If you work in the Asian Humanities, JOSAH's Emerging Scholar Award is open to research students and early career scholars based at Australian institutions.

Alexis Wright has revitalised Australian literature, but a new book by a ‘superfan’ overlooks an important aspect of her work

Alexis Wright’s work expresses a sovereign Aboriginal worldview, but owes a debt to a pantheon of authors from around the globe.

Scots College built a $60 million library, but where are all the books? Just five months after the private school unveiled its new student centre modelled on a faux baronial castle, parents are asking questions about the revamped library’s operations.

$60m to pay for a fancy library. No word yet on hiring librarians or purchasing books. The fact that they decided to open their "library" without the latter two is a joke.

www.smh.com.au/cbd/scots-co...

Meanjin has (had 😭) two - TWO - part time staff members.

I'd be willing to bet my dinner that the cost of supporting Meanjin is less than what a single top 15 executive at Uni Melb makes in a year

‘Other Orientalisms: Refusing to be spectacle’ by Lynda Ng | The ABR Podcast #245

This week on the ABR Podcast, Lynda Ng reviews To Save and To Destroy: Writing as an Other by @vietthanhnguyen.bsky.social.

‘Other Orientalisms: Refusing to be spectacle’ by @lyndang.bsky.social | @harvardpress.bsky.social

www.australianbookreview.com.au/podcast/760-...

Novelist vows to use TV royalties to fund Palestine Action Bestselling writer Sally Rooney says she felt compelled to express support for the organisation that was recently designated a proscribed terror group.

2/2
“If the British state considers this ‘terrorism’, then perhaps it should investigate the shady organisations that continue to promote my work and fund my activities, such as WHSmith and the BBC.”

www.smh.com.au/world/europe...

1/2
Sally Rooney:
“I want to be clear that I intend to use these proceeds of my work, as well as my public platform generally, to go on supporting Palestine Action and direct action against genocide in whatever way I can.

Although the festival have not replied to my email I can confirm that this article is correct and I am one of the authors who has pulled out of the Bendigo Writers Festival. I will not comply to any code of conduct that censors my speech on genocide.

A response from Bendigo Writers Festival:

Albanese won his mandate. Now I want to see Labor be bold and do something with it. #ItsTime

Lost and Found: The Unexpected Journey of the MingKwai Typewriter | Made in China Journal It began as an innocuous inquiry on Facebook. Nelson Felix, a resident of New York State, posted in the group ‘What’s My Typewriter Worth?’ about a curious find he made while clearing out the basement...

The lone long-lost MingKwai typewriter, invented by Lin Yutang in 1947, has resurfaced in a NY basement. How did it get there? Where might it go next? The journey of the groundbreaking invention embodies the search for modernity and Chinese identity. My latest:
madeinchinajournal.com/2025/05/02/l...

#auspol #election2025 #dutton #welcometocountry

Student rescued from Mount Fuji twice in one week Chinese national, 27, reportedly returned to Japan’s highest mountain days after first rescue to retrieve his phone

This is a guy who just doesn't quit.

www.theguardian.com/world/2025/a...

‘Stop welcoming me to my own country’? You’re missing the point Those who jeered or condemned the Welcome to Country at Anzac Day ceremonies misunderstand its significance and intention. It does nothing to divide us.

On the Welcome to Country:
"It is not a political statement, and it is not about exclusion. It is actually an inclusive protocol, as simple and profound as removing a hat in respect, standing silently for an anthem or lowering one’s voice in a place of sacredness."

www.smh.com.au/national/sto...

List of countries not subjected to tariffs:

Russia
Belarus
North Korea
Cuba

They apparently took the time to impose tariffs on several uninhabited islands, so the omissions are extra noteworthy. If you spot others please flag!

What Does Decolonising Knowledge Mean from Different Geographical and Disciplinary Perspectives? YouTube video by ArtsUnimelb

For those of you who were interested, the recording of the GHA roundtable on decolonising knowledge has now been posted online:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=qBcC...

We had a very interesting discussion. I'm looking forward to the second roundtable (part 2) that GHA is planning for later in the year.

I'm speaking this Thursday on a roundtable about decolonising knowledge. It's Webinar format (panellists in 4 different countries) so this should be an interesting transnational conversation.
Registration link: ugm.id/GHADecolonizingRoundtable1

Nuclear energy like ' building a Blockbuster Video' in the age of Netflix'

Matt Kean, former NSW minister for energy, says: "Nuclear energy like ‘building a Blockbuster video’ store in the age of Netflix."

What an apt metaphor.

What a disgusting and chilling attack on academic freedom by the Australian Research Council

Dr Abdel-Fattah is completely undeserving of this appalling political interference

As a Macquarie academic, I hope my university fights this tooth and nail

Panel that recommended Sabsabi for Venice Biennale ‘deeply concerned’ by Creative Australia pulling artist Exclusive: Backlash comes as 3,000 artists, curators, writers and academics sign petition calling for reinstatement

NEW: Members of an Independent panel involved in the selection of Khaled Sabsabi have broken their silence.

They say they’re deeply concerned about the decision to rescind his appointment, and have called for transparency from Creative Australia’s Board.

www.theguardian.com/artanddesign...

Instead of defending its artists, Creative Australia hangs Sabsabi and Dagostino out to dry If conservative media is going to dictate cultural policy, Australian culture will face a reckoning.

In Crikey, Catri Menzies-Pike and I wrote about Creative Australia's decision to drop Khaled Sabsabi from the Venice Biennale. If conservative media is going to dictate cultural policy, Creative Australia might as well pack up and call it a day www.crikey.com.au/2025/02/17/k...

Would Sidney Nolan be cancelled for painting Ned Kelly today? That’s what Creative Australia has done to Khaled Sabsabi Contentious figures have always featured in Australian art – and this fact is what makes Khaled Sabsabi’s removal from the Venice Biennale so confronting.

"Would Sidney Nolan be cancelled for painting Ned Kelly today?"

theconversation.com/would-sidney...

Beavers finish seven-year dam project in two days Despite a seven-year planning process and successfully securing the funding, the Czech Republic’s dam plans went nowhere. Until the animal workers arrived.

"Beavers finish seven-year dam project in two days."

www.smh.com.au/world/europe...

Kung hei fat choi!

Wishing everyone good health and fortune in the Year of the Snake.

An aborted attempt to go smell Putricia. When we rocked up at 5:40pm the queue time was 2 hrs.

I'm going to be doing Chat with an Editor this Friday at #MLA2025. Sign up for a session with me if you're interested in publishing with Journal of the Society for Asian Humanities (JOSAH) - the oldest journal in Australasia focused on the Asian region. josah.org

“Merry Chrismukkah.”

Leunig, Wellness, and Wokeness Michael Leunig’s journey from anti-war and anti-corporate provocateur to a critic of ‘wokeism’ and cancel culture is familiar and predictable. We’ve seen other prominent baby-boomer artists, thinke…

My piece from 2021 on Leunig’s politics before the pandemic and after meanjin.com.au/latest/leuni...

I have been thinking about this a lot lately: that the “phasing out” of humanities scholarship as part of popular education is an effort to prevent people from being able to interpret their political reality.

6 hours under martial law in Seoul On the ground from the protests outside the National Assembly building

6 hours under martial law: a drunk scene report from Seoul www.theverge.com/24312920/mar...