“That Wicked Arsonist”: Writing the musical interlude
Eric Bronson surveys music featuring in fiction, mapping influences on his own novel’s narration of ragtime jazz.
Andersen’s Scissors: Cutting his own shape
Moy McCrory explores the double-stranded creativity of Hans Christian Anderson, his writing and unique paper cuts.
Being in the World: An interview with Tim Winton
Rupert Loydell interviews Australian novelist Tim Winton, about his work and being a writer, touching on topical themes such as climate change and toxic masculinity.
Beyond the Page: The formal possibilities of Thomas A. Clark
Gavin Goodwin examines poetics of Thomas A. Clark’s public poetry.
Catharsis as Process
Allen Stroud scrutinizes the term catharsis in different theoretical settings and in relation to various modern media including TV, film and games.
From Iowa City to Kowloon Tong: On the Cold War origins of creative writing pedagogy in Hong Kong
James Shea scrutinizes the Cold War developments of the University of Iowa’s International Writing Program, its effect on creative writing pedagogy in Hong Kong and its unlikely links to the CIA.
Inventing Shakespeare: re-imagining a national icon
Sally O’Reilly reveals a historical novelist’s methods in writing about Aemilia Lanyer, one of the first women poets and a candidate for being Shakespeare’s “dark lady”.
Looking at Animals: Creative writing as preservation in animal poetry
Geraldine Bell surveys influences and edicts when writing about animals in her poetry.
Reading from the inside: How existing mental health narratives help a neurotic write from their own experience
Chris Westoby reviews portrayals of mental health issues, in the context of his own mental health and his own writing.
Reading to imitate, reading to steal
Robert Graham explores the influence of French film, Alain Fournier and F. Scott Fitzgerald on his own novel.
The Playful Space of Workshops: on imagination, improvisation and ignoring instrumentalism
Andrew McMillan and Sarah McNicol attest to the benefits of de-centring the output-focused workshop, making it more playful and improvisational.
When Daughters Leave: Essay writing and the fugitive subject
Kirsty Gunn and Gail Low explore the possibility of a lyric essay in two first person voices that refuse to collapse into first person plural.
Writer’s block, narrative therapeutic techniques and becoming lost in Mary Robison’s Why Did I Ever
Laura Tansley investigates a Mary Robison novel, linking it to Deleuzian theory and routes through the psychology of writer’s block.