Writing and Society Research Group

Welcome

The Writing and Society Research Group brings together scholars, writers, critics and editors with a common interest in exploring the social power of writing. The Group promotes research in literary publishing, literary history, the new technologies of writing, and changing patterns of readership, in addition to its commitment to the publication of contemporary literature through HEAT magazine and the Giramondo book imprint. Its members are specialists in Australian literature, scholars engaged with classic works and authors, literary theorists, poets and novelists, and practitioners in the new genres of non-fiction. Our overall interest is in literature as an instrument of thought and emotion, as a form of knowledge, and as an agent for the examination of social and cultural values.

Our aims are to provide an active context for our researchers; to establish a national profile for our literary activities; and to contribute to the development of a sustaining literary milieu, particularly in the Greater Western Sydney region, where we seek to encourage young and emerging writers and writers of immigrant background. Because our members are writers as well as researchers on writing, we are vitally concerned with  practice-led research as a legitimate field of academic research.

Literary Publishing. At a material level, the Writing and Society Research Group is concerned with the means of publication and dissemination, and as well as a practical commitment to publishing contemporary Australian literature through the activities of HEAT magazine and the Giramondo book imprint, it encourages research into the history of literary and scholarly publishing, the new technologies of writing, and changing readerships and reading habits.

 
Writing and Affect. Writing and Thought. Conceptually, the group is committed to exploring the power of writing as communication - as a vehicle of thought, emotion, knowledge, as a means of persuasion, and as an agent for the challenging or remaking of social and cultural values. There are two distinct strands in our research here: the Group’s members combine an interest in the affective dimensions of writing and cultural modes of feeling, with a philosophical perspective which views the literary text not simply as a representation of thought, but as a distinctive mode of thinking in its own right. 
 
Creative and Critical Writing. The Group is committed to creating opportunities for literary writing, and to evaluation, criticism and literary judgement as essential aspects of the writing process. The study of classic works and authors and their reception is an important aspect of our activity, as is the encouragement of contemporary writers in the genres of fiction, non fiction and poetry, through postgraduate research training, master-classes and the formulation of publishing projects. The Western Sydney Writing Project is an important part of this research area, aimed specifically at emerging writers in the Western Sydney region. Many of our members and their postgraduates are themselves engaged in creating works of literary and critical significance.
 
Quality in these four research areas is assured by a continuous program of postgraduate and research seminars, by close discussion between members of the Group, by our success in grant applications and collaborations, by the public reception of the Group's publications, and by the careful allocation of resources to research assistance and other forms of financial support where required. The Group as a whole has a strong performative dimension, evident in its publishing program, its staging of public events and conferences, and in the activities of the Sydney Seminar for the Arts and Philosophy – it rates high on impact, and has a high public profile in the arts and literary communities.