A brilliant collection from Sweatshop Literacy Movement. Some of the pieces are unlike anything else I’ve read (particularly those by high school students)
Luca Demetriadi
@lucambd.bsky.social
UniMelb PhD candidate, researching indie Australian publishers and contemporary coolness. https://lucademetriadi.com
Books I’ve read lately :) Really really liked the new Waidner (my fav of theirs, and I’ve enjoyed them all tbh).
Recent reading and rereading. First time reading Lessing (really enjoyed). Also really enjoyed the Patrick Lenton books from Subbed In
Recent book stack. Reread of The Years (struggled with it before) and it blew my tiny mind this time around
People in the publishing industry are weirdly quiet about money. But as Wes Enzinna points out, every literary career is underwritten by some sort of capital, be it from a wealthy family member, a fellowship, or a dubious side gig.
The Profession That Does Not Exist | Baffler Symposium
A partial history of the hidden labor that makes possible the poems, stories, essays, and books you read.
thebaffler.com
Very excited that some of my research has been published by Media International Australia. It looks at McPhee Gribble's publishing parties in 1980s Melbourne to show the pursuit of capital beneath a disinterested veneer: journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...
McPhee Gribble's ‘determinedly unglamorous’ parties: A small publisher's accrual and conversion of social capital - Luca Demetriadi, 2026
This article uses material from two archives pertaining to Australian independent publisher McPhee Gribble to argue that social capital is as important to a sma...
journals.sagepub.com
Very happy to have a story in the new issue of Debris alongside some wonderful writers (including π.o. (!!)). And grateful for @mxcreant.bsky.social ‘s editing.
by my count the best anglophone writer outside Australia at the moment
Recent reading! Enjoyed some more than others (enjoyed Nock Loose hugely)
a letter from me and m'learned colleagues in support of @meanjin.bsky.social (@savemeanjin.bsky.social )
Belatedly got round to @dan-sinnamon.bsky.social ‘s Big Fiction. Very engaging for something so research-dense
Books I’ve read recently! And I found this duck at an op shop. No idea why anyone would get rid
Since our very first issue Meanjin and Overland have been comrades, mates, rivals, and drinking buddies. The UMP board’s decision is a shockingly myopic act of cultural vandalism which will grievously harm the Australian literary community.
Meanjin Journal is 85 years old; older than the Sydney Opera House. Closing it down is cultural vandalism of the highest order, roughly equivalent to demolishing the above mentioned opera house. I am disgusted @meanjin.bsky.social
Literary journal Meanjin to close after 85 years of publishing
Meanjin, a mainstay of Australia's cultural landscape and the nation's second-oldest literary publication, is shuttering after Melbourne University Publishing decided to cease financial support.
crikey.com.au
After a such a strong start, it’s disappointing how quickly Nicki Minaj’s Starships drops off. And having both beach and space as themes is a bit much
heads up for fellow fans: the S-tier of ice cream sandwiches is currently half price at Princes Hill IGA
Been on some trips! Lots of planes and trains and reading time :)
Qantas is the best airline. They gave out ice cream sandwiches after dinner
In response to the prompt of a publisher's campaign, Luke Horton offers an extended reflection on the value of literature and the work of writing (and reading) in the current moment.
Books are essential - Overland literary journal
Books are essential because — and yes, it seems now I dare to say it — they give us hope. But, more precisely, they give us the energy to seek new and better ways to understand, or to recognise. To se...
overland.org.au
Glad to get back to some Australian realist writing. More books with strikes please! (And surely due a new edition?)
Delighted to get my hands on the latest novella (signed, no less!) from @blairesquiscoll.bsky.social A prequel to the gripping The Frankfurt Kabuff, I’m excited to see where TFM68BCCYOR takes me…
