Alia Parker
@aliaparker.bsky.social
Writer & Freelance Journalist. Author of mindflexing.com.au and the Mind Flexing Sound Bites podcast. Living on Dhudhuroa land in the foothills of Australia's snow country.
Heads up Australian creatives... Creative Australia has launched the first national survey focused on our work and pay conditions. You can get involved here: creativeworkplaces.gov.au/survey
#australia #creatives #arts #writers #auslit #ausart #creativeaustralia #art
#australia #creatives #arts #writers #auslit #ausart #creativeaustralia #art
Creative Workplaces Survey
Share your experiences and help create the first national picture of what it’s really like to work in Australia’s creative industries.
creativeworkplaces.gov.au
January 20, 2026 at 11:02 PM
Heads up Australian creatives... Creative Australia has launched the first national survey focused on our work and pay conditions. You can get involved here: creativeworkplaces.gov.au/survey
#australia #creatives #arts #writers #auslit #ausart #creativeaustralia #art
#australia #creatives #arts #writers #auslit #ausart #creativeaustralia #art
What is hermeneutics and how do paragliders know how to stay afloat? My first 'Sound Bite' for 2026 (only 9 min listen or read) is out now... Enjoy! Follow Mind Flexing in your podcast app for more short thought expeditions. 🙏
www.mindflexing.com.au/p/life-among...
#philosophy #writer #podcast
www.mindflexing.com.au/p/life-among...
#philosophy #writer #podcast
Life among the invisible
#67—A short flight into the philosophy of hermeneutics while learning to trust the wind.
www.mindflexing.com.au
January 6, 2026 at 10:48 PM
What is hermeneutics and how do paragliders know how to stay afloat? My first 'Sound Bite' for 2026 (only 9 min listen or read) is out now... Enjoy! Follow Mind Flexing in your podcast app for more short thought expeditions. 🙏
www.mindflexing.com.au/p/life-among...
#philosophy #writer #podcast
www.mindflexing.com.au/p/life-among...
#philosophy #writer #podcast
Reposted by Alia Parker
This is the way #Meanjin ends — not with a bang but a whimper.
New FOI story from me for @crikey.com.au:
www.crikey.com.au/2025/12/17/m...
New FOI story from me for @crikey.com.au:
www.crikey.com.au/2025/12/17/m...
FOI docs reveal Meanjin axing never debated by Melbourne Uni. And why were all bids to save it rejected?
The University of Melbourne's finance committee didn't invite members to question the closure of the 85-year-old literary journal, instead only waving it through. Meanwhile, all external offers to sav...
www.crikey.com.au
December 17, 2025 at 2:52 AM
This is the way #Meanjin ends — not with a bang but a whimper.
New FOI story from me for @crikey.com.au:
www.crikey.com.au/2025/12/17/m...
New FOI story from me for @crikey.com.au:
www.crikey.com.au/2025/12/17/m...
Different writing assignments require different writing music. Today's vibe is Relaxing Psychedelic Space Rock. So good. 🎶
music.youtube.com/watch?v=YkgF...
#writer #music #youtubemusic #vibes
music.youtube.com/watch?v=YkgF...
#writer #music #youtubemusic #vibes
5 Hours of Relaxing Psychedelic Space Rock Travel Dos
YouTube video by Cerg Orm
music.youtube.com
December 17, 2025 at 5:21 AM
Different writing assignments require different writing music. Today's vibe is Relaxing Psychedelic Space Rock. So good. 🎶
music.youtube.com/watch?v=YkgF...
#writer #music #youtubemusic #vibes
music.youtube.com/watch?v=YkgF...
#writer #music #youtubemusic #vibes
Reposted by Alia Parker
Happy to announce ELEMENTS OF THE WRITING LIFE masterclasses 2026 are open for enrolment! How to keep writing at the centre of your life when the world is trying to tear it away. With brilliant NZ novelist/screenwriter Emily Perkins. charlottewoodwriter.thinkific.com/courses/elem...
ELEMENTS OF THE WRITING LIFE
All 5 classes of Elements of the Writing Life, the 2026 online masterclass series presented by award-winning authors Emily Perkins and Charlotte Wood.
charlottewoodwriter.thinkific.com
December 7, 2025 at 10:48 PM
Happy to announce ELEMENTS OF THE WRITING LIFE masterclasses 2026 are open for enrolment! How to keep writing at the centre of your life when the world is trying to tear it away. With brilliant NZ novelist/screenwriter Emily Perkins. charlottewoodwriter.thinkific.com/courses/elem...
