Jo Case
@jocaseau.bsky.social
Professional book nerd (writer, editor, critic - former publisher, bookseller). Deputy Editor, Books & Ideas, The Conversation: @aunz.theconversation.com. Co-editor, Someone Like Me: An Anthology of Autistic Writers (UQP).
Hooray for QUT's resurrection of Meanjin! @aunz.theconversation.com
Angela Glindemann reports. reflecting on how it's a smart move for QUT, at a time when creative arts courses are in crisis. Might Meanjin be an enrolment drawcard?
theconversation.com/meanjin-has-...
Angela Glindemann reports. reflecting on how it's a smart move for QUT, at a time when creative arts courses are in crisis. Might Meanjin be an enrolment drawcard?
theconversation.com/meanjin-has-...
Meanjin has been resurrected by QUT, in a clever move
Cancelled Australian literary journal Meanjin returns to its origins in Brisbane, where it was founded in 1940. It’s a good move for more than one reason.
theconversation.com
February 11, 2026 at 9:31 AM
Hooray for QUT's resurrection of Meanjin! @aunz.theconversation.com
Angela Glindemann reports. reflecting on how it's a smart move for QUT, at a time when creative arts courses are in crisis. Might Meanjin be an enrolment drawcard?
theconversation.com/meanjin-has-...
Angela Glindemann reports. reflecting on how it's a smart move for QUT, at a time when creative arts courses are in crisis. Might Meanjin be an enrolment drawcard?
theconversation.com/meanjin-has-...
I love this essay by Sally Breen. She grew up in fearing Queensland cops – then she got curious. The stories she uncovered in her interviews with 17 Gold Coast homicide detectives sit under her skin, 'like lava'. @aunz.theconversation.com
theconversation.com/friday-essay...
theconversation.com/friday-essay...
Friday essay: I grew up fearing Queensland cops. Then I hung out with 17 Gold Coast detectives
Sally Breen wanted to know more about real police work after she met a Queensland top cop who seemed good. The stories she found sit under her skin like lava.
theconversation.com
February 5, 2026 at 10:41 PM
I love this essay by Sally Breen. She grew up in fearing Queensland cops – then she got curious. The stories she uncovered in her interviews with 17 Gold Coast homicide detectives sit under her skin, 'like lava'. @aunz.theconversation.com
theconversation.com/friday-essay...
theconversation.com/friday-essay...
Publishing expert @alicektg.bsky.social takes the pulse of Australia's literary festivals & their challenges – cancellations, culture wars, climate change and new hate speech laws – as Adelaide announces Constellations: Not Writers Week. @aunz.theconversation.com
theconversation.com/what-is-the-...
theconversation.com/what-is-the-...
What is the future of Australia’s embattled writers festivals?
Australia’s literary festivals are under threat from culture wars, climate risks, new hate speech laws and ongoing funding scarcity.
theconversation.com
February 5, 2026 at 1:12 AM
Publishing expert @alicektg.bsky.social takes the pulse of Australia's literary festivals & their challenges – cancellations, culture wars, climate change and new hate speech laws – as Adelaide announces Constellations: Not Writers Week. @aunz.theconversation.com
theconversation.com/what-is-the-...
theconversation.com/what-is-the-...
Reposted by Jo Case
With threats from culture wars, climate disaster and insecure funding, Australia's thriving writers' festivals face an uncertain future. Read more in @theconversation.com
theconversation.com/what-is-the-...
theconversation.com/what-is-the-...
What is the future of Australia’s embattled writers festivals?
Australia’s literary festivals are under threat from culture wars, climate risks, new hate speech laws and ongoing funding scarcity.
theconversation.com
February 4, 2026 at 11:20 PM
With threats from culture wars, climate disaster and insecure funding, Australia's thriving writers' festivals face an uncertain future. Read more in @theconversation.com
theconversation.com/what-is-the-...
theconversation.com/what-is-the-...
Reposted by Jo Case
This was a fun story to work on: Rocket or arugula? How a salad vegetable mapped the Italian diaspora theconversation.com/rocket-or-ar...
Rocket or arugula? How a salad vegetable mapped the Italian diaspora
The words used to describe this peppery green are a linguistic fossil record revealing the history of Italian migration.
theconversation.com
January 27, 2026 at 11:17 PM
This was a fun story to work on: Rocket or arugula? How a salad vegetable mapped the Italian diaspora theconversation.com/rocket-or-ar...
