Editor Catherine Noske Frequency Biannual Publisher Westerly Centre | Categories Literature, culture Format Online and print Year founded 1956 | |
Westerly is a literary magazine that has been produced at the University of Western Australia since 1956. It currently publishes two issues a year, and in 2016 will release its first online special issues. The journal maintains a specific focus on the Australian and Asian regions, but has published literary and cultural content from international authors. The magazine publishes fiction, poetry, cultural, autobiographic, and scholarly essays, and interviews.
Contents
History
In 2015, Westerly ran a campaign called 'Word Matters', a response in publication to the funding cuts seen in the arts in federal and state budgets. The campaign published poetry from two young emerging poets, and sought reader engagement in the tweeting of responses online (#westerlywordmatters). Around that time, Westerly developed a more extensive online presence with a new website and social media engagement. The magazine, with the redesign of their website, broadened their publications to include special issues and regular online pieces.
In early 2016, the Magazine ran a successful crowdfunding campaign on chuffed.org exceeding their target funding. Funding has also been received from the Copyright Agency Ltd. to support a forthcoming 'Writers Development Program'.
The Westerly archives are housed in Special Collections in the University of Western Australia Library, with a complete digital version of the backset available at the website.[1] The first issue of 2016 will be released in July and focus on Indigenous writing and culture, and will be guest edited by Steven Kinnane.
Notable Contributors
Notable Westerly writers include Randolph Stow, Dorothy Hewett, T.A.G. Hungerford and Elizabeth Jolley; highly awarded contemporary writers, including Tim Winton, Kim Scott, and Sally Morgan; and acclaimed local poets John Kinsella, Tracy Ryan, John Mateer, and Lucy Dougan. It has a remit to focus on Western Australian writing, with other interests including the Asia region and Australian literature more generally.
The Patricia Hackett Prize has been awarded by the University of Western Australia for the best original contribution to Westerly each year since 1965.