''Meanjin'' (), formerly ''Meanjin Papers'' and ''Meanjin Quarterly'', is an Australian

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 Literary criticism (or literary studies) is the study, evalu ...

. The name is derived from the Turrbal word for the spike of land where the city of

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...

is located. It was founded in 1940 in Brisbane, by Clem Christesen. It moved to

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/ Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a me ...

in 1945 and is as of 2008 an imprint of Melbourne University Publishing.

History

''Meanjin'' was founded in December 1940 in Brisbane, by Clem Christesen. The name is derived from the Turrbal word for land on which the city of Brisbane is located. It moved to

in 1945 at the invitation of the

University of Melbourne The University of Melbourne is a public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in Victoria. Its main campus is located in Parkville, an inner suburb n ...

. 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 Rupert Charles Wulsten Bunny (29 September 186425 May 1947) was an Australian painter. Born and raised in Melbourne, Victoria, he achieved success and critical acclaim as an expatriate in '' fin-de-siècle'' Paris. He gained an honourable mentio ...

, 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. ''Meanjin Papers'' was published under that name until 1947, and became ''Meanjin'' from 1947 to 1960, ''Meanjin Quarterly'' from 1961 to 1976, and became ''Meanjin'' again in 1976.''Australian Poets and Their Works'', by William Wilde. Oxford University Press, 1996 It includes 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, a paper, an article, a pamphlet, and a short story. Essays have been sub-classified as formal ...

memoir A memoir (; , ) is any nonfiction narrative writing based in 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 autobio ...

s and other forms of writing, and also produces

podcast A podcast is a program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. For example, an episodic series of digital audio or video files that a user can download to a personal device to listen to at a time of their choosing ...

s. Since 2008 ''Meanjin'' is published as an imprint of Melbourne University Publishing (MUP).

Notable contributors

Past contributors to ''Meanjin'' include Australian writers Judith Wright, Kylie Tennant, Manning Clark, Vance & Nettie Palmer, Dymphna Cusack, Martin Boyd, Alan Marshall, Dorothy Hewett, Peter Carey, Alice Pung, Michelle de Kretser, Randa Abdel-Fattah and Dorothy Porter. International authors published include Carmen Callil, J. M. Coetzee,

Jean-Paul Sartre Jean-Paul Charles Aymard Sartre (, ; ; 21 June 1905 – 15 April 1980) was one of the key figures in the philosophy of existentialist, existentialism (and Phenomenology (philosophy), phenomenology), a French playwright, novelist, screenwriter ...

, and

Kurt Vonnegut Kurt Vonnegut Jr. (November 11, 1922 – April 11, 2007) was an American writer known for his satirical and darkly humorous novels. In a career spanning over 50 years, he published fourteen novels, three short-story collections, five plays, and ...

Editors

* 1940 to 1974: Clem Christesen * 1974 to 1982: Jim Davidson * 1982 to 1987: Judith Brett * 1987 to 1994: Jenny Lee * 1994 to 1998:

Christina Thompson Christina Thompson is best known for her book ''Sea People: The Puzzle of Polynesia'', which won the 2020 Australian Prime Minister's Literary Award for Nonfiction. Career Christina Thompson was born in Lausanne, Switzerland, and grew up outs ...

* 1998 to 2002:

Stephanie Holt Stephanie is a female name that comes from the Greek name Στέφανος (Stephanos) meaning "crown". The male form is Stephen. Forms of Stephanie in other languages include the German "Stefanie", the Italian, Czech, Polish, and Russia ...

* 2002 to 2008 Ian Britain * 2008 to 2011 Sophie Cunningham * 2011 to 2012 Sally Heath * 2013 to 2015

Zora Sanders Zora may refer to: * Zora (given name), a female name of Slavic origin * Zora language, a Kainji language of Nigeria. * ''Zora'' (spider), a genus of spider in the family Zoridae * ''Zora'' (TV series), a Kenyan soap opera-drama series * Zoras, a ...

* 2015 to 2022 Jonathan Green * 2022 to present Esther Anatolitis

Poetry editors

*Dates not known: Coral Hull * mid-to-late 1970s: Kris Hemensley *1979 to 1982: Judith Rodriguez *1987 to 1994: Philip Mead *1994 to 1997: Laurie Duggan * 1998 to 2000: Coral Hull *1998:

Brian Henry Brian Henry is an American poet, translator, editor, and literary critic. Biography Henry completed a B.A. at the College of William and Mary and an MFA Program for Poets & Writers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. He has published po ...

*2000 to 2005:

Peter Minter Peter may refer to: People * List of people named Peter, a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * Peter (given name) ** Saint Peter (died 60s), apostle of Jesus, leader of the early Christian Church * Peter (surname), a sur ...

*2005 to 2015: Judith Beveridge *2015 to present:

Bronwyn Lea Bronwyn Lea is a contemporary Australian poet, academic and editor. Biography Born in Tasmania, Lea grew up in Queensland and Papua New Guinea, moving to San Diego to study at California State University. She completed a PhD titled "Th ...

References

External links