James Ley

Very unexpected and welcome news!

QUT will become the new custodian of Meanjin, Australia's most eminent literary journal, bringing the publication back to Brisbane.

www.qut.edu.au/about/meanjin

Thomas Bernhard, hangjng with the roofers after buying his second house (in 1971)

A knock-off Pynchon without the punchline: George Saunders’ Vigil falls flat Vigil shies away from elaborating on the perils of its subjects: late capitalism and the climate apocalypse.

In which George Saunders gets a pummelling . . .

theconversation.com/a-knock-off-...

Auckland professor associated with Jeffrey Epstein Justice Department files on Jeffrey Epstein reveal meetings with an Auckland professor who remarked on Epstein's 'bevy of beauties'

How bizarre: Epstein offered to fund a proposed book by Brian Boyd on Lolita newsroom.co.nz/2026/02/01/a...

Australia spends more on tax breaks for landlords than social housing, homelessness and rent assistance combined Exclusive: Acoss report shows property investors received $12.3bn in tax concessions in 2025, while the share of social housing dropped to a record low

I'm hearing the problem is "supply"

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

Friday essay: weirdly old-fashioned and wildly uneven – David Foster Wallace’s Infinite Jest at 30 Infinite Jest is a kind of geological cross-section of a writer and a literary culture at a moment of major upheaval.

Julian Murphet on Infinite Jest

theconversation.com/friday-essay...

Rob Hirst was a force of nature, a born showman who led Midnight Oil from the back Phenomenal drummer and percussionist was an equally accomplished songwriter who embodied the band’s bloody-minded spirit

I wrote this some time ago - with all of us knowing this day would come, and Rob, of course, fighting like the bloody-minded bastard he was to the very end. He irrevocably changed my life - and how our country saw itself. www.theguardian.com/music/2026/j...

YouTube video by Skitizen Oils on Water - 5. Only The Strong - Midnight Oil

I watched my VHS taped version of this concert hundreds of times when I was a teenager.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=IWFj...

Very sad news about Rob Hirst. I have a great appreciation for drummers and he was one of the best ever.

The difference is that Goebbels was not so pathetic as to demand it

María Corina Machado says she presented Trump with her Nobel peace prize medal The Venezuelan opposition leader did not confirm whether the US president accepted the award

Knut Hamsun gave his Nobel medal to Joseph Goebbels in 1943, if anyone is looking for a precedent.

www.theguardian.com/world/2026/j...

The correct answer:

Statement regarding the Adelaide Festival. Pope were appalled to hear of the circumstances in which the Adelaide Festival board had cancelled the scheduled appearance of Randa Abdel-Fattah, and respect those who immediately spoke out against this decision. We want to make it absolutely clear that Pope refused to condone the silencing of voices. We celebrate difference and oppose censorship violence and oppression in all its forms. Our management and representatives have been in dialogue with the festival organisers since last week when the situation was first made public. Having informed them that we had decided to withdraw from the festival in support of the boycott, we were asked to delay an announcement while they sought to resolve the crisis for all sides. It is our understanding that the festival programmers are now acting in good faith. The festival board that made this dreadful decision have been replaced and a full apology has been accepted by Randa Abdel-Fattah, who has been invited to appear next year. Given this new and welcome development, we feel able in good conscience to honour our invitation to perform in Adelaide on 27 February. We hope that our free concert will be an opportunity for different communities to come together in peace and harmony

Pulp have shared a statement on Adelaide Festival. They told organisers they would be withdrawing, were asked to delay their announcement, and are now satisfied that they will participate in this year's Festival.

So basically exactly what Cathy Wilcox suggested in her cartoon.

A list of 21 debut authors who almost appeared at a writers’ festival.

Imagine you were about to appear at a writers' festival to talk about your first book... then the whole thing fell apart.

I wanted to find debut authors who almost talked at Adelaide Writers' Week. These are 21 folks I've identified so far but *please* let me know who I've missed or mixed up.

‘Masterclass in poor governance’: what was the board’s role in the end of Adelaide Writers Week? Just-resigned Adelaide Writers Week director Louise Adler calls the cancellation of the event ‘no surprise’. What went wrong?

I spoke with @theconversation.com for this important piece on the Adelaide Festival disaster and the crisis in arts governance theconversation.com/masterclass-...
@asauthors.bsky.social

Guide to the classics: death-haunted masterpiece The Blind Owl shadows the decline of modern Iran The dire social and political landscape of Sadeq Hedayat’s time contributed to the existential despair and pessimism of his writing.

Excellent essay by Hossein Asgari on one the great novels of the 20th century

theconversation.com/guide-to-the...

Writer Abdel-Fattah launches legal action against Premier - News | InDaily, Inside South Australia Writer Randa Abdel-Fattah has launched defamation proceedings against the Premier over her Writers' Week cancellation.

Who could have known?

‘Masterclass in poor governance’: what was the board’s role in the end of Adelaide Writers Week? Just-resigned Adelaide Writers Week director Louise Adler calls the cancellation of the event ‘no surprise’. What went wrong?

What was the board’s role in the end of Adelaide Writers Week? (And how SHOULD an arts board work, and how might we make them better? Also: why can the board override the director?)

Thanks @kimgoodwinacm.bsky.social for writing this for @aunz.theconversation.com

theconversation.com/masterclass-...

Adelaide Festival is done - and the rest of the board has stepped down

The Adelaide Writers' Week fight rolled out at board level months before Bondi The emergence of a key letter casts new light on the rationale used by the festival board to uninvite Randa Abdel-Fattah.

The catalyst for the implosion of Adelaide Writers' Week may have been the board’s exclusion of Randa Abdel-Fattah on January 8, but the fight over her inclusion in the program had been running at board level for months, reports Nick Feik.

Why is a Labor Premier silencing a writer?  - The Shot For many Adelaideans, Adelaide Writers’ Week (AWW) is the highlight of their year. A glorious six days when the Pioneer...

I write about the Adelaide Writers' Week debacle for @theshot.net.au.

theshot.net.au/uncategorize...

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

Louise Adler's response

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

It takes many ghosts to make a story: how Maggie O'Farrell’s Hamnet takes from – and mistakes – Shakespeare Was the premature death of Shakespeare’s only son really the inspiration for Hamlet?

"Readers familiar with the play may find it amusing that Agnes’s interest in the character bearing her dead son’s name evaporates before the end of Act I."

theconversation.com/it-takes-man...

No notes

All the power and love to @cathywilcox.bsky.social

Another option might have been to let her turn up and talk about her novel.

The epic novel runs amok in Omar Musa’s Fierceland The tension between the novelistic attention to psychology and detail and the epic tendency to breadth of scale and form makes – and unmakes – this book.

Interesting review of Omar Musa's Fierceland and the problem of writing literature in a time of polycrisis.

theconversation.com/the-epic-nov...

The Australian defended Bill Leak to the death. So why is it coming for Cathy Wilcox's Bondi cartoon? The Australian has run at least 10 stories decrying Cathy Wilcox's controversial cartoon about the Bondi royal commission. The hypocrisy is staggering.

I wrote for @crikey.com.au on the Wilcox stuff

www.crikey.com.au/2026/01/12/t...

Grass roots.
My @smh cartoon.