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Save Meanjin @savemeanjin.bsky.social · 5d

"It took more than an hour after the story broke, and was covered by several mastheads, to receive official notice from MUP; a group email confirming Meanjin’s immediate closure." ~Emma Sutherland, Archives Editor at Meanjin in @artshub.bsky.social this weekend.
www.artshub.com.au/news/opinion...

I was the Archives Editor at Meanjin – its closure is baffling

As Archives Editor, Emma Sutherland had ‘read everything’ in Meanjin's past, but was unprepared for its troubled present.

www.artshub.com.au

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Save Meanjin @savemeanjin.bsky.social · 5d

Hey @fableration.bsky.social - we love to see it. We're in touch with several groups having similar conversations and would love to chat! Can you please reach out at [email protected] so we can organise a discussion?

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Save Meanjin @savemeanjin.bsky.social · 5d

Hey @simonharding.bsky.social can you share your email at [email protected] so we can chat - we've got several groups we're in touch with

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Save Meanjin @savemeanjin.bsky.social · 6d

The silencing continues...

The National Press Club of Australia, caving to the Israel lobby, Cancels My Talk on Our Betrayal of Palestinian Journalists open.substack.com/pub/chrished...

The National Press Club of Australia, caving to the Israeli lobby, Cancels My Talk on Our Betrayal of Palestinian Journalists

The National Press Club of Australia cancelled my talk on how the media, by amplifying Israeli lies, have betrayed Palestinian journalists, 278 of whom have been assassinated by Israel.

open.substack.com

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Lucy Hamilton @lucyham.bsky.social · 9d

In 2024, Meanjin published this essay by my father & myself on Australia’s democracy crisis as displayed through the Voice referendum symptoms. Now that this 85yo Aus cultural institution is being destroyed by neolib visigoths at Melbourne Uni, you should have it from behind paywall. #auspol

The Year in Truth-Telling

The Voice and Australia's democracy crisis

dire state of truth in Australia's civic space crystalised in 2023. We had seen the waning influence of News Corp's impact on our elections and assumed it meant that enough of us were becoming inoculated against the propaganda.
The defeat of the notoriously mendacious Coalition government might have signalled a ceasefire, a moment for the 'conservative' parties to rediscover their integrity. We had underestimated, however, the strategising of vested interests. The year also revealed starkly what happens when the world's instant communication platform, X (formerly Twitter), is owned by one malevolent billionaire. All these forces converged in a grim battle over the Voice to Parliament referendum.
The overwhelming rejection of Scott Morrison's Coalition government in 2022 had been in large part an indictment of its lack of transparency and integrity.
Revelation had followed revelation about the brazen pork-barrelling undertaken with the help of colour-coded spreadsheets kept in a ministerial office. The flood of deception, echoing Donald Trump and Boris Johnson, was such that Bernard Keane assembled a whole book on it.? Solid gold Liberal seats were lost to community independents known as the 'teals' who were focused on climate action and integrity.
Anthony Albanese's government was sworn in with…

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Mez of Gryffsville @mezofgryffsville.bsky.social · 12d

Making an effort to read the Australian literary mags that I subscribe to (which had included #Meanjin) - rewarded by reading "Extinctions" by @dani-netherclift.bsky.social on @islandmag.bsky.social islandmag.com/read/extinct...

Extinctions – by Dani Netherclift | Australian Literary Arts Magazine | ISLAND

The threat AI poses to writers and the art of writing seems to have arisen swiftly. Who threw open those doors? What is an entry? A door is an aperture to possibility. These are important concerns for...

islandmag.com

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Lucy Hamilton @lucyham.bsky.social · 11d

Re Andrew Hastie
Since the creeps at Melbourne University are shutting down Meanjin, I am bringing my essay out from the paywall. It’s on how “Christian” is being used to bring together a ratty coalition against “woke” , here at ARC, Hastie on that Board. #auspol

www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/l6oxr...

