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| Meanjin Quarterly | |
|---|---|
| Title | Meanjin Quarterly |
| Discipline | Literature, cultural criticism |
| Language | English |
| Abbreviation | Meanjin |
| Publisher | Independent literary press |
| Country | Australia |
| Frequency | Quarterly |
| Firstdate | 1940 |
Meanjin Quarterly is an Australian literary and cultural magazine founded in 1940 known for publishing poetry, fiction, essays, criticism, and arts commentary. It has played a central role in conversations about Australian literature, politics, visual arts, and intellectual life, featuring work by writers and thinkers linked to institutions such as University of Melbourne, Australian Broadcasting Corporation, University of Sydney, Monash University, and National Library of Australia. Over its history it has intersected with figures associated with Commonwealth Writers' Prize, Miles Franklin Award, Nobel Prize in Literature, Man Booker Prize, and festivals like Sydney Festival and Melbourne Writers Festival.
Founded in 1940 by academics and writers in Brisbane with ties to University of Queensland and influenced by émigré networks connected to Cambridge University, the magazine emerged amid debates involving personalities linked to Labour Party (Australia), John Curtin, and cultural movements associated with Modernism, Socialism, and anti-fascist intellectual circles. Early editorial conversations invoked writers and critics such as those connected to T. S. Eliot, Ezra Pound, Virginia Woolf, Gertrude Stein, W. H. Auden, George Orwell, Bertrand Russell, and Simone de Beauvoir through reviews and translations. In postwar decades the periodical relocated its editorial base to Melbourne and engaged with national issues that brought into its pages voices associated with Robert Menzies, Gough Whitlam, E. M. Forster, Patrick White, Oodgeroo Noonuccal, Les Murray, and critics tied to The Bulletin and Quadrant. The magazine’s history intersects with cultural institutions including National Gallery of Victoria, State Library of Victoria, Arts Council of Australia, and publishing houses such as Allen & Unwin, Penguin Books, Random House, and HarperCollins.
The editorial remit combines literary fiction and poetry with long-form essays, reportage, and visual arts criticism, placing it in conversation with journals such as The New Yorker, The Atlantic, Granta, London Review of Books, The Paris Review, New Statesman, and Encounter. Its pages have carried discussions about figures and events tied to Indigenous Australians leadership and advocacy involving Eddie Mabo, Vincent Lingiari, Charles Perkins, and cultural responses to works like My Place (novel), as well as international affairs referencing United Nations, Vietnam War, Cold War, Soviet Union, Apartheid, NATO, and diplomatic episodes connected to ANZUS Treaty and Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation. The magazine commissions essays on art exhibitions featuring creators associated with Brett Whiteley, Sidney Nolan, Albert Tucker, Arthur Boyd, Tracey Emin, Banksy, and poets linked to Derek Walcott, Seamus Heaney, Elizabeth Bishop, and Philip Larkin.
Contributors have included prominent Australian and international writers, critics, and public intellectuals aligned with names like Patrick White, Peter Carey, Germaine Greer, Clive James, Helen Garner, Gillian Armstrong, Judith Wright, Les Murray, David Malouf, Robert Hughes, Geoffrey Blainey, and journalists connected with The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald, The Australian Financial Review, and The Guardian. International contributors have ranged from commentators associated with Noam Chomsky, Susan Sontag, John Berger, Sally Rooney, Zadie Smith, Salman Rushdie, and Margaret Atwood to historians and critics linked to Eric Hobsbawm, Anthony Giddens, Simon Schama, Niall Ferguson, Mary Beard, and Jill Lepore. Several issues have published essays later cited in anthologies alongside works by Ralph Waldo Emerson, Walt Whitman, Emily Dickinson, William Wordsworth, and modernists such as James Joyce and Marcel Proust.
Published quarterly, the magazine has a print edition distributed through Australian booksellers including chains affiliated with Dymocks and academic subscriptions via libraries at University of Queensland, Australian National University, University of New South Wales, University of Western Australia, and collections in the National Library of Australia. Digital distribution extends to platforms used by readers of Project MUSE, JSTOR, and institutional repositories at Trove and university databases. It has been produced with input from editorial boards and funding sources overlapping with arts funding bodies such as Australia Council for the Arts, state arts programs in Victoria and Queensland, and philanthropic trusts similar to Ian Potter Foundation and Gandel Foundation.
The magazine has influenced literary careers and public debates, contributing to cultural conversations around reconciliation with Indigenous peoples involving figures like Ken Wyatt and Megan Davis, debates on multiculturalism linked to Paul Keating and Bob Hawke, and environmental discussions associated with Gough Whitlam era policy and later dialogues featuring Tim Flannery and Peter Garrett. Academic citations connect the periodical to scholarly work in Australian studies, comparative literature, and cultural history by scholars associated with Geoffrey Blainey, Inga Clendinnen, A. O. Neville, Ludmilla Jordanova, and institutions such as Australian Academy of the Humanities and Humanities Research Centre. Reviews and commentary have appeared in media outlets like The Guardian, The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, BBC, and The New York Times.
Individual pieces and contributors have received honors including the Miles Franklin Award, Prime Minister's Literary Award, Stella Prize, Walkley Awards, Victorian Premier's Literary Awards, and recognition in prize lists such as the Man Booker Prize and Nobel Prize in Literature shortlist discussions. The magazine itself has been cited in curatorial acknowledgments by galleries like National Gallery of Victoria and in retrospectives at cultural festivals including Melbourne International Arts Festival and Sydney Writers' Festival.
Category:Australian literary magazines