“More than four decades on, Edward Said’s famous observation that ‘permission to narrate’ is denied to the Palestinian perspective has lost none of its currency.” Nick Riemer reviews the transcripts of the Royal Commission on Antisemitism and Social Cohesion.

Save the date and RSVP now to book your spot at GET STARTED, SOMEONE WILL FINISH, a night of readings from writers working in the left tradition in Naarm. RSVP here: tally.so/r/J9WKDY

“Because there’s no doubt that more people are being screwed than ever in the housing market, including the middle-class Boomers’ kids. But some people have always been screwed.” May Ngo reviews Fiona Wright’s KILL YOUR BOOMERS - with the generous support of @copyright.com.au.

A piece on the ‘audit’ of higher education overland.org.au/2026/05/behi...

“To conduct her so-called “audit”, Jillian Segal appointed a man who’d had not only found the universities guilty of tolerating antisemitism but had described them as “subscribing” to it.” Jeff Sparrow on Greg Craven's antisemitism audit.

“… We knew they could / only be betrayed by their own.” Our latest #fridaypoem is JUDAS GOATS by Caitlin Maling

“In order to be what it is, poetry has to cross the line and keep on crossing it.” Louis Armand reviews Pam Brown’s GUESS THE EXPERIENCE

“The AI arms race is inherently an energy arms race. And Australia is being conscripted into both.” Gwenaël Velge on Australia’s manufactured security crisis

“It rose into the sky, this gigantic column made of stones and items of clothing, mainly underwear.” From THE STRUCTURE, a new story by Dominic Carey and our latest #fridayfiction

Sponsored by Trinity College at the University of Melbourne, the 2026 Nakata Brophy Prize for Young Indigenous Writers is now open for your best poetic submissions. Judges are Evelyn Araluen and Luke Patterson. Submissions close 17th July. SUBMIT: overland.submittable.com/submit/24622...

“In the last decade, chance mechanics have been increasingly exploited by the video game industry to attract players, including very young ones. And while the government is clearly aware of the risks, it really isn’t clear what the right step forward is.” Tom Gurn on loot boxes.

“Today memory culture means that Germany supposedly makes up for the Holocaust by its commitment to Israel.” Jewish author Janey Stone reflects on a visit to Germany.

A brief reply to Michael Gawenda's slander overland.org.au/2026/05/jour...

Over the weekend, THE AUSTRALIAN published a scurrilous piece by Michael Gawenda that included an attack on OVERLAND and our former editor Jeff Sparrow. Jeff responds here.

Heyo, I decided to start playing D&D to find a social and creative hobby that I didn't make money off, and then proceeded to feel the urge to monetise it by writing an essay about it. Enjoy a little deep dive into embracing that little unproductive gremlin that lives inside you.

“D&D is a space to play, to formulate, to waste time. We need more spaces to come together and imagine other worlds.” Scott Hudson on unproductive play as a subversive act.

“For frontline housing workers, this is a call to action”. Oli Caruana-Brown and Ella McNicoll on “organised abandonment” and Victoria’s Big Housing Build.

“Sometimes, before I write another poem, I’ll pause and think about the violence of the words upon the paper they are written on.” Lyndall Thomas interviews Jeanine Leane.

TONIGHT! Last spots available: tally.so/r/44L1bB

People in Naarm (Melbourne), get along to this Overland event tonight at Trades Hall – it will be great.

“By next morning the entire house had disappeared. The miners had taken it to pieces and carted it away in the night.” Tim Briedis on stories of worker radicalism in the Hunter Valley, and how they might provide inspiration for an eco-socialist movement today.

This Wednesday. 5:30pm Trades Hall, Carlton. RSVPs are essential, and places are filling up soon: tally.so/r/44L1bB

“Australians said, landed among manatees, did useful, / neatnesses, knitted, pleasingly.” So begins A SLAM DUNK PUBLICATION, the latest, characteristically dizzying new poem by Michael Farrell.

“2SER operates not just as a broadcaster, but as an incubator of democratic culture” Daz Chandler on the threatened closure of Sydney’s 2SER-FM and the fundamental civic value of community radio.

“When we call something a conspiracy theory, what work are we doing? Who benefits from that designation?” A masterful review of CONSPIRACY NATION by our own Cher Tan. Part of a series of critical essays supported by @copyright.com.au.

