This issue goes to print on the cusp of a darkening world… Overland 255 is the second issue in a suite of four special editions dedicated to commemorating 70 years of Overland. In this issue, Samuel J Cox interviews Kim Scott on his works True Country (1993) and Benang (1995) in ‘Writing from the South’. Elsewhere, Juliet Scott interrogates ‘The Australian Media’s problem with Palestine’ and Sam Ryan looks back at Overland and the state of arts funding in Australia from 1973 to 1975. This issue also features poetry from Yeena Kirkbright, DJ Huppatz, Debbie Lim, among others, and short fiction from Lauren Collee, Madeline Byrne and Jordan Smith.
Rob Johnson is a writer and actor based in Sydney. He is a winner of the Hal Porter Short Story Prize and the Best of Times Short Story Competition, and has previously been shortlisted for the Hachette Australia and John Marsden Prize for Young Writers. He was the lead writer of live sketch comedy shows Fat On Purpose (Giant Dwarf) and The Recidivists (Red Line). As an actor, Rob's recent credits include The Torrents (Sydney Theatre Company), Calamity Jane (Belvoir) and Spamalot (One Eyed Man).