Last night diplomats, editors, and authors all mingled the Australian Consulate, celebrating the release of "The Literature of Australia" anthology from W.W. Norton & Company.

GalleyCat missed the event, but the Consulate passed along this picture of some of the night's cultural and political luminaries. Pictured in the top row: W.W. Norton editor Peter Simon, New School professor Nicholas Birns, author and screenwriter Luke Davies, Consul General Phil Scanlan, and anthology editor Nicholas Jose. Pictured in the bottom row: literary agent Mary Cunnane and author Shirley Hazzard.

Here's more about the forthcoming book: "[The anthology includes] coverage of over two hundred years of literature in all genres, from the 1700s to the present, and over 500 entries from 307 different authors, including writing by Aboriginal authors from the early colonial period to the present."