Letters to the Editor - June-July 2015

LEADING THE CHARGE Dear Editor, It was welcome indeed to read your editorial setting out Australian Book Review’s full-throated support for the proper payment of young writers (May 2015). In the current economic climate, forging a literary career is extremely difficult. Cuts to universities and books pages have diminished opportunities for young writers, like myself, to work full-time in literature. Egregiously, some major commercial news outlets exploit writers by publishing their work for free (or near as dammit), in exchange for the much-needed byline. Unpaid internships are another gloomy reality. All of this risks our professional literary life being reserved for the rich. ABR’s campaign – for publications to pay for what they print, at rates reflecting the time and skill required to produce international-level writing – is vital. It shows cultural and industry leadership in a publishing climate that too often takes advantage of the young. I am a direct beneficiary of ABR’s approach. The magazine gave me my first ever commission, a publication that began my career. It has continued to support me as an emerging writer and critic. Most recently, ABR and The Ian Potter Foundation backed me to work full-time for a number of months on a single, extended project – a long-form study of television drama. These paid commissions – and the initial faith Peter Rose showed in an unpublished writer – have allowed me to pursue a literary career. Without them, I would still be scribbling in lunch-breaks. Writing must not be the preserve of the affluent alone. For Australia to have a viable literary profession in the decades to come – let alone one competitive at the highest level – writers must have opportunities to be published and be paid. It is a great comfort to have ABR leading the charge. I urge readers to support it. James McNamara, Redfern, NSW SLAP-HAPPY Dear Editor, I enjoyed reading Philippa Hawker on the television dramatisation of Christos Tsiolkas’s The Slap (Arts Update, ‘From the Archives’). Curiously, slapping was a sensational issue in Tasmania in 1854. When two-year-old Robert Gibson was slapped by a neighbour, his parents, Robert and Louisa Gibson, pressed charges and the matter went to court. On 14 January 1854, the Cornwall Chronicle reported that Eliza Thaw ‘seized hold of the little boy, and gave him several violent slaps on the back, which knocked him down’. His forehead was bruised and his nose bled. Mrs Thaw was convicted of assault and fined. The bizarre incident is included in my book, Mrs Fenton’s Journey: India and Tasmania 1826–1876, published by Walleah Press in 2014. Margaretta Pos, Battery Point, Tas. SCOTT MCCULLOCH ABROAD Dear Editor, Thank you for publishing another exceptional article from Scott McCulloch for general marvelling and re-reading and wonderment (‘Letter from Tehran’, ABR, May 2015). Perhaps Scott can write ‘a narrative of his homeland from a distance’ so that we can better ponder ourselves? Heather Sheard (online comment) The Editor replies: Our intrepid far-flung correspondent’s ‘Letter from Athens’ will follow in the August issue. HIROMI OMURA Dear Editor, I agree with you about Hiromi Omura as Cio-Cio-San (Arts Update). Omura was brilliant in Madama Butterfly in the 2014 Handa Opera on the Harbour (now available on DVD), and I too hope she will sing again in Australia in great dramatic roles where her acting, as well as her singing, can triumph. I am so glad you are reviewing opera in ABR. Tony Kevin (online comment)

From the New Issue

The Trojan Horse and Other Stories: Ten ancient creatures that make us human by Julia Kindt

Expanding Mindscapes: A global history of psychedelics by Erika Dyck and Chris Elcock

The New World Disorder: How the West is destroying itself by Peter R. Neumann, translated by David Shaw

‘“Thin labourism”: How is the Albanese government travelling?’ by Frank Bongiorno