So it's a deal. Netflix is set to buy Warner Bros.; the 102-year-old stalwart of cinema. As I was saying just last week...
www.mindflexing.com.au/p/farewell-c...
#substack #writers #cinema #nostalgia #essay #creativewriting #memoir #warnerbros #netflix
www.mindflexing.com.au/p/farewell-c...
#substack #writers #cinema #nostalgia #essay #creativewriting #memoir #warnerbros #netflix
Farewell Cinema and other cultural relics
#66—A nostalgic trip through some things we have lost and something we're losing.
www.mindflexing.com.au
December 7, 2025 at 10:11 PM
So it's a deal. Netflix is set to buy Warner Bros.; the 102-year-old stalwart of cinema. As I was saying just last week...
www.mindflexing.com.au/p/farewell-c...
#substack #writers #cinema #nostalgia #essay #creativewriting #memoir #warnerbros #netflix
www.mindflexing.com.au/p/farewell-c...
#substack #writers #cinema #nostalgia #essay #creativewriting #memoir #warnerbros #netflix
Reposted by Alia Parker
December 2, 2025 at 8:48 AM
I've had the biggest itch to go to the cinema lately, like in a one last hurrah sense... Anyone else feel that way?
www.mindflexing.com.au/p/farewell-c...
#cinema #film #art #1980s #substack #writer #podcast #nostalgia #essay
www.mindflexing.com.au/p/farewell-c...
#cinema #film #art #1980s #substack #writer #podcast #nostalgia #essay
Farewell Cinema and other cultural relics
#66—A nostalgic trip through some things we have lost and something we're losing.
www.mindflexing.com.au
December 3, 2025 at 9:22 PM
I've had the biggest itch to go to the cinema lately, like in a one last hurrah sense... Anyone else feel that way?
www.mindflexing.com.au/p/farewell-c...
#cinema #film #art #1980s #substack #writer #podcast #nostalgia #essay
www.mindflexing.com.au/p/farewell-c...
#cinema #film #art #1980s #substack #writer #podcast #nostalgia #essay
Finally read Trent Dalton's 'Boy Swallows Universe' since it topped the Top 100 Books of the 21st Century, and wow. What a ride. It’s fast, funny, harrowing, quirky and cringeworthy. It’s everything we loved about growing up in Australia in the 1980s. It's a book that stays with you.
#booksky #books
#booksky #books
November 19, 2025 at 4:13 AM
Reposted by Alia Parker
"How Australian democracy has changed since 1975, in six charts" @browne90.bsky.social #OffTheCharts #ThePoint
thepoint.com.au/off-the-char...
thepoint.com.au/off-the-char...
How Australian democracy has changed since 1975, in six charts
50 years on from the Dismissal, how has Australian democracy changed? Here are six ways that Australian politics looks very different to when Gough Whitlam was PM in November 1975.
thepoint.com.au
November 9, 2025 at 11:55 PM
"How Australian democracy has changed since 1975, in six charts" @browne90.bsky.social #OffTheCharts #ThePoint
thepoint.com.au/off-the-char...
thepoint.com.au/off-the-char...
This short story is based on true events. There's a 'little surprise' at the end...
open.substack.com/pub/mindflex...
#shortstory #autofiction #essay #writers #substack #story #goodreads #booksky
open.substack.com/pub/mindflex...
#shortstory #autofiction #essay #writers #substack #story #goodreads #booksky
November 9, 2025 at 2:12 AM
This short story is based on true events. There's a 'little surprise' at the end...
open.substack.com/pub/mindflex...
#shortstory #autofiction #essay #writers #substack #story #goodreads #booksky
open.substack.com/pub/mindflex...
#shortstory #autofiction #essay #writers #substack #story #goodreads #booksky
What an interesting list! I would find it impossible to make a list in order. It would constantly change, and I'm sure Bowie's did too.
November 6, 2025 at 1:20 AM
What an interesting list! I would find it impossible to make a list in order. It would constantly change, and I'm sure Bowie's did too.
This👇 absolutely. And also 'news' organisations (like Southern Cross Austereo) stealing the same work to churn out AI news to avoid hiring journalist. Additionally, AI constantly stuffs up and hallucinates, so the spread of misinformation is increasingly a threat to people trusting anything.
