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.
Michael Louis Kennedy is a playwright, poet and occasional journalist based in Sydney. He is currently co-director of the National Young Writers' Festival. He has previously worked for Sydney Fringe, Summerhall (Edinburgh Fringe) and Belvoir. His work is featured in Voiceworks, Brag, Going Down Swinging, Transportation Press, Baby Teeth, Sydney Morning Herald and more. As a playwright he has had readings and productions with Sydney Fringe, the Old 505, Sydney Mardi Gras, and Queer Theory in Glasgow, Scotland. In 2019 he was selected for ATYP’s Fresh Ink program for emerging writers. He is currently enrolled in KYD's 2021 Mentors Program.
