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| Conference of Australian Writers | |
|---|---|
| Name | Conference of Australian Writers |
| Formation | 1933 |
| Type | Writers' organisation |
| Headquarters | Australia |
| Language | English |
Conference of Australian Writers
The Conference of Australian Writers was an Australian writers' association formed in 1933 to coordinate literary activity among novelists, poets, playwrights, critics and journalists across Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Brisbane. Founded amid debates involving figures from the Great Depression era, the association linked individuals associated with the Australian Labor Party, the Communist Party of Australia, the Federation of Australian Writers and key cultural institutions such as the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, the Commonwealth Literary Fund and the State Library of New South Wales. Early meetings brought together participants active in the broader networks of the Jindyworobak Movement, the Bush Music Club, the Victorian Writers' Centre and publishing houses like Angus & Robertson and Melbourne University Press.
The organisation's origins trace to discussions among authors influenced by the aftermath of the Great Depression, the social politics of the 1930s, and debates sparked by the writings of Henry Lawson, Banjo Paterson, Miles Franklin and contemporaries from the Bulletin (Australian periodical). Founders and early conveners had prior affiliations with cultural venues such as the Austrian-Hungarian Exhibition-era salons, the Domain public speaking tradition in Sydney, and literary circles around the University of Sydney, the University of Melbourne, the University of Adelaide and the University of Queensland. Throughout the 1940s and 1950s the organisation intersected with figures involved in the Commonwealth Writers' Fund debates, campaigns linked to the Mardi Gras (Sydney)-era community activism, and initiatives influenced by contacts at the British Council, the Smithsonian Institution and the Library of Congress. Political tensions mirrored larger conflicts between members associated with the Australian Council of Trade Unions, the CPA Cultural League, and more conservative editors of The Age (Melbourne) and The Sydney Morning Herald. By the late twentieth century, the group engaged with movements involving the Aboriginal Tent Embassy, the South Pacific Commission, the Australia Council for the Arts and international gatherings such as the International PEN congresses.
Governance drew on models used by the Australian Council for the Arts, the Workers' Educational Association, the Union of Australian Women and university-based literary societies at Monash University, La Trobe University, Flinders University and Macquarie University. Committees frequently included editors from Meanjin, Overland, Southerly, Quadrant (Australia), and representatives tied to the Australian Society of Authors and the National Book Council. Annual conferences rotated through venues in Sydney Town Hall, the Melbourne Town Hall, the Adelaide Town Hall and the Brisbane City Hall, sometimes coordinating with festivals such as the Melbourne International Arts Festival and the Sydney Writers' Festival. Funding models referenced practices at the Commonwealth Literary Fund and collaborations with institutions like the State Library of Victoria, the National Library of Australia, the Powerhouse Museum and the Art Gallery of New South Wales.
Programming included national conferences, policy advocacy campaigns, public readings, workshops and competitions, often intersecting with projects run by ABC Radio National, the ABC TV literary programs, and print forums including The Bulletin, Smith's Weekly, The Argus (Melbourne) and The Courier-Mail. The organisation organised book launches, prize deliberations that paralleled debates around the Miles Franklin Award, and campaigns addressing copyright and authors' rights alongside groups such as the Australian Copyright Council and the Australian Society of Authors. Educational outreach involved collaborations with the Australian National University, University of Tasmania, Curtin University and secondary institutions engaged with the Children's Book Council of Australia and the Literacy and Numeracy Secretariat. International exchange programs connected members with the British Council, the International PEN, the Asian Festival of Children's Content and delegations to the Frankfurt Book Fair.
Members and contributors over the decades included writers, critics and editors who also featured in institutions and movements such as Miles Franklin, Patrick White, Judith Wright, Peter Carey, Henry Lawson, Banjo Paterson, Dorothea Mackellar, Dulcie Deamer, A. D. Hope, Les Murray, Christina Stead, Katharine Susannah Prichard, Nadine Rawlinson, Joan Lindsay, Frank Moorhouse, Gerald Murnane, Kate Grenville, Tim Winton, David Malouf, Gwen Harwood, R. D. Fitzgerald, Ethel Turner, Ethel Florence Lindesay Richardson, E. J. Brady, Nancy Cato, Judith Rodriguez, Leslie Rees, Geoffrey Dutton, Ian Mudie, Oodgeroo Noonuccal, Evan Jones, Robert Hughes, Miles Franklin Award jurors, and editors affiliated with journals such as Meanjin and Overland. Many were simultaneously active in organisations like the Australian Society of Authors, the Writers' Union of Australia, the National Tertiary Education Union and the Australian Authors' Association.
Outputs included conference proceedings, policy statements, anthologies and pamphlets produced in association with publishers and institutions such as Angus & Robertson, Penguin Books (Australia), Melbourne University Press, University of Queensland Press, University of Western Australia Press and journals including Meanjin, Overland, Southerly and Westerly. The group contributed to curated anthologies that echoed collections like The Penguin Book of Australian Verse and policy papers that entered debates at the Australia Council for the Arts and the National Library of Australia. Collaborative projects often resulted in public statements distributed through media outlets such as The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age (Melbourne), ABC Radio National and specialist presses tied to universities.
The organisation influenced literary policy and cultural advocacy reflected in institutions like the Australia Council for the Arts, the National Library of Australia, the State Library of New South Wales and the development of awards including the Miles Franklin Award, the Patrick White Award and other state literary prizes. Its legacy is visible in the structures of the Australian Society of Authors, the continuing debates in periodicals such as Meanjin and Overland, and in the careers of writers represented by publishers like Penguin Books (Australia), Melbourne University Press and Fremantle Press. Links to protest movements such as the Aboriginal Tent Embassy and to international networks like International PEN and the British Council shaped ongoing discussions about cultural identity, regional publishing, translation and authors' rights.
Category:Literary organisations based in Australia