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Southerly

@southerlylitmag.bsky.social

Southerly is Australia’s oldest literary journal. Founded in 1939, it is the journal of The English Association (Sydney).

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Southerly @southerlylitmag.bsky.social · last wk.

Join us to celebrate the launch of Southerly 81.1 'Ireland and Other Islands' on Thursday the 15th of October at 6:00pm in the Esme Timbery Creative Practice Lab, UNSW Sydney. www.eventbrite.com.au/e/launch-of-... Artwork by Deborah Kelly (@deborahkellyartist).

Southerly @southerlylitmag.bsky.social · 4w ago

This week on the Southerly Blog, Sam Elkin explores the legacy of Australian author Eve Langley. Elkin queries the responsibility of critics who narrate Langley's life and gender, not just to Langley themselves, but to gender diverse people today. Read: southerlylitmag.com.au/beyond-tropes/

A cover image for the blog. It reads “Beyond tropes: Why Eve Langley’s legacy must be understood through a trans inclusive lens by Sam Elkin”. In the background is the photo of a pea-flower, in soft shades of purple, pink, and blue.

An excerpt from the blog post. It reads:

“Langley’s life, letters and largely unpublished oeuvre have been revisited by many over the years from the perspective of race, class and settler colonial identity. The transgender themes in The Pea Pickers, from the siblings cross-dressing to Eve’s adoption of the fictional moniker Steve Hart, one of the Ned Kelly gang who was known to masquerade as a woman, has fascinated many. Steve’s transgressive desire to embody masculinity is made explicit by Langley from the outset:
‘I knew that I was a woman, but I thought I should have been a man; I knew that I was comical but I thought I was serious and beautiful, as well. It was tragic to be only a comical woman when I longed above all things to be a serious and handsome man’ (Langley 5).
To a contemporary reader, this account will sound like someone who might today be described as transgender." [character limit reached]

Southerly @southerlylitmag.bsky.social · last mo.

We are delighted to announce the inaugural recipients of the Grace Southerly Emerging Writers Fellowships: Greg Foyster, Brendon McLeod, and Eric Jiang! #southerly #auslit #varuna

A poster about the Grace Southerly Fellowships. It reads, “Announcing the recipients of the Grace Southerly Emerging Writers Fellowship. Greg Foyster for his literary fiction manuscript Collapsia; Brendon McLeod for his verse novel Rēweti: A Pākehā-Māori, and Eric Jiang for his poetry collection Gong () Infinity.” Photos of the three writers are shown. It then reads, “The three fellowship recipients were selected through the rigorous, anonymised Varuna Residential Fellowships assessment process. Each recipient will be awarded a two-week residency at Varuna, a one-hour consultation with a Varuna mentor, and publication in Southerly, Australia’s oldest literary journal. We are immensely grateful to Megan Grace for her generous support of this exciting new fellowship for Australian writers. The Southerly and Varuna logos are shown.”

Southerly @southerlylitmag.bsky.social · last mo.

Congratulations to Kit Kelen, the inaugural Southerly Poetry Prize winner! Kit will receive a cash prize of $2000, with his winning poem published in Southerly 81.1 (October 2026). Along with all shortlisted entries, “Now●Here●This” will be published in Southerly online. #southerly #auslit

An image announcing the winner of the Southerly Poetry Prize 2026. It reads: ‘Congratulations to the winner of the inaugural Southerly Poetry Prize 2026: “Now ● Here ● This” by Kit Kelen. The judges, Paul Dawson, Bronwyn Lea, and Kate Fagan read 661 anonymised entries before selecting a shortlist and winner. Here is what they said:

‘“Now ● Here ● This” stands out for its linguistic verve, its lyric expression of a soul on the cusp of, in contemplation of, death. A celebration of mortality, the poem's clipped utterances, imperatives, reflections, and interrogations populate caesura-packed couplets that are typically end-stopped yet spill across stanzas in an effortless rhythm. The poem displays the virtue of the art form where meaning is abundant yet elusive, like the speaker, both an embodied self and an anonymous lyric voice.’

