Dženana Vucic on the subtle and not-so-subtle Marxist symbolism in Sailor Moon, John Docker, a "non-theatre person" by his own admission on The New Theatre, Sarah Schwartz on prison healthcare as punishment and the killing of Veronica Nelson, a poignant short story on memory and displacement from Nasrin Mahoutchi-Hosaini, Jeanine Leane's prize-winning poem, "Water under the bridge", and more.
Overland – Australia’s only radical literary magazine – has been showcasing brilliant and progressive fiction, poetry, nonfiction and art since 1954. The magazine has published some of Australia’s most iconic writers, and continues to give space to underrepresented voices and brand-new literary talent every single day.
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.
Overland 252 brings together the work of many, including writer Vivian Blaxell, Australian-Palestinian writer and educator Micaela Sahhar, and Greek-Australian anarchist poet π. o., to offer up fictional, poetic and scholarly reflections on place, resistance, memory, desire and activism—inherently political themes that have always concerned Overland writers and its readers. You'll also find new poetry from Eileen Chong, Emma Simington, Niko Chłopicki and Jini Maxwell, as well as new short fiction from Andrew Roff, Pierce Wilcox, Dorell Ben, plus loads more.
New fiction, poetry, and essay from literary luminaries such as Daniel Browning, Bill Gammage, Jen Craig, Rico Craig, Luoyang Chen, Jane Downing, and Jo Langdon. Featuring cover art from Liss Fenwick's haunting Humpty Doom series.
Jeff Sparrow on elite capture, Fiannuala Morgan on colonial literature and bushfires, Jordana Silverstein on Lily Brett and Louis Armand on John Tranter, plus outstanding fiction and poetry selected by Claire Corbett and Toby Fitch.
Elias Greig on ecofascism and the settler invasion fantasy, Natalia Figueroa Barroso on Charrua language and colonisation, the winners of the Neilma Sidney Short Story Prize and Judith Wright Poetry Prize, new poetry and fiction from Angela Costi, Liam Ferney, Michael Farrell, Ouyang Yu, Tim Loveday and more.
Essays by Thomas Moran, Jonno Revanche, Michael Griffiths and Abigail Fisher. New poety and fiction from Aidan Coleman, Alan Fyfe, Gareth Morgan, Janet Jiahui Wu, Dan Hogan, Kerry Greer and more.
Gregory Marks on Wake In Fright, Lachlan Summers on the naming of storms, Jack Kirne on colonialism and climate literature, plus new fiction and poetry from Laurie Steed, Karen A Johnson, Yeena Kirkbright, Holly Isemonger, joanne burns, and the winner of the 2021 Nakata Brophy Prize.
New essays and fiction from Jeff Sparrow, Ouyang Yu, Elena Gomez and Greg Page, plus the winners of the Neilma Sidney Short Story Prize 2021 and the Judith Wright Poetry Prize 2021.
Kim Kruger on waterways, Gareth Morgan on Lucy Van's 'The Open', Misha Hardwick on a universal basic income, prize-winning poetry from the Queensland Poetry Festival, fiction from Hop Dac, Wayne Marshall and more.
Ellena Savage on work and identity, Jon Piccini on 'A New Britannia', Elias Greig on whale watching, Rafi Alam on carceral injustice. New fiction and poetry from Ursula Robinson-Shaw, Eve Vincent and more.
The history of Aboriginal theatre by Kim Kruger, Yves Rees on Detransition Baby, Robbo Bennetts on the West Gate Bridge and other crises, the winners of the Kuracca Prize for Australian literature and more.
Zowie Douglas-Kinghorn on climate politics, Cherry Zheng on family and culture, Aiden Coleman on Forbes, new poetry from Louis Armand, the winners of the Neilma Sidney Short Story Prize and the Judith Wright Poetry Prize and more.
Essays on climate change, Footscray history, radical activism, whiteness and more. New Australian fiction and poetry from writers such as Samual Wagan Watson, Jane Turner Goldsmith, Ann Vickery and Rico Craig.
