Wow. What an essay by Eli McLean for @overlandjournal.bsky.social : "I had started to feel over the last few months that the ever-watchful eye of the university panopticon was sooner or later going to cast its gaze on our publishing activities"

“I do not need to name all the names of poets doing this in “Australia”, because Australia doesn’t exist.” A brand new, extended essay on geography and poetry by John Kinsella.

“If we’ve learned anything from the recent slew of Zionist attacks on culture in Australia, it’s that institutions — mainly universities — are often a poisoned chalice for writers and editors.” Deputy editor Eli McLean on the closure of MEANJIN.

Sara Cheikh examines the envoy’s report on Islamophobia and finds that it “does not chart a path toward justice simply because it failed to place Australian Muslims’ grievances within the power mechanisms that created them in the first place”.

I wrote about shark nets and a very niche part of Sydney history from the other side of the fence (pun intended) for @overlandjournal.bsky.social

“Historian Bill Gammage’s warning that “fences on the ground make fences in the mind” ring in the ears as shark nets are erected along Australia's coastlines each year.” For @copower.bsky.social, our own Natasha Seymour on Australia’s neverending “shark era”. overland.org.au/2025/09/fenc...

“you know it's about to get gnarly when the lichen is fused with the asphalt” Our latest #fridaypoem is EFFORT by Eliana Gray.

“A name once whispered across the industrial north, Jenny Greenteeth has declined into print, into kitsch.” David Renton on the history of a cautionary creature of folklore, pointing “to the world we have made and could yet unmake.” overland.org.au/2025/09/jenn...

An open letter by GPs for Palestine to the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners

“Do not be deceived by the ‘humanitarian’ label given to this militarised organisation. All funding to this militant group must be withdrawn and the organisation disbanded.” Amy Neilson on the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation and aid turning to murder.

“I didn’t get far through my call centre de-escalation training but telling someone they might punch you seems like the opposite of de-escalation. I look at him again, trying to listen to his feelings.” From IN MY PANTS, a new story by Ismene Panaretos.

Since our very first issue Meanjin and Overland have been comrades, mates, rivals, and drinking buddies. The UMP board’s decision is a shockingly myopic act of cultural vandalism which will grievously harm the Australian literary community.

“With an inflated sense of its renewed mandate, Labor seems poised to concretise its anti-democratic potential.” Giacomo Bianchino on Australian politics and the end of government by consent.

“In order to be silent to colonial atrocity, past and present, settler society makes as much noise as possible, especially through mythological havoc. ” From Dan Hogan's pyrotechnic review of Patrick Malrborough's NOCK LOOSE. Part of a series of critical essays supported by @copyright.com.au.

“The organic solidarity on display across ANU gives the institution its moral clarity and counterweight to a bureaucracy that risks becoming a case as hard as steel.” Beck Pearse on an institution at a crossroads.

In her latest comic for Overland, Sofia Sabbagh responds to Israel’s E1 settlement plan, illustrating a quote by American-Palestinian journalist and writer Mariam Barghouti.

“If you don’t fight, you lose”. Sarah Missen and Sam Wallman continue their ongoing examination of the state of things at the CFMEU — and answer the question of whether Mark Irving is or isn’t a werewolf.

“All people deserve to live free from violence. And all victims of violence and their allies must be allowed to speak out about their experience.” Sonia Orchard on withdrawing from the Bendigo Writers Festival.

This poem was written to perform at Fine Print Magazine's Narrative Sabotage event in July. Thanks to @overlandjournal.bsky.social for publishing a re-worked version. I'm very new to poetry, but it felt good releasing some rightous rage. From the river to the sea / always was always will be ✊🏾

“The moon weeps over Palestine weaving tears into silvery shrouds.” From “starmight”, a new poem by K.A Ren Wyld.

“In place of carceral hegemony, we can build solidarities rooted in mutual care, collective responsibility, and the belief that everyone deserves to live free from violence, including the violence of the state.” Sheena Colquhoun responds to Victoria’s current “tough on crime” push.

Zowie Douglas-Kinghorn on Australia’s new energy crossroads and how “the fight against fracking once again sees the communities on the front lines of the climate crisis.” Generously supported by the good folks at @copower.bsky.social

“I fall asleep and dream of being a wolf howling at the moon and padding quietly into a warm den in the bush. Being an animal is better than being a human animal.” Our brand new #FridayFiction is EXISTENCE IS RESISTANCE IS LOVE: BODIES by Katie Shammas

“C minor rings out mournfully across the dairy plains of central northern Tasmania in the cool night air, in the feathery dawn light, in the buttery low-angled afternoon sun.” A lyrical piece by Liz Conor on the practice of bobby calving.

