Cirrus@Austlit

'The author was co-convener of the Australian Capital Territory’s first government- certified, carbon-neutral conference, Out of the Ordinary: On Poetry and the World, 5– 7 December 2022. This paper centres upon a case study of that conference, intended to serve as a model for future such events. Bookending that case study are two discussions. The first addresses recent scholarship on the internationalisation of the university sector and the conflict it poses to concurrent policy drives towards environmentally sustainable operations. The literature on sustainable conferencing reveals the extent of that conflict, but also contains many practical measures for staging responsible events that involve genuine emissions reductions. Some of those measures feature within the poetry conference case study: vegetarian catering, eradication of printed materials, free registration for Indigenous delegates, compulsory travel offsetting, deliberate regionalisation. A final section considers problems with the very idea of carbon neutrality – as a concept based in “net” accounting practices that equate measures intended to affect the removal of emissions with no emissions – in the interest of driving further change in our conferencing practices.' 

(Publication abstract)

'This paper examines the concept of communitas in practice (as a loanword from cultural anthropology and social sciences), what it is and what it can offer creative writing, to test whether it might apply to different creative practice settings. Specifically for this essay, the setting is WrICE (Writers Immersion and Cultural Exchange program) and the research project examining WrICE as the object of its enquiry (Australian Research Council Discovery Project entitled “Connecting Asia-Pacific Literary Cultures: Grounds, Encounter and Exchange”). If we think of communitas in the way anthropologist and poet Edith “Edie” Turner likes to describe it as (un)structured ritual, a condition for creativity, a space where the intensity of feeling or joy can arise (2012), how might a communitas unfolding look and feel as we practice creative writing? How might we think about communitas and what would it mean to do communitas as creative writing method, as drawing-as-method? Also, how might communitas be performed on the page in an academic context such as this: can we as researchers enact or embody communitas?' (Publication abstract) 

'This article identifies a cohort of screenplays and screenwriters recurrent on university screenwriting reading lists – a “screenwriting canon” –dominated by hegemonic identities. We identify some reasons for the perpetuation of this canon and its implications and limitations. We are especially concerned by the “hidden curriculum” within tertiary screenwriting courses and seek to expose the industry biases that shape its content and distribution. We find that the screenwriting canon, as distinct from other modes of creative writing and media practice, is shaped by a specific set of industrial values originating in Hollywood, which are expressed through regimes of access to certain texts and not others. These effectively determine what is allowed to count as “good” screenwriting. We argue that if the reading, analysis, discussion, performance and rewriting of screenplays is to be a useful tool for students then access to a greater diversity of screenplays is sorely needed. As educators, it is our responsibility to interrogate and critique the values of the screen industry rather than reproduce them. We make a case for accessing a wider range of screenplays and for introducing students to industry in a way that emphasises “work-ready” values, such as analysing power relations and ethical representation.' 

(Publication abstract)

'The exegesis, as an accompanying component of critical work in creative writing, has sparked many insightful discussions. In this article, I provide a brief overview of the evolutionary nature of the exegesis in Australia and outline important features which a successful exegesis may incorporate. I will then analyse four distinct relationships that play an integral part in the knowledge production of writing an exegesis. I argue that each relationship – exegesis + creative; exegesis + supervisor; exegesis + examiner; exegesis + self – unfolds within specific methods and processes. By analysing the method of storying ideas, I highlight how the exegesis demonstrates an original contribution to knowledge, not only as a final product but as a dynamic space of becoming through the bringing together of different knowledges the writer-researcher has gained from these relationships.' (Publication abstract) 

'Trauma-informed practice is a strengths-based framework that guides the service provisions of the Australian healthcare and education sectors. Based on Mental Health Australia’s (Kezelman, 2014) definition of trauma-informed care, the principles underpinning a trauma-informed approach to practice include safety, trustworthiness, opportunity for choice, collaboration, empowerment and respect for diversity. While there is significant research on trauma-informed care and trauma-informed pedagogy in both national and international contexts, there is a dearth of literature on trauma- informed editing practice. Given that writing itself is a vehicle for processing and sharing traumatic experience, the lack of directives around editing potentially traumatic content and working with authors who have histories of trauma is concerning, with risks of harm to both the author and editor if adequate provisions are not in place. This qualitative study reviews existing trauma-informed frameworks and conducts a field survey of practising editors who self-identify as working, or having worked, with traumatic material or trauma survivors. The use of trauma-informed tools in a creative industry necessitates a cultural and philosophical shift and the findings from this research corroborate the need for both formalised guidelines, and for future editors to be explicitly educated in these practices.' (Publication abstract) 

'There is a growing body of literature that studies the emotional impact of engaging regularly with climate change in a professional capacity, with a particular focus on climate scientists and activists. However, the experience of climate fiction writers is yet to be investigated, despite the many years such writers must spend deeply focusing on the issue. This project fills this gap by interviewing 16 Australian and New Zealand writers of climate fiction, focusing on how the different stages of the publishing cycle – research, writing and marketing – affected their wellbeing. While there was a diversity of experiences, we have identified a number of trends. Despite some confronting moments, the research and writing phases represented a positive experience, with writers gaining a sense of control and purpose in the face of the immense climate change problem. For many writers, though, the post-publication phase produced more difficult emotions, including feelings of guilt over inaction in the face of the crisis, frustration at reader responses, and the pressure of being construed as climate change experts in interviews and at festival events.' (Publication abstract) 

'This article introduces the term creative futurism to distinguish a type of speculative writing from traditional creative writing practices, specifically those of science fiction. Creative futurism is not a clearly defined field or method of practice but rather a loose array of approaches, examples and contexts, often involving collaborations between writers and stakeholders from other fields. We define it as work which is futures- oriented, uses elements of the traditional creative writing skillset, but is constrained by an additional set of parameters (their purpose, context and requirements). To support this definition, science fiction author Joanne Anderton discusses her experience writing creative, near-future scenarios about the deployment of drones for Trusted Autonomous Systems (a kind of creative futurism in practice). She outlines how she and her stakeholders conceptualised the writing and how she applied traditional creative writing skills within this context. Building upon this, author and critic Kathleen Jennings identifies aesthetic features of traditionally published examples of creative futurism: its heightened focus on technology, its realist-rationalist tone, and the resulting subordination of other aspects of craft such as characterisation. We conclude by discussing aspects of writing practice that might be applied in the future to energise this new form of writing.' (Publication abstract) 

Epigraph:

Of flashing knives, whirling sticks, bursting bombs,
And accompanying gutturals and fricatives of hate,
And evil that requires no axis
To turn on, being everywhere –
Kaiser Haq, ‘Published in the Streets of Dhaka’