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Save Meanjin @savemeanjin.bsky.social · 05/10/2025

"It took more than an hour after the story broke, and was covered by several mastheads, to receive official notice from MUP; a group email confirming Meanjin’s immediate closure." ~Emma Sutherland, Archives Editor at Meanjin in @artshub.bsky.social this weekend. www.artshub.com.au/news/opinion...

artshub.com.au

I was the Archives Editor at Meanjin – its closure is baffling

As Archives Editor, Emma Sutherland had ‘read everything’ in Meanjin's past, but was unprepared for its troubled present.

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Lucy Hamilton @lucyham.bsky.social · 01/10/2025

In 2024, Meanjin published this essay by my father & myself on Australia’s democracy crisis as displayed through the Voice referendum symptoms. Now that this 85yo Aus cultural institution is being destroyed by neolib visigoths at Melbourne Uni, you should have it from behind paywall. #auspol

The Year in Truth-Telling

The Voice and Australia's democracy crisis

dire state of truth in Australia's civic space crystalised in 2023. We had seen the waning influence of News Corp's impact on our elections and assumed it meant that enough of us were becoming inoculated against the propaganda.
The defeat of the notoriously mendacious Coalition government might have signalled a ceasefire, a moment for the 'conservative' parties to rediscover their integrity. We had underestimated, however, the strategising of vested interests. The year also revealed starkly what happens when the world's instant communication platform, X (formerly Twitter), is owned by one malevolent billionaire. All these forces converged in a grim battle over the Voice to Parliament referendum.
The overwhelming rejection of Scott Morrison's Coalition government in 2022 had been in large part an indictment of its lack of transparency and integrity.
Revelation had followed revelation about the brazen pork-barrelling undertaken with the help of colour-coded spreadsheets kept in a ministerial office. The flood of deception, echoing Donald Trump and Boris Johnson, was such that Bernard Keane assembled a whole book on it.? Solid gold Liberal seats were lost to community independents known as the 'teals' who were focused on climate action and integrity.
Anthony Albanese's government was sworn in with…

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Lucy Hamilton @lucyham.bsky.social · 29/09/2025

Re Andrew Hastie Since the creeps at Melbourne University are shutting down Meanjin, I am bringing my essay out from the paywall. It’s on how “Christian” is being used to bring together a ratty coalition against “woke” , here at ARC, Hastie on that Board. #auspol www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/l6oxr...

Mind-numbing sleep-woking
The word 'woke' is tiresome. More though, it's a cliché that terminates our ability to debate. In Australian civic discourse, and internationally, the word is used to demarcate lines of battle. In 2025, Australian politicians are hoping it can turn a motley coalition of voters into the government's base.
Lucy Hamilton
Lucy Hamilton is a doctoral student at UTS and a writer who focuses on the impact of the international Right on Australian politics and society. This research is supported by an Australian
Government Research
Training Program
Scholarship. She works on Woi-wurrung and Wurundjeri lands.
Woke emerged as a concept in US Black culture in the 1920s to signal people who were aware of how the system trapped them in disadvantage. Later, progressives borrowed (stole?) the label to celebrate that awareness more broadly, with regard to varied subjects like human rights for minorities, women, workers and refugees. By 2020, the term had become established as the right's latest slur for the 'politically correct.

See linked essay for more…

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Tiny Owl Workshop @tinyowlworkshop.bsky.social · 29/09/2025

This is an excellent and frustrating piece on US publishing, which also speaks to the recent shuttering of #meanjin in Aus.

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Esther Anatolitis @anatolitis.bsky.social · 28/09/2025

and not a class hierarchy permanently fixed time; in a democracy, we decide. My next book—out Wednesday—speaks to the need for renewed democracy movements that question privilege and power. Seems quite timely today in light of the prime minister's remarks: estheranatolitis.net/2025/05/28/w...

estheranatolitis.net

When Australia Became a Republic: out 1 October 2025

Monash University Press: In the National Interest seriesPublished October 2025 Australia became a republic many years ago—culturally, if not yet constitutionally. We’ve long stopped identifyin…

