from the editor's desk
Welcome back to Westerly for 2018!
The team at Westerly would like to welcome all of our readers back for an exciting 2018! We hope that you all had a lot of fun and stayed safe over the holiday season.
In case you missed it: Issue 62.2
Just before the break, we released our biggest issue to date: Westerly 62.2. At well over 300 pages, issue 62.2 continues Westerly’s commitment to engage with writing from our closest neighbours. Our first regional special issue appeared all the way back in 1966! That issue featured Indonesian writing, and issue 62.2 is our eighth special issue with a focus on Asian writers. We think our latest issue is very special: not only does it feature translations of contemporary Japanese poetry, but there are two special features of Asian-Australian collaborative work: one from the Melbourne-Seoul Intercultural Poetry Exchange and one from the China-Australia Writing Centre! And we didn’t stop there, Westerly 62.2 also includes writing from Ouyang Yu, Sampurna Chattarji, Christopher Kelen, and many more. The issue is selling fast, so get in now if you still haven’t got a copy: purchase here.
We also released three special online issues in 2018. If you’re not familiar with them, these issues are free to download, each with a special twist from one of our guest editors. We released our fifth online issue just before Christmas to celebrate the life and work of Fay Zwicky. Guest edited by Dennis Haskell, this issue features the writing of Lucy Dougan, John Kinsella, Marcella Polain and Paul Hetherington. If you’re a Fay Zwicky fan, don’t forget that UWA Publishing has a special deal for Westerly subscribers: you can get 20% off all of their books, including The Collected Poems of Fay Zwicky, with the WESTERLY20 code at the checkout!
Coming up in 2018…
February 19-25 is Writers Week at the Perth Festival, and Westerly would love to see you there! We’d particularly like your company for two events sponsored by Westerly. The first of these is a panel titled . Indigenous Speculative fiction is a growing genre, opening complex conversations within the postcolonial nation space. How does speculating with versions of the future or even form and voice in a poetic sense change our understanding of Australia? And what can this writing achieve? This panel will be chaired by Westerly‘s Editor for Indigenous Writing Elfie Shiosaki, in discussion with Claire G. Coleman, Ambelin Kwaymullina, and Paul Collis.
Our second sponsored event is the , which will take place on February 25 at 10am. Several of Randolph Stow’s novels draw from regional, rural and remote Western Australian places. Combining Gothic undertones, elements of romanticisation and a stunning lyricism, this writing of place has been enormously influential. It speaks to contemporary narratives of Western Australian identity. Held biennially, the lecture celebrates the life and work of Stow, author and past editor of Westerly Magazine. Join Westerly editor Catherine Noske and Donna Mazza for this celebration of Randolph Stow’s work.
These sessions are only a small part of an incredible weekend of discussion about writing! Head over to to see what’s on. If you enjoyed our special online issue dedicated to Fay Zwicky, you’ll definitely want to catch the festival’s and its incredible lineup of talent, including our special edition’s guest editor, Dennis Haskell. On Saturday, Catherine Noske will be talking to about 2017’s Fremantle Press Anthology of Western Australian Poetry and the incredible diversity of poets and poetry in the collection. Catherine will also be about her debut novel Terra Nullius and its creative approach to writing the effects of Australia’s colonisation – catch it Sunday morning.
We’re also looking forward to seeing lots of friends there, writers that Westerly have published and reviewed. Other highlights not to miss? There’ll be , whose new book History and the Poet we reviewed late last year, along with sessions on Shevaun Cooley’s Homing and David McCooey’s Star Struck. And then there’s Josephine Wilson talking about Extinctions, Kim Scott’s discussion of Taboo, Corey Wakeling in conversation with Philip Mead, Elizabeth Tan on Rubik, Carolyn Abbs, Tracy Ryan on The Water Bearer, Tony Hughes-d’Aeth leading a panel with Charmaine Papertalk-Green and John Kinsella, plus poetry readings from Stuart Barnes, Charmaine Papertalk-Green, Corey Wakeling, Caroline Abbs and Tineke van der Eecken, and Charlotte Guest, Renee Schipp, Ross Gibson, Shevaun Cooley and David McCooey.
We’d like to take this chance to thank each and every one of you for staying with us in 2017 and coming back, or coming to us for the first time in 2018. We couldn’t keep publishing Westerly without the support of our subscribers or without the talent and insightfulness of our contributors. We’re looking forward to making Westerly bigger and better in 2018.
See you at Writers Week!
The team from Westerly