Reposted by Jo Case
Polished the manuscript of my debut novel, Every Breath, at a Writers Victoria workshop.
Met my first publisher (and editor) at a Writers Victoria panel discussion.
I wouldn't have what is now a decade+ author career without my state writers org, now defunded.
theconversation.com/writers-vict...
Met my first publisher (and editor) at a Writers Victoria panel discussion.
I wouldn't have what is now a decade+ author career without my state writers org, now defunded.
theconversation.com/writers-vict...
Writers Victoria has been defunded – but writers’ centres are ‘fundamental’ to literary culture
Authors Hannah Kent and Toni Jordan got their start through writers centre initiatives. If Victoria loses its centre, it will be the only mainland state without one.
theconversation.com
January 23, 2026 at 6:17 AM
Polished the manuscript of my debut novel, Every Breath, at a Writers Victoria workshop.
Met my first publisher (and editor) at a Writers Victoria panel discussion.
I wouldn't have what is now a decade+ author career without my state writers org, now defunded.
theconversation.com/writers-vict...
Met my first publisher (and editor) at a Writers Victoria panel discussion.
I wouldn't have what is now a decade+ author career without my state writers org, now defunded.
theconversation.com/writers-vict...
Writers Victoria has been defunded – but writers’ centres are ‘fundamental’ to literary culture. So many writers have found work and been discovered through their programs – and they support the next generation of your favourite writers. @aunz.theconversation.com
theconversation.com/writers-vict...
theconversation.com/writers-vict...
Writers Victoria has been defunded – but writers’ centres are ‘fundamental’ to literary culture
Authors Hannah Kent and Toni Jordan got their start through writers centre initiatives. If Victoria loses its centre, it will be the only mainland state without one.
theconversation.com
January 23, 2026 at 5:12 AM
Writers Victoria has been defunded – but writers’ centres are ‘fundamental’ to literary culture. So many writers have found work and been discovered through their programs – and they support the next generation of your favourite writers. @aunz.theconversation.com
theconversation.com/writers-vict...
theconversation.com/writers-vict...
Reposted by Jo Case
Amy Thunig-McGregor expresses what we need to hold onto, for succour and sanity: the goodness in real connections & feelings, our (chosen) families, our friends and communities, in the face of chaos, misinformation & feeling powerless. thepoint.com.au/opinions/260...
In our age of AI and constant crisis, real-life community is powerful and precious
So much is deeply wrong with the world right now, but when it comes to the sphere of life that is within my own influence – my home, my heart and my place within my community – I am the happiest I hav...
thepoint.com.au
January 20, 2026 at 1:25 AM
Amy Thunig-McGregor expresses what we need to hold onto, for succour and sanity: the goodness in real connections & feelings, our (chosen) families, our friends and communities, in the face of chaos, misinformation & feeling powerless. thepoint.com.au/opinions/260...
Reposted by Jo Case
I wrote this some time ago - with all of us knowing this day would come, and Rob, of course, fighting like the bloody-minded bastard he was to the very end. He irrevocably changed my life - and how our country saw itself. www.theguardian.com/music/2026/j...
Rob Hirst was a force of nature, a born showman who led Midnight Oil from the back
Phenomenal drummer and percussionist was an equally accomplished songwriter who embodied the band’s bloody-minded spirit
www.theguardian.com
January 20, 2026 at 7:16 AM
I wrote this some time ago - with all of us knowing this day would come, and Rob, of course, fighting like the bloody-minded bastard he was to the very end. He irrevocably changed my life - and how our country saw itself. www.theguardian.com/music/2026/j...
Reposted by Jo Case
“Devastated literary figures have been working hard behind the scenes”
This community 📚❤️✊🏼
www.indailysa.com.au/news/just-in...
This community 📚❤️✊🏼
www.indailysa.com.au/news/just-in...
Read the room: Guerilla Writers’ Week is happening - News | InDaily, Inside South Australia
Organisers of an alternative Writers’ Festival have vowed to push ahead after receiving support at an Adelaide City Council meeting.
www.indailysa.com.au
January 20, 2026 at 4:03 AM
“Devastated literary figures have been working hard behind the scenes”
This community 📚❤️✊🏼
www.indailysa.com.au/news/just-in...
