Overland literary journal

I run past a sandstone wall and come back to the entry. Staring at the large house number 88 with its warm glow, I steady my short breaths in relief before ringing the bell. A vague voice comes out of the speaker but is cut off suddenly and the silence resumes. The man is not following me. I check, looking over both shoulders. The gate swings open. Ken is standing behind it, one outstretched arm gesturing to my grand entry. As I follow him into the house, my hands tremble – I’ve been gripping the bottle of wine for too long.

Open letter: Deakin staff and students oppose disciplinary action over Deakin Gaza Solidarity Encampment.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Overland ’s free fortnightly newsletter highlights the best of Overland online, new writing from the print journal, and regularly collates writing events and opportunities in the community.

To the Prime Minister, Minister for Foreign Affairs, Minister for Defence and Attorney General

As artists, cultural workers and arts organisations, ours is the business of statement-making.

There are widespread calls from regional communities and unions for a government bailout of Rex Airlines. The public interest is central to any such essential services question. It warrants a broader discussion of nationalisation, especially in the face of yet another “market failure” of commercialised essential services.

Overland ’s free fortnightly newsletter highlights the best of Overland online, new writing from the print journal, and regularly collates writing events and opportunities in the community.

Holden Sheppard’s Invisible Boys — lately in the news for its TV adaptation on Stan — is an imperfect but extremely entertaining novel that deserves its success. I argue that it is a canonically important work of Australian gay literature, a monument of eroticised and anxious masculinity belonging to a legacy including titles such as Christos Tsiolkas’ Loaded and Barracuda, or Tim Winton’s Breath. I also argue it impeccably instantiates some important gay sexual archetypes, with one major omission.

Speech delivered at the National Library of Australia on 12 September 2024, at the Prime Minister’s Literary Awards: