Ben Walter
@benwaltez.bsky.social
Writer in Lutruwita/Tasmania. Author of What Fear Was, Lithosphere. Walkley winner. Former Fiction Editor, Island. Words in The Kenyon Review, 3:AM Magazine, Poetry Ireland Review.
Experiments | Stories | Essays | Nature writing
https://ben-walter.com/
Experiments | Stories | Essays | Nature writing
https://ben-walter.com/
Ridiculous, but somehow this rotten poetry book is still topping the bestsellers at Fullers six weeks after launch…
October 26, 2025 at 9:15 PM
Ridiculous, but somehow this rotten poetry book is still topping the bestsellers at Fullers six weeks after launch…
How interesting. Ultimo Books specifically open to subs of manuscripts between 30-40k words (both fiction and nonfiction). Don't think I've seen anything like this from a biggish publisher in Australia before.
hardiegrant.submittable.com/submit/33977...
hardiegrant.submittable.com/submit/33977...
Hardie Grant Publishing - Ultimo Press - Ultimo Shorts 2025
Submissions open at 10am AEST Monday, 20th October 2025. Entries submitted before this date will not be considered.
Submissions close at midnight AEST Monday, 31st January 2026. Entries submitted aft...
hardiegrant.submittable.com
October 22, 2025 at 11:16 PM
How interesting. Ultimo Books specifically open to subs of manuscripts between 30-40k words (both fiction and nonfiction). Don't think I've seen anything like this from a biggish publisher in Australia before.
hardiegrant.submittable.com/submit/33977...
hardiegrant.submittable.com/submit/33977...
Reposted by Ben Walter
Look who's back 🤯 Yes, it is Australia's oldest literary journal. Arising from a long hiatus. Cover design by Kerry (Flashblak) Klimm. Edited by new @southerlylitmag.bsky.social editor Roanna Gonsalves. Guest co-edited by moi.
October 17, 2025 at 7:00 AM
Look who's back 🤯 Yes, it is Australia's oldest literary journal. Arising from a long hiatus. Cover design by Kerry (Flashblak) Klimm. Edited by new @southerlylitmag.bsky.social editor Roanna Gonsalves. Guest co-edited by moi.
Just saw this in the Overland newsletter - never met Moya, but always enjoyed interacting with her back when Twitter was sort of okay. Very sorry to hear...
Rochford Street Review Issue 43. Vale Moya Costello.
Rochford Street Review was shocked and saddened to learn of the death of writer, editor, academic and wine critic Moya Costello.
rochfordstreetreview.com/2025/10/14/v...
Rochford Street Review was shocked and saddened to learn of the death of writer, editor, academic and wine critic Moya Costello.
rochfordstreetreview.com/2025/10/14/v...
Vale Moya Costello
Rochford Street Review was shocked and saddened to learn of the death of writer, editor, academic and wine critic Moya Costello.
rochfordstreetreview.com
October 17, 2025 at 6:04 AM
Just saw this in the Overland newsletter - never met Moya, but always enjoyed interacting with her back when Twitter was sort of okay. Very sorry to hear...
Bird bluesky, does anybody recognise this interesting ascending call? It's a new one to me. Huon valley in southern Lutruwita, possibly hiding in the grassy field next door.
October 15, 2025 at 10:00 PM
Bird bluesky, does anybody recognise this interesting ascending call? It's a new one to me. Huon valley in southern Lutruwita, possibly hiding in the grassy field next door.
I wrote to Tony Burke about the closure of Meanjin, and finally received a reply from the office of Jason Clare, who had been forwarded the message because it was an issue for higher education, rather than the arts (!).
This is a wholly embarrassing and inadequate buck pass and response.
This is a wholly embarrassing and inadequate buck pass and response.
October 14, 2025 at 5:30 AM
I wrote to Tony Burke about the closure of Meanjin, and finally received a reply from the office of Jason Clare, who had been forwarded the message because it was an issue for higher education, rather than the arts (!).
This is a wholly embarrassing and inadequate buck pass and response.
This is a wholly embarrassing and inadequate buck pass and response.
I can't stop listening to Roy Orbison.
October 7, 2025 at 10:32 AM
I can't stop listening to Roy Orbison.
Reposted by Ben Walter
What’s this? Yet more research concluding that robust public investment in the arts yields economic benefits?
A great outcome for Ireland, and a rebuke to all those tired cliches about freeloading artists sapping the resources of the state.
But also, art enriches us all, economic benefits or no.
A great outcome for Ireland, and a rebuke to all those tired cliches about freeloading artists sapping the resources of the state.
But also, art enriches us all, economic benefits or no.
Damn. This is amazing. £325 per week, paid monthly, for 3 years - and the result was a profit for the Irish economy:
www.citizensinformation.ie/en/employmen...
www.citizensinformation.ie/en/employmen...
October 7, 2025 at 4:14 AM
What’s this? Yet more research concluding that robust public investment in the arts yields economic benefits?
