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'In preparation for our last issue, I felt that the small gesture of reaching out through a letter to you all might be a fitting acknowledgement of the extreme circumstances in which we found ourselves. Naively, I did not expect that come November we would find ourselves still facing the pandemic as a crisis. We have been lucky here in Perth, to see life return to something resembling ‘normal’. But I’m conscious that elsewhere, both in Australia and overseas, others have not been so fortunate.' (Editorial introduction)
Notes
Only literary material within AustLit's scope individually indexed. Other material in this issue includes:
Muskrat Morning by Robert Alexander
Deer Isle, at the Cottage by William Virgil Davis
Begun Things by Patrick Deeley
iPaint by John Saul
Heirlooms by Evangeline Riddiford Graham
Contents
* Contents derived from the 2020 version. Please note that other versions/publications may contain different contents. See the Publication Details.
'The COVID-19 pandemic has illuminated the significance of books and reading in people’s lives. In lockdown, or ‘iso’, as the ubiquitous experience of home isolation is now almost fondly referred to, bookrelated activities are thriving. A survey taken in the United Kingdom during May 2020 showed that during the pandemic, time spent reading had doubled on average amongst respondents, with genre fiction, particularly thriller and crime, topping the list of favoured books (Flood). Around the world, online book discussion forums are booming, through platforms such as Twitter, Instagram and the iconic medium of this time, Zoom (Hunt). Literary festivals have gone online; reading events (meet the author, book launches, public readings), usually staged in physical spaces to local audiences, are now virtual, and theoretically accessible to all, across time zones and oceans. Bookshops, forced to close or to heavily constrain their opening times, are busily sending out online sales, while libraries have introduced home delivery services where restrictions allow.' (Introduction)
(p. 18-35)
Fibro Dazei"In the afternoon, kangaroos descend",Peter Ramm,
single work poetry
(p. 36-37)
