AustLit

'While researching editing history in Australia, I found some of Craig Munro’s early advocacy on behalf of editors on the endpapers of a now obscure collection of conference proceedings. Printed on a textured, peach-coloured stock is a facsimile of Munro’s handwritten notes for his talk entitled ‘Final Working Draft’ from the 1990 ‘Editing in Australia’ conference. The conference was concerned with textual editing and the commonly held supposition of textual editing, that the author’s intention is key and that editors interfere, constrict, or even ruin a work, clearly irked Craig Munro, editor of some of Australia’s most celebrated authors such as Peter Carey and Frank Moorhouse. He was keen to point out that textual editing can ignore the processes through which a book passes on its way to the reader . Munro knew these processes intimately from his time at UQP, the house where he started as a junior and went on to become publishing manager. Munro was disappointed that the star speakers at the conference spoke as if the publishing editor and publishing process were not inextricably linked to the author and the author’s work. His comments continue on the endpaper at the back of the book:' (Introduction)

'Jessica Anderson’s Tirra Lirra by the River is one of the few Australian novels of the 1970s that has remained in print since its first release. By contrast, to take just one example, four-time Miles Franklin winner Thea Astley’s books have been out of print a few times – this remains the case for The Acolyte, which won the Miles Franklin in 1972. Perhaps in part because of its easily digestible length, Tirra Lirra is a staple of high school and university curricula. Tirra Lirra tells the story of Nora Porteus’ return to her family home in Brisbane after decades overseas. As she is ill and is nearing the end of her life, Nora’s mind turns to her past, her ex-husband, friends, and the interplay of art and labour.' (Introduction)

'Stories of Sydney celebrates the diversity that exists in this city. A place that is simultaneously welcoming and prejudiced, kind and cruel, aspirational and eccentric in its mundanity. The stories range from family drama to modern noir, from cultural clashes to the burden of memory.'

'Seizure, the newest journal for new writing. What we're doing is creating a biannual magazine that collects short works of fiction, narrative non fiction or poetry themed around a particular genre of magazine. It's a magazine where editor-in-chief, Alice Grundy, rounds up new authors and gets them to write on a theme, like Food or Sci-Fi, and then gets the crew at Xou to create stunning and amusing visuals to compliment the text, so it is not just a meal for the brain but a feast for the senses.' Source: www.seizureonline.com/ (Sighted 03/02/2012).

In 2013, Seizure became an online only publication. (Website: seizureonline.com )