Every weekday, at about 7am, subscribers to the Meanjin Daily Reading Newsletter are greeted by email with a piece from the quarterly’s 82-year history. It could be a provocative essay, a sobering memoir or an interview that elicits a chuckle. A poem to scan over breakfast, perhaps, or a short story to save for the weekend. Maybe a review simply to mark as unread in the hope of getting around to it one day.

The Daily Readings are not arbitrarily generated, but selected with care behind the scenes. It is my task, as the Meanjin archives assistant, to help manage this process. Each week I rifle through a digitised treasure trove to locate five works distinct in era, format and theme, and prepare them for online readership. All of the texts are paired with an image that resonates with the writing, providing a visual hook into the work. The chosen items are then emailed to subscribers and published on the Meanjin website for free and indefinite access. This initiative, which commenced in 2020, encourages public engagement with works of historical value—minus the hindrance of a paywall.