“With the hut as his base, Heidegger would set out on walks where he would collect water from a well and think philosophically.” This is different, but in a good way: a comic by Chris Fleming on philosophers and their huts.

"Ultimately, what is at stake in the rise of community housing organisations isn’t just housing access — it’s the political and moral landscape of dwelling itself." David Kelly on the replication of colonial governance under the guise of supplying "housing choices".

For our ongoing series of critical essays supported by @copyright.com.au, Sam Elkin reviews Keio Yoshida’s new book PRIDE AND PREJUDICES. overland.org.au/2025/08/sing...

“Most likely, Johnson will live a much longer life than most people. But probably not because of his laser-focus on his lifestyle. Rather, because he is wealthy.” Erin Stewart on Bryan Johnson and the latest tantrums of tech transhumanism.

Open letter against the adoption of the Australian Special Envoy to Combat Antisemitism’s Plan: Academics against racism overland.org.au/2025/07/open...

The measures called for in this report are an extraordinary attempt to place higher education under the control of a political lobby.

Very proud to have co-authored another sure to be unpopular Autism/ADHD banger with my comrade Dr Ali, and even prouder that it's in @overlandjournal.bsky.social

“... Wealth is obscene, and poems are no safe-zones from the brutality of clichés.” We’re delighted to bring you a new, long illustrated poem by John Kinsella, “Epigrams against wealth”.

“It is nearly impossible to completely separate Autism from its clinical context. Yet the rise in self-identification with rigid lists of behaviours and “symptoms” is at odds with the utopian intentions of the neurodiversity movement.” Clem Bastow and Ali Schnabel on online neurodiversity

“There can be no true justice and accountability while police are permitted to investigate the actions of their colleagues in relation to complaints and deaths in police custody.” Maggie Munn and Monique Hurley on the aftermath of the Kumanjayi Walker inquest.

“My hand hovers above the dog lead. I close my eyes. Pippa is _his_ dog. I can’t steal his dog.” Our latest #fridayfiction is INNER ANTS, by Caitlin Mahony.

“Our universities are employing police-state tactics to discipline and punish students and staff for their opposition to the Gaza genocide.” James McVicar on the findings of the People’s Inquiry into Campus Free Speech on Palestine, which is holding public hearings this week.

“The vote was called, the hands went up. Strike action it was.” Union organiser Shane Reside on the collective agreement won by Painters & Dockers working on Garden Island, and what it means for the rights of workers and migrants.

“ROCK FLIGHT urges its reader to turn the object of the poem into another kind of tool in which a poem is not just a poem but an action.” Micaela Sahhar’s review of Hasib Hourani’s debut poem is also a meditation on liberation and resistance.

The other runner up for the Neilma Sidney Short Story Prize 2024 is “Off” by Jo Langdon. We hope you enjoy it.

Today we're very pleased to bring you the first runner-up story in the latest Neilma Sidney Prize. It's the beautiful “Harvard Estate is” by Aneeta Sundararaj.

“What greater challenge could there be than to translate non-human into human, to breathe fresh vitality into a desiccated husk of information?” John Jamieson on Walter Benjamin, storytelling and the disembodied language of AI.

“The collective noun for landlord is a major party” Our latest Friday poem — the first one selected by our new poetry editor Elena Gomez — is “Late night shopping?” by Dan Hogan.

“Before anything further was said, I could guess the nature of the complaint and pinpoint the offending teaching material to which it referred.” A case study on academic censorship by Zain Swaleh

Shillan Shebly, Natalie Ironfield and Elizabeth Strakosch write about the policing of Palestine solidarity and the intensifying climate of political repression at the University of Melbourne, all “operating in the name of ‘antiracism’.”

“Ensuring the way forward for the CFMEU involves more rank-and-file participation, more democracy and more transparency.” An essay by Sarah Missen beautifully illustrated by our Sam Wallman.

“As a Muslim, I am taught that to oppress another is to dishonour the divine. That justice is a sacred trust. And that peace without dignity is a false peace.” An essay on Gaza by poet Yahia Lababidi. overland.org.au/2025/06/thos...

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“Neither numbers nor abject subjects of violence, Palestinians continue to disturb and challenge the Israeli onslaught by resisting their reduction to bare life.” Norman Saadi Nikro on celebration and creativity as forms of defiance.

“My daughter had shown me videos of drivers with televisions and video games inside their trucks. They personalised their interiors with such thoughtfulness I wonder if they hired designers. I have not.” Our brand new #fridayfiction is BARDO by Alex Goodfellow.

“What is at stake is more than a biennale or an exhibition. It is whether our arts institutions reflect the complexity of the arts, and the courage needed.” Sarah Schmidt on Ngura Pulka, Khaled Sabsabi and the politics of reviews.