Overland 254 is the first in a set of four special editions dedicated to commemorating 70 years of Overland. This issue also launches a new design and format by Common Room Editions, inspired by Overland’s trove of radical literature spanning from 1954 to today. Andrew Brooks and Astrid Lorange consider the asymmetrical responses to two events: the wearing of keffiyehs by three cast members during the Sydney Theatre Company’s production of Anton Chekov’s The Seagull, and, on the same day in the US, the shooting of three Palestinian men wearing keffiyehs. Jeff Sparrow uncovers the Sydney Herald’s legacy of Terra Nullius, and Daniel Lopez writes on Marx, Meredith and the festival as an inversion of modern life.
The Overland Master Class for Progressive Writers is aimed at writers exploring political ideas in their fiction: investigations of race, gender, sexuality, class, etc.
The master class will feature special sessions with acclaimed writers Cate Kennedy, Tony Birch and Lucy Sussex, as well as peer-critiqued workshop time. The workshop will be held in Melbourne from July 10-12, 2009.
Applications should include a one-page cover letter, a CV, and a completed story to be workshopped, no longer than 7500 words. Applications should be sent to Overland Associate Editor Rjurik Davidson c/o Overland magazine VU – Footscray Park, PO Box 14428 Melbourne, Vic 8001 by June 5, 2009.
Successful applicants will need to confirm their place by paying $70 by 1 July.
All stories will be considered for publication in Overland magazine.