We are deeply grateful to the generous judges for their immense labour and for their ongoing dedication to Australian poetry.’

Southerly @southerlylitmag.bsky.social · last mo.

In Rae White’s second blog post on trans poetics and DIY culture, they draw us further into the worlds of zines and performance poetry. Read now: southerlylitmag.com.au/by-the-peopl... You can hear Rae read from their blog on radio show Tranzmission. Listen now: 4zzz.org.au/program/tran...

A cover image for the blog. It reads, “By the People, For the People: Trans Poetics and DIY Culture. Part Two: The Ephemeral Things That Save Us”. In the background is a photograph of Rae White’s collection of queer- and trans-authored zines.

An excerpt. It reads, “That’s one reason I get frustrated when people dismiss zines or spoken word poetry as somehow 'less serious' than traditional literary culture. Trans poetics have never waited around for institutional approval. Neither have oral histories, DIY archives, or community storytelling. Long before universities, publishers, or arts organisations decided certain voices were worth preserving, marginalised communities were already documenting their lives—passing their stories hand to hand, voice to voice, person to person. Australian literary culture has always depended on people creating spaces for each other outside of official publication, and official gatekeeping. Independent presses, community radio, experimental theatre, DIY music scenes, zine fairs, open mics—all of these ecosystems overlap and intersect. (Limit met for character count; please see further at the blog link.)

Southerly @southerlylitmag.bsky.social · last mo.

Read a preview of Emily Thornton’s essay ‘On Unceded Land: What My Mixed Aboriginal-Irish Ancestry Cannot Settle’ in Southerly 81.1, ‘Ireland and Other Islands’. southerlylitmag.com.au/wp-content/u... Artwork by Deborah Kelly: www.instagram.com/deborahkelly... #southerly #irelandandotherislands

A promotional image for a preview of Emily Thornton’s essay ‘On Unceded Land: What My Mixed Aboriginal-Irish Ancestry Cannot Settle’ in Southerly’s upcoming issue, 81.1: ‘Ireland and Other Islands’. On the left-hand side of the post is the issue’s cover. It consists of a forest-like background, with grey and black trees decorated with eyes all over them. In the middle, a pair of legs lay horizontally, from which red flames are emerging. On the right-hand side, on a dark green background, is text, which reads:
Southerly 81.1: ‘Ireland and Other Islands'
"I live and work on unceded Aboriginal land, carrying a mixed heritage that does not reconcile itself. My Aboriginal ancestry ties me to Country in ways that are lived, embodied, and ongoing. My Irish inheritance arrives already curated: a bistory of famine, rebellion, exile; songs of resistance that Australia has learned how to admire without being unsettled by them..."
A preview of Emily Thornton's powerful essay 'On Unceded Land: What My Mixed Aboriginal-Irish Ancestry Cannot Settle’. The full essay can be read in our forthcoming print issue which will be available in October 2026.
Artwork by Deborah Kelly

Southerly @southerlylitmag.bsky.social · last mo.

Read Jack Stanton’s review of When I Am Sixty-Four by Debra Adelaide in Southerly 81.1, ‘Ireland and Other Islands’. southerlylitmag.com.au/wp-content/u... Artwork by Deborah Kelly: www.instagram.com/deborahkelly...

A promotional image for Jack Stanton’s review of When I Am Sixty-Four by Debra Adelaide in Southerly’s upcoming issue, 81.1: ‘Ireland and Other Islands’. On the left-hand side of the post is the issue’s cover. It consists of a forest-like background, with grey and black trees decorated with eyes all over them. In the middle, a pair of legs lay horizontally, from which red flames are emerging. On the right-hand side, on a dark green background, is text, which reads: Southerly 81.1: Ireland and Other Islands'
"What Adelaide provides, then, is not a cathartic grief memoir...it is a searching depiction of lifelong friendship between two very different writers.”
Debra Adelaide's When I Am Sixty-Four reviewed by Jack Stanton.

