Cirrus@Austlit

'In the same week we are launching the inaugural online edition of Borderlands Magazine, the Northern Territory’s first literary journal in twenty years, it is impossible not to be disheartened by news of the closure of University of Western Australia Publishing (UWAP), and an uncertain future for Tasmania’s Island Magazine. As a new regional literary journal debuts, two other important organisations for regional publishing look set to cease or cut back on their publishing schedules. These events are perhaps foretold in the latest report from the Australia Council, which reveals only 2.6% of their funding pool from the latest round went to literature projects.

'When we embarked on Borderlands in earnest at the beginning of 2018, we began with a funding application to ArtsNT for a research phase. We wanted to know that the community wanted a Northern Territory journal as much as we did, understanding the precarity that comes with such a project. The community delivered in a big way: not only did we secure the initial ArtsNT grant to kickstart our project, we discovered overwhelming community support from both organisations and individuals for a dedicated space for Territory storytelling. This support came from within the Territory, but also from interstate, and was exactly the encouragement we needed to keep going. It is thanks to Creative Partnerships Australia through their MATCHLab program and all of the donors and patrons who donated to us during our fundraising campaign in the first half of 2019 that we are able to bring you Issue 1 of Borderlands Magazine Online.' (Raelke Grimmer, Glenn Morrison, Adelle Sefton-Rowston. Editorial introduction)