The season of giving

Last month, in more confessional mode than usual (needs must!), we wrote about ABR’s funding predicament in 2024: without federal funds and with only one state arts grant. Readers seemed shocked by the stark comparison between 2019 (when ABR received a total of $245,000 from six governments around the country) and 2024 (a total of $12,000, all from Arts South Australia).

Since then the response from supporters – regular donors and a pleasing number of new ABR Patrons (all listed on page 4) – has been extraordinary. Pace sceptics who always said that Australians will never support literature in the same way they support other sectors and related charities, ABR continues to receive sterling support from those who believe that Australia deserves a sophisticated literary magazine culture of its own, not just an imported one.

We thank everyone who has contributed to the magazine. Your generosity is stirring and enabling.

Our new Rising Star

We’re delighted to name the sixth ABR Rising Star: Sam Ryan. An emerging critic and early career researcher, Sam is a PhD candidate at the University of Tasmania, where he is working on a thesis on the poetry in Overland and Quadrant. More broadly, he is interested in the genre of the literary journal and its place in literary cultures. He has worked in publishing – in various functions – for more than a decade. He is Overland’s digital archivist and has a firm belief in the importance of digital preservation of literary journals. He has contributed to several periodicals, including ABR.

Sam Ryan (Bonnie Lavelle)

Our Editor first became aware of Sam in January 2023 when he interviewed Peter Rose for a survey of literary journals and organisations funded by Creative Australia and undertaken by the Sydney Review of Books. ‘I was struck by his incisiveness and his digital savvy,’ Rose told Advances. ‘Happily and cannily, Sam finds time for freelance reviewing around his PhD studies. Sam’s interest in ABR – and its digital ambitions – has impressed us all.’

Sam Ryan had this to say about his appointment:

Australian Book Review is such an important part of Australia’s literary culture. Not only in terms of its critical input, which is undeniable, but also for the ways in which it encourages and nurtures new writing. Since working with the magazine, I have been taken aback by the care applied to all its endeavours. Peter Rose has in the past described the journal as ‘entrepreneurial’. I can’t think of a better description, nor can I imagine a more useful attribute in contemporary publishing. To be a part of the magazine – first as a contributor and now as a Rising Star – is truly an honour. I have such a passion for the written word, and I know the positive effect keen criticism has. I look forward to sharpening my writing with ABR’s guidance. 

The Rising Star program – generously funded by the ABR Patrons – is intended to advance the careers of young writers and critics whose early contributions have impressed readers and editors alike.

We look forward to publishing Sam Ryan often in coming years.

Peter Porter Poetry Prize

Where has the time gone!

It is twenty-one years since ABR created its own poetry prize, to highlight its commitment to the broader appreciation of poetry and to the cultivation of brilliant new work. Back in 2005, it was known as the ABR Poetry Prize. (Stephen Edgar, our first winner, received $2,000.) Six years later, it was renamed the Peter Porter Poetry Prize (possibly the most alliterative competition in the world), following the death of the great Australian poet, who was such a constant in our poetic conversation, as in these pages.

The twenty-first Porter Prize is now underway, with total prize money of $10,000, thanks to the munificence of the ABR Patrons. The winner will receive $6,000, and the four other shortlisted poets will each receive $1,000, plus publication in the magazine (in the January-February 2025 issue).

Poets have until 7 October to enter the prize. Full details appear on our website, including Frequently Asked Questions. Anyone writing in English is eligible (regardless of where they live), as long as the poems have not been published before.

Please note that this year we have reduced the maximum length from seventy to sixty lines. It’s surprising how many prize entrants submit works that are too short or overlong.

This year’s judges are Sarah Holland-Batt (ABR Chair, Professor of Creative Writing at QUT, and author of the award-winning poetry collection The Jaguar), Paul Kane (Professor of English at Vassar College, USA, co-founder of the Mildura Writers Festival, and author of ten volumes of poetry), and Peter Rose (ABR Editor and CEO, and author of seven poetry collections, including the coming Attention, Please!).

Changes at ABR

The extended ABR community knows Amy Baillieu well. She became a volunteer after completing her postgraduate studies at the University of Melbourne and joined us part-time as an assistant editor. She has been Deputy Editor since 2012 – momentous and transformative years for the magazine, to which she has made such an estimable contribution. Throughout those years, hundreds, probably thousands, of contributors, donors, subscribers, prize entrants, and stakeholders have worked or liaised with Amy, an immensely popular member of the ABR team.

At the end of June, Amy went on extended maternity leave. We all wish her and her partner, Ira, well in the weeks and months ahead.

Earlier in June, Will Hunt joined us as Assistant Editor. Will stood out in last year’s intake of students from Monash University’s Faculty of Arts, and subsequently joined us on a casual basis. The new appointment is a great development for the magazine, and a fine opportunity for Will, who told Advances:

I am thrilled to be joining ABR and its bustling community of arts enthusiasts, academics, and booklovers. It is an honour to be joining Peter Rose and the staff at ABR. I look forward to supporting the highest standard of Australian writing and contributing to excellent long-form commentary and robust criticism of Australian arts, literature, and culture. I wish Amy Baillieu all the best with her future endeavours – her stamp on ABR is ineffaceable; she is the crux of this small team.

ABR in Vienna

Zu spät! ABR’s Vienna tour in October – led by Christopher Menz and conducted in association with Academy Travel – has filled up promptly. There’s always next year!

Don’t write them off!

It’s always good to hear about a new literary magazine. The Sydney-based Vitagraph Publishing has launched Written Off, which will feature ‘formally or soulfully inventive’ works by emerging and established writers. We wish the organisers luck.