Overland: ‘Culture Shaken and Stirred’

By Anna Hughes

Edited by Annabel Wearring-Smith

‘We ask our readers, however inexpert, that they write for us’ – Stephen Murray-Smith, first editor of Overland  

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This time around we’ve chosen Overland – Australia’s only radical literary magazine – as our journal of the month.  

Overland is a publication that dates all the way back to 1954. In its very first edition, Stephen Murray-Smith set out the magazine’s aims to ‘publish poetry and short stories, articles and criticism by new and established writers. It will aim high… [but] will make a special point of developing writing talent in people of diverse backgrounds. We ask of our readers, however inexpert, that they write for us; that they share our love of living, our optimism, our belief in the traditional dream of a better Australia.’ 

Today, Overland’s mission is much the same, although with a more global vision. They describe their mission aims to ‘foster new, original and progressive writing exploring the relationship between politics and culture, especially literature, and to bring that work to as many people as possible. Editorially, Overland is committed to publishing underrepresented perspectives on issues rarely given space in traditional media.’  

Here at The Letters Page, we love Overland’s radical, hard-hitting articles, and their editorial policy. We ask our readers to send us letters, no matter their background in writing.  

As both an online and print journal, Overland explores different mediums, occupying a digital space and creating a physical object.  

On The Garrett Podcast, Co-Editor Evelyn described how ‘I think it’s really important, as much as possible, to maintain a physical thing, a physical object that you can hold in your hands, that you can show your parents.’  We share this sentiment at The Letters Page, formatting the journal as a series of aerogrammes that readers can hold in their hands and enjoy.   

Overland is a gift we would like to share with you, and by subscribing here you can receive four issues of challenging and progressive fiction, poetry, nonfiction and art. Or as they describe it ‘for about the cost of a new novel, we’ll deliver 320,000 words of the finest prose, polemic and poetry to your door.’  

Every writer we publish gets their very own gifted subscription to one of our favourite literary journals. So send us your letters; we can’t wait to read them!  

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The Letters Page team are back in the office, and ready to read your real letters again. We publish stories, essays, poems, memoir, reportage, criticism, recipes, travelogue, and any hybrid forms, so long as they come to us in the form of a letter. We are looking for writers of all nationalities and ages, both established and emerging.

Your letter must be sent in the post, to :

The Letters Page, School of English, University of Nottingham, NG7 2RD, UK.

See our submissions page for more information.

To stay up to date on The Letters Page newsletter publication, subscribe here.