A great outcome for Ireland, and a rebuke to all those tired cliches about freeloading artists sapping the resources of the state.
But also, art enriches us all, economic benefits or no.
A great outcome for Ireland, and a rebuke to all those tired cliches about freeloading artists sapping the resources of the state.
But also, art enriches us all, economic benefits or no.
Reposted by Ben Walter
I spent the summer reporting this essay on why it seems harder than ever to sell a book right now—especially if it isn't a debut and comes with the dreaded "sales track." I'm grateful to the writers, agents, editors, publishers & experts who spoke to me for this piece: thewalrus.ca/the-publishi...
The Publishing Industry Has a Gambling Problem | The Walrus
Companies keep betting on the next bestseller. Literature is poorer for it
thewalrus.ca
September 26, 2025 at 5:30 PM
I spent the summer reporting this essay on why it seems harder than ever to sell a book right now—especially if it isn't a debut and comes with the dreaded "sales track." I'm grateful to the writers, agents, editors, publishers & experts who spoke to me for this piece: thewalrus.ca/the-publishi...
Reposted by Ben Walter
I do! I do love to see it!!
You luv to see it: @roffwrites.bsky.social’s Here Are My Demands is fiction-book-of-the-week in the Age/SMH! “meticulously constructed speculative fiction, which shows off a command of novelistic structure & form..philosophical ambit & sharp insights (of his debut)” www.theage.com.au/culture/book...
From serial-killer chiller to the history of play: 10 new books
Our reviewers cast their eyes over recent fiction and non-fiction titles
www.theage.com.au
September 26, 2025 at 12:29 AM
I do! I do love to see it!!
Lithosphere is launched! Now in a (surprising) number of bookshops all over the country. Would love you to pick one up if you ever like to dip into poetry...
September 24, 2025 at 9:30 PM
Lithosphere is launched! Now in a (surprising) number of bookshops all over the country. Would love you to pick one up if you ever like to dip into poetry...
Very stoked with my biggest publication credit so far - new fiction over in @kenyonreview.bsky.social.
kenyonreview.org/piece/then-t...
kenyonreview.org/piece/then-t...
Then There Will Be More Breathing - The Kenyon Review
Already have an account? Log in Join KR for even more to read. Sign up for a free account and read any five pieces a month. Sign Up and Read […]
kenyonreview.org
September 23, 2025 at 10:20 PM
Very stoked with my biggest publication credit so far - new fiction over in @kenyonreview.bsky.social.
kenyonreview.org/piece/then-t...
kenyonreview.org/piece/then-t...
Reposted by Ben Walter
Looking forward to chatting with Konrad Muller about his exceptional debut novel.
www.readings.com.au/events/konra...
www.readings.com.au/events/konra...
Konrad Muller in conversation
We are delighted to have Konrad Muller in conversation to discuss his debut novel, My Heart at Evening. 1832, Van Diemen’s Land. A troubled, unnamed emissary narrates his journey north from Hobart To...
www.readings.com.au
September 23, 2025 at 5:04 AM
Looking forward to chatting with Konrad Muller about his exceptional debut novel.
www.readings.com.au/events/konra...
www.readings.com.au/events/konra...
Here's me over at the ABC writing about the challenges of balancing creativity with fatherhood (sort of).
www.abc.net.au/religion/ben...
www.abc.net.au/religion/ben...
Why is it so hard to be an artist and a parent in Australia? - ABC Religion & Ethics
If we want creative parents who are not primary caregivers to be spending active time attending to and parenting their children, we need to find ways to pay them appropriately for their work.
www.abc.net.au
September 22, 2025 at 11:35 PM
Here's me over at the ABC writing about the challenges of balancing creativity with fatherhood (sort of).
www.abc.net.au/religion/ben...
www.abc.net.au/religion/ben...
Reposted by Ben Walter
It just does not add up. We're aware of at four offers being put to MUP to clear their financial woes @andyhazel.bsky.social @nickfeik.bsky.social
“I think anyone who has looked at the actual sums involved can see that the financial arguments just don’t add up. It’s hard not to surmise that Meanjin was killed at least in part because it was too problematic politically and culturally for the University of Melbourne." | @nickfeik.bsky.social
Who killed Meanjin?
And why won’t Melbourne University Publishing engage with efforts to save it?
www.crikey.com.au
September 17, 2025 at 7:40 AM
It just does not add up. We're aware of at four offers being put to MUP to clear their financial woes @andyhazel.bsky.social @nickfeik.bsky.social
Reposted by Ben Walter
New:
A deep dive with some alarming new revelations on the silencing of one of the few remaining independent progressive voices in Australian media. Who killed Meanjin?
A deep dive with some alarming new revelations on the silencing of one of the few remaining independent progressive voices in Australian media. Who killed Meanjin?
Who killed Meanjin?
And why won’t Melbourne University Publishing engage with efforts to save it?
www.crikey.com.au
September 16, 2025 at 5:59 AM
New:
A deep dive with some alarming new revelations on the silencing of one of the few remaining independent progressive voices in Australian media. Who killed Meanjin?