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Esther Anatolitis @anatolitis.bsky.social · 28/09/2025

recognising that tax incentives and disincentives communicate their own ethical and cultural messages as well as financial ones. Who we privilege financially in a democracy says everything about the people we are today, and the Australia we want to become. Who we privilege is a choice that we make,

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Esther Anatolitis @anatolitis.bsky.social · 28/09/2025

and that work has never seemed more crucial. Now more than ever, it requires all of us—and demands our very best. Last week's Art of Tax Reform Summit (stay with me on this!) was a valuable first: govts are thinking well beyond subsidy, embedding the arts across policy and into treasury operations,

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Esther Anatolitis @anatolitis.bsky.social · 28/09/2025

Art, tenacity, democracy. The ways we create and experience new work, sustain the courage of our convictions, and make important decisions together: they're all intertwined. I've devoted my career to the ethics of creative and civic practice, working to expand public spaces and champion new voices,

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Andy Tseng @andytseng.bsky.social · 08/09/2025

No, it doesn’t add up! #UniMelb should and can do better! #Meanjin #MUP #Australia #Publishing #CultureMatters #AcademicSky #ResearchSky

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Libby Robin @libbydeq.bsky.social · 12/09/2025

Just like #Meanjin @savemeanjin.bsky.social MU can afford Meanjin. It is not about the money. It is another attack on the arts. Accountants do the bottom line. VCs do the choices.

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Patrick Allington @patrickallington.bsky.social · 04/09/2025

The report that Melbourne University Publishing will stop publishing the lit mag #Meanjin is bad news for readers, writers, thinkers, dreamers, doers, publishers, and policymakers - and for citizens who have never heard of or read Meanjin. #Auslit #litmags www.crikey.com.au/2025/09/04/m...

crikey.com.au

Literary journal Meanjin to close after 85 years of publishing

Meanjin, a mainstay of Australia's cultural landscape and the nation's second-oldest literary publication, is shuttering after Melbourne University Publishing decided to cease financial support.

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Save Meanjin @savemeanjin.bsky.social · 26/09/2025

Have you given this interview a listen yet? @nickfeik.bsky.social research on @meanjin.bsky.social has been amazing and he summarises what he's learned here with @skykirkham.bsky.social

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Save Meanjin @savemeanjin.bsky.social · 25/09/2025

Thanks @noticingclimate.bsky.social ! We'd love to say it's lovely to be here, but, well... you know.

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Jane Doe, pretty hate machine @noticingclimate.bsky.social · 23/09/2025

Sherlock, no shit: "But it’s worth reiterating that entrusting a literary journal — especially one such as Meanjin with a long-standing record of political integrity and radicalism, —to the custodianship of an institution like the University of Melbourne was bound not to last."

overland.org.au

“No Guernicas, no sacred places”: On the closure of Meanjin - Overland literary journal

Australia’s literary culture depends for its life on its journals. Literary journals are not just clearing houses for pithy snatches of commentary and readable middlebrow fiction — they’re incubators ...

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Dr Alex Wodak AM @alexwodak.bsky.social · 24/09/2025

Small circulation periodicals like Meanjin Important to keep alive with small subsidy just like small community orchestras.

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Save Meanjin @savemeanjin.bsky.social · 25/09/2025

Be sure to check out this interview with @nickfeik.bsky.social and @skykirkham.bsky.social They explore Nick's deep research and more to explore what's really going on behind @mupublishing.bsky.social 's decision to close @meanjin.bsky.social

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Save Meanjin @savemeanjin.bsky.social · 23/09/2025

David Lewis in @newpolitics.bsky.social : "Its closure is as un-Australian as rioting on a beach to drive out those you dislike. We must not accept this." Meanjin: A legacy and a lamentable closure open.substack.com/pub/newpolit...

open.substack.com

Meanjin: A legacy and a lamentable closure

The demise of Meanjin is more than the end of a publication; it is a blow to Australia’s intellectual and cultural fabric.

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Martin Shaw @thebooksdesk.bsky.social · 22/09/2025

Late to this from @greenj.bsky.social , but: exactly... "What a shitty waste, and what a tragic confirmation of the Meanjin project’s occasional subtext: that culturally we are inclined to cringe." greenworlds.substack.com/p/the-death-...

greenworlds.substack.com

The Death of Meanjin

Price of everything, value of nothing dept.

