Westerly Magazine

Westerly Magazine Literature and culture of Australia and neighbouring regions. Westerly is published twice a year in July and November.

Since 1956, Westerly has been publishing lively fiction and poetry as well as intelligent articles. The journal aims to generate interest in the literature and culture of Australia, particularly Western Australia, and its neighbouring regions in South-East Asia and the Indian Ocean. It is published at the Westerly Centre in English and Cultural Studies at the University of Western Australia.

It's the time of year to take a break and catch up on your 'to-be-read' pile! We’d like to wish everyone in our communit...
18/12/2025

It's the time of year to take a break and catch up on your 'to-be-read' pile!

We’d like to wish everyone in our community—subscribers, readers, writers, editors, supporters and friends—a wonderful, safe and long summer break, filled with good reading and plenty of relaxation.

The Westerly office will be closed from today until January 27.

But in the meantime—if you haven't already—make sure you read our latest Online Special Issue (OSI17). Westerly: Archive Reflections is free to download here: https://shorturl.at/7kZh8

Pictured is a teaser from a poem by Jazz Money, 'Conversational'.

Our friends at Pelican Magazine are looking for a sub-editor! To apply, visit the link in their bio, or click here: http...
17/12/2025

Our friends at Pelican Magazine are looking for a sub-editor!

To apply, visit the link in their bio, or click here: https://shorturl.at/zwVZA

Our latest Online Special Issue—Westerly: Archive Reflections (OSI17) is out in the world now and free for all to enjoy!...
16/12/2025

Our latest Online Special Issue—Westerly: Archive Reflections (OSI17) is out in the world now and free for all to enjoy!

In her editorial, Guest Editor Catherine Noske writes:

‘The work collected in this issue contemplates Westerly’s history specifically, but also the idea of the archive more generally, and what it means to reflect. Authors were invited to contemplate reflection as a theme and/or respond creatively to Westerly’s archive, assessing its limitations as well as celebrating its strengths.’

Download OSI17 here: https://shorturl.at/7kZh8

Pictured is a little teaser from an essay in the Issue by Madeleine Watts—'Baby Pictures'.

We're thrilled to share our latest Online Special Issue with you today, free for all to download!Introducing Westerly: A...
12/12/2025

We're thrilled to share our latest Online Special Issue with you today, free for all to download!

Introducing Westerly: Archive Reflections (OSI17), guest edited by none other than former Westerly Editor Catherine Noske.

Contributors to the Issue are Jazz Money, Caitlin Maling, Tracy Ryan, Amy Lin, Kaya Ortiz, Cassandra Atherton, Madeleine Watts, John Kinsella and Seth Malacari.

There are also three reflections on encounters with Westerly, from Delys Bird (Editor 1993–2015) in conversation with Lucy Dougan, Elfie Shiosaki (Westerly’s inaugural Editor of First Nations Writing) in conversation with Catherine Noske and Becky Chilcott and Damian Crosbie (of Chil3 who have designed Westerly for the past ten years).

Alongside these works, Westerly also wishes to recognise the power and legacy of Charmaine Papertalk Green Smith, following the sad news of her passing in August 2025. In OSI17 we share two of Charmaine’s poems from Westerly: djinda, in celebration of her work. We remember her fondly, and will carry her memory forwards into Westerly’s future, as well as all we learned in working with her. We thank her for her enormous contribution to our community and to Westerly’s pages!

OSI17 is free to download on our website now. Find it here: https://shorturl.at/7kZh8

ICYMI: Check out John Byron's review of Deborah Pike's debut novel 'The Players' (Fremantle Press). In his review, Byron...
23/09/2025

ICYMI: Check out John Byron's review of Deborah Pike's debut novel 'The Players' (Fremantle Press).

In his review, Byron writes that 'The Players' is 'deeply immersive, alternating first-person perspectives' to explore 'how we set our courses on lessons learned almost by accident.'

Read the full review of 'The Players' here on the Editor's Desk: bit.ly/4prnq1n

New on the Editor's Desk: John Byron's review of 'The Players’ by Deborah Pike ()!Marking Pike's debut novel, Byron writ...
19/09/2025

New on the Editor's Desk: John Byron's review of 'The Players’ by Deborah Pike ()!

Marking Pike's debut novel, Byron writes that 'The Players' is 'a warm, clear-eyed, funny and tender exploration of the tumult of early adult life.'

Belonging to what Byron calls a 'venerable canon of respectful exploration of the travails of young adulthood', Pike's novel illustrates 'how we set our courses on lessons learned almost by accident' through lively and lyrical writing.

Read the full review on our Editor's Desk here: bit.ly/4prnq1n

⏰ Today is the day!Today is your FINAL day to submit your creative work for Westerly's 70th issues! We’re preparing a bl...
17/09/2025

⏰ Today is the day!

Today is your FINAL day to submit your creative work for Westerly's 70th issues! We’re preparing a blockbuster double-edition and we cannot wait to read your submissions.

Send us your short stories, microfiction, poetry, memoir and creative nonfiction, artwork, comics, essays and literary criticism by MIDNIGHT TONIGHT to be in consideration.

Read our Submission Guidelines on the 'Contribute' page on our website, then submit through our Submittable portal (Link in bio and below).

