''Landfall'' is

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

's oldest extant

literary magazine A literary magazine is a periodical devoted to literature in a broad sense. Literary magazines usually publish short stories, poetry, and essays, along with literary criticism, book reviews, biographical profiles of authors, interviews and letter ...

. The magazine is published biannually by

Otago University Press Otago University Press is an academic publisher associated with the University of Otago. The press is located in Dunedin, New Zealand. The Otago University Press is the oldest academic publisher in Aotearoa New Zealand. The Otago University Press p ...

. As of 2020, it consists of a paperback publication of about 200 pages. The website ''Landfall Review Online'' also publishes new literary reviews monthly. The magazine features new fiction and poetry, biographical and critical essays, cultural commentary, and reviews of books, art, film, drama, and dance. ''Landfall'' was founded and first edited by New Zealand poet

Charles Brasch Charles Orwell Brasch (27 July 1909 – 20 May 1973) was a New Zealand poet, literary editor and arts patron. He was the founding editor of the literary journal ''Landfall'', and through his 20 years of editing the journal, had a significant im ...

. It was described by

Peter Simpson Peter Simpson may refer to: *Peter Simpson (film producer) (1943–2007), often credited as Peter R. Simpson, a British-Canadian film producer and advertiser *Peter Simpson (Scottish footballer) (1904/05–1974), Scottish football striker who playe ...

in the ''Oxford Companion to New Zealand Literature'' (2006) as "the most important and long-lasting journal in New Zealand's literature". Historian Michael King said that during the twentieth century, "''Landfall'' would more than any other single organ promote New Zealand voices in literature and, at least for the duration of Brasch's editorship (1947–66), publish essays, fiction and poetry of the highest standard".

Background

Denis Glover Denis James Matthews Glover (9 December 19129 August 1980) was a New Zealand poet and publisher. Born in Dunedin, he attended the University of Canterbury where he obtained a Bachelor of Arts, and subsequently lectured. He worked as a reporte ...

, of Caxton Press, visited Brasch in London while on leave from naval service during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, and it was then the two "discussed the idea for a new, professionally produced literary journal in New Zealand". Other periodicals in existence at that time were smaller and irregularly published, such as ''Book'', edited by Anton Vogt, and also published by Caxton Press. Brasch had held the ambition of publishing "a substantial literary journal" in New Zealand for at least 15 years. The title ''Landfall'' was likely to have been inspired by ''

Landfall in Unknown Seas ''Landfall in Unknown Seas'' is a work for narrator and string orchestra written by New Zealand composer Douglas Lilburn and poet Allen Curnow in 1942. It was the second in Lilburn's early trilogy of works dealing with the theme of New Zealand i ...

'', a poem written by

Allen Curnow Thomas Allen Monro Curnow (17 June 1911 – 23 September 2001) was a New Zealand poet and journalist. Life Curnow was born in Timaru, New Zealand, the son of a fourth generation New Zealander, an Anglican clergyman, and he grew up in a relig ...

in 1942 and set to music by his friend

Douglas Lilburn Douglas Gordon Lilburn (2 November 19156 June 2001) was a New Zealand composer. Early life Lilburn was born in Whanganui and spent his early years on the family sheep farm in the upper Turakina River valley at Drysdale. He attended Waitaki ...

in 1944. The poem records the arrival of the first Europeans in New Zealand. It is one of the best-known of all New Zealand poems.

History

Brasch as editor: 1947–1966

Charles Brasch portrait, c1960 (cropped)

The magazine was established in 1947 and published by Caxton Press, with Brasch as the

editor-in-chief An editor-in-chief (EIC), also known as lead editor or chief editor, is a publication's editorial leader who has final responsibility for its operations and policies. The highest-ranking editor of a publication may also be titled editor, managing ...

for the first two decades. Glover and

Leo Bensemann Leo Vernon Bensemann (1 May 1912 – 2 January 1986) was a New Zealand artist, printer, typographer, publisher and editor. Bensemenn was born in Tākaka, New Zealand, on 1 May 1912. He moved to Christchurch in 1931 with his friend Lawrence Ba ...

acted as designers, typographers and printers. For its first 46 years (174 issues), ''Landfall'' was a quarterly of 76 pages (with some variation) with a brown paper cover, printed in two colours (and four colours from 1979 onwards). 800 copies of the first issue were printed, and Brasch later said they sold out "almost at once". An early review by Oliver Duff in the ''

New Zealand Listener The ''New Zealand Listener'' is a weekly New Zealand magazine that covers the political, cultural and literary life of New Zealand by featuring a variety of topics, including current events, politics, social issues, health, technology, arts, f ...

