Save Meanjin

I was the Archives Editor at Meanjin – its closure is baffling As Archives Editor, Emma Sutherland had ‘read everything’ in Meanjin's past, but was unprepared for its troubled present.

"It took more than an hour after the story broke, and was covered by several mastheads, to receive official notice from MUP; a group email confirming Meanjin’s immediate closure." ~Emma Sutherland, Archives Editor at Meanjin in @artshub.bsky.social this weekend.
www.artshub.com.au/news/opinion...

Hey @fableration.bsky.social - we love to see it. We're in touch with several groups having similar conversations and would love to chat! Can you please reach out at hello@savemeanjin.org so we can organise a discussion?

Hey @simonharding.bsky.social can you share your email at hello@savemeanjin.org so we can chat - we've got several groups we're in touch with

The National Press Club of Australia, caving to the Israeli lobby, Cancels My Talk on Our Betrayal of Palestinian Journalists The National Press Club of Australia cancelled my talk on how the media, by amplifying Israeli lies, have betrayed Palestinian journalists, 278 of whom have been assassinated by Israel.

The silencing continues...

The National Press Club of Australia, caving to the Israel lobby, Cancels My Talk on Our Betrayal of Palestinian Journalists open.substack.com/pub/chrished...

The Year in Truth-Telling The Voice and Australia's democracy crisis dire state of truth in Australia's civic space crystalised in 2023. We had seen the waning influence of News Corp's impact on our elections and assumed it meant that enough of us were becoming inoculated against the propaganda. The defeat of the notoriously mendacious Coalition government might have signalled a ceasefire, a moment for the 'conservative' parties to rediscover their integrity. We had underestimated, however, the strategising of vested interests. The year also revealed starkly what happens when the world's instant communication platform, X (formerly Twitter), is owned by one malevolent billionaire. All these forces converged in a grim battle over the Voice to Parliament referendum. The overwhelming rejection of Scott Morrison's Coalition government in 2022 had been in large part an indictment of its lack of transparency and integrity. Revelation had followed revelation about the brazen pork-barrelling undertaken with the help of colour-coded spreadsheets kept in a ministerial office. The flood of deception, echoing Donald Trump and Boris Johnson, was such that Bernard Keane assembled a whole book on it.? Solid gold Liberal seats were lost to community independents known as the 'teals' who were focused on climate action and integrity. Anthony Albanese's government was sworn in with…

In 2024, Meanjin published this essay by my father & myself on Australia’s democracy crisis as displayed through the Voice referendum symptoms. Now that this 85yo Aus cultural institution is being destroyed by neolib visigoths at Melbourne Uni, you should have it from behind paywall. #auspol

Extinctions – by Dani Netherclift | Australian Literary Arts Magazine | ISLAND The threat AI poses to writers and the art of writing seems to have arisen swiftly. Who threw open those doors? What is an entry? A door is an aperture to possibility. These are important concerns for...

Making an effort to read the Australian literary mags that I subscribe to (which had included #Meanjin) - rewarded by reading "Extinctions" by @dani-netherclift.bsky.social on @islandmag.bsky.social islandmag.com/read/extinct...

Mind-numbing sleep-woking The word 'woke' is tiresome. More though, it's a cliché that terminates our ability to debate. In Australian civic discourse, and internationally, the word is used to demarcate lines of battle. In 2025, Australian politicians are hoping it can turn a motley coalition of voters into the government's base. Lucy Hamilton Lucy Hamilton is a doctoral student at UTS and a writer who focuses on the impact of the international Right on Australian politics and society. This research is supported by an Australian Government Research Training Program Scholarship. She works on Woi-wurrung and Wurundjeri lands. Woke emerged as a concept in US Black culture in the 1920s to signal people who were aware of how the system trapped them in disadvantage. Later, progressives borrowed (stole?) the label to celebrate that awareness more broadly, with regard to varied subjects like human rights for minorities, women, workers and refugees. By 2020, the term had become established as the right's latest slur for the 'politically correct. See linked essay for more…

Re Andrew Hastie
Since the creeps at Melbourne University are shutting down Meanjin, I am bringing my essay out from the paywall. It’s on how “Christian” is being used to bring together a ratty coalition against “woke” , here at ARC, Hastie on that Board. #auspol

www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/l6oxr...

This is an excellent and frustrating piece on US publishing, which also speaks to the recent shuttering of #meanjin in Aus.

🙌 @lucyham.bsky.social

What is the value of Meanjin? We’ve done some calculations – and it’s not about money New research considers the true value of Meanjin, using publicly available data. The journal has trained generations of Australian writers and editors.

