The abrupt and indefensible closure of Meanjin makes me ask, what can be done to shore up the future of literary journals in this country? How about funding the arts to the OECD average. That would mean an extra $5b per year. With thanks to @jocaseau.bsky.social for her ever-excellent edits on this

New York City helped my mother become the artist she is today. The next generation deserves a City Hall that lifts up tomorrow's artists as well.

And that's a wrap on Australia's COP31 bid.

Curious about what's happening at #COP30? @roycerk2.bsky.social and I recapped the first week for @drilledmedia.bsky.social drilled.media/news/COP30-w...

I'm on the ground here in Belem at COP30. Here is a quick video of part of the performance by Wiradjuri man Benjamin Thomson and Germaine Paulson gave after a press conference yesterday morning by civil society groups pressing the case for Australia to host the conference next year.

How Australia’s national security chief used AI to write speeches and ‘personnel communications’ Pretty wild story from @cameronwilson.bsky.social who has done the first chatbot FOI in Australia (possibly the world??) www.crikey.com.au/2025/11/12/a...

A brilliant appointment in @jennifermills.net.au! www.asauthors.org.au/news/asa-wel...

As #COP30 officially starts today, a look at how various actors try to obstruct UN climate processes, with @cssn.org's Kari de Pryck and Eduardo Viola drilled.media/podcasts/dri...

ICYMI: Microsoft’s charge “implies a more than $12 billion quarterly loss at OpenAI, said Firoz Valliji, an analyst at Bernstein.” That “would mark one of the largest single-quarter losses for a tech company in history.” @jessefelder.bsky.social $MSFT www.wsj.com/livecoverage...

I do not regret to inform you that we are going to win

Drilled was asked to promote a new pro-nuclear book. When we found it contained a conspiracy alleging the oil industry funded environmental groups to kill the nuclear industry -- and that it didn't stack up -- it turned into an investigation. New from me in @drilledmedia.bsky.social:

Krasznahorkai has said of his work: ‘You will never go wrong anticipating doom in my books, any more than you’ll go wrong in anticipating doom in ordinary life.’ In 2012, we recorded a 94-minute conversation with Colm Tóibín for our Bookshop podcast: www.londonreviewbookshop.co.uk/podcasts-vid...

For every €1 provided through a Basic Income For Artists pilot program in Ireland, the government got €1.46 back. So it’s being made permanent. Over and over we see it. It saves public money to provide public housing. And it makes public money to provide basic income. We can’t afford to NOT do it.

This is the biggest, toughest article I’ve done about so-called “AI psychosis.” It’s the story of a man who committed a horrific crime in his youth but served his time and against all odds found love and a new life—one that completely unraveled after he started talking to Google’s Gemini chatbot.

Tonight on Spin Cycle, @roycerk2.bsky.social on the woeful climate discourse we must endure while the world burns. Plus news of the week. With @rachelwithers.bsky.social and @theshufflediary.bsky.social. Tune into @3rrrfm.bsky.social from 7pm. Then we are off to stare at walls for three weeks.

"Common decency stigmatizes people that do not participate in it—removes them from voluntary association. We indeed have to live with one another, but terms and conditions apply." me on why Ezra Klein should be ashamed / why shame is Good Actually www.bostonreview.net/articles/how...

incredible detail: ‘Even Geoffrey Hinton, a Nobel Prize-winning computer scientist known as a "Godfather of AI" recently conceded that his girlfriend had broken up with him using ChatGPT.’

As venues close and festivals cancel, our artists and arts sector is in desperate need of support. We've just published a submission with 3 key ideas to save our arts industry. • Culture passes • Book bounty • Remove tax on art prizes & grants We've got five ideas for how to pay for it too. ⤵️

Sydney book launch, Tues September 30 @ Gleebooks, in conversation with Helen Sullivan 🦋🍷 Tickos: gleebooks.com.au/event/walter...

Meanjin’s performance and sustainability were the focus of a review commissioned by MUP in February. The final recommendations of the report, which was never released publicly, did not include closing Meanjin.

From “One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This” by Omar El Akkad.

The Trump administration appears to be trying to make a global war on renewables. I spoke to @mkblyth.bsky.social for @drilledmedia.bsky.social about the strategy of carbon dominance, how this is shaping politics not just in the US but everywhere, and what that means for the future.

The meaning and value of culture cannot be captured in market terms, and the cultural loss of Meanjin will far exceed what can be measured on a balance sheet. (2/4)

Byron Writers Festival is deeply concerned by the shuttering of Meanjin, one of Australia's oldest, most revered and influential literary magazines, for 'financial' reasons. (1/4)

What exactly happened to Meanjin? And why in this manner? Some excellent observations (and questions) from @catrionamp.bsky.social over on @crikey.com.au: www.crikey.com.au/2025/09/08/m...

