Des Cowley

Rare Printed Collections Manager
State Library of Victoria
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

Des Cowley is the Rare Printed Collections Manager at the State Library of Victoria. He is responsible for acquisitions of rare books for the State Collection, and has a particular interest in private press publications and artists' books. He was a judge of the fiction prize for the Victorian Premier's Literary Awards in 1998-99 and 2003, and regularly reviews books for Australian music magazine Rhythms. He previously edited the literary broadside Overland Extra,  and is a current member of Publishing Editorial Board of 3 Deep Design, and the editorial panel of the Bibliographic Society of Australia & New Zealand Bulletin and the La Trobe Journal.  In 2005, he co-curated the State Library of Victoria's permanent exhibition Mirror of the World: Books and Ideas and is currently working on a book based on the exhibition to be published by Melbourne University Publishing.