QUT to become new custodian of “Meanjin”
Queensland University of Technology (QUT) will become the new custodian of literary journal Meanjin, bringing the publication back to Brisbane 80 years after it relocated to Melbourne.
In September last year, Melbourne University Publishing (MUP) withdrew funding to Meanjin, forcing the journal to close. At that time, MUP chair Warren Bebbington had said, “The decision was made on purely financial grounds.”
QUT vice-chancellor Margaret Sheil said, “QUT is delighted to bring Meanjin home to Meanjin / Magandjin – the lands of the Turrbal and Yugara peoples – where the journal was founded and where our Gardens Point campus now stands.
“Since its foundation by Clem Christesen in Brisbane in 1940, Meanjin has been instrumental in shaping Australian literary and intellectual culture,” she said.
“It has provided a vital platform for critical discussion, a showcase of emerging writers and a valuable training ground for leading Australian publishers and editors. We are honoured to be entrusted with the legacy of this cultural icon.”
With MUP’s closure of Meanjin, editor Esther Anatolitis and deputy editor Eli McLean were made redundant by MUP. Under the terms of the transfer, QUT said it will “appoint an editorial board to ensure Meanjin’s independence, values and standards are maintained and recruit an editor through a national competitive search”.
Crikey reported that Anatolitis and Meanjin’s cultural and advisory literary board were not notified or formally consulted of the transfer before the public announcement.
“Meanjin will complement the focused, high-quality creative writing program within the QUT School of Creative Arts,” said QUT.
QUT professor of creative writing Kári Gíslason said QUT has a distinguished alumni of writers who have gone on to be renowned Australian authors. “They will, I’m sure, celebrate this partnership: it affirms how creativity, literature and excellence in writing allow us to think deeply and connect our ideas in imaginative ways to the world around us,” he said. “Meanjin’s move to QUT tells our students that this is as true now as it ever was.”
Bebbington said MUP had received approaches to acquire Meanjin from a variety of organisations in recent months. He said, “The Board is delighted Meanjin will continue, and in the hands of a university so clearly alert to the nature of the custodianship MUP had fulfilled for it for so long.”
QUT said it will “take time to thoughtfully re-establish the journal in Queensland and consider how to most effectively reinvigorate Meanjin, respecting the journal’s founding vision and literary legacy while enhancing its relevance and rebuilding of readership to ensure a viable future”.
After MUP’s closure of Meanjin, Council for the Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences president Frank Bongiorno had said, “Since its first appearance in Brisbane 85 years ago, Meanjin has been among the most engaged, influential and prestigious of Australia’s cultural and literary publications. It has also provided unmatched opportunities for Australian writers, informed and educated readers about cultural and literary matters at home and abroad, and revealed the Australian people to themselves.”
Category: Local news
