Katya Johanson is Professor of Audience Research at Deakin University. She researches the ways that the work of creative industries impacts on people’s lives. This includes the impact of transnational productions on audiences’ cultural and political beliefs, the impact of publishing on teenagers’ reading behaviour, and the impact of arts production on local economies and community wellbeing. She is an editor of the forthcoming Routledge Companion to Audience Research and the Performing Arts, and The Audience Experience (Intellect 2013). Her work is published in the International Journal of Cultural Policy, Poetics and Cultural Trends. Katya often works with Federal, state and local government arts and cultural policy agencies to develop strategies that increase inclusivity and diversity amongst creative producers and audiences.

Leonie Rutherford (PhD, Australian National University) is Associate Professor in the School of Communication and Creative Arts at Deakin University where she leads the Teenagers Reading and Digital Practices research program. In addition to textual criticism in print and media, her work is intensively engaged with interdisciplinary investigation of youth cultural participation, with a special focus on media (including print and book culture), digital literacies, media policy, and audiences. Her current research project – ‘Discovering a “Good Read”: Pathways to Reading for Australian Teens’ — partners with stakeholders in the library and book industry sector, investigates the ways in which traditional and new cultural intermediaries and the digital ecology in which books are embedded enable young people’s participation in reading cultures.

Katya and Leonie are presenting their workshop "Negotiating the Challenges of Diversity in YA Publishing and Bookselling in Australia " at the next SLANSW Professional Learning Summit. To find out more visit: Professional Learning Summit: Representation Matters (19 March 2022)