from the editor's desk
Merry Christmas from the Westerly Team!
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from the Westerly Team!
2017 has been a fantastic year for Westerly, we featured the work of 224 authors/artists/translators, and published 258 pieces of original work in our online and print publications this year! We couldn’t have done it without you, and we’d like to thank all of our readers and writers for being with us. We’ve loved having you all involved, and we’re looking forward to your company in 2018! Here’s what we got up to in 2017:
Thanks to support from the University of Western Australia we have added to our team, with the appointment of Dr Josephine Taylor as Associate Editor.
In July we released our first print issue for 2017: Westerly 62.1. This issue saw a wonderful mix of established and emerging writers, with contributions from John Kinsella, Jill Jones, Peter Rose, and Tony Birch sitting alongside work from the participants in Westerly‘s 2016 Writers’ Development Program, and, importantly, extracts from the journal of Fay Zwicky. More information about this issue can be found here.
Following on from the success of online issues of Westerly in 2016, we have also been busy in digital publication. Online Special Issue 3,Crossings, featured a collaborative writing project between postgraduates at the University of Western Australia and the University of Canberra; Online Special Issue 4, Flux, surveyed the publishing and support terrain for emerging writers, and celebrated their exciting writing. These issues are entirely digital and absolutely free to download here. Continuing to honour Fay Zwicky, we have also released our 5th Online Special Issue, IM Fay Zwicky: a collection of writing that remembers and pays testament to her life and work.
Other online activity has included the ‘Full Circle’ podcast, which went live in October. We aim to follow this up with a new special focus podcast in 2018.
Keep an eye out on the Westerly website, too, for an upcoming blog featuring writing produced by participants in the 2017 Writers’ Development Program during a workshop with respected local author Susan Midalia. These four emerging writers continue to polish their work ahead of publication with Westerly in print and online in 2018.
After all that, we’re taking a break! From December 21, we’ll be closing up the Westerly office. As always, feel free to submit your work and to contact us if you have any queries, but please understand that we won’t be able to reply as promptly as usual. We’ll be back on January 11, and we’re looking forward to another year of sharing the news on all things literary in 2018. We remain enormously grateful for the continued support from our readers and contributors—that means you! We’re wishing you all a happy Christmas break and a safe and fun start to the new year.
We’re wishing you a wonderful Christmas!
