Overland is excited to announce some changes to our editorial team in 2019.

Firstly, we’d like to thank our outgoing deputy editor Sian Vate, who worked passionately with a range of writers at Overland and will be greatly missed. We wish her all the best for her return to study.

Because our daily online magazine continues to grow in readership and style, we’ve decided to create a position specifically for it! We’re very pleased to say that long-term contributing editor Giovanni Tiso has agreed to join the Overland team as our brand-new online magazine editor. Giovanni has been writing for Overland for over seven years now and brings with him a treasury of experience, creativity and ideas.

Of the new role, he says: ‘Overland has given me my serious start as a writer as well as an education in always striving to engage with ideas. I am thrilled to have been offered this opportunity to collaborate with other writers and help them do just that. I’m also very pleased to be able to do this work from my adoptive country, Aotearoa/New Zealand, as the need to look across borders and pay attention to social and political realities other than our own is as urgent as it’s ever been.’

Overland is also thrilled to welcome Claire Corbett as our new fiction editor. Claire has been published widely and is the author of two novels, When we have wings and Watch over me (Allen & Unwin). She is currently working on her third novel, is a teacher of creative writing at the University of Technology Sydney, and is on the board of Varuna Writers’ House.

‘I believe the role of fiction in allowing us to understand the rapid, even catastrophic changes in our world and in developing empathy for the experiences of individuals has never been more important,’ she says. ‘The role of specifically Australian voices and experiences is under a lot of pressure now, not only with cuts to arts funding but also rapid changes in Australian publishing.’

Claire acknowledges the impressive work of outgoing fiction editor Jennifer Mills and is excited to continue publishing excellent literature.

In 2019, Overland is committed to creating further space and opportunities for new writers and editors. This year we will publish five special fiction editions, with the first – an edition collectively curated by 17 of our volunteer fiction readers – to be published early March.

Shortly after that, we will open the callout for a special edition to be guest-edited by writer and academic Eda Gunaydin, who is interested in works that provide speculative alternatives to oppressive structures.

Overland’s first print issue of the year will feature fiction guest edited by Evelyn Araluen and Jonathan Dunk, who called for works that disturb and reinvent what can be imagined, writing that ‘makes new worlds out of cosmic dust’.

Lastly, Overland is pleased to welcome an amazing new team of volunteer fiction, nonfiction and poetry readers: Claire Albrecht, Dom Amerena, Kate Ashton, Sarah Ayres, JT Bell, Sue Bond, Damon Branecki, Sandra Buol, Jay Carmichael, Tina Cartwright, Emily Cecchetto, Laura Clark, Pamela Collett, Emilie Collyer, Matt Dennien, Benjamin Dodds, Steve Evans, Lauren Foley, Vanessa Francesca, Emily Gallagher, Alex Gerrans, Sam Guthrie, Emma Hardy, Luna Hazelthorn, Siobhan Hodge, Joanna Horton, Raaza Jamshed Butt, Ben Kunkler, Tom Langshaw, Steph Lightfoot, Rhiannon Lloyd, Charlotte Long, David Mahler, Melissa Manning, Donna Mazza, Caitlin McGregor, Chloe Michele, Gareth Morgan, Sara Navissi, Jonathan O’Brien, Alix Palmer, Jake Parker, Lisa Parr, Angela Pennisi, D Perez-McVie, Adam Pettet, Alexandra Philp, Cordelia Rice, Jocelyn Richardson, Tess Ritchie, Ursula Robinson-Shaw, Belinda Rule, Melanie Saward, Alana Scully, Calypso Spendlove, Anna Sublet, Oliver Wakelin, Carl Walsh, Alex Wells, Rasheeda Wilson, Stephen Wright, Laura Wynne.

Note that our fiction submissions are open again on an ongoing basis and, as always, we continue to seek original and timely pitches for the daily online magazine and quarterly print issues.

Image: Vincent Aguerre / flickr