A special digital fiction edition edited by Overland's volunteer fiction readers, featuring new work from Carol Lefevre, Odette Kelada, Amber Moffat, Yumna Kassab, Felicia Henderson, Alison Martin and Diana Papas.
Featuring First Nations essays on organising and social justice from the 2020 RMIT Activism @ the Margins conference, as well as new fiction and poetry from writers such as Omar Sakr, Belinda Hermawan and Ouyang Yu.
Elena Gomez curates a special digital edition of fiction commissioned during the COVID-19 pandemic and resulting lockdowns. Featuring new works from five incredible writers, Dominic Amerena, Khalid Warsame, Laura Stortenbeker, Khalilah Okeke, and Vincent Silk.
A series of essays and responses edited by Sophie Rudolph and Claire Loughnan from academics and practitioners from different disciplines reflecting on what the Ngaga-dji Report written by the Koorie Youth Council means for their work.
Toby Fitch and Melody Paloma curate a special digital edition of poetry commissioned during the COVID-19 pandemic and resulting lockdowns. Featuring new works from twelve incredible poets, such as Eunice Andrada, Tony Birch, and Emily Stewart.
Health: Vanamali Hermans on the institutionalisation of care, Samuel Lieblich on psychiatry, Alice Whitmore on mental health, winner of the Nakata Brophy Prize for Young Indigenous writers, plus new poetry and fiction.
Radical: Toby Fitch on Sean Bonney, Dujuan Hoosan on Aboriginal history, Elena Gomez on poetics, Micaela Sahhar on Palestine, winners of the Judith Wright Poetry Prize and the Neilma Sidney Short Story Prize.
Enjoy the best of Autumn fiction selected by guest editor, writer Allan Drew.
On: failure; labour in publishing and bookselling; families and prison; co-translation; the German Revolution; The Matrix; and misreading justice. With a stunning selection of fiction and poetry. Contains the 2019 Fair Australia prizewinners. Artwork and illustrations by Matt Chun.
A damning journalistic investigation into the death of dancer Stacey Tierney, the role of the car in climate politics, how streaming culture is changing us, the highs and lows of doorknocking, plus a selection of superb new poetry, the winner of the Nakata Brophy Prize, and the three writers who placed in the 2019 VU Short Story Prize, Joyce Chew, Jack Vening and Laura Elvery. With comics and cover art by Sam Wallman.
Eda Gunaydin guest edits an online speculative fiction edition of stories presenting alternative futures that transcend the pessimism of the present. Featuring works by Hannah Jenkins, Jasmin McGaughey, Cat Nadel, Joe Ramshaw and Andrew Roff.
Walking through coal country, the gunboat nation in a lifeboat world, the agency of pregnant women, re-reading Primo Levi, and medicine and racism. First edition with new fiction editor Claire Corbett, with works by Jem Tyley-Miller, KA Rees, Laura Elvery, Elizabeth Flux and Ben Walter, and stunning poetry from Ouyang Yu, Ivy Alvarez, Eileen Chong, Norman Erikson Pasaribu and others. Art by political cartoonist Tia Kass.
Michalia Arathimos guest edits an online fiction edition about the future of sex – stories that explore how we approach sexuality now and tomorrow. Featuring works by Sophiya Sharma, DG Reynolds, Patton Quinn and Drew Roberts.
Sixteen of Overland’s fiction readers worked together for several months to curate and edit this autumn fiction edition. Featuring superb short fiction from Georgia Angus, John Charalambous, Laura Elizabeth Woollett, Anne Hotta and Katerina Gibson.
Alexis Wright on censorship, Fiona Wright on Tinder, Gabriel Ng on anti-Chinese sentiment, Adam Curley on Survivor, Cambodia and love, plus fire cults, the occupation of Kashmir and a cultural history of swimming. Includes the winning poems from the Judith Wright Poetry Prize. Fiction guest-edited by Evelyn Araluen and Jonathan Dunk. Art by the award-winning Hoda Afshar.
