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Informit Literature & Culture Collection Backfiles

Informit Literature & Culture Collection Backfiles

As the backfile component to the Informit Literature & Culture Collection, the Informit Literature & Culture Collection Backfiles includes every issue of Australia’s best known literary and cultural magazines from 1939 – December 2004.

The literary magazine is an important part of Australia’s literary and cultural heritage. Small publications have proved a vital conduit for emerging and established writers to develop their craft and to engage with central ideas and debates about Australian literary, cultural, and social life. For the first time, titles such as Meanjin and Southerly will be available through Informit from cover to cover.

Created in partnership with the Australia Council for the Arts, the Informit Literature & Culture Collection is an essential reference database for academic, school and public libraries and for teachers and students of literary studies, cultural studies and creative writing courses. Researchers and students of Australian literature, history and society will find this Collection a rich source of fiction, poetry, cultural politics and the ideas that have helped define the unique Australian identity.

    Island (1979 - 2005)

    Island publishes quality short stories, poetry, extracts from forthcoming novels, and articles and essays on topics of social, environmental and cultural significance.

    Media Information Australia (1976 - 2005)

    First published in 1976 by the Media Information Research Exchange (MIRE) as Media Information Australia. MIA (now Media International Australia Incorporating Culture & Policy) publishes new scholarly and applied research on the media, telecommunications, and the cultural industries, and the policy regimes within which they operate.

    Meanjin Papers (1940 - 2005)

    Meanjin Papers is the original title of the literary journal now known as Meanjin. It was founded in Brisbane by Clem Christesen (the name, pronounced Mee-an-jin, is derived from an Aboriginal word for the finger of land on which central Brisbane sits) in 1940. It moved to Melbourne in 1945 at the invitation of the University of Melbourne. Meanjin currently receives funding from the university, the Literature Fund of the Australia Council for the Arts, CAL and Arts Victoria as well as receiving vital support through subscriptions and other sales. Known primarily as a literary magazine, Meanjin reflects the breadth of contemporary thinking, be it on literature, other art forms, or the broader issues of the times. This breadth has characterised Meanjin for more than 65 years. Meanjin has published some of the earliest serious discussion of subjects that have since attracted sustained attention, including migraton, television, suburbia, popular music, the Anzac tradition, Australia's 'cultural cringe', museums, drugs, food and travel. While the main focus is on Australia, Meanjin also gives wide coverage to issues of global concern. It is also committed to publishing the best of new writing in Australia.

    Southerly (1939 - 2005)

    For 70 years the journal of the English Association has held a central place in the making of Australian literature. Southerly publishes a wide range of poetry and fiction, critical essays and commentaries from writers and scholars all over Australia and New Zealand.

    Quadrant (1957 - 2005)

    Quadrant is Australia's leading journal of ideas, essays, literature, poetry, and historical and political debate. It is published monthly, ten times a year, with double editions in January-February and July-August. Since 1956 Quadrant has maintained a tradition of publishing original writing on every aspect of society, as well as some of Australia's best fiction and poetry. Although it retains its founding bias towards cultural freedom, anti-totalitarianism and classical liberalism, its pages are open to any well-written and thoughtful contribution.

    Going Down Swinging (1980 - 2005)

    Going Down Swinging is a literary journal at the forefront of both digital and print culture, with the willingness to take to the stage wherever an audience can be found. This is where the fierce, fresh writing lives.