🔗bit.ly/3HVvMx9

✒️🦄💙📙

Best of luck! We're so excited to read your work.

We are so excited to announce and welcome our new Poetry Editor Michael Farrell! Michael’s book publications include Go...
12/09/2025

We are so excited to announce and welcome our new Poetry Editor Michael Farrell!

Michael’s book publications include Googlecholia, Family Trees, I Love Poetry (which won the Judith Wright Calanthe Queensland Literary Award) and Cocky’s Joy (poetry), as well as, most recently, The Victoria Principle (stories). This book extends the humour and narrative drive of Michael’s poetry to the short story form

Michael has also written Writing Australian Unsettlement: modes of poetic invention 1796-1945 (revised from a PhD thesis completed at the University of Melbourne).

Michael will be working alongside our current Poetry Editor, Lucy Dougan, in reading for Westerly's upcoming double-edition.

Pease join us in welcoming Michael to the Westerly family. His work will begin with our upcoming double-edition in print, 70.1 and 70.2, currently open for submissions.

We are so excited to announce and welcome our new Fiction Editor, Mirandi Riwoe! Mirandi Riwoe’s 'Stone Sky Gold Mountai...
12/09/2025

We are so excited to announce and welcome our new Fiction Editor, Mirandi Riwoe!

Mirandi Riwoe’s 'Stone Sky Gold Mountain' won the inaugural ARA Historical Novel Prize and the Queensland Literary Award and was shortlisted for the Stella Prize and longlisted for the Miles Franklin Award. Her novella 'The Fish Girl' won Seizure’s Viva la Novella and was shortlisted for the Stella Prize. 'Sunbirds' was shortlisted for the Barbara Jefferis Award, while 'The Burnished Sun' is a collection of her short stories and novellas. Mirandi has a PhD in Creative Writing and Literary Studies (QUT). Her novel 'A Short History of Longans' will be out in June, 2026.

Mirandi will be taking over the position of Fiction Editor from Julie Koh. We are incredibly grateful to Julie for her work with the Magazine and for the many wonderful stories that have made their way onto Westerly’s pages through her careful hands. Thank you, Julie!

Pease join us in welcoming Mirandi to the Westerly family. Her work will begin with our upcoming double-edition in print, 70.1 and 70.2, currently open for submissions.

"The closure of Meanjin is [...] an insult to Australian culture. It is a damaging and short-sighted assessment of value...
05/09/2025

"The closure of Meanjin is [...] an insult to Australian culture. It is a damaging and short-sighted assessment of value, placing greater significance on small-scale cost-saving than the inestimable richness of the space Meanjin holds for Australian literature. It disregards coldly the cultural wealth of the magazine, and the cultural infrastructure it represents on a national level. Make no mistake, our nation is poorer for this." - Catherine Noske, past Editor of Westerly, on the closure of Meanjin.

Read Catherine's full statement here: https://westerlymag.com.au/response-to-the-closure-of-meanjin/

Westerly encourages you to lend your voice to protesting in any way you are able. You might wish to sign, for example, this open letter authored by poet and novelist Alan Fyfe, calling for the decision to be reversed: https://openletter.earth/an-open-letter-to-the-vice-chancellor-of-the-university-of-melbourne-on-the-closure-of-meanjin-6617e6d9

Vale Charmaine Papertalk Green-Smith. Charmaine’s work crosses genre, forms and cultural spheres. She was a powerful lea...
29/08/2025

Vale Charmaine Papertalk Green-Smith.

Charmaine’s work crosses genre, forms and cultural spheres. She was a powerful leader and a wonderful thinker. She will be sorely missed.

In Westerly’s Online Special Issue djinda, edited by Elfie Shiosaki, Charmaine published three poems—one small part of the vast amount of writing she offered. These poems sit alongside works like Just Like That, Tiptoeing Tod the Tracker, False Claims of Colonial Thieves (with John Kinsella), Nganajungu Yagu, and Art (again with John Kinsella). She also won the Australian Literary Society Gold Medal.

We share here Charmaine’s poem ‘Another Milky Way Journey’, from djinda, and remember her fondly. Love to her friends and family, and to the Yamaji Nation.

ICYMI: Creative submissions for Westerly 70.1 and 70.2 opened yesterday! 👀To celebrate 70 years of the Magazine, we want...
28/08/2025

ICYMI: Creative submissions for Westerly 70.1 and 70.2 opened yesterday! 👀

To celebrate 70 years of the Magazine, we want to make this year's issues as spectacular as we can. And we need your writing to do so. So please, send us your short stories, microfiction, poetry, memoir and creative nonfiction, artwork, comics, essays and literary criticism! You have until midnight 17th September to do so, and to be considered for publication.

You can find our Submission Guidelines on the 'Contribute' page on our website, then submit through our Submittable portal (Link in bio and below).

🔗bit.ly/3HVvMx9

🎂🍾✍📚

Address

Crawley, WA

Opening Hours

Monday 9am - 5pm
Tuesday 9am - 5pm
Wednesday 9am - 5pm
Thursday 9am - 5pm
Friday 9am - 5pm

Telephone

+61864883403

Website

https://linktr.ee/westerlymagazine

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