'' was positive but predicted that the magazine would last no more than a year. ''Landfall'' was New Zealand's leading literary journal during Brasch's editorship, and significantly important to New Zealand's emerging literary culture in the 1950s and 1960s. The journal also had pages dedicated to coverage of the arts in general and public affairs. Brasch devoted himself to editing the journal on a full-time basis, and applied high and exacting standards to the work published. At times, Brasch's high standards led to friction, with some young writers resenting what they saw as his inflexibility and solemnity, and calling the journal elitist. He did, however, encourage and promote the work of new writers in whom he saw promise. Brasch ensured that the journal not only published poems, short stories and reviews, but also published paintings, photographs and other visual art, and provided commentary on the arts, theatre, music, architecture, and aspects of public affairs. His vision for the journal was that it would be "distinctly of New Zealand without being parochial", and he viewed the likely audience as the educated public: "Everyone for whom literature and the arts are a necessity of life." Virtually all prominent writers in New Zealand at that time were published in ''Landfall'';

Janet Frame Janet Paterson Frame (28 August 1924 – 29 January 2004) was a New Zealand author. She was internationally renowned for her work, which included novels, short stories, poetry, juvenile fiction, and an autobiography, and received numerous awar ...

wrote in her autobiography ''An Angel At My Table'' that her early impression of the magazine was that "if you didn't appear in ''Landfall'' then you could scarcely call yourself a writer". At the peak of the magazine's popularity, in the early 1960s, around 1600 copies were being printed of each issue. Brasch recalled that the peak sales figure was 2000 copies for an issue published in his last year of editing the paper, despite almost no advertising. In 1962, Brasch published ''Landfall Country: Work from Landfall, 1947–61'', an anthology of works published in ''Landfall''. Writers and poets featured included

Maurice Gee Maurice Gough Gee (born 22 August 1931) is a New Zealand novelist. He is one of New Zealand's most distinguished and prolific authors, having written over thirty novels for adults and children, and has won numerous awards both in New Zealand an ...

Frank Sargeson Frank Sargeson () (born Norris Frank Davey; 23 March 1903 – 1 March 1982) was a New Zealand short story writer and novelist. Born in Hamilton, Sargeson had a middle-class and puritanical upbringing, and initially worked as a lawyer. After ...

, C.K. Stead,

Ruth Dallas Ruth Minnie Mumford (29 September 1919 – 18 March 2008), better known by her pen name Ruth Dallas, was a New Zealand poet and children's author. Biography Dallas was born in Invercargill, the daughter of Frank and Minnie Mumford. She became ...

, Curnow, James K. Baxter and

Fleur Adcock Fleur Adcock (born 10 February 1934) is a New Zealand poet and editor, of English and Northern Irish ancestry, who has lived much of her life in England. She is well-represented in New Zealand poetry anthologies, was awarded an honorary doc ...

, and there were reproductions of paintings, sculptures and photographs by various New Zealand artists including

Colin McCahon Colin John McCahon (; 1August 191927May 1987) was a prominent New Zealand artist whose work over 45 years consisted of various styles, including landscape, figuration, abstraction, and the overlay of painted text. Along with Toss Woollaston an ...

Evelyn Page Evelyn Margaret Page (née Polson, 23 April 1899 – 28 May 1988) was a New Zealand artist. Her career covered seven decades, and her main areas of interest were landscapes, portraits, still lifes and nudes. Early life Page was born in C ...

and others. It also included twenty-nine pages of selections from the editorial section written by Brasch himself.

After Brasch: 1966–1992

Brasch left the magazine in 1966 and chose the young editor of magazine ''Mate'',

Robin Dudding Robin Nelson Dudding (7 December 1935 – 21 April 2008) was a New Zealand literary editor and journalist who founded the influential literary journal ''Islands (journal), Islands'' (1972–1988). He was also editor of the literary journals Land ...

, to succeed him. Dudding's noteworthy achievements were to commission artists to illustrate short stories, and to publish issue number 100, which included a lengthy interview with Brasch. In 1972, however, Dudding was dismissed by Caxton Press, reportedly for failing to deliver an issue on time. He set up a competing journal called ''

Islands An island (or isle) is an isolated piece of habitat that is surrounded by a dramatically different habitat, such as water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, skerries, cays or keys. An island ...

