Cirrus@Austlit

'Most people know Robyn Davidson as the camel lady, a young woman of 27 who walked over 2,700 kilometres across Australian deserts to the sea with four camels and a dog. A journey captured in her 1980 memoir Tracks.' (Introduction)

'The covers of two new Australian novels, Hydra and Faithless, play into a current design trend in Australian publishing. Faceless women in various states of melodramatic distress – either flung over furniture, or pictured against blurred or monochromatic backgrounds. Arms, hands or long, dishevelled hair conceal their faces. It’s a trend spurred on, no doubt, by the runaway success of Meg Mason’s Sorrow and Bliss.' (Introduction)

'I head to the world premiere of Return to the Dirt by Steve Pirie without reading the press materials. I like to go in uninfluenced, and that’s hard these days, to avoid the trickle down effects of hype even for a play at the Queensland Theatre Company in the Netflix age.' (Introduction)

'The moment feminist author Kate Jennings took to the microphone at a moratorium on the front lawn of Sydney University in 1970 is presented as a galvanising catalyst of Australia’s women’s liberation movement in Catherine Dwyer’s documentary film Brazen Hussies.'

'Dr. Andrew Lowman is an Australian Eye Specialist who has a passion for restoring sight to those who would otherwise endure life with poor eyesight or blindness.

'Medical facilities are not easily accessed in the wide-open spaces and isolation of the outback where the air is hot, flies are plenty, and life is tough for those on the land.

'Thanks to the Flying Doctor Service, Andrew and his team are flown in to a cattle station near Bourke, NSW, where they conduct a regular clinic for the Aboriginals and others on the land in the area.

'Their time is divided between two stations and the town of Bourke itself.

'They follow this routine every second week, giving the outback a service it wouldn’t otherwise receive.

'Become a part of the outback – the land, they call home.

'A land as beautiful as it is harsh.

'A land which captures the hearts of all those who live on her.' (Publication summary)

'When it comes to addressing creative writing as a topic of inquiry, the craft and the written product are usually held in two different realms. Often a collection brings together a body of writing – as essays or short stories – to celebrate and highlight finished and polished pieces of work. The process of how the final pieces came into being, often, is irrelevant. With the exception of studies produced at the postgraduate level usually, the process, pedagogical concerns, inspirations, and the discipline of creative writing are dealt with separately in studies and collections that address each specifically.' (Introduction)

'This special edition of TEXT draws from the pool of participants from the Asia Pacific Writers & Translators’ (APWT) 9 th annual gathering in Guangzhou, China in November 2016. The issue compiles a selection of essays about the craft, pedagogy of creative writing and translation, alongside creative outputs in the form of fiction and personal essay. Inspired by the theme ‘Ideas and Realities: Creative Writing in Asia Today’, the conference brought together over 120 established and emerging practitioners and creative writing academics from the Asia Pacific region and beyond.' (Sanaz Fotouhi and Sally Breen)

'You could be forgiven for thinking that the last thing Australia’s cultural arena needs is another bloody writers festival. Today’s big city festivals and their regional counterparts use the same formats, are expensive, predictable, safe and reek of easy privilege. It’s a space that has required reinvigoration for some time.

'Enter A Rock & Roll Writers Festival, at The Old Museum in Brisbane on April 1 and 2. It’s the kind of festival that fills your goodie bag with candy and mini-bar-sized bottles of Jack Daniels to kick in the tone. A festival that set out to celebrate the synergy between music and words and creativity and has managed to do that very well.'

(Introduction)