The children's writer was elected president of the New Zealand Society of Authors, which represents the professional interests of writers, at its annual meeting in Dunedin recently.
He was coming into the position at a time where the publishing sector had changed dramatically due to the impact of the digital environment, and threats to authors' income through potential relaxation of copyright laws abounded, Mr Mewburn said.
''We are concerned the opportunities for New Zealand writers and New Zealand literature are diminishing and we want to strengthen and support their rights,'' he said.
The fact Mr Mewburn was one of three nominees for the position, the most in recent memory, was a sign of the level of concern writers had about what was happening to their industry, society chief executive Maggie Tarber said.
With the increasing cost of New Zealand books, the demise of publishing firms, the increasing profile of e-books and online stores and publishers, the society had a role to ensure writers took advantage of any opportunities those situations offered, but also to ensure the quality of writing was maintained and endorsed and to fight for the retention of authors' rights.
In that regard, one of the biggest battles was around safeguarding copyright for authors.
Several international treaties under development, including the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement, included negotiating changes to copyright laws, potentially including copyright exclusions, which, if they should be applied more broadly to libraries, archives or universities, would threaten the income of authors.
New Zealand authors last year directly earned about $2.5 million from copyright revenue from New Zealand universities and all of that income could be under threat if copyright exclusions were expanded, she said.