Southerly @southerlylitmag.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Read Anne Brewster’s review of Discipline by Randa Abdel-Fattah in Southerly 81.1, ‘Ireland and Other Islands’. southerlylitmag.com.au/wp-content/u... Artwork by Deborah Kelly: www.instagram.com/deborahkelly...

A promotional image for Anne Brewster’s review of Discipline by Randa Abdel-Fattah in Southerly’s upcoming issue, 81.1: ‘Ireland and Other Islands’. On the left-hand side of the post is the issue’s cover. It consists of a forest-like background, with grey and black trees decorated with eyes all over them. In the middle, a pair of legs lay horizontally, from which red flames are emerging. On the right-hand side, on a dark green background, is text, which reads: Southerly 81.1: Ireland and Other Islands'
"Humour is used skilfully to test ideologies for their tensile qualities and the ways they can both open up and shut down possibilities.”
Randa Abdel-Fattah's Discipline reviewed by Anne Brewster.
Artwork by Deborah Kelly

Southerly @southerlylitmag.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Read a tribute to Lionel Fogarty by David Brooks in Southerly 81.1, ‘Ireland and Other Islands’. southerlylitmag.com.au/wp-content/u... Artwork by Deborah Kelly: www.instagram.com/deborahkelly...

A promotional image for David Brooks’ tribute to Lionel Fogarty in Southerly’s upcoming issue, 81.1: ‘Ireland and Other Islands’. On the left-hand side of the post is the issue’s cover. It consists of a forest-like background, with grey and black trees decorated with eyes all over them. In the middle, a pair of legs lay horizontally, from which red flames are emerging. On the right-hand side, on a dark green background, is text, which reads: Southerly 81.1: Ireland and Other Islands'
"This present piece is just an acknowledgement - belated thanks to one of the guest co-editors of one of the most remarkable and important issues in the eighty-plus years of Southerly."
A tribute to Lionel Fogarty (1958-2026) by former Southerly editor David Brooks.
Artwork by Deborah Kelly

Southerly @southerlylitmag.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Announcing David Brooks’ tribute to Lionel Fogarty as part of our new issue, Southerly 81.1, ‘Ireland and Other Islands’. Read it here: southerlylitmag.com.au/wp-content/u... Artwork by acclaimed Australian artist Deborah Kelly: www.instagram.com/deborahkelly...

Southerly @southerlylitmag.bsky.social · 2mo ago

In Rae White’s first blog post on trans poetics and DIY culture, they bring us into the vibrant spaces of performance poetry and zine authorship. Read now, comment, and share: southerlylitmag.com.au/by-the-peopl... #southerly #auslit #performancepoetry #zines

A cover image for the blog. It reads, “By the People, For the People: Trans Poetics and DIY Culture. Part One: ‘Jagged Edges and Rough Words’, Rae White”. In the background is a photograph of Rae White’s collection of queer- and trans-authored zines.

An excerpt from Rae White’s blog post. It reads, “I’m at one of my fave poetry open mics, Echoes from the Cave Inn, waiting for my name to be called. The crowded room is full of fellow queer, trans, and gender diverse people eating freshly made pizza, sipping beers, and hugging mates they haven’t seen since last month’s open mic.
I get up on stage wearing my jorts, and bright pink and orange tie-dye shirt that says 'homosexual tendencies.' I read a poem from the zine in my hand, freshly photocopied earlier that morning. The stage lights are bright, and I squint to read the collaged text on the page. After my reading, I roam through the crowd handing out copies of the zine to friends, loved ones, and strangers. Some people tuck them carefully into tote bags. One person immediately opens theirs and says, 'I should make a zine!' This is one of my favourite things in the world: a poem existing simultaneously in the air around me and in someone’s hands.”