Featuring a red-armband history of 26 January, an analysis of Australian medievalism, a case for the eleven best essays of the past 3,533 days, and a comparative study of #IndigenousDads and the Noongar letters archive. Includes brilliant, provocative fiction and poetry, as well as the results of the 2018 Fair Australia Prize. Guest artist: Mary Leunig.
The Migration Amendment Bill, that would guarantee required medical treatment for people imprisoned in Australian offshore camps, is needed. It is also the smallest possible step that could be taken in dismantling the brutal Australian border regime: a regime enacted not just in the camps, but across all levels of Australian life.
Mitchell Welch guest edits an online poetry edition of ‘internet poetry’ – poetry disguised as digital frustrations in the form of frontier fomes. Featuring works by Andy Connor, Liam Ferney, Laura Jean Mckay and Toby Fitch.
The ways we talk about race, precarity and practice, copyright and bullshit, rethinking privilege, and Australia’s cultural insecurity. Contains the winning stories from the VU Short Story Prize, and poetry from Anders Villani, Holly Friedlander Liddicoat, Ellen van Neerven and others. Guest artist: Bella Li.
Results from the 2018 Oodgeroo Noonuccal Poetry Prize, Australia’s only open-age Indigenous poetry prize for an unpublished poem. With poems from Brenda Saunders, Claire G Coleman and Yvette Henry Holt.
From Utopia to the West Bank, literature and class, how to teach writing, Gay Liberation after the postal vote and racism in the academy. Fiction by Paddy O’Reilly, Michelle Aung Thin, Josephine Rowe and Ben Walter, as well as thrilling poetry, including this year’s Nakata Brophy winner, Raelee Lancaster. Guest artist: Seth Tobocman.
Dave Drayton guest edits an online fiction edition of ‘false documents’ – fiction disguised as ‘real’ textual artefacts. Featuring works by Paul Perilli, Paul Spinks, Sonia Focke and Tony Messenger.
This special edition marks the 70th anniversary of the Nakba, when, in 1948, more than 750,000 Palestinians were expelled from their homes. In 2018, the violent occupation of Palestine and its people continues.
Linda Godfrey guest edits the latest in Overland’s online fiction editions. Featuring short stories by Claire Julia, Cameron Colwell, Melissa Manning and Sophie Overett.
The history of Black GST, encounters with cuttlefish, working with climate grief and the state of the Australian short story. Also contains the winning entries of the 2017 Judith Wright Poetry and Neilma Sidney Short Story prizes, plus short fiction, poetry and more. Guest artist: Charlotte Allingham.
An issue examining being charged with terrorism, playing the same computer game for 25 years, the legacy of Paradise Lost, the censorship of suicide, sexism in the arts and Australia’s custodial culture. Includes brilliant, provocative fiction, poetry and artwork, as well as the results of the 2017 Fair Australia Prize.
In an edition marking 100 years since the Russian Revolution, writers examine the Cold War, Roswell, nineteenth-century terrorism, virtual reality, and religion in times of revolution. Includes fiction by and an interview with Peter Carey, and the winners of the VU Short Story Prize.
Novelist Anna Spargo-Ryan guest edits Overland’s spring fiction edition, ‘Own stories’. Featuring short stories from across the globe by Paola Ferrante, Ladi Opaluwa and Claire Varley.
The appropriation of decolonialism, the dark history of Australian eugenics, innovation under capitalism and Sydney’s gambling addiction. Features the winning stories from the Nakata Brophy Prize, as well as fantastic fiction, poetry and regular columns from Alison Croggon, Mel Campbell, Giovanni Tiso and Tony Birch.
Administered by Queensland Poetry Festival, the Oodgeroo Noonuccal Indigenous Poetry Prize is Australia's only open-age award for outstanding unpublished poems by Indigenous writers.