This community 📚❤️✊🏼
www.indailysa.com.au/news/just-in...
We asked 5 creative writing experts if they would use AI to break writer's block. Their answers surprised us.
theconversation.com/would-you-us...
theconversation.com/would-you-us...
Would you use AI to break writer’s block? We asked 5 experts
A publishing giant believes AI can help break writers’ block. We asked 5 creative writing experts if they’d use it that way – and the range of results surprised us.
theconversation.com
January 20, 2026 at 2:12 AM
We asked 5 creative writing experts if they would use AI to break writer's block. Their answers surprised us.
theconversation.com/would-you-us...
theconversation.com/would-you-us...
I really love this piece.
So much democracy rests on the assumption we live in, & care about, our physical communities…but while social media can helps us build new online communities, it can also tear us apart from our old ones. Great piece by @amythunig.bsky.social on the dangers of AI
thepoint.com.au/opinions/260...
thepoint.com.au/opinions/260...
In our age of AI and constant crisis, real-life community is powerful and precious
So much is deeply wrong with the world right now, but when it comes to the sphere of life that is within my own influence – my home, my heart and my place within my community – I am the happiest I hav...
thepoint.com.au
January 20, 2026 at 1:09 AM
I really love this piece.
Reposted by Jo Case
This is not in fact the definition of the “working class.”
January 19, 2026 at 9:14 PM
This is not in fact the definition of the “working class.”
Reposted by Jo Case
Basically, every generation of Americans has its own prophets of prosperity and popularity. But the message is always (essentially) the same. And its aim is always to justify massive inequality and pacify the masses by promising that someday they'll be on the winning side, too.
January 17, 2026 at 11:33 PM
Basically, every generation of Americans has its own prophets of prosperity and popularity. But the message is always (essentially) the same. And its aim is always to justify massive inequality and pacify the masses by promising that someday they'll be on the winning side, too.
Reposted by Jo Case
Ah yes, famously events with interstate attendees, book sales, coffee carts, wine bars, hundreds of employed artists, dozens of staffers, thousands of daily visitors to the city and, yes, ticketed events, generate "zero revenue". www.indailysa.com.au/news/just-in...
January 16, 2026 at 5:14 AM
Ah yes, famously events with interstate attendees, book sales, coffee carts, wine bars, hundreds of employed artists, dozens of staffers, thousands of daily visitors to the city and, yes, ticketed events, generate "zero revenue". www.indailysa.com.au/news/just-in...
Reposted by Jo Case
Knut Hamsun gave his Nobel medal to Joseph Goebbels in 1943, if anyone is looking for a precedent.
www.theguardian.com/world/2026/j...
www.theguardian.com/world/2026/j...
María Corina Machado says she presented Trump with her Nobel peace prize medal
The Venezuelan opposition leader did not confirm whether the US president accepted the award
www.theguardian.com
January 16, 2026 at 2:45 AM
Knut Hamsun gave his Nobel medal to Joseph Goebbels in 1943, if anyone is looking for a precedent.
www.theguardian.com/world/2026/j...
www.theguardian.com/world/2026/j...
Reposted by Jo Case
The Greens are again urging the Malinauskas Government to investigate these claims of political interference. The allegations that public servants have been told to stall investigations into the toxic algal bloom in order to protect the political interests of Labor are shocking.
January 16, 2026 at 1:34 AM
The Greens are again urging the Malinauskas Government to investigate these claims of political interference. The allegations that public servants have been told to stall investigations into the toxic algal bloom in order to protect the political interests of Labor are shocking.
Reposted by Jo Case
Seems like there are a few issues in Malinauskas’ government www.abc.net.au/news/2026-01...
SA ecologist resigns from algal bloom panels, citing government's 'adversarial' approach
South Australian ecologist Dr Faith Coleman has resigned from two state government algal bloom panels and criticised the state government's approach.
www.abc.net.au
January 15, 2026 at 8:58 AM
Seems like there are a few issues in Malinauskas’ government www.abc.net.au/news/2026-01...
Reposted by Jo Case
All education in Australia should be 💯 free and 💯 secular … if parents opt for a private or religious education for their children they should have to fund 💯 of the cost.
January 15, 2026 at 3:59 AM
All education in Australia should be 💯 free and 💯 secular … if parents opt for a private or religious education for their children they should have to fund 💯 of the cost.