Mind-numbing sleep-woking
The word 'woke' is tiresome. More though, it's a cliché that terminates our ability to debate. In Australian civic discourse, and internationally, the word is used to demarcate lines of battle. In 2025, Australian politicians are hoping it can turn a motley coalition of voters into the government's base.
Lucy Hamilton
Lucy Hamilton is a doctoral student at UTS and a writer who focuses on the impact of the international Right on Australian politics and society. This research is supported by an Australian
Government Research
Training Program
Scholarship. She works on Woi-wurrung and Wurundjeri lands.
Woke emerged as a concept in US Black culture in the 1920s to signal people who were aware of how the system trapped them in disadvantage. Later, progressives borrowed (stole?) the label to celebrate that awareness more broadly, with regard to varied subjects like human rights for minorities, women, workers and refugees. By 2020, the term had become established as the right's latest slur for the 'politically correct.

See linked essay for more…

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Tiny Owl Workshop @tinyowlworkshop.bsky.social · 11d

This is an excellent and frustrating piece on US publishing, which also speaks to the recent shuttering of #meanjin in Aus.

Gita Ralleigh @gitaralleigh.bsky.social · 11d

Great piece by @tajjaisen.bsky.social
thewalrus.ca/the-publishi...

The Publishing Industry Has a Gambling Problem | The Walrus

Companies keep betting on the next bestseller. Literature is poorer for it

thewalrus.ca

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Save Meanjin @savemeanjin.bsky.social · 9d

🙌 @lucyham.bsky.social

Lucy Hamilton @lucyham.bsky.social · 9d

In 2024, Meanjin published this essay by my father & myself on Australia’s democracy crisis as displayed through the Voice referendum symptoms. Now that this 85yo Aus cultural institution is being destroyed by neolib visigoths at Melbourne Uni, you should have it from behind paywall. #auspol

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mayiparttula.bsky.social @mayiparttula.bsky.social · 16d

What is the value of Meanjin? We’ve done some calculations – and it’s not about money
theconversation.com/what-is-the-...

What is the value of Meanjin? We’ve done some calculations – and it’s not about money

New research considers the true value of Meanjin, using publicly available data. The journal has trained generations of Australian writers and editors.

theconversation.com

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Esther Anatolitis @anatolitis.bsky.social · 12d

and not a class hierarchy permanently fixed time; in a democracy, we decide. My next book—out Wednesday—speaks to the need for renewed democracy movements that question privilege and power. Seems quite timely today in light of the prime minister's remarks: estheranatolitis.net/2025/05/28/w...

When Australia Became a Republic: out 1 October 2025

Monash University Press: In the National Interest seriesPublished October 2025 Australia became a republic many years ago—culturally, if not yet constitutionally. We’ve long stopped identifyin…

estheranatolitis.net

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Esther Anatolitis @anatolitis.bsky.social · 12d

recognising that tax incentives and disincentives communicate their own ethical and cultural messages as well as financial ones. Who we privilege financially in a democracy says everything about the people we are today, and the Australia we want to become. Who we privilege is a choice that we make,

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Esther Anatolitis @anatolitis.bsky.social · 12d

and that work has never seemed more crucial. Now more than ever, it requires all of us—and demands our very best.
Last week's Art of Tax Reform Summit (stay with me on this!) was a valuable first: govts are thinking well beyond subsidy, embedding the arts across policy and into treasury operations,

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Esther Anatolitis @anatolitis.bsky.social · 12d

Art, tenacity, democracy. The ways we create and experience new work, sustain the courage of our convictions, and make important decisions together: they're all intertwined. I've devoted my career to the ethics of creative and civic practice, working to expand public spaces and champion new voices,

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Save Meanjin @savemeanjin.bsky.social · 13d

Great idea…

divine beastmode @gunstreet.bsky.social · 14d

the post office is a public service. it doesn’t need to make money. public transit doesn’t need to make money. the library doesn’t need to make money. some things exist for the public good and we desperately need lawmakers to stop thinking about them in terms of capitalism. these are not businesses.

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Andy Tseng @andytseng.bsky.social · Sep 8

No, it doesn’t add up! #UniMelb should and can do better!
#Meanjin #MUP #Australia #Publishing #CultureMatters #AcademicSky #ResearchSky

gina rushton @ginarush.bsky.social · Sep 8

“When people talk about cultural vandalism and the insult to the legacy of Meanjin, I think they mean the decision to close the journal severs a connection to this history, to the possibility of a cultural nationalism that isn’t defined by racism & imperial fealty” www.crikey.com.au/2025/09/08/m...

