Melanie Ostell Literary
@mjostell.bsky.social
Still interested in good stuff. Open for submissions 15 August 2025.
Pinned
What’s all that noise? 💥🎧
Ah, I know: it’s the whirring of printers and riffling of pages for a final edit before submitting when our window reopens on 15 August. Got to website, check requirements & use Query portal. Looking forward to some quality reading! 📚📖
Ah, I know: it’s the whirring of printers and riffling of pages for a final edit before submitting when our window reopens on 15 August. Got to website, check requirements & use Query portal. Looking forward to some quality reading! 📚📖
Reposted by Melanie Ostell Literary
Every day this government is more of a disappointment thepoint.com.au/opinions/251...
Poverty is not evidence, the presumption of innocence must apply to everyone
In the final days of October, the Federal Government quietly inserted a last-minute amendment into an unrelated bill. It has been trying to rush through a change that would allow police and the Home A...
thepoint.com.au
November 25, 2025 at 7:13 AM
Every day this government is more of a disappointment thepoint.com.au/opinions/251...
Reposted by Melanie Ostell Literary
Listening to @amyremeikis.bsky.social talk to @seankelly.bsky.social about how Albanese pretty much prevents cabinet ministers from doing anything he doesn’t want…. And pondering how long they will allow that to keep happening
November 25, 2025 at 7:20 AM
Listening to @amyremeikis.bsky.social talk to @seankelly.bsky.social about how Albanese pretty much prevents cabinet ministers from doing anything he doesn’t want…. And pondering how long they will allow that to keep happening
Reposted by Melanie Ostell Literary
Royce Kurmelovs is one of our best indie journalists. He is on the ground in Belem reporting on Australia’s reasonably pathetic efforts at COP reneweconomy.com.au/after-a-delu...
reneweconomy.com.au
November 19, 2025 at 9:10 AM
Royce Kurmelovs is one of our best indie journalists. He is on the ground in Belem reporting on Australia’s reasonably pathetic efforts at COP reneweconomy.com.au/after-a-delu...
In August a workshop for @byronwritersfestival couldn’t go ahead. We’re trying again this Saturday and spots still available. Great advice for prepping your submission over summer! shorturl.at/CylkH #amwriting
Byron Writers Festival
shorturl.at
November 10, 2025 at 12:34 AM
In August a workshop for @byronwritersfestival couldn’t go ahead. We’re trying again this Saturday and spots still available. Great advice for prepping your submission over summer! shorturl.at/CylkH #amwriting
Reposted by Melanie Ostell Literary
The Australian Government makes more money from HECS repayments than it does from the PRRT.
‘Norway taxes its fossil fuel industry and gives their kids free higher education… we subsidise our fossil fuel industry and we charge our kids a fortune to go to uni.’
@richarddenniss.bsky.social #auspol
‘Norway taxes its fossil fuel industry and gives their kids free higher education… we subsidise our fossil fuel industry and we charge our kids a fortune to go to uni.’
@richarddenniss.bsky.social #auspol
October 17, 2025 at 4:34 AM
The Australian Government makes more money from HECS repayments than it does from the PRRT.
‘Norway taxes its fossil fuel industry and gives their kids free higher education… we subsidise our fossil fuel industry and we charge our kids a fortune to go to uni.’
@richarddenniss.bsky.social #auspol
‘Norway taxes its fossil fuel industry and gives their kids free higher education… we subsidise our fossil fuel industry and we charge our kids a fortune to go to uni.’
@richarddenniss.bsky.social #auspol
Reposted by Melanie Ostell Literary
Google Books. It's still going on. Still new libraries working on it. 📚 (Tennessee)
newsonline.library.vanderbilt.edu/2025/09/2600...
newsonline.library.vanderbilt.edu/2025/09/2600...
260,000 volumes from Vanderbilt’s Heard Libraries to be digitized by Google Books
A new collaboration between the Jean and Alexander Heard Libraries and the Google Books initiative will make it possible for users worldwide to access works that are rare, out of print, or generally u...
newsonline.library.vanderbilt.edu
October 12, 2025 at 6:52 PM
Google Books. It's still going on. Still new libraries working on it. 📚 (Tennessee)
newsonline.library.vanderbilt.edu/2025/09/2600...
newsonline.library.vanderbilt.edu/2025/09/2600...
Reposted by Melanie Ostell Literary
Reposted by Melanie Ostell Literary
And in other good news, Slick has made the long list at The Nibs:
Nib Literary Award 2025 longlist announced | Books+Publishing
Purchase a subscription to view job ads and other premium content on Books+Publishing.