“There he was, on the edge of his bed, his guitar cradled, moving with it. Arms contorted and tensed and then released. A rhythm in those arms alone.” From THESE OLD HANDS, THEY ARE STILL GROWING, our latest #fridayfiction by Sam Fisher

“The government is telling major emitters they must cut pollution while paying them not to.” Noa Wynn on Australia’s $67 billion climate betrayal

“The most consistent factor that supports meaningful, lasting change … is the relationship between the client and the worker.” Nick Crowley on the proletarianisation of disability support work.

Join us for an evening of solidarity and shared purpose. April 29, 5:30pm-late. Solidarity Hall at Trades Hall, Carlton. RSVP now: tally.so/r/44L1bB

“King’s solutionism remains entangled with the technological paradigm he critiques, rather than decisively breaking from it.” Ben Brooker reviews THE BRAND NEW WILD.

“This less familiar terrain … offers new methods for us to understand, discuss and organise against racism and fascism.” R Browne reviews Alana Lentin’s NEW RACIAL REGIME

“This is the challenge of the artist who is concerned with struggle: to make manifest power relations, social relations, amorphous shape-shifting dynamics.” An illustrated essay by the incomparable @samwallman.bsky.social on the history and lessons of Sydney’s Wharfies Mural.

“Years of cultivating ‘good’ relationships with politicians were never enough to humanise Muslims in the eyes of those in power.” Sara Cheikh Husain on the limits of Australian Muslim political engagement.

I wrote for @overlandjournal.bsky.social about some university policies and Palestine overland.org.au/2026/03/cond...

“The university still has an opportunity to speak out against genocide and apartheid. It should do so.” @jeffsparrow1.bsky.social responds to the call for feedback on the right to protest and the “iSurveillance Policy” at the University of Melbourne.

We are thrilled to announce the winners of this year's Judith Wright Poetry Prize! Head here to read more about the poets and their works: overland.org.au/2026/03/fina...

We are so happy to announce this year's winners of the Neilma Sidney Short Story Prize! Head here to read more about the winning authors and their work: overland.org.au/2026/03/fina...

“It’s the people on the frontlines of the housing crisis that are leading the charge.” Hannah Garvan on the last twenty-five years of the housing struggle.

“The labour of constantly translating grief into acceptable language, of remaining calm, generous, and persuasive, is carried by those least able to set it down.” Jens Kirsch on the work of Noongar community advocate Daniel Garlett and the unseen emotional labour of environmental defence.

“We’re heading to Ålesund, which is just a name on a map to me, a small city hovering on the coast of my dreams. The Opening Heart – three days of stillness, singing and sharing. Not my choice. He insisted.” From AT A CROSSROADS WITH REVEREND HANSEN BANG, a wonderful new story by Cameron Semmens.

“We allegedly had a bomb thrown at us — a bomb said to be designed to kill us — but there was mostly silence from the nation.” Roxy Moore on Invasion Day in Boorloo and how safety can only come through truth-telling.

“If feminist organisations are genuinely concerned about safety, their efforts must target the everyday violences of imprisonment, not the scapegoating of trans women.” Stacey Stokes, Witt Gorrie and Sheena Colquhoun on carceral feminism and the politics of exclusion.

“The committed writer is a movement writer … The committed writer knows that they know very little, and that the way to remedy that ignorance is through solidarity with people in struggle.” For PEN Melbourne, André Dao on how a writer can make the world more free.

Issue 259 is now here. Available for purchase now: overland.org.au/product/curr...

This comic elegantly puts it all together, making abstract things concrete and seemingly remote things urgently relevant. Fantastic work

Bloody hell - how good's this?! I missed it some months ago: Chris Fleming on "Huts" (Heidegger's, Wittgenstein's, Adorno's* (* "the last philosopher who would be caught dead in a hut"), Kaczynski... In @overlandjournal.bsky.social overland.org.au/2025/08/huts/

We are very excited to announce the arrival of Overland No. 259. Now available for purchase in our online store. If you are already a subscriber, keep an eye out for your copy in the mail! overland.org.au/product/curr...

In our latest piece for @copower.bsky.social, the wonderful Sofia Sabbagh tries really hard, and ultimately fails, not to make a comic about critical minerals.

We are excited to announce the shortlist for the 2025 Neilma Sidney Short Story Prize. Head here to read more about the authors! overland.org.au/2026/03/anno...

We are excited to announce the shortlist for the 2025 Neilma Sidney Short Story Prize. Head here to read more about the authors! overland.org.au/2026/03/anno...