Photos by Alan Weedon
As we’re sure you already know, the latest issue of our quarterly attack journal, The Lifted Brow, has come back from the printers and is looking mighty good. Our print subscribers, who always get their grubby mitts on the magazine before anyone else does, will be able to tell you that inside that gorgeous cover with fluoro orange spot colour and those hypnotic fore-edges by Freda Chiu is some of the best writing around, including fiction by Joy Williams and Ryan O’Neill, nonfiction from Antonia Hayes, Luke Carman, Rebecca Jessen, and Fregmonto Stokes, and graphic art from Sam Wallman, Tommi PG, Hamishi Farah, and Merv Heers – amongst so many other things. We’re absolutely pumped about how good this issue is, and if you’re not a subscriber (why not?), you can pick up a copy from our network of retailers in Australia and around the world, or buy a copy online if you live somewhere other than Australia.
TLB30 also marks the final edition of the magazine to be edited by Ellena Savage and Gillian Terzis, who have been ably captaining the print version of the Brow (with help from the amazing Stephanie Van Schilt, who co-edited issues 25–28) since its relaunch as a quarterly in March 2015. Stepping into Ellena and Gillian’s awfully big shoes are two long-time TLB alumni, Annabel Brady-Brown and Zoe Dzunko, who will be running the show from TLB31 onwards.
Here’s a few words from our departing Eds, Ellena Savage and Gillian Terzis:
It’s with mixed feelings that we step down from the editorship of the Brow. Editing the magazine has been enlivening and occasionally exhausting, as volunteer positions tend to be. That said, we’re very excited to see our former online editor Annabel Brady-Brown and poetry editor Zoe Dzunko take over the reins. They have contributed enormously to the Brow and its creative vision over the years, and we’ve been constantly impressed by the depth of their virtuosic talents and their pursuit of publishing energising, intellectually demanding writing.
The Brow has always been fond of publishing work that defies easy categorisation — work that is challenging, ambitious and a little strange. The magazine is committed to giving space to voices that are on the cultural and social fringes, and ideas that reveal deeper truths about our cultural, political and intellectual lives. Sharing your work with an editor is an act of generosity, and we’re incredible grateful to all the writers who have placed their trust in us.
With their omnivorous intellects combined, we have no doubt Zoe and Annabel will unveil an expansive vision for the Brow’s future and will continue to make the magazine as thought-provoking and electrifying as ever. We can’t wait to see what they do next.
Our incoming Eds, Annabel Brady-Brown and Zoe Dzunko, shared these words:
We’re thrilled and humbled to be stepping into the roles of co-editors, following the stellar examples set by Ellena, Gill, and Steph – three powerhouses of Australian publishing. It has been a joy and a constant education to work with these courageous and brilliant women. Their editorship was inspiring to witness, both for the consistently high calibre of work they published and, less publicly, for the generous and supportive spirit they cultivated for all involved in the magazine’s production.
Picking up each new edition of the Brow was a reminder of why the entirely voluntary team pours their lives into creating a publication which seeks to challenge the mainstream, while spotlighting underrepresented voices and ideas. Constantly pushing the boundaries on what a contemporary, internationally-focused, magazine of art might be, the work they published was radically inclusive, topical, challenging and tremendous. They commissioned many of our personal heroes and gave a platform to Australia’s most intrepid and exciting voices, while contributing their own astonishing writing. All three will still work with the Brow in various capacities; while we wish they could continue in their current roles, we’re incredibly excited to see the projects they plan upon bringing into the world.
For TLB31 and beyond, we’re proud to honour theirs and Ronnie’s original creative vision, and intend to stay true to everything we cherish about the Brow – particularly its energy and anarchism, its excellence, its pluralism, and its genre-defying bite. Our legacy is one of greatness: of time, sacrifice, and hard-won success. As such, it is vitally important to us that we pay tribute to those who have given so much of themselves to establish a platform upon which Australian and international artists have felt welcome to speak their truths. We’ll be expanding our fiction pages, continuing to welcome new and diverse voices, and further establishing the Brow as an internationally reputed, dynamic space for contemporary writing and art.
As always, you can find the latest edition of the Brow in hundreds of stores around Australia and the world. Get your copy here.