In this highly anticipated new issue, we encounter brilliant examples of what writing can do in a hypernormal time – whether that's Benjamin Gready on the absurdity of fieldwork on land under active occupation or Zahid Gamieldien's short story about a dancing rat who finds itself enmeshed in systems too shadowy to be true. But, as with the emotional cycles of resistance, hope and snark are features too. Dan Hogan considers the lawn as a class obsession, and π.ο. asks a question: why people hate poetry? We also read about a rakhasa family who passes on wisdom to their young kin, a story by Shefali Mathew. And you’ll find new poetry by Eli McLean, Fiona Hile and Sol Chan, among others, as well as a comic by Safdar Ahmed, plus heaps more. Co-editors Evelyn Araluen and Jonathan Dunk write in the editorial, "Writing always matters, but it matters most directly in the face of this kind of thuggish assault on language, our first and last commons. We can’t let the bastards have it.”
Inside Overland issue 258, you'll find twin essays: Norman Saadi Nikro on Edward Said's critique of liberal racism, and Yahia Lababidi on the many Edward Saids, Overland's ex-poetry editor Toby Fitch on doomscrolling, Thomas Moran on the suburban grotesque and SNH on the world-changing aspect of violence, plus loads more.
Overland 257—an entirely archival edition—is the last issue in a suite of four special editions dedicated to commemorating 70 years of Overland. In this issue we revisit Sarah Attfield on working-class poetry, Warrigal Anderson's autobiographic tale 'Mum and Me', Stephen Murray-Smith on nuclear warfare, RH Morrison on voices of protest during the Vietnam War, Frank Hardy on the death of a unionist, and more.
Overland 256 is the third issue in a suite of four special editions dedicated to commemorating 70 years of Overland. Inside its pages you'll find: Daniel Browning on the politics of memory, Antonia Pont on impatience, Sarah Wehbe on Palestinian fury and joy, and a special editorial by our departing poetry editor Toby Fitch. There's also new short fiction from Rowan MacDonald, Bethany Lalor and Amalia Stone, and new poetry from Josie Suzanne, Tim Loveday, Lulu Houdini and more.
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.
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.
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 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.
