AustLit

'While biographies are generally understood to narrate the lives of people, the biographical form can also be used to write the life histories of objects of material culture. This article investigates the object biography (sometimes referred to as the ‘artefact biography’) and proposes that this is a form with rich potential for creative writing practitioners and researchers. As well as defining the object biography and its use in various disciplinary contexts, the article also profiles how this form of life writing has been utilised by creative writers, in order to consider its capacity to contribute to practice and research in the discipline of creative writing. Contemporary writers discussed include Edmund de Waal, Bambi Ward and Marele Day, with reference also made to the work of Hans Christian Andersen, Charlotte Brontë, Eliza Cook, Elizabeth Gaskell and Anna Sewell.' (Publication abstract)

'This article uses architectural analogies to explore the complexities of planning and executing a practice-led PhD project in contemporary Australian writing. Many scholars and creative practitioners have conceived of the writing process as a form of building, scaffolding or construction. A PhD always involves some aspect of planning – but to what extent can the creative practice be planned for? What happens when the project outpaces the planning, or when a writer finds herself in unscaffolded space? This article examines practice-led research methodologies drawn from the experiences and insights of three creative practitioners who are also current and recently completed PhD candidates. Their perspectives reveal the multiplicity of approaches available in creative practice research and points to the opportunities to explore the complexities between structure, space and practice in discussions of the creative writing PhD.' (Publication abstract)

'In a sea of endless stories of corporate ethical scandals, many of which are attributed to ‘failed leadership', this article examines how creative writing research is being used as a way of inspiring – or suggesting – new forms of leadership behaviour. In the processual nature of being in our lives, if experience is valued as primary to consciousness as a way of active belonging, then it will be argued that creative writing – here, scriptwriting specifically – is a powerful medium to examine organisational experiences. This research practice occurs through the lens of affect in embodied responses to such experience, as distinct from the singular, scientific mode of cognitive analysis that can cause us to habitually jump too quickly to conclusions about our experiences. By employing the affective methodology of creative practice research, which in this case forms the basis for a PhD currently in candidature, this article speculates how creative writing might disrupt habitual thinking through the elevation of emergent data from our physical senses. Creative writing can, we argue, provide a balance for science to work with art and craft, and in doing so encourage new thinking in the fields of organisational behaviour, relational leadership and creative practice research.' (Publication abstract)

'The publishing contract is the central legal feature of any publishing professional's life, whether creator, literary agent, or publisher. And with small press becoming an ever more important part of the Australian publishing scene, the contracts landscape has diversified and become more complex. There's a wealth of information on what you should and shouldn't do, and what the perfect contract looks like. But what's it like in reality, beyond the clause and sub-clause? For though it's an important legal document, the contract also represents an intense lived experience for all those who are a party to it, especially in the small-press sector. This article, based on interviews with a range of creators (authors and illustrators), literary agents, small-press publishers and industry body representatives, presents an illuminating snapshot of the contemporary contract experience in the Australian small-press sector. Not intended as a formal analysis of the contracts landscape but rather as an intimate insight into the individual lived experience of contemporary Australian contracts, whether that be for creators or publishers, the article addresses questions covering the contemporary challenges and opportunities of ‘signing on the dotted line’.' (Publication abstract)