# Sun Books

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{{short description|Australian book publisher}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2019}}
{{Use Australian English|date=August 2019}}
{{Infobox publisher
| name    = Sun Books
| founded = 1965
| founders = [Geoffrey Dutton](/source/Geoffrey_Dutton)<br />[Max Harris](/source/Max_Harris_(poet))<br /> Brain Stonier
| status  = Inactive
| distribution = Australia
| topics  = [Literature](/source/Literature)<br />[History](/source/History)<br /> [Cultural Studies](/source/Cultural_Studies)<br />[Politics](/source/Politics)<br /> etc.
| genre   = [Literary fiction](/source/Literary_fiction)<br />[Poetry](/source/Poetry)
|publications = [Paperbacks](/source/Paperbacks) 
| country = {{flagcountry|Australia}}
}}

'''Sun Books''' was an Australian publisher of [paperback books](/source/paperback_books), founded in [Melbourne](/source/Melbourne) in 1965  by [Geoffrey Dutton](/source/Geoffrey_Dutton),  [Max Harris](/source/Max_Harris_(poet)) and Brian Stonier.  Sun's three founders were all former employees of [Penguin Australia](/source/Penguin_Australia) who, having grown frustrated by the latter's tepid interest in home-grown content, had resigned in order to establish the imprint, envisioned as a publisher of “quality paperbacks for the sophisticated Australian reader”,<ref name="auto">{{Cite web|url=https://recollection.com.au/collections/sun-books|title=Re:collection &#124; Sun Books|website=recollection.com.au}}</ref> and a platform for local literary talent.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.slv.vic.gov.au/melbournes-sun-books|title=Melbourne's Sun Books &#124; State Library Victoria|website=www.slv.vic.gov.au}}</ref> Prior to its acquisition by [Macmillan](/source/Macmillan_Publishers) in 1981, Sun had published over 330 titles, of which 187 were first editions.<ref name="auto"/>

Sun’s non-fiction collection was wide-ranging, encompassing [politics](/source/politics), [sport](/source/sport), [the environment](/source/the_environment), [travel](/source/travel_writing), [social justice](/source/social_justice), [gender politics](/source/gender_politics), [aboriginal mythology](/source/aboriginal_mythology), [censorship](/source/censorship), and [homelessness](/source/homelessness).  However, as evinced by the prominence in the catalogue of parochial satirists and cultural commentators like [Donald Horne](/source/Donald_Horne) and [Barry Humphries](/source/Barry_Humphries),  this diversity was subsumed by a unifying (and self-consciously indigenous) cultural agenda, as summarised by John Arnold in commentary accompanying a 2005 [Monash University](/source/Monash_University) retrospective: <blockquote>The [Menzies](/source/Robert_Menzies) era was coming to an end, and there was a questioning of established values… Sun Books was both a product of, and a contributing player, to  the sixties movement to change and reform Australian society.”<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20170921113547/http://www.monash.edu/__data/assets/pdf_file/0010/159751/full-catalogue-sunbooks.pdf Sun Books: An exhibition of Sun Books publications from the Monash University Library Rare Books Collection: 1 June 2005 - 31 August 2005], monash.edu. Retrieved 27 August 2023.</ref>  </blockquote>Among Sun’s most successful original non-fiction first editions was [Geoffrey Blainey](/source/Geoffrey_Blainey)’s classic interpretive history of [colonial Australia](/source/colonial_Australia), ''[The Tyranny of Distance](/source/The_Tyranny_of_Distance%3A_How_Distance_Shaped_Australia's_History)''<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://insidestory.org.au/distance-and-destiny/|title=Distance and destiny|date=28 July 2016|website=Inside Story}}</ref> first published by Sun in 1966, and still in publication by 2001 <ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.panmacmillan.com.au/9780732911171|title=The Tyranny of Distance - Pan Macmillan AU|website=Pan Macmillan Australia}}</ref>

Sun’s  literary ventures included the acquisition (and subsequent repeated reissue) of [Thomas Keneally](/source/Thomas_Keneally)’s [Miles Franklin Award](/source/Miles_Franklin_Award)-winning ''[Bring Larks and Heroes](/source/Bring_Larks_and_Heroes)'', [Christina Stead](/source/Christina_Stead)’s ''[House of All Nations](/source/House_of_All_Nations)'', as well as Australian verse, including works by [Judith Wright](/source/Judith_Wright), and the transgressive ''Drug Poems'' of [Michael Dransfield](/source/Michael_Dransfield).

A selection of Sun’s epochal cover designs (including those by [Brian Sandgrove](/source/Brian_Sandgrove), who also adapted the publisher’s colophon from [Lawrence Daws](/source/Lawrence_Daws)’ reproduction of a cave painting of the [Wandjina](/source/Wandjina))  are preserved and curated online by the [Australian Book Designers Association](/source/Australian_Book_Designers_Association),<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://abda.com.au/2017/06/19/recollection-sun-books/|title=Re:collection and Sun Books|date=19 June 2017|website=Australian Book Designers Association}}</ref> and in print in ''Paperback Pioneers: Sun Books 1965–8'' by Dominic Hostede.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/version/246259495|title=Paperback pioneers : Sun Books (1965-81)|author1=Dominic Hofstede|author2=Warren Taylor|others=Brian Sadgrove (artist)|date=27 November 2017|publisher=[Melbourne] : [Re:collection]|via=Trove}}</ref>

== Book series == 
* Sun Academy Series<ref>[https://www.publishinghistory.com/sun-academy-series.html Sun Academy Series (Sun Books) - Book Series List], publishinghistory.com. Retrieved 22 August 2023.</ref>
* Sun Books Australian Crime Fiction Series<ref>[https://www.worldcat.org/title/23669790?oclcNum=23669790 The Interrupted Man], worldcat.org. Retrieved 27 August 2023.</ref>
* Sun Cookery Series<ref>[https://www.worldcat.org/search?q=se%3ASun%20cookery%20series se:Sun Cookery Series], worldcat.org. Retrieved 27 August 2023.</ref>
* Sun Poetry Series<ref>[https://www.worldcat.org/search?q=se%3ASun+poetry+series se:Sun Poetry Series], worldcat.org. Retrieved 27 August 2023.</ref>
* Three Colonial Poets<ref>[https://www.worldcat.org/search?q=se%3AThree%20colonial%20poets se:Three Colonial Poets], worldcat.org. Retrieved 27 August 2023.</ref>

== References ==
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{{reflist}}

Category:Book publishing companies of Australia
Category:Australian companies established in 1965

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Sun Books](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sun_Books) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sun_Books?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.