Emily Laidlaw

Emily Laidlaw is Melbourne-based writer and critic, whose writing has appeared in The Big Issue, Voiceworks, Overland online, and Readings Monthly. She has edited for publications including Kill Your Darlings, Voiceworks, and Overland. She is a 2015 recipient of an Australia Council for the Arts' ArtStart grant.

Emily Laidlaw reviews 'Small Acts of Disappearance' by Fiona Wright

January-February 2016, no. 378 • 23 December 2015

Reflecting on the first day she attended a clinic for eating disorders, Sydney poet Fiona Wright admits: 'I'm ... not sure that I would ever have gone ahead with the admission if I hadn't thought that I could write about it later.' This is a remarkably self-aware statement, one that encapsulates the fierce intelligence of her linked essays in Small Acts of Disappearance. Wright labels this – he ... (read more)

Emily Laidlaw reviews Island Magazine 135, edited by Matthew Lamb

February 2014, no. 358 • 19 January 2014

Editor Matthew Lamb stands by his decision to end themed issues of Island. ‘General issues,’ he explains in his latest editorial, ‘allow for more serendipitous encounters with new ideas.’ Cohesion in any literary journal can be tricky, and Island 135 offers a mostly complementary mix of new and old ideas. ... (read more)