“Literary journals have never been a commercial enterprise, they have been a cultural enterprise ... To talk about the ‘problem’ of Meanjin as being a commercial one is to disavow the purpose of a university.” @sophtree.bsky.social

This is so deeply troubling. For a university/publisher to cite 'viability' concerns over a cultural endeavour – the leading literary publication in the country, no less – and do so one month after the long-awaited launch of Writing Australia body raises many questions.

This, from Jonathan Green, pretty much sums it up: “Meanjin’s financial demand is trivial … a few hundred thousand dollars … the cultural loss of its death is as significant as it is tragic.” www.crikey.com.au/2025/09/04/m...

“This was not a protest hijacked by the far-right, it was far-right from inception to execution.”

Listen back www.3cr.org.au/theblackblock to today’s show with Robbie Thorpe and guests #AlwaysWasAlwaysWillBe #communityradio

Statement: The Jewish Council of Australia stands with First Nations people after the cowardly Nazi attack on Camp Sovereignty. Our struggles against racism, fascism and the ongoing colonisation of this land are bound together. Always was, always will be, Aboriginal land.

Robbie Thorpe asking all to tune into 3CR's The Black Block @3crmelbourne.bsky.social this morning from 11am for updates on yesterday's horrifying neo-Nazi attack on Camp Sovereignty www.3cr.org.au

The start of the algal bloom off the South Australian coast began like a horror film and only grew worse from there. I took a direct look at the role of climate change in making this disaster in my home state for @drilledmedia.bsky.social.

They're here, everyone! This isn't like "sorry for those polluted US towns but we're built different" We have RECENT LIVING MEMORY of awful bushfires & drought restrictions, yet just 1 of these proposed data centres' usage could supply 66k Melburnians with water for a YEAR 7 of them want permits

‘There’s no room to grow’: Aunty Donna on why Australian TV comedy needs a massive shake-up

Well, at least they are redirecting literary grant money to "foster AI competency" (clearly lacking in this AI generated 2nd paragraph), support for the military (as all true literature should do), and disaster recovery (books as sandbags?)

While it is reasonable to expect professional standards of behaviour from authors conducting events, this situation represents another instance of overreach in codes of conduct for public appearances ... Read our full statement: www.asauthors.org.au/news/author-concerns-about-bwf-code-of-conduct/

'If eighty-four per cent of publishing workers are women—a proportion that falls, naturally, with increased job seniority—and nearly half of all workers went to private school, well, that’s another quirk of this whimsical sector.' www.killyourdarlings.com.au/article/the-...

Always cool to chat with the book show on ABC RN. Listen in if you want some laughs about billionaires leaving the planet so the rest of us can deal with the climate crisis, I write fiction I swear 🌏🪂💥 #salvage www.abc.net.au/listen/progr...

And in other good news, Slick has made the long list at The Nibs:

It's almost here! Byron Writers Festival '25 features more than 160 extraordinary writers on Bundjalung Country this 8-10 August.⁠ ⁠ Explore the program and plan your visit >> byronwritersfestival.com/festival

The NSW Supreme Court has ruled in favour of the pro-Palestine march across Sydney Harbour Bridge! Protestors will be legally protected while marching across the Sydney Harbour Bridge tomorrow after the NSW Supreme Court's decision this morning. #auspol #FreePalestine #MarchForHumanity #SaveGaza

my debut album CROWN OF MY SPIRIT is out now 🩷☄️ took 5 years to get here. it's fittingly an album about finding trust in the cyclical arcs of time and life, through the inevitabilities of darkness and light. lonelyspeck.bandcamp.com/album/crown-...

Proud to be one of many Australian arts graduates calling for a university policy and fee structure that champions the people who create Australia’s future www.theguardian.com/australia-ne... with thanks to @michellearrow.bsky.social and the AHA for taking the lead. Join us: advocate for change—

NSW spending $1.5m on literary hub to rival Melbourne’s Wheeler Centre and boost Sydney Writers festival

You can also read it here www.ap.org/the-definiti...

Everyone says AI chatbots are getting really good at writing emails but uhhh I beg to differ

Climate change an "existential threat to humanity" but Australia law offers no recourse to Torres Strait islanders in class action against the government for negligence. My report on today's decision in @reneweconomy.com.au:

If I can sum up what just happened as neatly as possible: a Federal Court judge found the Australian government had ignored climate science when setting emissions targets, appeared to want to find for the applicants, but said his hands were tied by the law of negligence in Australia. /1