Magazine
Until last year, I was pretty strictly a ‘books’ person. Nothing slimmer than a novella or a well edited poetry collection, thanks. But, living in Melbourne, there’s not much you can do to resist the embarrassment of riches our magazine/journal culture displays. (And, being the online editor for Kill Your Darlings, it gets a bit awkward if you’re always trying to avoid the rest of the staff.)
Whether it’s unearthing the newest, bravest writers; juxtaposing beautiful artwork with elegant verbiage; or throwing exciting ideas at the wall to see if they stick, there’s no doubt that magazines and journals have an important role in our literary culture. This year at the Melbourne Writers Festival, this vitally important and vibrant branch of the literary tree will be celebrated over several events.
Everyone worth their morning porridge knows they can go to Meanjin, Overland and Going Down Swinging for literary and cultural stimulation. These three journals are celebrating birthdays (70th, 56th and 30th respectively), and to celebrate, they’re holding a free event at the Festival Club on August 29. They’ll discuss where they’ve come from and where they’re going. Go on, and bring some platinum, emerald and pearls with you. (Okay, those are wedding presents, but it’s nice to bring something.)
The triple birthday party isn’t the only opportunity to get to know Australian purveyors of new writing. On both festival weekends, you’ll find the new free event ‘Magazine’ in a refurbished shipping container on River Terrace. Eight of Australia’s magazines and journals have curated entertainment for the reading public that shows what they’re all about. From Brisbane/Melbourne biannual journal The Lifted Brow, which published David Foster Wallace in its sixth issue, to Melbourne literary magazine harvest, whose Opinionated Editorial in their latest issue sparked passionate debate at Overland’s blog, they’ve all got something different to give.
Each of the journals is bringing an entourage, including some of Australia’s most exciting talent. I’m going to be rubbing shoulders with Benjamin Law and Michaela McGuire during the Kill Your Darlings slot, Text Publishing’s Michael Heyward will visit with Alice Gage of Ampersand, and Toni Jordan and Mic Looby will provide the ballast for The Big Issue.
A bookish barrage, you say? See you there.
Posted on 23 July 2010, in MWF events and tagged Going Down Swinging, harvest magazine, literary magazines, Meanjin, The Lifted Brow. Bookmark the permalink. 4 Comments.
(Addressed to The Director of course) : NO HEAT MAGAZINE? Quelle horreur.
Nice post. I agree, I was always after books but now I’ve found that lit mags can be nice too!
I think it’s intellectual snobbery. We may think we’re highly evolved intelligent beings, but often it just comes down to my book weighs more than your journal. It’s a question of value; how do you value one medium over another ?
It seems that the collective perceptions of a few highly regarded individuals plays a major role. Of course the problem then becomes who and why are these individuals highly regarded and how have their perceptions been created.
To the intriguing ‘virtual office space’:
We do think ourselves intellectually evolved in terms of society, which is why the choice between the various mediums is so interesting and well… ‘varied’.
Ironically, the majority of the the ‘collective perceptions of a few highly regarded individuals’ about the weighty books that you find distasteful are expressed within the less snobbish journals….
Why do you find a problem with the choice of a collective? As an evolved intelligence, can you not choose a different individual to ‘regard highly’? All decisions, choices and opinions are formed in part, by the influence of an individual that we regard highly.
Do you not think? :) Particularly when talking of literary (or less than literary depending on perception) searched… I would not hear of half of the books or magazines I have read in my lifetime without some form of influence from such people.