Filled with writing from across the globe and conceived, edited, and designed in South Australia, the bumper first edition of our literary journal launches today. It features 25 writers working across fiction, memoir, criticism, reportage, and poetry.
Six months in the making, Splinter‘s first issue has been a collaboration between our editor Farrin Foster, the amazing cohort of featured writers, an advisory committee of ten established South Australian writers, and an editorial committee of eleven emerging-to-mid-career writers and editors.
The result is a 192-page wild ride that tours through the self and the world, emerging ruffled and enlivened.
Among the issue’s pages are sharp contributions from Writers SA members, including a discomfiting and resonant poem by Jill Jones; a deeply insightful look at the mislabelling of magic realism in literature by Karen Wyld; and a form-bending and wide-ranging reflection on identity by Ryan J Morrison.
These pieces sit amongst writing from other established names like Jane Rawson, Miles Franklin shortlistee Hossein Asgari, Sara M Saleh, and Yoruba poet Muiz Ọpẹ́yẹmí Àjàyí from Nigeria. We are also excited to welcome completely new voices on Splinter’s pages, including fiction writer Seamus Lonergan, whose beautifully metered prose is being published for the first time.
“A literary journal is a strange and nebulous thing,” says editor Farrin Foster, “especially in its first iteration. In and amongst doing lots of reading, we’ve been thinking about how best to serve our community of writers and readers. The answer was actually very simple: to publish the best and most thoughtful writing we could find.
“Splinter is a journal full of ideas that are sharp and hard to ignore. The first issue takes readers to unlikely places, plays with form in interesting ways, and is both earth-shakingly honest and breathtakingly beautiful. Each piece stopped me in my tracks in some way – because it made me laugh really hard, moved me, or made me see the world differently.”
Splinter is designed by award-winning designer Tyrone Ormsby. The journal features an entirely typographic design that centres the beauty and rigour of the words from each of the artists involved, with publication being completely built from the ground up in response to the submissions that were selected for the journal.
“I think for a printed journal to make the case for itself, every aspect must be considered,” says Farrin, “everything from type, to ink colour, to the grid, to the paper stock has been chosen with readers in mind. The writers in this issue have spent countless hours honing their craft, thinking about their work and writing their pieces. We want readers to do the same – to have something they spend hours with, return to, think about long after they put it down. It’s the best way to honour the writing in the journal.”
The journal is published by Writers SA in partnership with the University of Adelaide, Flinders University and the University of South Australia, and with support from Arts SA.
“A vibrant and vital literary culture isn’t just about writers, nor is it just about academics working in institutions or people reading in isolation,” says Writers SA CEO Laura Kroetsch. “It’s about creating a community where everyone and anyone can engage with the very best writers that South Australia (and beyond) has to offer. Splinter is an exciting step towards a more vital and cutting-edge literary community here in South Australia. I can’t wait to see issue one out in the world and to see these writers continue to publish incredible work.”
The issue is available now via the Splinter website.
