Cirrus@Austlit

'Welcome to Meniscus volume 12, issue 1. We weren’t sure, twelve years ago, if we’d be able to get a new literary journal up and running, and thanks to our contributors and readers, it has after all been possible. Thank you for making our work (a) possible and (b) so rewarding.

'Each set of new submissions seems to illuminate the concerns of the moment / month / year; and the works of prose and poetry submitted to this issue of Meniscus shimmer with a sense of change. This seems appropriate, since many of them were submitted at the turn of the year, and are being published at the turn of the season, but we suspect they also gesture toward a broader sense of alertness to current global events, shaded with the memory of both delights and griefs from the past. Not that it’s all doom and gloom; a number of pieces included in this issue of the journal have tongue firmly in cheek, or are actively humorous or wry. Writers look at the world, after all, and reflect on it, and in the voices of these writers – who are located right across the globe (a majority of them based in Australia or the USA, but with representation from every continent except Antarctica) – we see the many perspectives that can be brought to bear by people skilled in observing, thinking, and crafting literary works. 

'​We are trialling a different organisation of the issue, on this occasion. Traditionally, the works in Meniscus have been set in alphabetical order, by family name; for this issue we have attempted to find threads, patterns and moods, and to organise the pieces along these lines. We trust you enjoy reading them as much as we did; and can linger over the pieces and taste their flavours.'  (Jen Webb and Deb Wain Publication summary)

'Welcome to Meniscus volume 11, issue 2. We weren’t sure, eleven years ago, if we’d be able to get a new literary journal up and running, but thanks to our contributors and readers, it has after all happened. Thank you for making our work (a) possible and (b) so rewarding.

'For this issue, there was a very large submissions pile, both poetry and prose. This means that far too much quality work was, necessarily, rejected. The principles for selecting about 60 poems and 18 prose works out of over 1,000 submissions required us to make very difficult decisions. The aim was to produce an issue with a balance of style, voice, and content, and ensuring we include some new writers alongside well-established voices.' (Jen Webb and Ginna Brock: Editorial introduction)

'This is something of a bumper edition, filled with excellent works in prose and in poetry. We found it a very powerful work to edit, with a definite trend toward writing that engages with and/or critiques the contemporary world.' (Editorial introduction)

'This year marks our tenth volume and in this edition for the anniversary year we have welcomed writers from USA, Canada, Asia, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland and UK, to contribute to our initial and ongoing aim of offering Meniscus as an international journal. This issue has been edited at the bottom of the world by two New Zealanders, Sandra Arnold and Gail Pittaway, who took on the challenge of working through nearly 600 submissions. Though hard work, it was a joy to see the range and scope of themes and forms. It’s also been encouraging to see several of the writers who have offered work in previous volumes continuing to submit work to our literary journal, through to 2022. Looking back at those earlier issues it is clear that not only has Meniscus grown in volume, with increasing numbers of writers added to later issues, it has also grown in geographical scope and reach. We proudly publish several authors for the first time and encourage those whose efforts couldn’t make it to this volume to keep sending in work and to persevere.' (Publication summary)

'Of course it’s anticipatory to talk about the post-pandemic; all around the world, it seems, are reports that we have entered the post-COVID era, while locally we recognise that we might have outrun the pandemic, the disease itself still lingers. Moreover, its effects – on personal lives, on individual and national incomes, on the health and education systems which are still staggering toward recovery, and on the profoundly damaged art sector, which did so much to support wellbeing during the lockdowns – continue to frame our lives.

'The lateness of this issue of Meniscus is directly related to the COVID/ post-COVID effects; the editors have been struggling to find enough time to give proper attention to the submissions, and a number of the poems and stories included here address COVID, directly or indirectly. Other poems and stories pick up on ongoing issues of racism, climate change, gender relations, and the existential quo vadis story that is such an enduring theme in literary writing.' (Deb Wain and Jen Webb Editorial introduction)

'This issue of Meniscus is full of variety, with contributions probing issues connected to identity, perception, intertextuality, travel, ethnicity, interpersonal relations, language, authoritarianism, power, writing, the pandemic and much more besides. From our perspectives as editors, it is a satisfying issue because it makes a significant contribution to the complex discussions all societies need after two years of COVID-19—which have challenged many individuals and institutions, including governments. Such discussions include perspectives on how people choose to live and the ethical and moral dimensions of human conduct, and various pieces in this issue relate to such issues.' (Editorial Comment introduction)

'We are not only delighted, but also relieved, to see this new issue of Meniscus emerge into the world. As contributors and readers will know, we are several weeks behind schedule, which has caused the editors some anxiety. The tardiness is, of course, an effect of the global pandemic; and while we in Australia and New Zealand have escaped most of the devastation, there have been bollards in our roads too. We are very grateful for the kindness offered by so many contributors, and their recognition that the world no longer operates according to the standards of business-as-usual.' (Editorial introduction)

'During this time of global crisis, when the COVID-19 pandemic has affected most people in the world in profound ways, creative writing is increasingly important—not only as a form of self-expression, and sometimes recovery, but as a way of articulating significant concerns that belong to the various communities the writers inhabit.

The works in the December 2020 issue of Meniscus range over various issues, many of them connected to personal feelings and relationships and particular domestic and quotidian occasions and situations. They explore ways in which people understand their connections to, and alienations from others and their relationships to received ideas and the complexities of language.

'I recommend this Meniscus issue to you and the diverse and bracing stories and poems it contains.'  (Paul Hetherington, Editorial)

'When the Australasian Association of Writing Programs decided in 2013 to establish a literary journal, those of us who took on the role of editors settled on the name ‘Meniscus’ and drafted the explanatory statement that is now located in the ‘About Us’ section of the website:

Meniscus is named for the curve that forms at the top surface of a container of liquid. The curve is caused by surface tension, which not only holds the fluid in, but also allows the passage of objects through the surface. It creates uncertainty for anyone attempting a precise measurement because of the parallax effect. The combination of tension, openness and uncertainty can be read as an analogy for creative writing. 

'While Sandra Arnold and I were working on this issue, the shattering news of the mass shootings at two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand emerged in the media, and this grim, heartbreaking evidence of xenophobia, hate speech and cultural supremacy coloured the remaining time we spent selecting, editing and preparing the issue for publication. It also hardened our resolve, as editors, to remain firmly committed to publishing creative works that are open to differences and possibilities (like the meniscus itself, which affords both a border and permeability); that allow nuance and complexity (avoiding any ‘precise measurement’), and are able to express, and even celebrate, the ‘tension, openness and uncertainty’ that are so much part of human society.' (Jen Webb, Editorial introduction)