University of Queensland. English Society University of Queensland. English Society i(A80940 works by) (Organisation) assertion
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1 y separately published work icon University of Queensland. English Society. Records University of Queensland. English Society , 1966-1980 (Manuscript version)x401347 Z1102595 1966-1980 collection Collection comprises manuscripts, typescripts, financial records, newspaper cuttings and proofs of publications. Makar began in 1961 as an in-house magazine for the English Society of the University of Queensland. It became a commercial enterprise in 1972. The magazine published original verse and prose, as well as interviews and reviews. The 'Gargoyle Poets' series was published by the Makar Press. The series lasted for over seven years and produced thirty-seven volumes.
1 5 y separately published work icon Makar John Sharwood (editor), John Lloyd (editor), Alan Frost (editor), Ross Mezger (editor), Cassandra J. Carter (editor), Graham Rowlands (editor), Martin Duwell (editor), Jill Mellick (editor), Martin Duwell (editor), Peter Annand (editor), Martin Duwell (editor), Peter Annand (editor), Rodney Wissler (editor), Martin Duwell (editor), Rodney Wissler (editor), Martin Duwell (editor), Cornelis Vleeskens (editor), 1960 St Lucia : University of Queensland. English Society , 1960-1972 Z933587 1960 periodical (68 issues)

Makar was established in 1960 as a student run magazine of the English Society of the University of Queensland. Taking its title from the middle-Scots word for maker, it published poetry, fiction, drama and criticism. Graham Rowlands was appointed editor soon after the magazine changed to a smaller format in 1966. Then, in 1968, Martin Duwell was appointed editor, beginning his long association with the magazine. By the early 1970s the poetry published in Makar had evolved, according to Robert Habost in his 1982 assessment for Image, 'from the "gushy", "high flying", imagistic, traditional rhyming verse' of the early 1960s 'to ... stark, concise, condensed verse'.

Makar appeared four times a year until 1972 when one of the four was replaced with three small books of poetry produced for the Gargoyle Poet Series published by Makar Press. Poets who were published in this series include Graham Rowlands, Alan Wearne, Peter Annand, Antigone Kefala, Rae Desmond Jones, Kris Hemensley, Eric Beach, John Tranter, Philip Neilsen, Jennifer Maiden, John Scott and Geoff Page.

In a 1977 survey for Australian Literary Studies, Duwell characterised the magazine as a 'forum approach' in contrast to a 'manifesto magazine', accepting a wide variety of forms and subjects. Critics saw this plurality as a sign of the magazine's lack of direction. But Duwell, while accepting that such an approach might not give the magazine a lasting reputation, argued that Makar provided a useful representation of the variety of contemporary creative writing.

Makar also conducted a significant series of interviews with contemporary writers, some of which were published in A Possible Contemporary Poetry (1982). In his introduction to this volume, Duwell imagined the Makar audience as 'reasonably intelligent, willing, but puzzled' about the 'profound and acrimonious disagreement about the nature and role of poetry and language'. It was to such debates that Makar addressed itself. The last issue of Makar appeared in September 1980.

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