AustLit

'Screens really are everywhere these days; Forbes reported last year that we spend up to 12 hours a day looking at them. When they were those chunky cathode-ray tubes, it was just one, maybe two, per household, and the idea of a portable telephone with a mini-TV on it was unthinkable. Then came personal computers, chunky to begin with as well, and that heralded the end for us all. Maybe Y2K was never about a glitch that would cause the entire digi-world order to collapse, but a failsafe we needed to activate—and, now, we’re two decades too late.' (Introduction)

'In a society in which huge advances have been made in the rights and acceptance of same-sex-attracted people, vestiges of Western society's homophobic past persist - one of the most confronting being the so-called gay conversion therapy offered by some Christian organisations. Delving into a pair of new films that, in different ways, explore the experience of undergoing this 'treatment' - with all its harms and complexities - Adolfo Aranjuez finds affecting depictions of young people who need support rather than suppression.'

Source: Abstract.

'Benjamin spoke to Adolfo about storytelling, community and multiplicities of identity.'

'Yumi Umiumare is an independent dancer and choreographer, and the creator of the DasSHOKU butoh cabaret works. She is the only Japanese butoh dancer in Australia, and has been creating and teaching her own distinctive style of dance over the last twenty-five years.

'Seen in numerous dance, theatre and film festivals and productions throughout Australia, Japan, Europe, New Zealand, South-East Asia and South America, Yumi’s work is renowned for provoking visceral emotions and questioning cultural identities. She received a fellowship from the Australia Council for 2015–2016, and was recently conferred the Green Room Awards’ Geoffrey Milne Memorial Award for her contributions to contemporary and experimental performance.

'Adolfo Aranjuez speaks to Yumi about butoh, authenticity in bodies and activism in dance.'

Source: Abstract.

'Elizabeth Flux is a freelance writer and editor based in Melbourne. She is the editor-in-chief of Writers Bloc, a past editor of Voiceworks, and has overseen shorter-term projects including the Summer in the City of Literature series for Melbourne’s City of Literature office. Her nonfiction work has been widely published and includes essays on film, pop culture and identity as well as interviews and feature articles. She was the winner of the inaugural Feminartsy Fiction Prize and one of her short stories features in the anthology The Legend of Monga Khan.

'We spoke to Elizabeth about Hong Kong, being biracial and pursuing an authentic career.'

Source: Abstract.

'Bobuq Sayed is a writer, artist and agitator of the Afghan diaspora. They co-edit Archer Magazine, founded the QTPOC activist collective Colour Tongues and are a member of the performance collective, Embittered Swish. They have written for Overland, Kill Your Darlings and VICE, and performed at the Emerging Writers’ Festival, Melbourne Writers Festival, Village Festival, Melbourne Fringe Festival and Alterity Collective’s Rituals.

'We speak to Bobuq about community-building, agitation, and the intersections of queerness, transness and Islam.'

Source: Abstract.

'Among the various portentous ‘deaths’ that seem to be befalling contemporary culture – the death of the ‘manly man’, the death of ‘Australian values’, the death of the personal essay – is the lesser-known apparent death of the editor. In a 2008 long-read for Essays in Criticism, Harvard University’s J Stephen Murphy lamented the slow demise of my long-beloved profession, largely as a result of the changes to the publishing landscape wrought by new media and their ostensible democratisation of writing and literature.' (Introduction)

'When Amadeo first arrives in Australia with his sister and parents, he's greeted by the promise of 'a better life'. A change. A chance. But Amadeo must adapt quickly to these changes: new place, new people, new school, new freedoms ... all so different from what he's used to. The challenge gets harder when his parents return to the Philippines and he has to make do with the distance, both physical and cultural, that now defines his life. You only really realise what something means to you when it's taken away. Finding something to hold on to becomes all that's left.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'The sixth edition of Award Winning Australian Writing (AWAW) continues its commitment to showcasing the best short stories and poems that have won competitions around the country. Much like the 2012 anthology, this year's collection will feature over fifty writers and competitions. It will also proudly include a foreword by Carmel Bird, in honour of whom Spineless Wonders runs the Carmel Bird Short Fiction Award. Bird is the author of nine literary novels, six collections of short fiction and three books on the art of writing.' (Publisher's blurb)

'Now in its fifth edition, Award Winning Australian Writing (AWAW) continues its commitment to showcasing the best short stories and poems that have won competitions around the country. This year, Melbourne Books is again expanding the project, increasing the number of featured pieces to over fifty. AWAW 2012 will also proudly include a foreword by Mark Tredinnick, winner of the 2011 Montreal Poetry Prize and the 2012 Cardiff International Poetry Prize, and author of The Blue Plateau, Fire Diary and nine other acclaimed works of poetry and prose.AWAW's four editions have been received very favourably, with support from Lisa Dempster (Emerging Writers' Festival director), Philip Rainford (Fellowship of Australian Writers president), and authors Arnold Zable and Delia Falconer, all of whom have written forewords for the book. The critic Matthew Lamb, in The Australian, commended the "invaluable service" AWAW offers to the literary community, while, in The Age, reviewer Lorien Kaye celebrates that AWAW gives readers a chance "to value these winners". Similar sentiments are expressed by author Irma Gold, who wrote in Overland that AWAW is "a must read"; The Age critic Cameron Woodhead, who noted that "some of the contributions possess startling power"; and critic Patrick Allington, who praised the "impressive new voices" and "energy and inventiveness" collected in the book.The 2012 edition will feature the work of both emerging and established authors, including Ron Pretty, Susan McCreery, Lisa Jacobson, Kevin Gillam, Laura Jean McKay and A. S. Patric. Competitions appearing in the 2012 edition include:* Lord Mayor's Creative Writing Awards* Sydney Poetry Prize* The Age Short Story Competition* Gwen Harwood Poetry Prize* Katharine Susannah Prichard Awards* Overland Judith Wright Poetry Prize* ANU Short Story Competition' (Publication summary)