Reposted by Jo Case
Data today shows rents again at record highs in nearly every capital city in Aus - Sydney at $800 a week! Rental vacancy rates are at record lows & Labor’s policies are incentivising wealthy property investors, which push property prices up & result in skyrocketing rents.
January 15, 2026 at 5:15 AM
Data today shows rents again at record highs in nearly every capital city in Aus - Sydney at $800 a week! Rental vacancy rates are at record lows & Labor’s policies are incentivising wealthy property investors, which push property prices up & result in skyrocketing rents.
Reposted by Jo Case
Some media have reported that Dr Randa Abdel-Fattah has dropped her defamation claim against SA premier Peter Malinauskas. That is incorrect. She has resolved her separate defamation claim against Adelaide Festival Corporation.
January 15, 2026 at 5:54 AM
Some media have reported that Dr Randa Abdel-Fattah has dropped her defamation claim against SA premier Peter Malinauskas. That is incorrect. She has resolved her separate defamation claim against Adelaide Festival Corporation.
In this shitty year, sharing a nice thing I wrote for InReview, about artist-writer Barbara Hanrahan's marvellous, long out-of-print diaries: a legend passed around at bookshops and by literary people.
“I had just imagined all sorts of people reading me."
www.indailysa.com.au/inreview/boo...
“I had just imagined all sorts of people reading me."
www.indailysa.com.au/inreview/boo...
‘The only ecstasy in my life’: Reopening Barbara Hanrahan’s diaries - InReview | InDaily, Inside South Australia
As the publication of Helen Garner’s decades-long diaries sparks a late-career revival, critic Jo Case reflects on the similarly expansive and exposing journals of the late artist and writer Barbara H...
www.indailysa.com.au
January 15, 2026 at 5:55 AM
In this shitty year, sharing a nice thing I wrote for InReview, about artist-writer Barbara Hanrahan's marvellous, long out-of-print diaries: a legend passed around at bookshops and by literary people.
“I had just imagined all sorts of people reading me."
www.indailysa.com.au/inreview/boo...
“I had just imagined all sorts of people reading me."
www.indailysa.com.au/inreview/boo...
Reposted by Jo Case
I’m glad the new board has admitted this was wrong. What an utter waste of everybody’s time, energy and labour
www.abc.net.au/news/2026-01...
www.abc.net.au/news/2026-01...
Breaking: Adelaide Festival Corporation apologises to author Randa Abdel-Fattah
The Adelaide Festival Corporation, which oversees Adelaide Writers' Week, has apologised to Palestinian Australian author Randa Abdel-Fattah and says she will be invited to speak at its next event in ...
www.abc.net.au
January 15, 2026 at 1:35 AM
I’m glad the new board has admitted this was wrong. What an utter waste of everybody’s time, energy and labour
www.abc.net.au/news/2026-01...
www.abc.net.au/news/2026-01...
Reposted by Jo Case
NEW: The Bureau of Prisons won't explain why Ghislaine Maxwell was transferred to a cushy facility after she met with Deputy AG Todd Blanche. So we filed a FOIA request for documents on this—and now we're suing (thanks to the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press—@rcfp.org).
Mother Jones sues the Bureau of Prisons for Ghislaine Maxwell records
Why was Jeffrey Epstein's procurer transferred to a cushy prison?
www.motherjones.com
January 15, 2026 at 1:46 AM
NEW: The Bureau of Prisons won't explain why Ghislaine Maxwell was transferred to a cushy facility after she met with Deputy AG Todd Blanche. So we filed a FOIA request for documents on this—and now we're suing (thanks to the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press—@rcfp.org).
Reposted by Jo Case
Spoke with ABC Arts for this great article on freedom of expression and writers festivals
www.abc.net.au/news/2026-01...
@asauthors.bsky.social
www.abc.net.au/news/2026-01...
@asauthors.bsky.social
Can writers' festivals survive a 'censorship' crisis?
The shock cancellation of Adelaide Writers' Week has left many concerned about the future of writers' festivals in an increasingly polarised political world.
www.abc.net.au
January 14, 2026 at 10:45 PM
Spoke with ABC Arts for this great article on freedom of expression and writers festivals
www.abc.net.au/news/2026-01...
@asauthors.bsky.social
www.abc.net.au/news/2026-01...
@asauthors.bsky.social