Homophobia in the workplace, populism in the Philippines, the war on Indigenous languages and the need to resist apocalyptic despair. Also contains the winning entries of the 2016 Judith Wright Poetry and Neilma Sidney Short Story prizes, as well as other excellent short fiction and poetry.
When literary heroines meet radical times, fighting Australia's Far Right, the ethics of sex with robots, Trumpism beyond Trump, and the state of the contemporary working class. Includes the winning entries from the 2016 Fair Australia Prize.
Mandy Beaumont and Craig Bolland guest edit Overland's online Spring 2016 fiction issue with the theme of ‘The idea of women’. Featuring short stories by Ariane Both, Sally Breen, Judyth Emanuel and Fikret Pajalic, and a mixed media piece by Vivienne Cutbush.
Labour activism in China, why politicians can’t understand poverty and fiction’s potential to change the world. Includes the winning entries for the 2016 Victorian University Short Story Prize and regular columnists Alison Croggon, Mel Campbell and Natalie Harkin.
Administered by Queensland Poetry Festival, the Oodgeroo Noonuccal Indigenous Poetry Prize is Australia's only open-age award, presented to an outstanding unpublished poem by Indigenous writers.
South Africa’s decolonisation movement, left-wing police detectives, the ritual of coming out, the fate of literature, sexism in literary prizes, the New Zealand dream John Key sells, plus original fiction, poetry and the Nakata Brophy Prize.
Ben Walter guest edits the first of Overland’s online fiction issues for 2016 with an un-/dis-/anti-Australian theme. Featuring short stories by Alex Cothren, Zahid Gamieldien, Laura McPhee-Browne and Jessica Yu.
South Sudan five years after independence, race and racism in Australian poetry, the mass industrialisation of meat and a history of police involvement in crime television. Plus outstanding original fiction and the finalists of both the Judith Wright Poetry and the Neilma Sidney Short Story prizes.
Class war in the arts, transgender justice, speed-reading, Facebook’s ‘real name’ policy, housing politics, and the many myths of Marconi. Plus prize-winning fiction and Peter Minter’s final poetry selection.
Tensions in Europe’s borderlands, transcending climate change, the fight to keep public housing on Sydney’s waterfront, aesthetics and politics in science fiction, and a visit capitalism’s graveyard. Plus fiction by Omar Musa and Zahid Gamieldien, cutting-edge poetry and more.
A special issue of contemporary New Zealand nonfiction, featuring Naomi Arnold, Megan Clayton, Murdoch Stephens and David Young. Edited by Giovanni Tiso.
The stories told about our colonial histories, the similarities between Gaza and Ferguson, working with whistleblowers, defence lawyers and rape trials, Tonga after Feta Helu, original fiction, poetry and more.
Overcoming literary jealousy, the origins of Gamergate, the normalisation of torture and Australia's new Book Council, as well as excellent fiction – and the winners of the Overland Judith Wright Poetry Prize and the Nakata Brophy Prize.
Khalid Warsame guest edits the first of Overland’s online fiction issues for 2015. Featuring short stories by Dom Amerena, Kate Elkington, Imogen McCluskey, and Camille Renaud.
Benjamin Laird curates Overland’s second edition of electronic and digital-born poetry. Features Pascalle Burton, Mez Breeze, Panos Couros, Josh Mei-Ling Dubrau, Ian Gibbins, Christopher Rodley, Omar Sakr and Peter Wildman.
Writing an African novel, work and ‘happiness’, the enduring appeal of Sherlock Holmes, a tale of two settler colonies, the Overland Victoria University Short Story Prize winners, poetry and more.
Kate Goldsworthy guest edits the latest in Overland’s online fiction issues. Featuring short stories by Laura Stortenbeker, Katherine Brabon, Ariella Van Luyn, and Iranian writer, Amirreza Esmaily.
Words against power, queer writing in Africa, perspectives on lit mags, overcoming writer's block and much more.
On being Queer and Indigenous, protest in a post-democracy era, the vocabulary of austerity, organising writers, Wolf Creek 2 as radical cinema and the history of girls in detention.