A deep dive with some alarming new revelations on the silencing of one of the few remaining independent progressive voices in Australian media. Who killed Meanjin?
Play one game of AFL football and you'll probably have a wikipedia page, but if you win the Miles Franklin Award this year you can forget about it.
September 16, 2025 at 3:41 AM
Play one game of AFL football and you'll probably have a wikipedia page, but if you win the Miles Franklin Award this year you can forget about it.
Me in today's 70s wallpaper shirt plugging Lithosphere book launch at Fullers.
September 15, 2025 at 9:23 AM
Me in today's 70s wallpaper shirt plugging Lithosphere book launch at Fullers.
Reposted by Ben Walter
Meanjin absolutely must be surrendered and allowed to survive.
Big turnout at this morning’s rally against @mupublishing.bsky.social vandalism of Meanjin. @beneltham.bsky.social called for Meanjin’s name and archive to be surrendered so the magazine can be published by someone who deserves to and appreciates the honour
September 11, 2025 at 6:55 AM
Meanjin absolutely must be surrendered and allowed to survive.
Save Meanjin - write to your local member of parliament, your senators, and the arts representatives of the major parties to bring pressure to bear on MUP.
Labor: Tony Burke - www.tonyburke.com.au/contact
Coalition: Julian Leeser - [email protected]
Labor: Tony Burke - www.tonyburke.com.au/contact
Coalition: Julian Leeser - [email protected]
September 11, 2025 at 8:22 AM
Save Meanjin - write to your local member of parliament, your senators, and the arts representatives of the major parties to bring pressure to bear on MUP.
Labor: Tony Burke - www.tonyburke.com.au/contact
Coalition: Julian Leeser - [email protected]
Labor: Tony Burke - www.tonyburke.com.au/contact
Coalition: Julian Leeser - [email protected]
Reposted by Ben Walter
Gareth Evans scolds ‘bone-headed’ Meanjin publisher as imminent closure sparks protest
Gareth Evans scolds ‘bone-headed’ Meanjin publisher as imminent closure sparks protest
Exclusive: Critics want Melbourne University Publishing to transfer ownership of Meanjin rather than dissolve it. But CEO says ‘the journal is not for sale’
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The former Labor attorney general and foreign affairs minister, Gareth Evans, has sent a scathing email to the chief executive of Melbourne University Publishing, lambasting its decision to scrap the literary journal Meanjin as “bone-headed”.
Several hundred protesters gathered outside MUP’s Swanston Street headquarters in Melbourne on Thursday protesting against the imminent closure of one of the cornerstones of Australian literary culture for 85 years. Continue reading...
www.theguardian.com
September 11, 2025 at 7:01 AM
Gareth Evans scolds ‘bone-headed’ Meanjin publisher as imminent closure sparks protest
Reposted by Ben Walter
My dad has Alzheimer’s. He needs full-time care but we have been turned away from every facility | Jane Rawson
My dad has Alzheimer’s. He needs full-time care but we have been turned away from every facility | Jane Rawson
His illness will get worse, my mum will get weaker, neither of them are safe and nothing will be done until there is an emergency
My dad has Alzheimer’s, which is not unusual for an 84-year-old man. He lives with my mum, who is also in her 80s, in a two-bedroom apartment in Canberra. My mum has multiple sclerosis, which makes looking after a fit, otherwise healthy man with Alzheimer’s very challenging.
Dad cannot think in any structured way. He can’t really understand what’s going on around him and he can’t follow verbal instructions. He’s too big and strong to wrestle in and out of clothes, the way you would with a small child, but he has to be wrestled in and out of clothes fairly often because he also doesn’t really understand when he needs to go to the toilet. Continue reading...
www.theguardian.com
September 10, 2025 at 3:01 PM
My dad has Alzheimer’s. He needs full-time care but we have been turned away from every facility | Jane Rawson
Reposted by Ben Walter
"I don't believe for one second that Meanjin's financial solvency was the reason for the shutdown". Meanjin's ex-deputy editor speaks about the demise of the journal on The Battler podcast (interview starts around the 55-minute mark). thebattler.substack.com/p/ep-25-mean...
Ep. 25 Meanjin Streets ft. Eli McLean
on the untimely murder of Meanjin
thebattler.substack.com
September 10, 2025 at 9:50 AM
"I don't believe for one second that Meanjin's financial solvency was the reason for the shutdown". Meanjin's ex-deputy editor speaks about the demise of the journal on The Battler podcast (interview starts around the 55-minute mark). thebattler.substack.com/p/ep-25-mean...
Ha, I pointed out how shoddy this piece in Quadrant was to Jane Rawson and she went and made them correct a pile of stuff about Island.
September 10, 2025 at 5:52 AM
Ha, I pointed out how shoddy this piece in Quadrant was to Jane Rawson and she went and made them correct a pile of stuff about Island.