Southerly @southerlylitmag.bsky.social · 2mo ago

We are delighted to announce the shortlist of the inaugural Southerly Poetry Prize. Our immense congratulations to all. We look forward to announcing the winner on the 10th of August. Thank you to all the poets who shared their work with us. #southerly #auslit

The post reads “Southerly Poetry Prize, 2026 Shortlist.” It then lists the five poems:

‘Now, here, this’ by Christopher ‘Kit’ Kelen
‘Stone Cold Tidda (based on true events’ by Cheryl Leavy
‘Nobody’ by Felicity Plunkett
‘The Fish’ by Alex Sutcliffe”

It then reads, “The winner will be announced on the 10th of August.”

In the background is a painting of a seashore.

Southerly @southerlylitmag.bsky.social · 2mo ago

In Rashida Murphy’s “Binary Opposition”, she frames the experience of “becoming pro-Palestine” after 7th October 2023 by looking back to her childhood in India at the dawn of the Iranian Revolution. Read now, comment, and share: southerlylitmag.com.au/binary-oppos... #southerly #creativepractice

A promotional image for the blog. It reads, “Binary Opposition, Rashida Murphy”. In the background is a sepia photograph from India in the 1970s. A young man sits in the grass, holding a baby. It is cropped so only the man's legs and the baby's arm are visible.

A quote from the blog post. It reads, “Attempting to make sense of it all, I find myself staring at a black and white picture on my desktop. A young man (let’s call him K) poses with a toddler on his lap. K sits in a garden with my baby nephew. He is not wearing his trademark thick glasses which means he probably can’t see the photographer. His smile suggests he expects us to tease him, and his easy hold on my nephew indicates the affection he bestowed on us, his default family. K was pathologically shy, but, in this photograph, he is at ease with himself; perhaps the baby in his arms helps. I think it is around 1977 or ‘78. The Iranian Revolution is more than a year away, but the ripples are already being felt among the student diaspora in India. K has been living with us for about 10 years by this stage.”

Southerly @southerlylitmag.bsky.social · 3mo ago

In the final instalment of Georgia Rose Phillips’s blog series on rereading and the South Australian coast, she reminds us of TS Eliot’s “The Hollow Men” – and listens to the ocean not for a bang, but for a whimper. Read now: southerlylitmag.com.au/luminous-wit... #southerly #auslit #climatecrisis

A promotional image for the blog. It reads, “Luminous with Manifold Illusion: Rereading as Postmortem or Death of the Poet” and “Georgia Rose Phillips”. In the background is a photograph of the South Australian coast, surrounded by plant-life.

An excerpt from the blog post. It reads, “One Saturday morning, the ocean’s whimper grew louder.
My wife arrived home from her morning walk, recounting the scene. Nose reddened by the cold, jacket collar crisp with salt. The tides had evicted an ailing dolphin. She described how the crowd of frazzled beachgoers congregated around the large grey creature lodged in the sand—along with the pleading look of distress in the dolphin’s eyes. The witnesses had tried to comfort the dolphin in a cocoon of wet towels as they waited for the vet to arrive and end the struggle.

*

This act of rereading the lines of Eliot’s poem—albeit divorced from its original context and shed of its religio-nationalist connotations—reminded me of Barthes’s assertions in S/Z. Here, Barthes identifies the plurality of texts (11), and with it, a work’s capacity to host various meanings that rely on readerly negotiation. He emphasises that to read “is to find meanings, and to find meanings is to name them” (10).”

