Cirrus@Austlit

In their editiorial, Webb and Krauth discuss writing's 'identity as a research discipline as well as a creative practice' in reference to the Australian government's preferred Research Quality Framework (RQF).

Sved poses the question '[H]ow has university creative writing entered and affected the hostile dialectic between writer and critic? This paper will aim to address this question, while touching on a wider terrain of debates about creativity, the academy and Australian cultural politics.'

The author 'wish[es] to argue here in defence of books, literature, and 'old' literature in particular. For no writing occurs without reading.'

'Is it possible to write fiction for boys that is appealing and accessible to the struggling reluctant reader and, at the same time, of genuine interest for the accomplished reader within the same peer group?' The author uses examples from the Australian series Aussie Chomps published by Puffin.

Kim Wilkins looks at the question of genre noting that '...genres are not static, ahistorical categories. Rather, genres are processes.' Wilkins uses as an example her own novel Giants of the Frost (2004) which 'was positioned and re-positioned in terms of genre: via my own intentions, via reader reception and via institutional influences (e.g. the university, my publishers, the media, booksellers).'