Journalists, writers and reporters are very concerned about AI companies stealing their work without consent or compensation and then churning it into content that doesn't serve the public interest, can't be trusted and can be used to create misinformation. #PayUp!
November 6, 2025 at 1:13 AM
This👇 absolutely. And also 'news' organisations (like Southern Cross Austereo) stealing the same work to churn out AI news to avoid hiring journalist. Additionally, AI constantly stuffs up and hallucinates, so the spread of misinformation is increasingly a threat to people trusting anything.
A little scene I painted to illustrate this month's essay. It's of a pod of Orcas that came in close to us while on a beach in the north of New Zealand.
Story here: www.mindflexing.com.au/p/orcas-in-t...
#whales #ocas #pod #newzealand #wildlife #nature #art #painting
Story here: www.mindflexing.com.au/p/orcas-in-t...
#whales #ocas #pod #newzealand #wildlife #nature #art #painting
November 6, 2025 at 12:54 AM
A little scene I painted to illustrate this month's essay. It's of a pod of Orcas that came in close to us while on a beach in the north of New Zealand.
Story here: www.mindflexing.com.au/p/orcas-in-t...
#whales #ocas #pod #newzealand #wildlife #nature #art #painting
Story here: www.mindflexing.com.au/p/orcas-in-t...
#whales #ocas #pod #newzealand #wildlife #nature #art #painting
Hello Bluesky flyers. Just wondering... if you had an entire pod of orcas at your toes, would you see them? Would you really? This little story is based on true events.
www.mindflexing.com.au/p/orcas-in-t...
#shortstory #truestory #autofiction #writer #orcas #killerwhales #newzealand
www.mindflexing.com.au/p/orcas-in-t...
#shortstory #truestory #autofiction #writer #orcas #killerwhales #newzealand
Orcas in the bay
#65—A little autofiction about a time I looked straight at something remarkable and didn't truly see it.
www.mindflexing.com.au
November 5, 2025 at 3:44 AM
Hello Bluesky flyers. Just wondering... if you had an entire pod of orcas at your toes, would you see them? Would you really? This little story is based on true events.
www.mindflexing.com.au/p/orcas-in-t...
#shortstory #truestory #autofiction #writer #orcas #killerwhales #newzealand
www.mindflexing.com.au/p/orcas-in-t...
#shortstory #truestory #autofiction #writer #orcas #killerwhales #newzealand
I just heard from a high school teacher that the poem option given to students in yesterday's VCE English exam was not actually one of the 10 poems listed to study. Anyone else heard this?
#vce #vceenglish #exam #examstuffup #victoria
#vce #vceenglish #exam #examstuffup #victoria
October 28, 2025 at 11:49 PM
I just heard from a high school teacher that the poem option given to students in yesterday's VCE English exam was not actually one of the 10 poems listed to study. Anyone else heard this?
#vce #vceenglish #exam #examstuffup #victoria
#vce #vceenglish #exam #examstuffup #victoria
These AI mistakes are just scary. It's frightening how businesses have jumped to adopt AI when the info it often provides is really subpar if you take the time to fact check it.
www.theage.com.au/national/how...
#AI #AImistakes #AIhallucinations #theage #news #fakenews
www.theage.com.au/national/how...
#AI #AImistakes #AIhallucinations #theage #news #fakenews
How Google AI falsely named an innocent journalist as a notorious child murderer
A politician named the man who allegedly confessed to the murder of a three-year-old girl. Then AI identified the wrong guy.
www.theage.com.au
October 27, 2025 at 4:43 AM
These AI mistakes are just scary. It's frightening how businesses have jumped to adopt AI when the info it often provides is really subpar if you take the time to fact check it.
www.theage.com.au/national/how...
#AI #AImistakes #AIhallucinations #theage #news #fakenews
www.theage.com.au/national/how...
#AI #AImistakes #AIhallucinations #theage #news #fakenews
Spring blooms move in procession through my yard. Today, it's the turn of the pink dogwood, cornus florida. Always one of my favourites.
#spring #flowers #inbloom #dogwood #gardening #inspiration
#spring #flowers #inbloom #dogwood #gardening #inspiration
October 27, 2025 at 4:32 AM
Spring blooms move in procession through my yard. Today, it's the turn of the pink dogwood, cornus florida. Always one of my favourites.
