Catriona Menzies-Pike
@catrionamp.bsky.social
Editor and critic at large. SYD →YVR. I write a newsletter about literature and the internet called Infra Dig.
https://infra-dig.ghost.io
https://infra-dig.ghost.io
Who else remembers Pyne’s extemporising on Australian history when he was education minister? Absolute rubbish appointment
What a brain-dead dumb, completely shite appointment. @tonyburkemp.bsky.social
November 20, 2025 at 3:59 AM
Who else remembers Pyne’s extemporising on Australian history when he was education minister? Absolute rubbish appointment
Reposted by Catriona Menzies-Pike
Catriona Menzies-Pike on ‘critical provincialism’: ‘I’d advocate for a set of reading practices that stay close to the contours of place and culture, that let themselves be informed by topography and history’. Yes!
I wrote a long piece for the SRB on Charlotte Wood’s Stone Yard Devotional, international literary success, and the heightened tension between universalising and provincial readings when Australian novels go global.
sydneyreviewofbooks.com/reviews/the-...
sydneyreviewofbooks.com/reviews/the-...
The Monastery and the Monaro | Sydney Review of Books
How do Australian writers find an overseas readership? Reviewing the highly acclaimed Stone Yard Devotional, Catriona Menzies-Pike surveys the critical oversights and abstractions that allow stories f...
sydneyreviewofbooks.com
November 20, 2025 at 12:53 AM
Catriona Menzies-Pike on ‘critical provincialism’: ‘I’d advocate for a set of reading practices that stay close to the contours of place and culture, that let themselves be informed by topography and history’. Yes!
Reposted by Catriona Menzies-Pike
I wrote a long piece for the SRB on Charlotte Wood’s Stone Yard Devotional, international literary success, and the heightened tension between universalising and provincial readings when Australian novels go global.
sydneyreviewofbooks.com/reviews/the-...
sydneyreviewofbooks.com/reviews/the-...
The Monastery and the Monaro | Sydney Review of Books
How do Australian writers find an overseas readership? Reviewing the highly acclaimed Stone Yard Devotional, Catriona Menzies-Pike surveys the critical oversights and abstractions that allow stories f...
sydneyreviewofbooks.com
November 18, 2025 at 2:38 AM
I wrote a long piece for the SRB on Charlotte Wood’s Stone Yard Devotional, international literary success, and the heightened tension between universalising and provincial readings when Australian novels go global.
sydneyreviewofbooks.com/reviews/the-...
sydneyreviewofbooks.com/reviews/the-...
If, when I wrote this piece in 2022, you’d asked me whether Boy Swallows Universe would’ve been judged best book of the century so far in a poll of 288K readers, I think I would’ve said, yeah naaaaah. But here we are.
Re-reading @catrionamp.bsky.social's review of ABC Radio National listeners' dismal pick for best novel of the 21st century to calm myself down. sydneyreviewofbooks.com/reviews/crit...
Critic Swallows Book | Sydney Review of Books
To call into question the literary value of Dalton’s fiction is not to disqualify the pleasure and imaginative release that hundreds of thousands of readers have found in his novels, especially Boy Sw...
sydneyreviewofbooks.com
November 19, 2025 at 11:52 PM
If, when I wrote this piece in 2022, you’d asked me whether Boy Swallows Universe would’ve been judged best book of the century so far in a poll of 288K readers, I think I would’ve said, yeah naaaaah. But here we are.
Reposted by Catriona Menzies-Pike
@secondmentions.bsky.social 'the polarizing spread'
A man in Australia is challenging a state's ban on Vegemite in prisons, claiming that denying him the polarizing spread violates his human rights.
Murderer sues for right to eat Vegemite in prison
A convicted murderer in Australia is challenging a state's ban on Vegemite in prisons, claiming that denying him the polarizing spread violates his human rights.
bit.ly
November 18, 2025 at 1:16 PM
@secondmentions.bsky.social 'the polarizing spread'
I wrote a long piece for the SRB on Charlotte Wood’s Stone Yard Devotional, international literary success, and the heightened tension between universalising and provincial readings when Australian novels go global.
sydneyreviewofbooks.com/reviews/the-...
sydneyreviewofbooks.com/reviews/the-...