What is the value of Meanjin? We’ve done some calculations – and it’s not about money
theconversation.com/what-is-the-...

When Australia Became a Republic: out 1 October 2025 Monash University Press: In the National Interest seriesPublished October 2025 Australia became a republic many years ago—culturally, if not yet constitutionally. We’ve long stopped identifyin…

and not a class hierarchy permanently fixed time; in a democracy, we decide. My next book—out Wednesday—speaks to the need for renewed democracy movements that question privilege and power. Seems quite timely today in light of the prime minister's remarks: estheranatolitis.net/2025/05/28/w...

recognising that tax incentives and disincentives communicate their own ethical and cultural messages as well as financial ones. Who we privilege financially in a democracy says everything about the people we are today, and the Australia we want to become. Who we privilege is a choice that we make,

and that work has never seemed more crucial. Now more than ever, it requires all of us—and demands our very best.
Last week's Art of Tax Reform Summit (stay with me on this!) was a valuable first: govts are thinking well beyond subsidy, embedding the arts across policy and into treasury operations,

Art, tenacity, democracy. The ways we create and experience new work, sustain the courage of our convictions, and make important decisions together: they're all intertwined. I've devoted my career to the ethics of creative and civic practice, working to expand public spaces and champion new voices,

Great idea…

No, it doesn’t add up! #UniMelb should and can do better!
#Meanjin #MUP #Australia #Publishing #CultureMatters #AcademicSky #ResearchSky

Uni finances. ANU and the commercialisation of higher ed - Michael West Australian universities are more focused on financial performance and investments rather than their primary function of higher education.

"Universities .. increasingly behave like real estate trusts and investment funds" say academics
#saveausunis #meanjin #ANU
michaelwest.com.au/uni-finances...

Just like #Meanjin @savemeanjin.bsky.social MU can afford Meanjin. It is not about the money. It is another attack on the arts. Accountants do the bottom line. VCs do the choices.

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.

The report that Melbourne University Publishing will stop publishing the lit mag #Meanjin is bad news for readers, writers, thinkers, dreamers, doers, publishers, and policymakers - and for citizens who have never heard of or read Meanjin.
#Auslit #litmags
www.crikey.com.au/2025/09/04/m...

On That Midnight Train to Lit Mags! Meanjin closing & controversy; CIA's lit mag legacy; defining "literary fiction;" advice for submitting; $10,000 essay award; AWP's George Garrett Award; and more

"The situation has created quite a stir as the official story about the magazine’s closure doesn’t seem to add up." @beckyltuch.bsky.social

open.substack.com/pub/litmagne...

Have you given this interview a listen yet? @nickfeik.bsky.social research on @meanjin.bsky.social has been amazing and he summarises what he's learned here with @skykirkham.bsky.social

We’ll never agree with any White Australia position; past or present. The team here aren't connected to Overland but will read that essay closely and reach out if it fits. In the meantime, esp given their coverage of Eli's essay, they're likely open to hearing from you too! Thank you for sharing it

Thanks @noticingclimate.bsky.social ! We'd love to say it's lovely to be here, but, well... you know.

Sherlock, no shit:
"But it’s worth reiterating that entrusting a literary journal — especially one such as Meanjin with a long-standing record of political integrity and radicalism, —to the custodianship of an institution like the University of Melbourne was bound not to last."

Small circulation periodicals like Meanjin Important to keep alive with small subsidy just like small community orchestras.

Yes, caught it this morning.
Highlighting the importance of Meanjin to emerging Australian writers from the past to the present & the significance this plays in creating a culture of writing; irrespective of subscriber numbers impressed me. Interesting online readers are not counted. #Meanjin

Be sure to check out this interview with @nickfeik.bsky.social and @skykirkham.bsky.social They explore Nick's deep research and more to explore what's really going on behind @mupublishing.bsky.social 's decision to close @meanjin.bsky.social

What is the value of Meanjin? We’ve done some calcuations – and it’s not about money New research considers the true value of Meanjin, using publicly available data. The journal has trained generations of Australian writers and editors.

m'learned colleagues have more sensible things to say about #Meanjin @savemeanjin.bsky.social theconversation.com/what-is-the-...

What is the value of Meanjin? We’ve done some calcuations – and it’s not about money New research considers the true value of Meanjin, using publicly available data. The journal has trained generations of Australian writers and editors.

What is the value of Meanjin? We’ve done some calculations – and it’s not about money theconversation.com/what-is-the-...

Come on now, we all know the only way to make the best Honmoon is to choose not to use the take down!