The Latest Breaking News from Melbourne University Publishing

Last week’s announcement of Meanjin’s closure marks a poignant moment for Australian culture. Meanjin is a nationally significant cultural institution with a storied history. Closing it suddenly, without warning and with no consultation, on “purely financial grounds”, is a very deliberate act.

Shutting long-running literary journal, which published emerging writers as well as the cream of Australia’s literary talent, described as ‘enormous loss’

After 85 years of continuous publication, Meanjin, Australia’s second-oldest literary journal, is closing. Editor Esther Anatolitis and deputy editor Eli McLean have been made redundant and the final issue will appear in December. Melbourne University Publishing (MUP), which has housed the magazine since 2007, has cited “purely financial grounds” for…

In his latest book, Peter Kirkpatrick retrieves from Australian cultural history the compelling figure of the “wild reciter”, as a reviewer in the 1920s termed amateur elocutionists.