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| Joel Becker | |
Congratulations to Joel Becker, former CEO of the Australian Booksellers Association, who was honored this week with the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) "for service to literary organizations," as part of the 2020 Australia Day Honors List. The Order of Australia recognizes Australians who have demonstrated outstanding service or exceptional achievement.
Becker retired as ABA CEO in 2018 after eight years in the position, and was director of Writers Victoria (then called Victorian Writers Centre) from 2002 to 2010. He is a Life Member of both organizations. Originally from Michigan, he worked at Borders when it was an Ann Arbor indie. In Australia, among other positions, he owned Becker's Books in Cairns.
In addition, he served as deputy chair of the literary journal Going Down Swinging (2012-2018); chair, fiction and poetry, on judging panels for the Prime Minister's Literary Awards (2012-2013); and chair, New South Wales Premier's Literacy Award judging panel for the 2019 Douglas Stewart Prize for nonfiction.
"It is both humbling and an extraordinary honor being recognized in the Australian Day Honors List with a Medal of the Order of Australia," Becker said. "Imagine spending 48 years, 40 in Australia hanging out and working with booksellers, writers, publishers and others in the literary community, and making a career out of it. I'm a very lucky person."
He also noted that although the OAM acknowledgement focuses specifically on work with literary organizations, "my career has been inextricably linked with advocacy on behalf of booksellers, writers and the wider literary community, in Australia and in a wider context, with the global literary community. Hopefully I managed to do a few useful things during that time. To have that identified and supported by my peers is a wonderful feeling."
This just in: an update from the self-described "knight errant" himself: "Becker, who 'retired' as CEO of the ABA at the end of 2018, was recently spotted in the Readings van delivering stock over the summer holidays."