''Meanjin'' (), formerly ''Meanjin Papers'' and ''Meanjin Quarterly'', is one of Australia's longest-running literary magazines. Established in 1940 in

Brisbane Brisbane ( ; ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and largest city of the States and territories of Australia, state of Queensland and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia, with a ...

, it moved to

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

in 1945 and as of 2008 is an editorially independent imprint of

Melbourne University Publishing Melbourne University Publishing (MUP) is the book publishing arm of the University of Melbourne. The press is currently a member of the Association of University Presses The Association of University Presses (AUPresses) is an association of no ...

. A print edition is produced quarterly, while it is updated continuously online.

History

The magazine was established in December 1940 in Brisbane, by

Clem Christesen Clement Byrne Christesen (28 October 1911 – 28 June 2003) was the founder of the Australian literary magazine '' Meanjin''. He served as the magazine's editor from 1940 until 1974. Biography Early years Clement Byrne Christesen was born and ...

as ''Meanjin Papers''. The name is derived from the Turrbal/Yagara word for land on which the city of Brisbane is located. It moved to Melbourne in 1945 at the invitation of the

University of Melbourne The University of Melbourne (colloquially known as Melbourne University) is a public university, public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in the state ...

. Artist and patron Lina Bryans opened the doors of her Darebin Bridge House to the ''Meanjin'' group: then Vance and Nettie Palmer, Rosa and Dolia Ribush, Jean Campbell, Laurie Thomas, and Alan McCulloch. There they joined the moderates in the Contemporary Art Society ( Norman Macgeorge, Clive Stephen, Isobel Tweddle and Rupert Bunny, Sybil Craig, Guelda Pyke, Elma Roach, Ola Cohn and Madge Freeman, and George Bell). Bryans created a free circle and was able to give the liberal, conservative modernist position in Melbourne a more vital character and a freer base than it would otherwise have had. The magazine was renamed ''Meanjin'' in 1947, then to ''Meanjin Quarterly'' in 1961, and became ''Meanjin'' again in 1976.''Australian Poets and Their Works'', by William Wilde. Oxford University Press, 1996 Since 2008 and ''Meanjin'' is published as an imprint of

. In 2016, ''Meanjin'' lost its funding by the

Australia Council Creative Australia, formerly known as the Australia Council for the Arts and the Australia Council, is the country's official arts council, serving as an arts funding and advisory body for the Government of Australia. The council was announ ...

, in its four-year cycle of funding.

Description

''Meanjin'' is one of Australia's longest-running literary magazines. For the first two years it was issued on a bi-monthly basis, and later in 1944 was published as a larger quarterly work with approximately 4,000 circulation. It is a scholarly, peer-reviewed journal, which "manag sto be serious and playful at once". It includes philosophy, poetry, fiction,

essay An essay ( ) is, generally, a piece of writing that gives the author's own argument, but the definition is vague, overlapping with those of a Letter (message), letter, a term paper, paper, an article (publishing), article, a pamphlet, and a s ...

memoir A memoir (; , ) is any nonfiction narrative writing based on the author's personal memories. The assertions made in the work are thus understood to be factual. While memoir has historically been defined as a subcategory of biography or autob ...

s, and other forms of writing, and also produces

podcast A podcast is a Radio program, program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. Typically, a podcast is an Episode, episodic series of digital audio Computer file, files that users can download to a personal device or str ...

s. A print edition is produced quarterly, while the online edition is updated on a daily basis.

Notable contributors

The magazine has been the vehicle for important new work by Australian writers A. D. Hope, James McAuley, Douglas Stewart, Judith Wright, Patrick White, Randolph Stow, Joan London, Frank Moorhouse, and Les Murray. Special issues have been devoted to Joseph Furphy and Vance Palmer, among others.

Editors

During Christina Thompson's editorship, in 1995 Cassandra Pybus was guest editor for Issue 2, titled ''O Canada.'' It features both Canadian and Australian writing including an essay by Gerry Turcotte, a Canadian writer teaching at the

University of Wollongong The University of Wollongong (UOW) is an Australian public university, public research university located in the coastal city of Wollongong, New South Wales, approximately south of Sydney. , the university had an enrolment of more than 33,000 s ...

and co-editor of ''Australia Canada Studies.'' During Esther Anatolitis's editorship, in 2023 Eugenia Flynn ( Larrakia and Tiwi) and Bridget Caldwell-Bright (Jingle and Mudburra) were guest editors of the journal's first-ever all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander edition, ''Meanjin'' 82.3, Spring 2023.

Poetry editors

Footnotes

References

External links

* {{Portal bar, Literature, Australia 1940 establishments in Australia Literary magazines published in Australia Quarterly magazines published in Australia Magazines established in 1940 Magazines published in Melbourne Poetry literary magazines University of Melbourne