#spring #flowers #inbloom #dogwood #gardening #inspiration
#spring #flowers #inbloom #dogwood #gardening #inspiration
Reposted by Alia Parker
Disappearing jewels. Today’s Age cartoon
October 25, 2025 at 9:39 PM
Disappearing jewels. Today’s Age cartoon
So many great literature projects to support on this inaugural AusArt Day. All donations through the platform are tax deductible.
creative.gov.au/ausartday?ar...
#ausartday #literature #australia
creative.gov.au/ausartday?ar...
#ausartday #literature #australia
2025 AusArt Day Participant Gallery
Thursday 23 October 2025 is national AusArt Day.
creative.gov.au
October 22, 2025 at 10:26 PM
So many great literature projects to support on this inaugural AusArt Day. All donations through the platform are tax deductible.
creative.gov.au/ausartday?ar...
#ausartday #literature #australia
creative.gov.au/ausartday?ar...
#ausartday #literature #australia
Reposted by Alia Parker
Lots of worthy arts orgs to support today - @asauthors.bsky.social is one of them! Help us fight AI theft and stand up for writers’ rights ✊🏼
www.asauthors.org.au/news/back-bo...
www.asauthors.org.au/news/back-bo...
Back book creators and support Australian stories on AusArt Day - Australian Society of Authors
The ASA is participating in the inaugural AusArt Day, a national day of giving to the arts being held on Thursday 23 October 2025.
www.asauthors.org.au
October 22, 2025 at 9:36 PM
Lots of worthy arts orgs to support today - @asauthors.bsky.social is one of them! Help us fight AI theft and stand up for writers’ rights ✊🏼
www.asauthors.org.au/news/back-bo...
www.asauthors.org.au/news/back-bo...
Ultimo Press has opened submissions for short works of fiction and narrative non-fiction between 30,000 and 40,000 words. What a great length!
www.linkedin.com/posts/ultimo...
#submissions #ultimopress #publishing #writers #authors
www.linkedin.com/posts/ultimo...
#submissions #ultimopress #publishing #writers #authors
📢 CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS 📢
Ultimo Press are now inviting submissions of fiction and narrative non-fiction between 30,000 and 40,000 words.
We are looking for bold storytelling: work with a clear… | Ult...
📢 CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS 📢
Ultimo Press are now inviting submissions of fiction and narrative non-fiction between 30,000 and 40,000 words.
We are looking for bold storytelling: work with a clear beginn...
www.linkedin.com
October 21, 2025 at 3:32 AM
Ultimo Press has opened submissions for short works of fiction and narrative non-fiction between 30,000 and 40,000 words. What a great length!
www.linkedin.com/posts/ultimo...
#submissions #ultimopress #publishing #writers #authors
www.linkedin.com/posts/ultimo...
#submissions #ultimopress #publishing #writers #authors
Trent Dalton's Boy Swallow's Universe has topped the list of Australia's Top 100 books!
www.abc.net.au/about/media-...
#booksky #australianbooks #readers #writers #authors
www.abc.net.au/about/media-...
#booksky #australianbooks #readers #writers #authors
Trent Dalton’s Boy Swallows Universe wins the inaugural ABC Radio National Top 100 Books countdown - About the ABC
The verdict is in! Booklovers across Australia have crowned Brisbane author Trent Dalton’s Boy Swallows Universe as number one in the inaugural ABC Radio National Top 100 Books of the 21st Century cou...
www.abc.net.au
October 20, 2025 at 1:52 AM
Trent Dalton's Boy Swallow's Universe has topped the list of Australia's Top 100 books!
www.abc.net.au/about/media-...
#booksky #australianbooks #readers #writers #authors
www.abc.net.au/about/media-...
#booksky #australianbooks #readers #writers #authors
Reposted by Alia Parker
Today the NSW government launched a nation-leading literature strategy which puts authors at the heart of investment. The Stories Matter strategy is the state's first writing and literature strategy, and promises a $3.2m commitment to the sector.
‘We want our stories to be told’: NSW Labor pledges $3.2m to support writing and literature amid AI onslaught
Stories Matter strategy responds to urgent pressures such as declining reading rates and growing impact of digital media on publishing, minister says
www.theguardian.com
October 17, 2025 at 12:43 AM
Today the NSW government launched a nation-leading literature strategy which puts authors at the heart of investment. The Stories Matter strategy is the state's first writing and literature strategy, and promises a $3.2m commitment to the sector.