Meanjin's 'financial' shutdown doesn't add up

Melbourne University reported a $273 million surplus in 2024 on an operating income of $3.2 billion. It is against these figures that the 'purely financial decision' to close Meanjin has raised eyebro...

www.crikey.com.au

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Michael West @michaelwestbiz.bsky.social · 28d

"Universities .. increasingly behave like real estate trusts and investment funds" say academics
#saveausunis #meanjin #ANU
michaelwest.com.au/uni-finances...

Uni finances. ANU and the commercialisation of higher ed - Michael West

Australian universities are more focused on financial performance and investments rather than their primary function of higher education.

michaelwest.com.au

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Libby Robin @libbydeq.bsky.social · 27d

Just like #Meanjin @savemeanjin.bsky.social MU can afford Meanjin. It is not about the money. It is another attack on the arts. Accountants do the bottom line. VCs do the choices.

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Patrick Allington @patrickallington.bsky.social · Sep 4

The report that Melbourne University Publishing will stop publishing the lit mag #Meanjin is bad news for readers, writers, thinkers, dreamers, doers, publishers, and policymakers - and for citizens who have never heard of or read Meanjin.
#Auslit #litmags
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

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Save Meanjin @savemeanjin.bsky.social · 14d

"The situation has created quite a stir as the official story about the magazine’s closure doesn’t seem to add up." @beckyltuch.bsky.social

open.substack.com/pub/litmagne...

On That Midnight Train to Lit Mags!

Meanjin closing & controversy; CIA's lit mag legacy; defining "literary fiction;" advice for submitting; $10,000 essay award; AWP's George Garrett Award; and more

open.substack.com

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Save Meanjin @savemeanjin.bsky.social · 14d

Have you given this interview a listen yet? @nickfeik.bsky.social research on @meanjin.bsky.social has been amazing and he summarises what he's learned here with @skykirkham.bsky.social

Nick Feik @nickfeik.bsky.social · 16d

Very glad to be able to speak to ABC RN's Arts in 30 about the closure of Meanjin.
Thanks, @skykirkham.bsky.social
Discussion starts at 20mins:

Arts In 30 - ABC listen

Your weekly dose of news and interviews from ABC Radio National’s arts and culture team.

www.abc.net.au

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Save Meanjin @savemeanjin.bsky.social · 14d

We’ll never agree with any White Australia position; past or present. The team here aren't connected to Overland but will read that essay closely and reach out if it fits. In the meantime, esp given their coverage of Eli's essay, they're likely open to hearing from you too! Thank you for sharing it

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Save Meanjin @savemeanjin.bsky.social · 14d

Thanks @noticingclimate.bsky.social ! We'd love to say it's lovely to be here, but, well... you know.

Jane Doe, Pretty Hate Machine @noticingclimate.bsky.social · 15d

Hello @savemeanjin.bsky.social, lovely to have you here, and a highly recommended follow. May we learn that hard earned lesson and separate creative arts from fossil fuels + their friends.

Jane Doe, Pretty Hate Machine @noticingclimate.bsky.social · Sep 4

How many lessons do we need to learn that fossil fuelled universities are killing people, planet + culture?
@anatolitis.bsky.social so many great women being caught up in this battlefield. May you go onto greater things without fossil fuels behind them.

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Jane Doe, Pretty Hate Machine @noticingclimate.bsky.social · 17d

Sherlock, no shit:
"But it’s worth reiterating that entrusting a literary journal — especially one such as Meanjin with a long-standing record of political integrity and radicalism, —to the custodianship of an institution like the University of Melbourne was bound not to last."

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Dr Alex Wodak AM @alexwodak.bsky.social · 16d

Small circulation periodicals like Meanjin Important to keep alive with small subsidy just like small community orchestras.

Nick Feik @nickfeik.bsky.social · 16d

Very glad to be able to speak to ABC RN's Arts in 30 about the closure of Meanjin.
Thanks, @skykirkham.bsky.social
Discussion starts at 20mins:

Arts In 30 - ABC listen

Your weekly dose of news and interviews from ABC Radio National’s arts and culture team.

www.abc.net.au

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