come bak to Adelaide to be closer to family and old friends. Here Ruth Waterman joined us and is now an indispensable part of the team.

Austral Ed also supplies Universities with Australian books for Australian Studies and Literature courses. And we are asked at times to speak at Conferences within Australia on Asian Studies and are happy to supply books, especially about Asia, to schools within Australia.

Ron and I very much enjoy meeting teachers and librarians at Conferences and we work hard to make our lists of recommended books as interesting and useful as possible.I hope that the website makes for easy access to the lists and newsletters. Austral Ed is expanding and we are supplying a growing number of International Schools worldwide. However we are determined to keep our personal contact with teachers and librarians. My worst nightmare would be to become a small Australian amazon.com !!

We welcome your feedback and please feel free to contact us with your queries.

© Kate Shepherd 2008.