That big old beardo Charles Darwin once wrote: “It is not the strongest or the most intelligent who will survive but those who can best manage change.” We say: shut up Charles Darwin! Who you calling weak or dumb? Not us, surely, because TLB is not and has never been about survival—we’re all about thriving! And jiving. High-fiving! Skin-diving.
You may have heard whispers of the massive change that is about to happen at TLB. We’re about to s h a k e things up—in pretty big ways for such a small and excellent and truly madly deeply humble publication/organisation as us.
But, firstly: please know that progress doesn’t mean crappy transmogrification! Since our inception in 2007, The Lifted Brow (both as a single print publication, and then a set of publications, and then as an arts organisation) has morphed and expanded to feature writers and artists from Australia and the world, always to both a national and international audience. Our changes continue in this vein; the traits that have been central to TLB—the championing of top quality writing and art, irreverence, independence, experimentation, transparency, accessibility, interestingness—will never be jettisoned.
To ensure this post doesn’t extend for thousands of words, allow us to bullet point at you for a while:
- Thanks in part to the generosity of Arts Victoria and the Australia Council, and in partnership with McSweeney’s Publishing, we are redesigning our flagship print publication. We’re reformatting with the intention of turning the print publication into an object that will at least try to match the quality of the work inside.
- Such reformatting takes time to organise! As such, we are taking a break from producing the print Brow. We will be launching the new edition in March next year. Do we even need to tell you to ‘stay tuned’? Stay tuned.
- So, what will this new format look like? That’s for us to know (figure out) and for you to find out (find out). What we can tell you already is that it will please your eyes, your hands, and your soul. (Yes, we just said ‘soul’.)
- Obviously because we won’t be printing issues until March 2015, this affects you. As a reader, you’re gonna have to be patient! It’ll be worth it. Sure, it’s gonna suck not having print TLBs to read for the next six months or so, but those months will disappear before you know it, and we’ll be back, and everything will be alright with the world again.
- A note for subscribers to the print edition: all subscriptions will be honoured in full! However many editions you’ve paid for is how many more editions you will receive, from March 2015 onwards.
- While we are in a print hiatus, our other feature platforms—The Digital Brow and here at The Brow Online—will continue as per usual. We’ve been working hard to feature commissioned works online and to gather original writing and art in The Digital Brow and online too, and readers have been steadily flocking and appreciating these two electronic publications. If you’re not regularly reading one or both, what are you doing.
- Also: The Digital Brow—which is published fortnightly on iOS devices—is currently open for submissions and pitches. (In particular we are looking for fiction, poetry, short non-fiction, columns, and comics.) Send your ideas/submissions to alex@theliftedbrow.com or annabel@theliftedbrow.com.
- The Brow Online considers pitches for reviews, commentary pieces, and longer non-fiction features. We particularly love work that is suited only for the online space, whether in topic, tone or design. Submissions and ideas can be sent to our online editors at simon@theliftedbrow.com and hannah@theliftedbrow.com.
- Please do let us know your feelings about any and all of the above. Ask us your questions, fire at us your complaints, and most important, pepper-spray us with your ideas for what you imagine for a beautiful Brow future. What do you love most about a print magazine? What TLB regulars could you not live without? What should we be doing?
It’s off the scale how excited we are for the projects we have in the works. We hope you’re as excited as us! Then we can all exist inside a giant excitement-bubble, being excited.