The Monastery and the Monaro | Sydney Review of Books
How do Australian writers find an overseas readership? Reviewing the highly acclaimed Stone Yard Devotional, Catriona Menzies-Pike surveys the critical oversights and abstractions that allow stories f...
sydneyreviewofbooks.com
November 18, 2025 at 2:38 AM
I wrote a long piece for the SRB on Charlotte Wood’s Stone Yard Devotional, international literary success, and the heightened tension between universalising and provincial readings when Australian novels go global.
sydneyreviewofbooks.com/reviews/the-...
sydneyreviewofbooks.com/reviews/the-...
Reposted by Catriona Menzies-Pike
I signed off on my review of The Mushroom Tapes before the book got the gold plate publicity treatment over the weekend. When I write that it’s hard to differentiate this book from the torrents of chatter about the case, it’s not a positive evaluation.
www.theguardian.com/books/2025/n...
www.theguardian.com/books/2025/n...
The Mushroom Tapes review – Erin Patterson through the eyes of Helen Garner, Chloe Hooper and Sarah Krasnostein
This account of what the three authors observed during Patterson’s triple murder trial does resemble a podcast transcript at times, but it is extremely readable
www.theguardian.com
November 10, 2025 at 6:59 PM
I signed off on my review of The Mushroom Tapes before the book got the gold plate publicity treatment over the weekend. When I write that it’s hard to differentiate this book from the torrents of chatter about the case, it’s not a positive evaluation.
www.theguardian.com/books/2025/n...
www.theguardian.com/books/2025/n...
I signed off on my review of The Mushroom Tapes before the book got the gold plate publicity treatment over the weekend. When I write that it’s hard to differentiate this book from the torrents of chatter about the case, it’s not a positive evaluation.
www.theguardian.com/books/2025/n...
www.theguardian.com/books/2025/n...
The Mushroom Tapes review – Erin Patterson through the eyes of Helen Garner, Chloe Hooper and Sarah Krasnostein
This account of what the three authors observed during Patterson’s triple murder trial does resemble a podcast transcript at times, but it is extremely readable
www.theguardian.com
November 10, 2025 at 6:59 PM
I signed off on my review of The Mushroom Tapes before the book got the gold plate publicity treatment over the weekend. When I write that it’s hard to differentiate this book from the torrents of chatter about the case, it’s not a positive evaluation.
www.theguardian.com/books/2025/n...
www.theguardian.com/books/2025/n...
The defenestration of Andrew is a good start. But why stop there? www.newstatesman.com/politics/202...
October 30, 2025 at 11:20 PM
The defenestration of Andrew is a good start. But why stop there? www.newstatesman.com/politics/202...
I suppose not taking a massive step backwards counts as a win. I wrote for Crikey about copyright, AI, Anthropic and the TDM exemption that the Albanese government has finally ruled out.
If the Productivity Commission had any credibility to provide advice on either copyright or cultural policy in the first place, it has squandered it.
Sure, tech giants can't train AI on copyright content for now, but the battle isn't over
www.crikey.com.au
October 30, 2025 at 11:11 PM
I suppose not taking a massive step backwards counts as a win. I wrote for Crikey about copyright, AI, Anthropic and the TDM exemption that the Albanese government has finally ruled out.
Some personal news: I’m a baseball fan now. 🤷♀️
Rufus Wainwright sings O Canada in English and French at World Series — and changes lyrics to “only *us* command.”
That’s some #Montréal spirit, là!
www.youtube.com/watch?v=MYA4...
That’s some #Montréal spirit, là!
www.youtube.com/watch?v=MYA4...
RUFUS WAINWRIGHT: O CANADA: MLB WORLD SERIES 2O25 GAME 5: TORONTO BLUE JAYS VS. LOS ANGELES DODGERS
YouTube video by SPORTS VIDEO CHANNEL
www.youtube.com
October 30, 2025 at 2:13 AM
Some personal news: I’m a baseball fan now. 🤷♀️
Reposted by Catriona Menzies-Pike
Canada will remember.
October 29, 2025 at 2:39 AM
Canada will remember.
This is why they’re going after the right to culture, per @annakornbluh.bsky.social and @isanchezprado.bsky.social; because they cannot control it, do not understand it, and truly fear it (as well they should).
As for desperation and self-degradation, Stephen Miller obviously speaks as an expert.
As for desperation and self-degradation, Stephen Miller obviously speaks as an expert.
Robert De Niro is in such disrepute within his community that it has been nearly 18 months since he was nominated for an Oscar
October 24, 2025 at 7:50 PM
This is why they’re going after the right to culture, per @annakornbluh.bsky.social and @isanchezprado.bsky.social; because they cannot control it, do not understand it, and truly fear it (as well they should).
