AustLit

'Diversity in children’s picture books is a topic that has received tremendous momentum in recent years. Movements like We Need Diverse Books show a rising social consciousness regarding the importance of diversity in children’s literature. However, the discussion of family diversity – both academically and creatively – remains an area that is often not considered. Picture books play a significant role in the lives of children, and the benefits of representation cannot be overstated (Mokrzycki 2019). Yet, overwhelmingly, picture book families remain ‘intact’ – the official term used by the Australian government for the two- parent family model. Thus, children from all other family types, like step and blended families, foster families, single parent and grandparent-led families, remain largely unrepresented. Furthermore, families diverse in culture, sexuality, identity, body and mind diversity are equally limited. This PhD by Creative Project responds to this problem by means of a creative work and accompanying exegesis. My creative work takes the form of an original illustrated picture book titled The rainbow cake, which centres on a diverse Polish- Australian family. The exegesis challenges preconceived notions of what makes a family ‘intact’, and examines the benefits family-diverse representation provides. It includes the analysis of 300 picture books (180 Australian and 120 International) to examine trends, patterns and gaps in family representation.'

Source: Abstract.

'‘Young adult realistic fiction’ is a classification used by contemporary publishers such as Random House, McGraw Hill Education and Scholastic, who define it as ‘stories with characters, settings, and events that could plausibly happen in true life’ (Scholastic 2014). From the first Australian young adult imprint in 1986 it has become possible to trace substantial shifts in the trends of genre. This thesis explores some of the ways that the narrative structures and preoccupations of contemporary Australian young adult realistic fiction novels have shifted, particularly in regards to the portrayal of the main protagonist’s self-awareness, the complexity of the subject matter being discussed and the unresolved nature of the novels’ endings. The significance of these shifting trends within the genre is explored by means of a creative component and an accompanying exegesis. Through my novel, Somewhere between, I aim to consider and build on the changing narrative structures and preoccupations of Australian novels of the young adult realistic fiction genre. The exegesis uses the examination of representative Australian YA novels published between 1986 and 2013 to demonstrate the shifting trends in these three main narrative structures and preoccupations. The gradual, steady, shift in the narrative structures and preoccupations of the genre away from stability and assurance gives evidence of shifting notions of childhood and adolescent subjectivity within contemporary Australian society.'

Source: Abstract.

'This thesis explores the genre of Australian soccer literature by way of a close textual analysis that draws on the inter-related literary theories and practices of genre and reflexivity. It contends that this marginal literature pertaining to a still relatively marginal sport might counter-intuitively provide an excellent framework for examining key aspects of Australia that are frequently missed in scholarly analyses, as well as popular discourses around what it is to be Australian. More specifically, this thesis argues that Australian soccer literature provides vital insights into the rich, complicated, intersecting, and continuously changing lives of the individuals and groups that make up Australia. In short this thesis demonstrates the important role played by Australian soccer writing and its contribution to Australian soccer culture. In addition, the thesis details how Australian soccer literature ties into, reveals, and complicates Australian notions of identity, ethnicity, and gender, among other aspects of Australian cultural life. The thesis begins with a discursive overview of scholarly perspectives on sport and culture that gives a sense of what is at stake in writing about sport, paying particular attention to the frequent tensions and antipathies that exist between sport and literature. Then follows a literature review which situates sport and literature in global and Australian contexts, as well as analysing what constitutes Australian soccer literature, and how this has been categorised in the past. The ensuing methodology chapter defines Australian soccer literature, how it is collated, what is absent, and the difficulties of finding obscure materials. The methodology chapter also analyses the different writers who are included in this genre, including their soccer backgrounds, their motivations for including soccer or not including it. The bulk of the thesis then follows, with chapters four through eight analysing the ways in which ethnicity and gender are discussed in the various primary texts. Chapters four, five and six discuss the nuances and subtleties of ethnicity as they are explored in Australian soccer literature, with a particular focus on the depiction of Anglo-Celtic Australians, British-Australians, and those Australians not considered part of mainstream Australian identity. Chapters seven and eight consider matters of gender, focussing on the striking lack of direct participation by women in Australian soccer, and the ground-breaking and yet still often conservative world of girls and young women as depicted in Australian soccer literature.'

Source: Abstract.

'As argued in this thesis, a Macedonian-Australian identity is an elusive and evolving category. Nonetheless, the various Macedonian-Australian institutions and organisations, as well as the activities that they perform, described in this thesis, give definition and shape to a distinctive Macedonian identity. The thesis argues that Macedonian identity is not fixed, but is the product of lived experience and engagement with the issues that confront them in the modern context. This identity is not a static fusion of discrete 'traditional' and 'modern' identities, which come together to constitute another (composite) self-contained identity. Rather, the Macedonian-Australian identity is viewed as representing dynamic processes of 'negotiation' between various cross-cutting trajectories, that are constructed in response to changing social and cultural circumstances. The thesis describes these processes as they are enacted in the Australian context, including the contestation of Macedonian identity that was part of what has come to be known as 'the Greek-Macedonian debate'. The thesis argues that Macedonians draw on their historic heritage and culture, as well as on elements that are part of their lives in Australia, in order to construct an evolving identity unlike any other. The thesis also poses some important questions about the future development of a tolerant and democratic multicultural policy for Australia.'

Source: Abstract.

Before the establishment of the Australian Women's Book Review, new books on feminist issues from small presses were mainly reviewed by a few small magazines such as Hecate. In the established literary magazines or other mainstream publications such books were reviewed inadequately or not at all. In 1989, hoping to provide a stable periodical for a more comprehensive review of new women's writing from Australia and overseas, Sara White and Michelle de Kretser produced the first issues of the Australian Women's Book Review.

From the first issues, the editors aimed to publish 'accessible, intelligent writing that will offer a range of books by women to a broad readership'. Reviews addressed a range of general areas such as fiction, poetry, history, biography, health, sexuality, social and cultural issues, and literature for children and adolescents. Regular review essays and feature articles provided deeper analyses and special issues have concentrating on geographical regions such as New Zealand, India, Africa and Singapore.

During the 1990s, the Australian Women's Book Review secured several advertisers and sponsors to support production costs and provide payment to contributors. The magazine's publication by the Victoria University of Technology (1992-1997) also provided some security, but the failure of an application to the Literature Board in 1997 caused some concern for the future of the magazine. Closure was avoided when Carole Ferrier offered to publish the Australian Women's Book Review under the auspices of Hecate at the University of Queensland.

Since moving to the University of Queensland, the Australian Women's Book Review has gone online (in 2000) and is now freely available on the internet. It remains the only Australian book review in print or online that is devoted to women's writing.