Writing and Society Research Centre

Overview

Writing and Society Research Centre members and postgraduate students are actively engaged with both literary and academic publishing. The centre is involved in the production of scholarly books and journals and the production of new fiction, poetry and memoir. Visit our staff publications page for more information on publications by Centre members.

Our postgraduate students have also been very successful in publishing their work. Our students have received significant awards and had their work included in the imprints of leading publishers. Visit our student publications page to find out more.

Giramondo

The Writing and Society Research Centre houses the prestigious Giramondo book imprint which publishes some of the most significant contemporary Australian authors. Giramondo publishes novels, poetry and essay collections of the highest literary quality: its titles have won and been shortlisted for many major literary awards. Recent publications include John Mateer’s Southern Babarians, David Walker’s Not Dark Yet, and Amphora by Joanne Burns. Other titles include Alexis Wright’s Carpentaria, The Orphan Gunner; fictional 'essays' by John Hughes, and Robert Gray’s The Land I Came Through Last.

The Centre has also been home to the literary journal HEAT, which appeared for the last time (in print form) at the end of 2010. The Centre is currently developing a plan for the publication of HEAT in digital form.

Soundsrite 

The journal  soundsRite, at  http://soundsrite.uws.edu.au/, was established in 2009 and is co-edited by Prof. Hazel Smith (Writing and Society Research Centre)  and Prof. Roger Dean (MARCS Auditory Laboratories). soundsRite is online and open access and publishes selected new media work which includes words and sound. It features generative, interactive and multi-channel sound pieces; writing which is kinetic, generative or interactive; and pieces that combine text, sound and image.

The Journal of Beckett Studies

The Writing and Society Research Centre also produces the Journal of Beckett Studies, with Centre Director Prof. Anthony Uhlmann acting as its chief editor. The Journal of Beckett Studies has been the journal of record for the established and expanding field of Beckett studies for over thirty years. It has always been blind peer-reviewed and is recognised internationally as a scholarly journal of high standard.

Future Directions in Publishing

A key area of interest for Writing and Society going forward is digital publishing in its various forms and the ongoing changes in the ways writing is now disseminated. This is reflected in research projects including Anna Gibbs and Maria Angel's work on new media writing. It is also reflected in the publishing strategies adopted by Writing and Society. soundsRite already offers cutting edge digital publication. In less technically sophisticated ways the Journal of Beckett Studies is increasingly being disseminated in digital form.

While the last print only issue of HEAT was published in 2011, the journal will continue in a combined digital/print format. In 2011-2013 HEAT magazine will be making the transition from print form to a magazine specifically designed for distribution to electronic readers (ebooks and iPad). This is very different to its contents simply being made available online, and requires a rethinking of the concept of the literary magazine as well as a sophisticated knowledge of the design possibilities offered by the new electronic medium.

Acknowledgements

We are very grateful to the following organisations for their funding and support: the Literature Board of the Australia Council (Giramondo) and Arts NSW (Western Sydney Writing Project).