ABOUT OVERLAND

Celebrating its 50th year, Overland is the most radical of Australia’s long-standing literary/cultural magazines.

Publishing features, fiction, poetry, reviews, comment, artwork and opinion pieces, Overland is committed to engaging with important literary, cultural and political issues in contemporary Australia. It has a tradition of publishing dissenting articles with a political and cultural focus.

Produced quarterly, Overland was founded in 1954 under the editorship of Stephen Murray-Smith. At the time it incorporated The Realist Writer, the journal of the Melbourne Realist Writers‘ Group.

Contributors over the years include Peter Carey, Patrick White, Garry Disher, Elizabeth Jolley, Stuart Macintyre, Germaine Greer, Dorothy Hewett, Bob Ellis, Mark Davis, Sam Watson, David Williamson, Thomas Shapcott, Judith Wright, Rodney Hall, Gwen Harwood, Thea Astley, Alan Marshall, Xavier Herbert, Amanda Lohrey, Eric Beach, Bruce Dawe, Frank Moorhouse, Manning Clark, Humphrey McQueen, Christina Stead. Geoffrey Dutton, Max Harris, Chris Wallace-Crabbe, Nancy Cato, Frank Hardy, Lily Brett, Peter Porter, James McAuley, Geoffrey Serle, Graham Pitts, Desmond O'Grady, Robert Adamson, Ian Turner, Jack Hibberd, Dean Kiley, Christos Tsiolkas, Alex Buzo, Martin Flanagan, Marcia Langton, Fiona Capp, Margaret Simons, Linda Jaivin and many others.

Yet Overland also gives a voice to the experiences that are excluded from the mainstream media and publishing outlets. The magazine has been part of an ongoing attempt to document lesser-known stories and histories, dissect media hysteria and dishonesty, debunk the populist hype of politicians, give a voice to those whose stories are otherwise marginalised, misrepresented or ignored, and point public debate in alternative directions.

It is available in bookstores or by subscription.

CONGRATULATIONS to Barry Hill for winning the Alfred Deakin Prize
for an Essay Advancing Public Debate in the 2004 Victorian Premier’s Awards with his essay ‘The Mood We Are In, circa Australia Day 2004’, in OVERLAND 174–autumn 2004!