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Save Meanjin @savemeanjin.bsky.social · 21/09/2025

Toby Fitch: “MUP’s gagging of Meanjin‘s editor, their failure to pursue all the various ways a literary journal raises money, their refusal to release the journal’s copyright to new backers who have come forward..." 1/2 honisoit.com/2025/09/seco...

honisoit.com

Second oldest Australian literary journal Meanjin to shut down after 85 years of operation - Honi Soit

Meanjin, Australia’s second oldest literary journal, will close down after running for 85 consecutive years.

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Save Meanjin @savemeanjin.bsky.social · 21/09/2025

Meanjin’s former poetry editor Jeanine Leane: “cancellations of artists and fellowships — not just at Meanjin — [has been] intended to curtail social discourse”, and the forces allied against free speech were trying to “edit the national conscience”. www.crikey.com.au/2025/09/16/m...

crikey.com.au

Who killed Meanjin?

And why won’t Melbourne University Publishing engage with efforts to save it?

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Jo @jo8may.bsky.social · 21/09/2025

Here we go again. Universities once beacons of light, embracing the dark arts of erasure. Eco rats from the political right want to destroy anything that isn’t cruel. This is a cruel and spiteful decision. Who killed Meanjin? www.crikey.com.au/2025/09/16/m...

crikey.com.au

Who killed Meanjin?

And why won’t Melbourne University Publishing engage with efforts to save it?

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Save Meanjin @savemeanjin.bsky.social · 20/09/2025

Purely. Financial. Grounds. Yup.

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Overland Journal @overlandjournal.bsky.social · 18/09/2025

“If we’ve learned anything from the recent slew of Zionist attacks on culture in Australia, it’s that institutions — mainly universities — are often a poisoned chalice for writers and editors.” Deputy editor Eli McLean on the closure of MEANJIN.

overland.org.au

“No Guernicas, no sacred places”: On the closure of Meanjin - Overland literary journal

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Miriam Cosic @miriamcosic.bsky.social · 18/09/2025

'New revelations cast doubt on the official explanations for its closure' Who killed Meanjin? - by ⁦‪Nick Feik @nickfeik.bsky.social #Meanjin nickfeik.substack.com/p/who-killed...

nickfeik.substack.com

Who killed Meanjin?

New revelations cast doubt on the official explanations for its closure

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Antoinette Lattouf @antoinettelattouf.bsky.social · 18/09/2025

The math ain't mathing. We can reveal worrying details about the closure of Meanjin - one of Australia's longest running literary journals. It starts with G ... Listen here: podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/w...

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Save Meanjin @savemeanjin.bsky.social · 19/09/2025

Wow. What an essay by Eli McLean for @overlandjournal.bsky.social : "I had started to feel over the last few months that the ever-watchful eye of the university panopticon was sooner or later going to cast its gaze on our publishing activities"

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Save Meanjin @savemeanjin.bsky.social · 18/09/2025

Not how most of us tend to talk about works we're responsible for, is it @mupublishing.bsky.social @meanjin.bsky.social ? #savemeanjin

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Save Meanjin @savemeanjin.bsky.social · 17/09/2025

Yes, "deeply weird" @cormacmccafe.bsky.social. Deeply weird to pay for a review you don't allow time to enact while in apparent financial distress. To not reach out to subscribers for donations. To not explore crowdfunding. To not speak to potential purchasers. None of that just close? Deeply weird.

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Simon Rosenberg @simonrosenberg.bsky.social · 16/09/2025

“Its loss is not just a literary blow,” concludes Max Kaiser. “It signals a narrowing of public debate and unfortunately a chilling message to people daring to support the publication of inconvenient truths." @nickfeik.bsky.social on who killed Meanjin. #auspol www.crikey.com.au/2025/09/16/m...

crikey.com.au

Who killed Meanjin?

And why won’t Melbourne University Publishing engage with efforts to save it?