As for desperation and self-degradation, Stephen Miller obviously speaks as an expert.
As for desperation and self-degradation, Stephen Miller obviously speaks as an expert.
This is truly bizarre. It’s one thing to apply for funding and complain when you don’t get it - quite another to complain about not getting funding that you didn’t apply for. The details here about contracts with artists are truly eye-popping.
Truly disappointing to see Sculpture by the Sea complain about not receiving public funds they didn't apply for, to present the work of artists who they don't pay. Entitlement is not a criterion for securing arts grants.
www.smh.com.au/culture/art-...
www.smh.com.au/culture/art-...
‘Closed shop’: Sculpture by the Sea artists lash arts body over lack of funding
The popular outdoor sculpture exhibition was almost cancelled because of a lack of funding – now more than 100 artists have made an urgent plea.
www.smh.com.au
October 23, 2025 at 4:34 AM
This is truly bizarre. It’s one thing to apply for funding and complain when you don’t get it - quite another to complain about not getting funding that you didn’t apply for. The details here about contracts with artists are truly eye-popping.
Holy hell, I know I should just ignore the RN Top 100 books list, I know that there’s nothing new to say other than, didn’t the NYT do a slicker version of this last year?, but what an absolute nonsense this list makes of any notion of literary or aesthetic value. www.abc.net.au/listen/radio...
Radio National's Top 100 Books - ABC Radio National
Radio National's Top 100 Books of the past 25 years is here. Listen on Saturday 19 October and Sunday 20 October as we count down the books you voted as your favourites.
www.abc.net.au
October 19, 2025 at 10:18 PM
Holy hell, I know I should just ignore the RN Top 100 books list, I know that there’s nothing new to say other than, didn’t the NYT do a slicker version of this last year?, but what an absolute nonsense this list makes of any notion of literary or aesthetic value. www.abc.net.au/listen/radio...
I’m going to re-up my own piece on BSU. Back in 2022 I wrote that Dalton was the novelist-laureate of Scott Morrison’s Australia. Why is it that readers can’t move on from this guy and his retrograde fantasies? sydneyreviewofbooks.com/reviews/crit...
October 19, 2025 at 9:26 PM
I’m going to re-up my own piece on BSU. Back in 2022 I wrote that Dalton was the novelist-laureate of Scott Morrison’s Australia. Why is it that readers can’t move on from this guy and his retrograde fantasies? sydneyreviewofbooks.com/reviews/crit...
FFS Boy Swallows Universe might be the most popular Australian book of the century but I will go to my grave insisting that it is sloppy, racist conservative drivel, that its breathless hug it out / bootstraps ethos represents the worst of us www.abc.net.au/listen/radio...
Radio National's Top 100 Books - ABC Radio National
Radio National's Top 100 Books of the past 25 years is here. Listen on Saturday 19 October and Sunday 20 October as we count down the books you voted as your favourites.
www.abc.net.au
October 19, 2025 at 2:37 PM
FFS Boy Swallows Universe might be the most popular Australian book of the century but I will go to my grave insisting that it is sloppy, racist conservative drivel, that its breathless hug it out / bootstraps ethos represents the worst of us www.abc.net.au/listen/radio...
What’s this? Yet more research concluding that robust public investment in the arts yields economic benefits?
A great outcome for Ireland, and a rebuke to all those tired cliches about freeloading artists sapping the resources of the state.
But also, art enriches us all, economic benefits or no.
A great outcome for Ireland, and a rebuke to all those tired cliches about freeloading artists sapping the resources of the state.
But also, art enriches us all, economic benefits or no.
Damn. This is amazing. £325 per week, paid monthly, for 3 years - and the result was a profit for the Irish economy:
www.citizensinformation.ie/en/employmen...
www.citizensinformation.ie/en/employmen...
October 7, 2025 at 4:14 AM
What’s this? Yet more research concluding that robust public investment in the arts yields economic benefits?
A great outcome for Ireland, and a rebuke to all those tired cliches about freeloading artists sapping the resources of the state.
But also, art enriches us all, economic benefits or no.
A great outcome for Ireland, and a rebuke to all those tired cliches about freeloading artists sapping the resources of the state.
But also, art enriches us all, economic benefits or no.
