Currawong Books Press was founded in 2026 by James Nielsen, in the Huon Valley of lutruwita / Tasmania — a quiet corner of Australia known for old apple orchards, eucalyptus ranges, and the slow turn of the seasons. The press grew from a single picture-book manuscript and a conviction that there is still room, in a world of fast publishing, for books made the old way: slowly, deliberately, by one pair of hands.
We publish for the early-childhood readership — picture books for children between three and eight years old, made for reading aloud at bedtime, on a Sunday afternoon, or on a rug under a gum tree. The books we are drawn to are quiet stories about belonging, country, creativity, and the small everyday wonders of Australian life. We are not interested in shouty books, novelty books, or books that talk down to children. We are interested in books a child might still love at thirty.
Our country
The press is based in the Huon Valley, on the Country of the Melukerdee and Lyluequonny people of the South East Nation. Country shapes everything we make — the wattle and bottlebrush, the bush at dusk, the carol of a currawong at first light. Our books are unapologetically Australian, drawn from the landscape that surrounds the press itself.
How we make books
Every Currawong title is given the time it needs — usually eighteen months from first draft to printed copy. Manuscripts are edited carefully. Illustrations are art-directed and revised, sometimes a dozen times, until they sit alongside the story rather than merely on top of it. Print specifications are chosen for longevity, not unit cost. Our hardcovers are produced through IngramSpark for global trade distribution, and a small number of each first edition is hand-signed and hand-numbered for collectors and family libraries.
On the question of artificial intelligence
The illustrations in our books are AI-assisted, art-directed and revised by the publisher across many iterations. We are open about this, and we think it matters to say so plainly.
For a single-handed, self-funded press in regional Tasmania, traditional illustration would mean either publishing nothing at all, or publishing only after years of saving. AI image generation, used carefully and with conviction, has opened a door for small presses like ours that would otherwise stay closed. We are deeply respectful of professional illustrators — what they do is true art — and we hope they continue to make a living from their craft for as long as they wish to. We have no quarrel with them and no wish to replace them.
But the technology is here. It is not going away. And rather than pretend otherwise, or feel ashamed of using it, we have chosen to be open: every book published under this imprint carries an AI-assistance disclosure on the copyright page, and a detailed authorship memo is kept on file for each title, documenting the human direction behind every spread. The work is ours. The story is ours. The taste, the revisions, the decisions about what stays and what goes — all of these are ours. The tools, like the typesetter or the printing press before them, are simply the tools of the time.
If you have thoughts on any of this, we would be glad to hear them. The Currawong Letter, our monthly note, will revisit the subject from time to time as it evolves.
Acknowledgement of Country
Currawong Books Press acknowledges the Melukerdee and Lyluequonny people of the South East Nation as the traditional custodians of the Huon Valley in lutruwita / Tasmania. We pay our respects to all palawa Elders past and present. Sovereignty was never ceded.