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Save Meanjin @savemeanjin.bsky.social · 17/09/2025

It just does not add up. We're aware of at four offers being put to MUP to clear their financial woes @andyhazel.bsky.social @nickfeik.bsky.social

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Save Meanjin @savemeanjin.bsky.social · 17/09/2025

We couldn't agree more @juliaharvey.bsky.social! Some very brave (and very silent) sources and some high quality and vulnerable analysis by @antoinettelattouf.bsky.social and @janfran.bsky.social. It's a yes from us.

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Dr LJ Maher (cis: she/her, 🌈, AuDHD, Quaintrelle) @littleread.bsky.social · 12/09/2025

Re #MeanjinJournal, a letter from myself and some of my colleagues to The University of Melbourne. #Meanjin is such an important part of Australia's literary ecosystem and losing it would be culturally and industrially devastating. #AusLit #AustralianWriters #Publishing #Unimelb

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Letter in support of Meanjin’s future

As members of the Publishing and Communications program’s staff at the University of Melbourne, we strongly support the continued existence of Meanjin Quarterly. From direct involvements with the journal during the past 25 years and more, we personally attest to the formative role Meanjin has played in the development of writers, editors and publishers, and an independent Australian cultural voice. The creative labour of thousands resonates deeply in the fabric of this cultural institution founded by Clem Christesen in Meanjin/Brisbane in 1940.

We call on the University of Melbourne to recognise the rich and continuing social, political and literary value of Meanjin by ensuring its future. The journal is a living resource for our teaching, and vital to our students. Its publications fill our reading lists with ideas from the best minds of our time. It has uplifted many of our students through publication, internships, partnerships and employment, and its connection to the University is part of what makes our writing and editing programs valuable and comparable to other leading universities on the international stage.

We believe the University’s enduring purpose of benefiting society compels it to take swift action to preserve the journal and sustain its continued publication, preferably within the University itself. At the very least, the University should do all it can, acting in good faith, to transfer the journal’s cultural and IP assets to another institution prepared to save it. Culturally, the University of Melbourne has benefited immensely from its support of the journal since 1945; the extinction of the journal would be its enduring loss but an even greater loss to the community the University serves.

Signed by:

Sybil Nolan
Tim Coronel
Matt Holden
LJ Maher
Fiannuala Morgan
Sharon Mullins
Beth Driscoll
Claire Parnell
Nicola Redhouse
Hollen Singleton
Bec Kavanagh

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Dr Alex Wodak AM @alexwodak.bsky.social · 16/09/2025

Meanjin should be saved somehow. Hope that still happens

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Lou Pollard @loupollard.bsky.social · 16/09/2025

Meanjin closing & AI stealing the work of authors. Times are tough for Australian writers. Please sign chng.it/p4KFP8BB9Y #australianwriters

chng.it

Sign the Petition

Save Meanjin: It Matters.

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samantha floreani @floreani.bsky.social · 17/09/2025

My review of Madison Griffiths' SWEET NOTHINGS is out now in the spring edition of Meanjin. It's bittersweet to be in one of Meanjin's last editions. The loss of this literary institution is a travesty. I've loved reading and writing for Meanjin, and especially working with @mxcreant.bsky.social

meanjin.com.au

Not like the others: on power, pedagogical relationships and being special

In Sweet Nothings, Griffiths once again delves into confessional waters by examining romantic and sexual relationships between students and their professors while ruminating on her own experience.

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Kill Your Darlings @kydmagazine.bsky.social · 04/09/2025

The closure of Meanjin is real blow to the Australian literary community. We're sad to see the loss of another place where writers, thinkers, and culture-makers have a voice and platform. Our thoughts are with staff and contributors.

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Antoinette Lattouf @antoinettelattouf.bsky.social · 17/09/2025

On the surface, Melbourne University Publishing says axing Meanjin was “purely financial.” But something doesn’t add up. The numbers look less like accounting and more like creative writing given we can reveal there's been an offer of a cash injection. www.ettemedia.com/exclusive-me...

ettemedia.com

EXCLUSIVE: Meanjin axed under ‘suspect’ grounds despite rescue offer

Melbourne University Publishing says shutting one of Australia’s longest-running literary outlets was a “purely financial” decision. But the story (and numbers) don’t add up. We can reveal an offer of...

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