Writer, editor and ‘Slow Canoe’ founder Oliver Driscoll edits Overland’s first online fiction issue for 2014. Featuring short stories by Tim Buckley, Jennifer Down, Josephine Scicluna and Mardi O’Connor.
Working in a detention centre, revisiting the legend of Breaker Morant, spy novels in the Soviet Bloc, writing to Susan Sontag about gaming, and winners of the Overland Judith Wright Poetry Prize.
Author SJ Finn guest edits the second of Overland’s online fiction issues for 2013. Featuring short stories by Alice Bishop, Patrick Holloway, Louise Spence and Sam Wieck.
An Englishman ‘lost among the Afghans’, Arnold Zable talks with Alexis Wright, fighting back against rape culture, whether writers should perform, and winners of the Short Story Prize.
Benjamin Laird curates Overland's first edition of electronic and digital-born poetry. Features Mez Breeze, Jim Andrews, Jason Nelson, Pip Smith, Gary Barwin, Hazel Smith (with Roger Dean and Greg White), Tully Hansen and Jessica Rae.
Australia and Nauru, writing someone else's oppression, the evolution of the Greens, writing and health, and arts funding in an age of austerity.
Emerging editor Emily Laidlaw guest edits the first of Overland’s online fiction issues for 2013. Featuring short stories by Kristin Hannaford, Melissa Howard, Kelli Lonergan and Samuel Rutter.
Ned Kelly's skull, feminism and bodybuilding, writers and payment, the pros and cons of crowdfunding, plus new fiction and poetry.
Maxine Clarke curates Overland’s second spoken word edition, featuring ten original recordings of audio poetry exploring the theme ‘resistance’. Issue includes our first international spoken word artist, Ngwatilo Mawiyoo.
Terror and the Great American Novel; coming out queer and Muslim; how environmentalists get climate change wrong; plus the winners of the 2012 Overland Judith Wright Poetry Prize.
Crisis and time, Riot Grrrls and Russia, JD Salinger’s toilet, indefinite detention, the looting of Darwin, radical theatre, counter-hegemonic writing, how writers survive, and more.
The death of newspapers, a reply on fat activism, the potential of outsider porn and much, much more.
Maxine Clarke curates Overland’s first selection of spoken word, featuring seven original recordings of audio poetry.
Emerging editor and Overland editorial assistant Miranda Camboni guest edits the first in Overland’s online fiction series.
Human rights versus human freedom; priorities for the women's movement; politics of steampunk; the case for fat activism and much, much more.
A mysterious death in Melbourne’s west, the European meltdown, the 2011 Overland Judith Wright Poetry Prize and much more.
In the wake of economic crises, political atomisation and an increase in militarised policing, what does the Occupy movement mean?
Mattias Gardell on the Oslo massacre, the politics of Indigenous languages, an extract from Alexis Wright’s forthcoming novel and much more.
Malalai Joya on why Australia must leave Afghanistan, a kidnapping in Iraq, a new Left in philosophy and much, much more.
The shared history of black, queer and convict struggles, ASIO’s early days, Islamism and the Left debated and much, much more.
The theory of Wikileaks; the art of Shaun Tan; volunteerism and neoliberalism in literary culture; and much, much more.
Afghanistan, liberalism and bigotry; creativity and labour; the art of drawing money; and much, much more.
Book pirates, the pros and cons of the Greens, Paul Kelly’s insider histories, Cate Kennedy on disconnecting for creativity, and much more.
Margaret Simons on the future of reading; Mungo MacCallum on Labor and refugees; Raewyn Connell on the Left's past, present and prospects; plus the machinery of death row, Zionism in Australia, new fiction, poetry and more.
Oil, war and the necessity for dissent, why we don’t know anything about the war in Afghanistan, Oodgeroo versus the NT intervention and much more.
The pleasures of reading, the NT intervention, utopianism in Paraguay, O'Lincoln contra Hamilton, the secret history of the IPA.