Southerly @southerlylitmag.bsky.social · 3mo ago

The inaugural Southerly Essay The inaugural Southerly Essay, Serve the tea Blak, by K. A. Ren Wyld is now available to read. Read via the link in bio. southerlylitmag.com.au/southerly-es... @roannagonsalves.bsky.social

Southerly @southerlylitmag.bsky.social · 3mo ago

In Georgia Rose Phillips’s second blog, she explores the history of rereading. She travels through arguments for and against rereading to present reading itself as a creative process – and rereading and remembrance alike as hauntings. Read: southerlylitmag.com.au/enter-the-gh... #auslit #southerly

A promotional image for the blog. It reads, “Enter the Ghost, Exist the Ghost: Rereading as a Haunting–Phantom Texts, Hauntology and Spectral Readers”, then “Georgia Rose Phillips”. In the background is a photograph of a couple walking hand-in-hand along a large road. It is a long exposure photograph, so their figures are dark and blurred, giving them a spectral or ghostly appearance.

An excerpt from the blog post. It reads, ‘When I think of the phantom that haunts contemporary reading practices, I think of the slow and thorough practice of rereading. Jon Thiem describes in “Reading and Rereading” how the reading culture of the present is one of “scan, skim, and browse, forward and delete” in which the “notion of sustained reading seems archaic” (166).
This method of swift and singular reading, however, wasn’t always the dominant way to engage with a work. In “Toward a History of Reading”, Robert Darnton describes the period prior to 1750 as one of “intensive reading”. The scarcity of books meant people reread the ones they owned (91). Darnton outlines that by the 1800s people (mostly men) were reading “extensively” (91). The increase in quantity and availability of books—afforded by technological advancements of the printing press—precipitated new reading patterns." [character limit reached; full text on Southerly website. Sorry for the inconvenience!]

Southerly @southerlylitmag.bsky.social · 3mo ago

TODAY We're looking forward to welcoming everyone this afternoon for the launch of the inaugural Southerly Essay. More information: www.unsw.edu.au/arts-design-... 📅 Tuesday 16 June 🕓 4:00–5:00 PM 📍 Robert Webster 327, UNSW Sydney @roannagonsalves.bsky.social

Southerly @southerlylitmag.bsky.social · 3mo ago

In the first of three blog posts on rereading and its phenomenologies, Georgia Rose Phillips (The Bearcat, 2025) introduces us to a poem that haunts her: John Ashbery’s “Syringa”. Read now, comment, and share: southerlylitmag.com.au/in-praise-of... #southerly #rereading #literarytheory

A promotional image for the blog. It reads, “In Praise of Rereading: Iterative Inhabitations and Sheltering the Paradise of Words” and “Georgia Rose Phillips”. In the background is a photograph of a coastline at sunset. Waves break on rocks at the edge of land. The sun is sinking below deep grey clouds, and the sky is peachy gold and deep grey.

An excerpt from the blog. It reads, “My iterative returns to “Syringa” have made me sceptical of theses from the large body of apologia on rereading that justify returns to works as satisfying a yearning for comfort or familiarity (Spacks 2). I believe these arguments overlook what can be discovered when treating a poem as a site of openness and mediation of meaning making. Afterall, Nathaniel Stein has argued that “Few would question looking at a great painting twice”. Perhaps, even fewer would deign to label the impulse to do so as nostalgic."

Second paragraph is too long for alt text box; please see the blog on the Southerly website for a full transcript.

Southerly @southerlylitmag.bsky.social · 4mo ago

The Literary Provocations Hub and Southerly are proud to announce the forthcoming launch of the inaugural Southerly Essay, written by K. A. Ren Wyld and entitled 'Serve the tea Blak'. Event details: www.unsw.edu.au/arts-design-... #southerly #auslit #natalieharkin

A promotional image for the event. The background image is by Natalie Harkin – a First Nations woman is silhouetted on a blue background, hanging clothes on a line. The text reads, “All welcome to the launch of the inaugural Southerly Essay: ‘Serve the tea Blak’ by K.A Ren Wyld.” It then reads, “Tuesday 16th June 4-5 p.m., Webster 327, UNSW Kensington”.

