''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 Imprint or imprinting may refer to: Entertainment * ''Imprint'' (TV series), Canadian television series * "Imprint" (''Masters of Horror''), episode of TV show ''Masters of Horror'' * ''Imprint'' (film), a 2007 independent drama/thriller film ...

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 Lina Bryans (26 August 1909 – 30 September 2000), was an Australian modernist painter. Life Lina Bryans was born in Hamburg, Germany, on 26 August 1909, second daughter of wealthy prosperous Michaelis-Hallenstein family of industrialis ...

opened the doors of her

Darebin The City of Darebin () is a local government area in Victoria, Australia, in the northern suburbs of Melbourne. It has an area of and in June 2018 Darebin had a population of 161,609. Municipal offices are located at 350 High Street, Preston. ...

Bridge House to the ''Meanjin'' group: then Vance and

Nettie Palmer Janet Gertrude "Nettie" Palmer (née Higgins) (18 August 1885 – 19 October 1964) was an Australian poet, essayist and Australia's leading literary critic of her day. She corresponded with women writers and collated the ''Centenary Gift Book'' ...

, Rosa and Dolia Ribush, Jean Campbell,

Laurie Thomas Laurie may refer to: Places * Laurie, Cantal, France, a commune * Laurie, Missouri, United States, a village * Laurie Island, Antarctica Music * Laurie Records, a record label * ''Laurie'' (EP), a 1992 album by Daniel Johnston * "Laurie (Stran ...

, and Alan McCulloch. There they joined the moderates in the

Contemporary Art Society The Contemporary Art Society (CAS) is an independent charity that champions the collecting of outstanding contemporary art and craft for UK museum collections. Since its founding in 1910 the organisation has donated over 10,000 works to museum ...

(

Norman Macgeorge Norman Macgeorge (8 July 1872 – 2 September 1952) was an artist and art critic in the colony and State of Victoria. History Norman Macgeorge, artist and collector, was a son of Rachel Elizabeth Macgeorge, née Luxmoore and Alexander 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 mention ...

, Sybil Craig, Guelda Pyke, Elma Roach,

Ola Cohn Ola Cohn (born Carola Cohn; 25 April 1892 – 23 December 1964) was an Australian artist, author and philanthropist best known for her work in sculpture in a modernist style, and famous for her ''Fairies Tree'' in the Fitzroy Gardens, Melbour ...

and

Madge Freeman Frances Margot ('Madge') Freeman (1895–1977) was an Australian painter of landscape and urban scenes working internationally who was known for her watercolour, and for her craft of lacquerwork and enamelware. Early life and education Born in ...

, 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 An academic journal (or scholarly journal or scientific journal) is a periodical publication in which scholarship relating to a particular academic discipline is published. They serve as permanent and transparent forums for the dissemination, scr ...

, 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 Alec Derwent Hope (21 July 190713 July 2000) was an Australian poet and essayist known for his satirical slant. He was also a critic, teacher and academic. He was referred to in an American journal as "the 20th century's greatest 18th-century ...

James McAuley James Phillip McAuley (12 October 1917 – 15 October 1976) was an Australian academic, poet, journalist, literary critic, and a prominent convert to Roman Catholicism. He was involved in the Ern Malley poetry hoax. Life and career McAuley w ...

Douglas Stewart Douglas Stewart may refer to: *Douglas Stewart (poet) (1913–1985), Australian poet * Edward Askew Sothern (1826–1881), English actor who was sometimes known as Douglas Stewart * Douglas Stewart (equestrian) (1913–1991), British Olympic equestr ...

Judith Wright Judith Arundell Wright (31 May 191525 June 2000) was an Australian poet, environmentalist and campaigner for Aboriginal land rights. She was a recipient of the Christopher Brennan Award and nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature in 196 ...

Patrick White Patrick Victor Martindale White (28 May 1912 – 30 September 1990) was an Australian novelist and playwright who explored themes of religious experience, personal identity and the conflict between visionary individuals and a materialistic, co ...

Randolph Stow Julian Randolph Stow (28 November 1935 – 29 May 2010) was an Australian-born writer, novelist and poet. Early life Born in Geraldton, Western Australia, Randolph Stow was the son of Mary Campbell Stow née Sewell and Cedric Ernest Stow, a ...

, Joan London, Frank Moorhouse, and Les Murray. Special issues have been devoted to

Joseph Furphy Joseph Furphy ( Irish: Seosamh Ó Foirbhithe; 26 September 1843 – 13 September 1912) was an Australian author and poet. He mostly wrote under the pseudonym Tom Collins and is best known for his novel '' Such Is Life'' (1903), regarded as an A ...

and

Vance Palmer Edward Vivian "Vance" Palmer (28 August 1885 – 15 July 1959) was an Australian novelist, dramatist, essayist and critic. Early life Vance Palmer was born in Bundaberg, Queensland, on 28 August 1885 and attended the Ipswich Grammar School. Wi ...

, among others.

Editors

During Christina Thompson's editorship, in 1995

Cassandra Pybus Cassandra Jean Pybus (born 29 September 1947) is an Australian historian and writer. She is a former professorial fellow in history at the University of Sydney, and has published extensively on Australian and American history. Pybus was born i ...

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 The Mudburra, also spelt Mudbara and other variants, are an Aboriginal Australian people of the Northern Territory. Language Mudburra is one of the far eastern forms of the Pama-Nyungan Ngumbin languages. Country The Mudburra people live i ...

) were guest editors of the journal's first-ever all

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Indigenous Australians are people with familial heritage from, or recognised membership of, the various ethnic groups living within the territory of contemporary Australia prior to History of Australia (1788–1850), British colonisation. The ...

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