You’re never more more famous than when you die. Being born is nothing special. Unless you’re Jesus or in line to a throne, it’s a profoundly equitable moment. Babies are nothing but potential. At the moment of death though, everything crystallises: the story has an ending. Word travels fast; the name of the deceased is passed around friends, family, acquaintances, and, if they were a public figure, half the world via social media. There’s a summing up, a judgement, a parading of defining moments (Olivia Newton-John in tight black trousers, Judith Durham’s voice soaring above 200,000 people at the Myer… [Read more]
Cultural Policy: Have Your Say
The new federal government has started its term with positive messages about rebuilding areas of our national culture. The arts minister, Tony Burke, appears to be listening to what the writing and reading community are saying. The development of a new National Cultural Policy offers a rare opportunity for us all to inform the vision for the arts in Australia, and to advocate for the central importance of the literary sector. We need to seize this moment to ensure a thriving sector for years to come, which is why I am inviting you to make a submission as a part… [Read more]
Online Reviews: August
We’re excited to launch a new series of online reviews, edited by Cher Tan. You’ll find the first offerings below—watch this space for more excellent content soon. Reviewed: Everything Feels Like the End of the World, Else Fitzgerald by Alex Gerrans “Else Fitzgerald’s debut short story collection, Everything Feels Like the End of the World, is about love in a time of climate grief. The crux of the collection points to how even though we are now experiencing relentless change—climate-related or otherwise—love and loss remain constant…” Read More Reviewed: Raised by Wolves, Jess Ho by… [Read more]
September Meanjin: Coming Soon
Chances are you’re still picking your way through the June edition of Meanjin … Margaret Simons’ detailed study of the crisis in Australian journalism, or Yves Rees on the new sobriety perhaps? Maybe you’re lost in the fiction of James Bradley or Karen Wyld? Well, we don’t mean to distract you … but we did think you might appreciate a first mention of September’s Spring edition. The lead essay is a compelling piece from Kate Holden, looking at the great paradox of modern life: the many commonalities of human experience and our increasing isolation as atomised individuals … and this… [Read more]
Applications Open: Meanjin Editor
Founded in Brisbane in 1940, and long housed at the University of Melbourne, Meanjin is one of Australia’s most well-established and highly regarded journals of literature and ideas. It appears quarterly and online. This is a part time (.6) role with overall responsibility for the creation of a high-quality publication that advances Meanjin’s intellectual and aesthetic project. The successful applicant will have a compelling vision for Meanjin and an excellent understanding of contemporary cultural issues and debates. To request an information pack contact Applications close 19 August. For future employment opportunities please follow Melbourne University Publishing on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram @mupublishing … [Read more]
The Plague of Resilience
This framing was wrong. Our vulnerability lay not on our individual skins, but in the collective spaces between us—at the level of our very breath. Covid moves between us when we inhale air that contains an infected other’s breath.
What I’m Reading
My relationship with reading has always been fraught. Like most writers I know, I often feel overwhelmed, even affronted, by the stacks of books that, despite my best efforts, steadily grow by the side of my bed. Like most writers I know, I’ve never felt like I read enough, am reading enough, have read enough. Like most writers, my reading habits are shameful, lazy, perhaps disingenuous. Whoever said writing and reading, there are no short cuts, should have added procrastination and excuse-making—the bedfellows of an emerging writer. Most people don’t want to admit it, but reading, like writing, is hard…. [Read more]
The Feel Bad Factor of Feel Good TikToks
There’s healthy cynicism and then there’s the kind I’ve grown up with. News coverage of a midnight inferno never escaped Dad pronouncing it—without a second’s hesitation—as arson. No owner of a paper factory, no beleaguered garment manufacturer, no developer with heritage restrictions on their property, was ever to be given the benefit of the doubt. Of course they lit the bloody match. Even now, any news of a hefty charitable donation will be followed by Dad dismissing it as a brazen tax reduction effort. Personally I quite like grey. Nuance. Of there being more than one explanation for a buffet/showgirls… [Read more]
What I’m Reading
I’m sure there’s a parable about a man who visits a spectacular art gallery and finds the artwork he’s most enamoured with to be a mirror. The lesson is something about self-absorption and it’s territory I feel I’m straying dangerously close to when I say I’ve spent a lot of time lately reading my own journals. In my defence, I’ve done it with a purpose in mind. For the last year or so, I’ve been preparing my debut novel Denizen for publication. I wrote Denizen’s first draft in 2016 when I was twenty-two. Much of its exploration of mental health… [Read more]
What I’m Reading
I recently submitted my doctoral thesis about the intersection of masculinities, shame and suburbia in Christos Tsiolkas’ The Jesus Man and Peter Polites’ The Pillars. The research was mainly around how that intersection may lead to violence and the loss of moral compass in men. The respective protagonists both engage in abhorrent behaviour—Tommy murders a man and castrates himself, and Pano poses as a gay Muslim refugee opposing the development of a mosque. I zig-zagged through both books multiple times over the years, alongside theory from Raewyn Connell, Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick, Elspeth Probyn and Brigid Rooney. It felt right to… [Read more]