Magazine

Until last year, I was pretty strictly a ‘books’ person. Nothing slimmer than a novella or a well edited poetry collection, thanks. But, living in Melbourne, there’s not much you can do to resist the embarrassment of riches our magazine/journal culture displays. (And, being the online editor for Kill Your Darlings, it gets a bit awkward if you’re always trying to avoid the rest of the staff.)

Whether it’s unearthing the newest, bravest writers; juxtaposing beautiful artwork with elegant verbiage; or throwing exciting ideas at the wall to see if they stick, there’s no doubt that magazines and journals have an important role in our literary culture. This year at the Melbourne Writers Festival, this vitally important and vibrant branch of the literary tree will be celebrated over several events.

Everyone worth their morning porridge knows they can go to Meanjin, Overland and Going Down Swinging for literary and cultural stimulation. These three journals are celebrating birthdays (70th, 56th and 30th respectively), and to celebrate, they’re holding a free event at the Festival Club on August 29. They’ll discuss where they’ve come from and where they’re going. Go on, and bring some platinum, emerald and pearls with you. (Okay, those are wedding presents, but it’s nice to bring something.)

The triple birthday party isn’t the only opportunity to get to know Australian purveyors of new writing. On both festival weekends, you’ll find the new free event ‘Magazine’ in a refurbished shipping container on River Terrace. Eight of Australia’s magazines and journals have curated entertainment for the reading public that shows what they’re all about. From Brisbane/Melbourne biannual journal The Lifted Brow, which published David Foster Wallace in its sixth issue, to Melbourne literary magazine harvest, whose Opinionated Editorial in their latest issue sparked passionate debate at Overland’s blog, they’ve all got something different to give.

Each of the journals is bringing an entourage, including some of Australia’s most exciting talent. I’m going to be rubbing shoulders with Benjamin Law and Michaela McGuire during the Kill Your Darlings slot, Text Publishing’s Michael Heyward will visit with Alice Gage of Ampersand, and Toni Jordan and Mic Looby will provide the ballast for The Big Issue.

A bookish barrage, you say? See you there.

Hello again.

Hello again. Remember me? Probably not. That’s okay. It’s Estelle Tang here – remember? I blogged for the Melbourne Writers Festival last year. ESTELLE. Okay, never mind. I’m pretty sure we went over this last time. No?

I work at Oxford University Press as an editor, and in my spare time I’m the online editor at new literary/cultural journal Kill Your Darlings. I’m also on the editorial committee of new audio journal Paper Radio. Yes, I suppose it keeps me pretty busy. What’s an online editor? Um, I commission book reviews, conduct interviews with writers and publishers for the blog, and keep the website up to date … are you falling asleep? Hey, come on now.

I also write book reviews. You … want me to prove it? Okay – that’s a bit aggressive – I occasionally write reviews for Radio National’s The Book Show and The Big Issue. And my writing has been published in harvest magazine and The Emerging Writers’ Festival Reader. What? No, I’m not … I’m flattered that you … yes, I’m sure I’m not Alice Pung.

I guess they let me blog here because of my other blog, 3000 BOOKS. I started it because I wanted to start reading more, about 50 books a year or so … oh? That’s great. Speed reading is a really important skill. 3000 a year? Wow. That’s – really something. No, I really am impressed. That’s a lot of books. What’s my favourite book? I don’t really have … yours is The Odyssey in the original Greek? That’s just super. Really.

Well, I was going to say that you’ll find me hanging around the Melbourne Writers Festival blog over the next few months, but I think I’m going to go to the bar instead. No, I’m not a lawyer … never mind.