AustLit

Many areas of Australia's engagement with the art of story can be explored through AustLit. A range of specialist research projects by collaborators at many Australian universities are underway in AustLit but there are a multitude of new projects possible, both small and large.

AustLit aims to support scholars and others who wish to use our resources to establish new research projects in their particular field of interest.

We are happy to help you get started on one of the project ideas listed below, or on a project of your own choosing.

This list includes currently under-explored areas of Australian literary history and culture.

Adaptations

Works adapted from one form of storytelling to another form, such as a novel to a screenplay which is then made into a film or television program. This search will show works adapted from young adult and adult fiction, poetry, novellas, short stories, children’s books, plays, biographies and autobiographies.

There is work to be done on recording who was involved in the adaptations and there are many adaptations still to be recorded.

Anniversaries and Centenaries

Work is currently underway on a project mapping the literary responses to World War I and the Gallipoli campaign. Perhaps you can help?

Cohort Studies

Are there discernable attributes in groups of people who might have been born in a particular place or time, educated in a particular way, or who share particular cultural heritages? Tag AustLit records with identifiers and analyse the results. Perhaps these cohorts would yield interesting influences:

— Authors born 1910-1915

— Women authors born 1910-1915

— Expatriate women authors born 1910-1915

— Films produced 1910-1915

— Award winners

Environmental Concerns

From the dry doggerel of 'An Appele to Yung Australyer' published in 1863 through the life work of Oodgeroo Noonuccal to Tony Park's adventure novel The Delta (2010) featuring mercenary-turned-'eco-commando' Sonja Kurtz, Australia's literary obsession with the environment strays far and wide from the classic concerns of 'drought and flooding rain'.

International Connections

Representations of Australians working and writing overseas

Literary Awards

The establishment and history of Australian literary awards such as the Miles Franklin and the David Unaipon awards

Publishing history

Research using the National Library's digitised Australian newspapers collection strongly suggests that much of the detail about Australia's early publishing history and the careers of Australian writers is still hidden away in periodicals.

Although some AustLit projects have resulted in the indexing of newspapers and magazines, AustLit data for long-running influential works such as The Bulletin remains incomplete or inaccurately represented. Indexing runs of journals or magazines can give unique insight into literary and societal trends and attitudes.

Queer Literature

Australia has a strong tradition of Queer publishing yet to be fully explored. Investigate the publishing houses, writers, and others who helped forge it.

War literature

Searches by war, for example, World War I, World War II, Vietnam War, the Gulf and Iraq Wars, will return related works.

Contact us to discuss your ideas for a research project.