Southerly @southerlylitmag.bsky.social · 4mo ago

Jessie Seymour’s “I had no words to describe my self” paints a vivid portrait of the Australian university sector in crisis. She asks: after years and decades of training, what does un(der)-employment do to selfhood? Read: southerlylitmag.com.au/i-had-no-words-to-describe-my-self #southerly #auslit

A promo image for the blog. It reads “I had no words to describe my self: Job scarcity and identity in the dying university”, then “Jessie Seymour”. In the background is a vintage lithograph artwork of a person in silhouette, standing on a balcony with a city behind them.

An excerpt from the blog post. It reads “Check email again. Not expecting anything, but not quite able to stop myself.
There’s a new message. It’s a rejection. Automated and impersonal. Doesn’t even have my name at the top.
Relief. At least it’s an answer.
This wasn’t even an academic job. I already applied to those – lectureships, short-term contracts, anything remotely within the field
I trained for. No, this was a Casual Janitorial Staff role.
They don’t even want me cleaning on campus.
I close the inbox.
JESSIE SEYMOUR”

Southerly @southerlylitmag.bsky.social · 4mo ago

In the final part of Amelia Walker’s “Un/telling y/our story” , she explores unanswerable questions: the trace of another's life in one's own, the relationship between artistic form and politics, and the views of those who have passed away. Read now: southerlylitmag.com.au/un-telling-y...

A promotional image for the blog. Over a greyscale photograph of old army boots, perched on the edge of a precipice, it reads, “Un/telling y/our story, part four. Amelia Walker.”

A quote from the blog. It reads, “Writing, for me, began with you. Poetry’s flexible grammars gave ways of unpacking the wild ideas we were exploring together, let me think thoughts standard language with its logical structures won’t admit (Webb 4-5). Later, writing helped me process the trauma of who you became, the shattering twist in y/our story’s unresolvable end. With some things, no words can. But metaphor may sometimes brush the thresholds where those unspeakables brim (Walker a n.p.).
So, my writing irreversibly flows back to you… Does that negate everything?
Or, recalling Derrida on de Man (Derrida 222-223), could my writing bear lessons learned from your mistakes? Might these bolster the left-oriented agendas I pursue?
That’s a nice thought.
Air-conditioning is also nice. As are silk shirts sewn in sweatshops.”

Southerly @southerlylitmag.bsky.social · 4mo ago

In the third installment of Amelia Walker’s “Un/telling y/our story”, she explores Jacques Derrida’s justifications and reflections of Martin Heidegger and Paul De Man’s affiliations with the nazi party, and walks with us through her university. Read now: southerlylitmag.com.au/un-telling-y...

Southerly @southerlylitmag.bsky.social · 5mo ago

In the second part of Amelia Walker’s “Un/telling y/our story”, she takes us through the liminal experience of “retelling” a story – the story of loving someone who later loved fascism. Read now: southerlylitmag.com.au/un-telling-y... #southerly #auslit #criticaltheory #derrida #creativepractice

A cover image for Amelia Walker’s article. Atop an image of an exercise book with ruled, blank pages, it reads “Un/telling y/our story, part two, Amelia Walker”.

A quote from the article reads: “Raconter sounds like recount, reminding me that telling, too, can mean counting and accounting, indeed reckoning. Does it also echo encounter? (In French, rencontre). I recall Judith Butler’s claim that accounts of selfhood are inevitably given to an o/Other, making o/Otherness a condition for self—always-already part of the self—which renders accounting always bound in moral questions of accountability: recognition, reciprocity, responsibility… failure (Butler 31; see also Walker 2). Did Derrida mean something similar when, re-reading de Man’s “Autobiography as de-facement”, he emphasised “the undecidable distinction between fiction and autobiography”, musing that in contexts of mourning, “the other so marks the self of the relationship to self” as to be “‘in us’”, a ghostly presence it is possible neither to exorcise nor revive (Derrida 22)? AMELIA WALKER.”

