''Scripsi'' was an

Australian Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal Aus ...

literary periodical published from 1981 to 1994 in

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 ...

, first from the English Department and subsequently from

Ormond College Ormond College is the largest of the residential colleges of the University of Melbourne located in the city of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It is home to around 350 undergraduates, 90 graduates and 35 professorial and academic residents. H ...

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 ...

. Its name comes from

Pontius Pilate Pontius Pilate (; ) was the Roman administration of Judaea (AD 6–135), fifth governor of the Judaea (Roman province), Roman province of Judaea, serving under Emperor Tiberius from 26/27 to 36/37 AD. He is best known for being the official wh ...

's assertion "''

Quod scripsi, scripsi ' (Latin for "What I have written, I have written") is a list of Latin phrases, Latin phrase. It was most famously used by Pontius Pilate in the Bible in response to the Jewish priests who objected to his writing "King of the Jews" on the sign (' ...

''" (What I have written, I have written).

History and profile

''Scripsi'' was founded in 1981 by Michael Heyward and

Peter Craven Peter Theodore Craven
, fansite biography by Jim Blanchard. (accessed 12 July 2006). (21 June 1934 – ...

, who met while studying at the University of Melbourne. Craven and Heyward co-edited the journal until 1989, when Heyward left. For many years, the poetry editor was John Forbes and the graphics editor was

Bill Henson Bill Henson (born 7 October 1955) is an Australian contemporary art photographer. Art Henson has exhibited nationally and internationally in galleries such as the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York, the Venice Biennale, the National ...

. Associate Editors included Penny Hueston, Philippa Hawker, Owen Richardson and Andrew Rutherford. The latter two were briefly co-editors, in 1993–4. Editorial assistants included Rosemary Hunter and

Rosemary Sorensen Rosemary Sorensen (born 1954) is an Australian journalist, editor, and literary critic previously working for ''The Australian'', then for the '' Bendigo Weekly''.3RRR 3RRR (pronounced "Three Triple R", or simply "Triple R") is an Australian community radio station, based in Melbourne. 3RRR first commenced broadcasting in 1976 from the studios of 3ST, the student radio station of the Royal Melbourne Instit ...

. In 1989 a single number was published by Penguin Books Australia Ltd. From 1991 to 1994 the magazine was published by Oxford University Press. Otherwise later numbers were described as published 'at' Ormond College. The magazine was widely regarded at the time as one of the world's finest literary magazines.David Lehman, ''

Newsweek ''Newsweek'' is an American weekly news magazine based in New York City. Founded as a weekly print magazine in 1933, it was widely distributed during the 20th century and has had many notable editors-in-chief. It is currently co-owned by Dev P ...

'',

Manning Clark Charles Manning Hope Clark, (3 March 1915 – 23 May 1991) was an Australian historian and the author of the best-known general history of Australia, his six-volume ''A History of Australia'', published between 1962 and 1987. He has been descri ...

John Ashbery John Lawrence Ashbery (July 28, 1927 – September 3, 2017) was an American poet and art critic. Ashbery is considered the most influential American poet of his time. Oxford University literary critic John Bayley wrote that Ashbery "sounded, in ...

, quoted in the Special Penguin Issue. It published a wide variety of Australian writers, in fiction, poetry and non-fiction, and attracted contributions from world-famous literary figures such as

Susan Sontag Susan Lee Sontag (; January 16, 1933 – December 28, 2004) was an American writer, critic, and public intellectual. She mostly wrote essays, but also published novels; she published her first major work, the essay "Notes on "Camp", Notes on 'Ca ...

Salman Rushdie Sir Ahmed Salman Rushdie ( ; born 19 June 1947) is an Indian-born British and American novelist. His work often combines magic realism with historical fiction and primarily deals with connections, disruptions, and migrations between Eastern wor ...

Georges Perec Georges Perec (; 7 March 1936 – 3 March 1982) was a French novelist, filmmaker, documentalist, and essayist. He was a member of the Oulipo group. His father died as a soldier early in the Second World War and his mother was killed in the Ho ...

August Kleinzahler August Kleinzahler (born December 10, 1949) is an American poet. Life and career Until he was 11, he went to school in Fort Lee, New Jersey, where he grew up. He then commuted to the Horace Mann School in the Bronx, graduating in 1967. He wrote p ...

and others. Ostensibly a quarterly, ''Scripsi's'' gradually slowing publishing rate, rarely managing more than three issues a year, led 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 ...

to withdraw funding in 1994, and the magazine closed the same year.

References

{{Reflist 1981 establishments in Australia 1994 disestablishments in Australia Defunct literary magazines published in Australia Magazines established in 1981 Magazines disestablished in 1994 Magazines published in Melbourne Quarterly magazines published in Australia