'', and some of ''Landfalls key contributors such as Brasch, Curnow and Stead switched their allegiance to this new journal; ''Landfall'' did not recover its status as the leading literary journal of New Zealand until the editorship of David Dowling in the early 1980s. Bensemann, who had been involved on the production side since 1947, took over as editor for the fourteen issues from 1971 to 1975. Although he struggled to keep literary standards high in the absence of those key writers, he improved visual standards; the number of illustration pages increased from four pages to eight and featured a number of notable New Zealand artists such as Don Peebles and

Pat Hanly James Patrick Hanly (2 August 1932 – 20 September 2004), generally known as Pat Hanly, was a prolific New Zealand painter. One of his works is a large mural ''Rainbow Pieces'' (1971) at Chrischurch Town Hall. Early life Born in Palmerston N ...

. His successor, Peter Smart, was an English teacher who was keen to encourage beginner writers and to publish work that deserved encouragement, with mixed results. When Dowling succeeded Smart in 1982, he raised standards once again and recovered the magazine's literary reputation. In issue 160, published in December 1986, the magazine announced that the magazine would be changing its editorial structure and moving to an editorial board of five editors with equal status, each responsible for a different section of the magazine. The issue's editorial explained that Landfall had to address different expectations of its readers and fast-pace developments. It was also hoped that the magazine would become more "outward looking" and include more works from the Pacific, Australia and other cultures having relevance to New Zealand.

Otago University Press: 1992–present

In 1993, Otago University Press took over publication of the magazine, and Chris Price became sole editor from issue 175 onwards. From issue 185 onwards the publishing frequency decreased from quarterly to biannually. In 1999, the magazine was awarded Best Review Pages at the

Montana New Zealand Book Awards The Ockham New Zealand Book Awards are literary awards presented annually in New Zealand. The awards began in 1996 as the merger of two literary awards events: the New Zealand Book Awards, which ran from 1976 to 1995, and the Goodman Fielder W ...

. Since March 2011, the website ''Landfall Review Online'' has supplemented the printed magazine, with six to eight book reviews published on a monthly basis. In 1997, to celebrate the magazine's 50th anniversary, the

Landfall Essay Competition The ''Landfall'' Essay Competition is an annual competition open to New Zealand writers. It is judged by the current editor of the long-running literary magazine ''Landfall'' and the winning entry is published in a subsequent issue of the maga ...

was held. In 2009 the competition was made an annual one and it is judged each year by the current editor. In 2017, the magazine launched the Charles Brasch Young Writers' Essay Competition, an annual essay competition open to writers aged 16 to 21.

Editors

(1947–1966, issues 1 to 80) *

(1966–1972, issues 81 to 101) *

(1971–1975, issues 102 to 115) * Peter Smart (1975–1981, issues 116 to 140) * David Dowling (1982–1986, issues 140 to 159) * Edited by a board with rotating members (1986–1992, issues 160 to 174) * Chris Price (1993–2000, issue 175 to 200) *

Justin Paton Justin Paton (born 1972) is a New Zealand writer, art critic and curator, currently based in Sydney, Australia. His book ''How to Look at a Painting'' (2005) was adapted into a 12-episode television series by TVNZ in 2011. Education Paton stu ...

(2000–2005, issues 200 to 209) * Guest editors (2005–2010, issues 210 to 217) *

David Eggleton David Eggleton (born 1952) is a New Zealand poet, critic and writer. Eggleton has been awarded the Ockham New Zealand Book Award for poetry and in 2019 was appointed New Zealand Poet Laureate, a title he held until 2022. Eggleton's work has app ...

(2010–2017, issues 218 to 234) *

Emma Neale Emma Neale (born 2 January 1969) is a novelist and poet from New Zealand. Background Neale was born in Dunedin and grew up in Christchurch, San Diego, and Wellington. She received her undergraduate degree from Victoria University of Welling ...

(2017–2021, issues 235 to 241) * Lynley Edmeades (2021–present, issue 242 onwards)

References

External links

*{{official website, http://www.otago.ac.nz/press/landfall/
''Landfall Review Online''Interview with ''Landfall'' editor
David Eggleton for th
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project. 1947 establishments in New Zealand Biannual magazines Magazines established in 1947 Mass media in Dunedin Literary magazines published in New Zealand