Cirrus@Austlit

'This essay explores how a commitment to poetic collaboration, with daily writing and reading, changed the ways we perceived and lived our lives, particularly in light of living through the extremity of climate change (characterised by Australian bush fires and floods), and the isolation and stress caused by the pandemic. We explore collaboration, prose poetry and the creative process in the context of extremity, arguing that writerly collaboration can engender hope beyond the page. We discuss these topics in an essay-conversation format, moving back and forth between authors, building/ expanding/thinking and re-thinking through matters of process in light of the poetic and the extreme. Some of our creative works from this time are also included.' (Publication abstract)

'The plot of Jacinta Halloran’s fourth novel Resistance is straightforward. The Agostino family have stolen a car and driven into the desert. As part of their court-mandated sentence they must attend sessions with family therapist Nina.' (Introduction)

'Chris Flynn’s Here Be Leviathans is a collection of short stories that seems quirky and light-hearted, propelled by its creative use of perspective. Each story is established from a surprising vantage point and so the world as Flynn imagines it becomes topsy-turvy – anything at all might be alive and sentient. Animals, chairs, boats, you name it.' (Introduction)

‘Show, don't tell’ is a common axiom in creative writing classes but the short-short story form complicates this idea. Often, in micro- and flash fiction it is through telling and implication that showing occurs. Taking that into account, I will argue that in the micro- and flash context, where brevity defines the narrative parameters, the relationship between showing and telling is one connected to pacing and the narrative construction of time. That is, what the author chooses to show and tell often impacts on the representation of temporality. This will be explored critically and creatively via case studies ‘Insect Wisdom’ and ‘Note to Self’.' (Publication abstract)

'With heightened funding pressures on Australian universities, academics are being placed under more pressure to increase class sizes. Creative writing workshops, where students provide feedback on each other’s creative work, can be rigorous and demanding sites for teachers in ways that differ from ‘traditional’ classroom settings. This article surveys critical research on class sizes and the workshop model, as well as third-year University of Wollongong creative writing student perspectives, arguing that the in-person workshop model, while imperfect, remains vital to the discipline of creative writing. When successful, it can teach students the technical elements of craft as well as the skills to build workshop communities, consider process and develop a sense of who their audiences are. However, increasing class sizes make it difficult, if not impossible, to fulfil these potentials, and put the workshop at risk. If creative writing academics don’t fight for manageable workshop student numbers, our very discipline will be at risk with the rise of the information economy, as outlined by Paul Mason (2015).'  (Publication abstract)

'Fear is an overlooked aspect of the PhD experience, both for the creative writing doctoral candidate and the supervisor. The exegesis can be a source of fear precisely because of questions around what it is and what it should look like. Drawing on experiences on both sides of the supervisory relationship, this article proposes that clear structural models for the exegesis allow students to focus their efforts on the substance of the academic component of their research project. We also argue for the rewarding nature of a research project that engages both in practice-led research and critical scholarship. We propose that alternating between the exegesis and the creative project can yield surprising results for creative writers attempting a large-scale academic work for the first time.' (Publication abstract)