AustLit

Tim Dick reports on evidence given at the Commonwealth Government's 2011 inquiry into Australian print media.

'Every publisher knows the feeling: the manuscript which promised the "inside story" has been replaced by beige prose in praise of an unblemished life; the book one hoped would be profitable flops. What are the responsibilities of the author and the publisher in these circumstances?' (Editor's abstract)

Hugh Mackay takes as his essay's launching point a theatre production he attended where he was aurally assaulted by the scraping of 'a beer can across the strings of an electic guitar'. Reflecting on the constant need in modern life for stimulation, he concludes by saying: 'The teachers - or parents, preachers or drama directors - who think it is smart to compete with the world of high-speed messaging are missing the point, as are those who think constant stimulation is an acceptable norm. Unless we practice - and teach our children - the art of being still in a quiet space, attending to the subtleties of silence, we will be condemning ourselves to a world of noise that might become as meaningless as the sound of that shrieking guitar.'

A column canvassing current literary news including a report on Robert Adamson's win in the 2011 Patrick White Award. Marc McEvoy also notes Barry Spurr's appointment as The University of Sydney's first professor of poetry and poetics and Kate Middleton's role as the first City of Sydney poet, a position created by the University of Technology Sydney.