Dame Nellie Shelver

Not again, Adelaide!

Quit ChatGPT: right now! Your subscription is bankrolling authoritarianism | Rutger Bregman As a historian, I’ve studied the major consumer boycotts of history. We can take down ChatGPT and send a powerful signal to Silicon Valley, says author and historian Rutger Bregman

Quit ChatGPT: right now! Your subscription is bankrolling authoritarianism | Rutger Bregman

How far back in time can you understand English? An experiment in language change

How far back in time can you understand English? A story where each paragraph travels back in time.

Unless you’ve studied middle English I doubt you (like me) will make it back further than 1200.

Cutting the creative state: funding changes threaten the cultural future of Melbourne, arts workers warn Creative Victoria funding has dropped by more than $20m since 2022 and organisations including Writers Victoria now face closure

I spoke to @gingerandhoney.bsky.social this week about the cuts to Victoria’s arts funding ecosystem.

The cuts, the uncertainty and lack of transparency have left a cloud over what was Australia’s creative heart.

The Melbourne Advantage is over. We’ll see if other cities pick up the pieces.

‘The logic of the mob’: Why Zadie Smith withdrew from Adelaide Writers’ Week The acclaimed novelist explains her decision and why she believes writers have a duty to speak.

Zadie Smith: “A Palestinian writer is a human being standing before an audience of other human beings, speaking. If you create a special category of speech…which is to be silenced before it’s even heard, then I think you make yourself ridiculous.” www.theage.com.au/culture/book...

Ireland’s basic income for the arts scheme becomes permanent When piloted, initiative that provided €325 a week to eligible artists recouped more than its net cost, study shows

www.theguardian.com/world/2026/f...

From the AFR: sorry but this is absolutely batshit fucking crazy and it needs to stop

Victorian bushfires: The worst-hit wineries and how you can help How you can help the wine producers impacted by the Victorian bushfires

Do you like wine? I daresay you do. Do you like winemakers? On the whole, they are very nice people. If you'd like to help out some of the wineries most affected by the recent bushfires in central Victoria, order a case or two from the places in this article winecompanion.com.au/articles/new...

Memo to the Vic Arts Minister Colin Brooks: you can appoint 5 new board members to State Library of Victoria any time to fix its ongoing fiascos: currently no board member is a librarian, writer, researcher, publisher, library user group member. The 1 academic is part-time & lives in Canberra.

Devastating news of a high profile arrest & charges in the book world. Do NOT comment publicly on any aspect of it, & delete any opinions/comments on public forums about this case. You can be charged with contempt of court & your words used by defence lawyers to argue charges should be dropped.

Louise Adler unloads over reputationally 'trashed' Adelaide Writers' Week The former Adelaide Writers' Week director takes aim at lobby groups and the SA Premier during an intense appearance on 7.30 in which she says the event's reputation has been "trashed".

"I think when we look back on this history we will see a masterclass in poor governance, an act of cultural vandalism, a moment when 180 writers said, 'We will not support censorship. We will not support the denigration of one particular writer,'" Ms Adler told 7.30.

Australian author Craig Silvey charged with possessing and distributing child exploitation material Jasper Jones and Runt writer charged after search warrant issued at his Fremantle home on Monday

www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...

I cannot be party to silencing writers, which is why I am resigning as director of Adelaide Writers’ Week | Louise Adler Cancelling the Australian Palestinian author Randa Abdel-Fattah weakens freedom of speech and is the harbinger of a less free nation

"I cannot be party to silencing writers, which is why I am resigning as director of Adelaide writers’ week" Louise Adler ✊

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Randa Abdel-Fattah’s response:

Ooooh, they’re handsome boys!

Oculus Dexter Optometry SPOTSWOOD | Your local independent optometrist in Spotswood village, the heart of the inner-west of Melbourne. Inspirational eyewear and personalised eye care. Book online: Dr. Dean Garnett. Servicing...

Check my opto guy in Spotswood. Not cheap but he has some interesting frames. There might be something suitable there www.odoptometry.com.au

💔 RIP Pam Hogg. 😢

Please read this & help save the State Library of Victoria, entering its 'now fully trashed' era. I didn't go to uni - for me the Library was higher education in later life, research for my job, a revelation about what ordinary people could have access to. It changed my life. Not just a building.

Oh no! 😢

❤️

Thanks for that. This is what I keep hearing, so will definitely be giving it a go. And extra bonus for paying the musicians!

Try Qobuz. I’m seeing it being recommended as the best (& ethical) alternative from numerous sources. I haven’t used it yet - deleted Spotify years ago but want to ditch Apple Music now. Will be checking it out.

6 Australians are being held by Israel, following their abduction in int'l waters from the #GlobalSumudFlotilla. The Aus Govt refuses to speak to their families unless they receive letters of permission from those detained, or the detainees have died. #auspol www.greenleft.org.au/2025/1439/ne...

Dear AUS PM @albomp.bsky.social
Australian Maritime Union member Hamish Paterson is on board the #GlobalSumudFlotilla that has reportedly been illegally intercepted and detained by Israeli forces in int'l waters. #SanctionIsrael. Expel the Israeli Ambassador. #IsraeliTerrorism #GazaGenocide #auspol

Australians in Gaza Aid Flotilla Detained by Israel A press statement shared with Rolling Stone AU/NZ says the activists

Australians in Gaza Aid Flotilla Detained by Israel, Supporters Call on Government for Help
- by Conor Lochrie

au.rollingstone.com/culture/cult...

Mine too

Victoria's newest bookstore opens in century-old water tower A new bookshop in a Wodonga water tower is the latest unique heritage building being transformed in Victoria.

Great article about second-hand bookshops finding homes in repurposed water towers, schools, churches and hotels. I love how these bookshops have so much character. The Book Tower in Wodonga is a cool and creative use of the space.

📚 #Books #Bookshops #SecondHand

Investing in joy. How to save our declining arts sector - submission Australian artists, writers, musicians and other creative industries helped the nation survive the COVID pandemic, yet they've been left to decline, according to a submission by The Australia Institut...

As venues close and festivals cancel, our artists and arts sector is in desperate need of support.

We've just published a submission with 3 key ideas to save our arts industry.

• Culture passes
• Book bounty
• Remove tax on art prizes & grants

We've got five ideas for how to pay for it too. ⤵️

Literary journal Meanjin to close after 85 years of publishing Meanjin, a mainstay of Australia's cultural landscape and the nation's second-oldest literary publication, is shuttering after Melbourne University Publishing decided to cease financial support.

Melbourne Uni needs to explain this bullshit. This is destroying critical cultural infrastructure.

Unimelb axing Meanjin, ANU scuttling the Australian National Dictionary Centre, and then universities wonder why they can’t seem to exert any influence over the national discourse.