Reposted by Catriona Menzies-Pike
New:
A deep dive with some alarming new revelations on the silencing of one of the few remaining independent progressive voices in Australian media. Who killed Meanjin?
A deep dive with some alarming new revelations on the silencing of one of the few remaining independent progressive voices in Australian media. Who killed Meanjin?
Who killed Meanjin?
And why won’t Melbourne University Publishing engage with efforts to save it?
www.crikey.com.au
September 16, 2025 at 5:59 AM
New:
A deep dive with some alarming new revelations on the silencing of one of the few remaining independent progressive voices in Australian media. Who killed Meanjin?
A deep dive with some alarming new revelations on the silencing of one of the few remaining independent progressive voices in Australian media. Who killed Meanjin?
September 17, 2025 at 9:22 PM
Reposted by Catriona Menzies-Pike
"It's been put to me that literary magazines are ephemeral, and when established ones close, their absence creates a space for new magazines to thrive... And yet in Australia in 2025, the space left when a cultural organisation closes is hardly fertile terrain. It's more like a vacuum"
New newsletter out in the world: just one more thing about the Meanjin debacle; a 1963 open letter on funding Ozlit mags; a tough review of a book that will sell; a bad date movie.
infra-dig.ghost.io/so-long-mean...
infra-dig.ghost.io/so-long-mean...
So long, Meanjin
Meanjin down the drain, criticism still in crisis – plus Wuthering Heights and a withering review
infra-dig.ghost.io
September 11, 2025 at 9:58 PM
"It's been put to me that literary magazines are ephemeral, and when established ones close, their absence creates a space for new magazines to thrive... And yet in Australia in 2025, the space left when a cultural organisation closes is hardly fertile terrain. It's more like a vacuum"
New newsletter out in the world: just one more thing about the Meanjin debacle; a 1963 open letter on funding Ozlit mags; a tough review of a book that will sell; a bad date movie.
infra-dig.ghost.io/so-long-mean...
infra-dig.ghost.io/so-long-mean...
So long, Meanjin
Meanjin down the drain, criticism still in crisis – plus Wuthering Heights and a withering review
infra-dig.ghost.io
September 11, 2025 at 9:43 PM
New newsletter out in the world: just one more thing about the Meanjin debacle; a 1963 open letter on funding Ozlit mags; a tough review of a book that will sell; a bad date movie.
infra-dig.ghost.io/so-long-mean...
infra-dig.ghost.io/so-long-mean...
Reposted by Catriona Menzies-Pike
diving back into the newsletter with a new outlook www.the-end.news/after-kirk-r...
After Kirk, right-wingers double down on eliminating opponents
As of this writing, there are few solid clues as to the identity or affiliations of the individual/s responsible for the assassination of conservative commentator Charlie Kirk on Wednesday at at Utah ...
www.the-end.news
September 11, 2025 at 9:03 PM
diving back into the newsletter with a new outlook www.the-end.news/after-kirk-r...
I wrote for Crikey about the decision to shut Meanjin down - and to sever a connection to a hopeful progressive vision of Australian culture
Opinion | Melbourne University Press says it shut down Meanjin for "purely financial reasons". Perhaps the university could have used some of its $273 million surplus to safeguard the seminal journal, @catrionamp.bsky.social writes.
Meanjin's 'financial' shutdown doesn't add up
www.crikey.com.au
September 8, 2025 at 3:01 AM
I wrote for Crikey about the decision to shut Meanjin down - and to sever a connection to a hopeful progressive vision of Australian culture
I am distressed and angered by this decision - but want to interject that in the current dire Australian cultural funding environment, and in the context of equally dire cuts to universities, a few hundred thousand dollars is hardly a trivial demand. Our sector has been pared to the bones.
This, from Jonathan Green, pretty much sums it up: “Meanjin’s financial demand is trivial … a few hundred thousand dollars … the cultural loss of its death is as significant as it is tragic.”
www.crikey.com.au/2025/09/04/m...
www.crikey.com.au/2025/09/04/m...
Literary journal Meanjin to close after 85 years of publishing
Meanjin, a mainstay of Australia's cultural landscape and the nation's second-oldest literary publication, is shuttering after Melbourne University Publishing decided to cease financial support.
www.crikey.com.au
September 4, 2025 at 1:36 AM
I am distressed and angered by this decision - but want to interject that in the current dire Australian cultural funding environment, and in the context of equally dire cuts to universities, a few hundred thousand dollars is hardly a trivial demand. Our sector has been pared to the bones.