Southerly @southerlylitmag.bsky.social · 5mo ago

Enter here: whitlam.org/what-matters

Southerly @southerlylitmag.bsky.social · 5mo ago

There is just one day left to submit your work to the inaugural Southerly Poetry Prize! For the opportunity to win $2000 and be published in Australia’s oldest literary journal, submit your work by 11:59PM Wednesday 15th April. southerlylitmag.com.au/the-southerl... #southerly #poetry #auslit

A promotional image showing a painting of a purple-tinted beach. The text above it reads “Southerly Poetry Prize. 24 hours to go. Submissions close 15 April 2026, 11:59pm. Artwork: Slumbering Sea, Mentone, by Tom Roberts”.

Southerly @southerlylitmag.bsky.social · 5mo ago

Over the next eight weeks, Amelia Walker's "Un/telling y/our story" series will explore what draws people in to authoritarianism and fascism, and what it is like to witness others fall into authoritarian and fascist politics. Read part one: southerlylitmag.com.au/un-telling-y... #auslit #southerly

A title image for the series. It reads, "Un/telling y/our story, part one". On a new line, it reads "Amelia Walker".

A quote from the article over an eerie image of a bus. The quote reads, "I have never known how to tell a story is an English translation of the words Derrida uttered in French: “Je n’ai jamais su raconter une histoire” (in Krzykawski 81). That histoire can mean both story and history seems pertinent to the tale he was struggling to tell—one of personal experiences that intersect with bigger socio-political turns, recollected with faithfulness to an o/Other no longer able to verify or amend facts and details, an o/Other now distant, impossible to reach, yet equally impossible to disentangle from, a ghostly, haunting o/Other whose un/tellable story remains utterly inextricable from one’s own, from self (Walker 2)."

Southerly @southerlylitmag.bsky.social · 5mo ago

Submissions to the Southerly Poetry Prize 2026 close in one week. All Australian poets are eligible to enter. The winner will receive a cash prize of $2000AUD and their winning entry published in Southerly 81.1 in October 2026. Head to the website to submit.

Southerly @southerlylitmag.bsky.social · 6mo ago

Leading up to Southerly 81.1 “Ireland and Other Islands”, we are delighted to offer two special books as giveaways to Southerly subscribers. Thanks to Pan Macmillan for sharing these new books with Southerly.

Southerly @southerlylitmag.bsky.social · 6mo ago

In the final instalment of Jenny Hedley’s blog series on her small language model JenAI, she takes us through her mother’s archive, born in large part through diaries of head-and-neck cancer, reanimated in dialogue with her own. southerlylitmag.com.au/archival-bots-my-mother-my-model-for-language/

A quote from the article over a photograph of the author, Jenny Hedley's, mother. She is walking up a flight of stairs, looking intently and playfully at the photographer. She is a white woman with dusty blonde hair, wearing dark clothes and holding a handbag. The text reads "Derrida proposes that archons – the guardians of the archive – are tasked with consignation, or ‘gathering together signs’ in order to create a cohesive, synchronous, unified corpus (10). JenAI as contemporary archon systemises not a warehoused archival repository but rather a repository of generative language patterned upon personal and inherited archives. Derrida writes, ‘Archival meaning is […] codetermined by the structure that archives’ (18); the amorphous, inexhaustible space of language-in-code – of generative language yet to come – carries an archival promise of futures unknown.

JENNY HEDLEY"

Southerly @southerlylitmag.bsky.social · 6mo ago

The deadline to submit to Southerly 81.1, Ireland and Other Islands, is on March 30, 11.59PM. Send us your submissions here: southerlylitmag.com.au/submit-to-so...

The first page features the picture of a closed envelope. The text reads: Southerly, Issue 81.1: Ireland and Other Islands. Submissions closing soon. Deadline is Monday, March 30, 2026, 11.59PM.

The second page features the picture of an open envelope on a green background. The text reads: We invite submissions from writers who identify as Irish or as being of Irish heritage as well as from writers of other cultural backgrounds interested in exploring Irishness and its connection to Australia. More information available at:
southerlylitmag.com.au/submit-to-southerly/