www.booksandpublishing.com.au
August 5, 2025 at 12:11 AM
And in other good news, Slick has made the long list at The Nibs:
What’s all that noise? 💥🎧
Ah, I know: it’s the whirring of printers and riffling of pages for a final edit before submitting when our window reopens on 15 August. Got to website, check requirements & use Query portal. Looking forward to some quality reading! 📚📖
Ah, I know: it’s the whirring of printers and riffling of pages for a final edit before submitting when our window reopens on 15 August. Got to website, check requirements & use Query portal. Looking forward to some quality reading! 📚📖
August 2, 2025 at 2:14 AM
What’s all that noise? 💥🎧
Ah, I know: it’s the whirring of printers and riffling of pages for a final edit before submitting when our window reopens on 15 August. Got to website, check requirements & use Query portal. Looking forward to some quality reading! 📚📖
Ah, I know: it’s the whirring of printers and riffling of pages for a final edit before submitting when our window reopens on 15 August. Got to website, check requirements & use Query portal. Looking forward to some quality reading! 📚📖
Reposted by Melanie Ostell Literary
WTF? I was quoted in this story but I have never spoken to the reporter nor would I have said those things. Is everything just generated by LLMs these days?
cosmosmagazine.com/earth/oceans...
cosmosmagazine.com/earth/oceans...
July 29, 2025 at 5:26 PM
WTF? I was quoted in this story but I have never spoken to the reporter nor would I have said those things. Is everything just generated by LLMs these days?
cosmosmagazine.com/earth/oceans...
cosmosmagazine.com/earth/oceans...
Reposted by Melanie Ostell Literary
Hi, I worked at USAID. 👋
Airdrops are universally acknowledged as probably the worst and least efficient way to get aid to people. You airdrop when you a) want to want to so something but can’t, or b) you don’t want to do anything but want to look like you are.
Airdrops are universally acknowledged as probably the worst and least efficient way to get aid to people. You airdrop when you a) want to want to so something but can’t, or b) you don’t want to do anything but want to look like you are.
"Airdrops will not reverse the deepening starvation," UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini wrote on X on Saturday. "They are expensive, inefficient & can even kill starving civilians. It is a distraction & screensmoke."
www.cbsnews.com/news/israel-...
www.cbsnews.com/news/israel-...
Israeli military says airdrops of aid into Gaza set to begin tonight amid increased starvation deaths
For months, the U.N. and experts have warned that Palestinians in Gaza are at risk of famine, with reports of increasing numbers of people dying from causes related to malnutrition.
www.cbsnews.com
July 27, 2025 at 12:28 AM
Hi, I worked at USAID. 👋
Airdrops are universally acknowledged as probably the worst and least efficient way to get aid to people. You airdrop when you a) want to want to so something but can’t, or b) you don’t want to do anything but want to look like you are.
Airdrops are universally acknowledged as probably the worst and least efficient way to get aid to people. You airdrop when you a) want to want to so something but can’t, or b) you don’t want to do anything but want to look like you are.
Are you working on a manuscript and unsure what comes next?🤔 Live around Byron? Maybe come to my workshop, a fortnight away today, at #ByronBayWritersFestival for guidance on editing and pitching to agents and publishers. #amwriting
July 24, 2025 at 4:02 AM
Are you working on a manuscript and unsure what comes next?🤔 Live around Byron? Maybe come to my workshop, a fortnight away today, at #ByronBayWritersFestival for guidance on editing and pitching to agents and publishers. #amwriting
Reposted by Melanie Ostell Literary
Reposted by Melanie Ostell Literary
In all serious, this moment is more profound than the invasion of Iraq. What we appear to be watching is the end of a commitment by these nations, even token, to the "rules based international order" and an embrace of "might makes right" in defence of an illegal act of aggression.
Those load-bearing US State Department talking points are really getting a work out across the English speaking working.
June 23, 2025 at 2:27 AM
In all serious, this moment is more profound than the invasion of Iraq. What we appear to be watching is the end of a commitment by these nations, even token, to the "rules based international order" and an embrace of "might makes right" in defence of an illegal act of aggression.
Reposted by Melanie Ostell Literary
Slick has been given a reprint --now with a fancy sticker on the cover. If you want to understand Why We Are Like This on climate change, or read about things like that one time the oil and gas industry spied on the son of a prime minister, and you haven't picked up a copy, now's your chance!
June 6, 2025 at 11:57 PM
Slick has been given a reprint --now with a fancy sticker on the cover. If you want to understand Why We Are Like This on climate change, or read about things like that one time the oil and gas industry spied on the son of a prime minister, and you haven't picked up a copy, now's your chance!
Reposted by Melanie Ostell Literary
Aviva Tuffield is my publisher. She commissioned both Just Money and Slick. She is a mensch. I stand by her without reservation or qualification.
The Oz is going after a UQP publisher who is a member of the Jewish Council of Australia for wearing a t-shirt that says: READERS AND WRITERS AGAINST THE GENOCIDE.
May 14, 2025 at 11:31 AM
Aviva Tuffield is my publisher. She commissioned both Just Money and Slick. She is a mensch. I stand by her without reservation or qualification.
Reposted by Melanie Ostell Literary
Good news, @drilledmedia.bsky.social now has a BlueSky account. Act accordingly.
And for those who follow such things, here is the deep dive on that study published in Nature linking individual fossil fuel companies with specific climate harms that I reported earlier this week.
You'll find all the detail I couldn't pack into a ~600 word news report over at Drilled.
You'll find all the detail I couldn't pack into a ~600 word news report over at Drilled.
“Numbers in the Trillions”: Fossil Fuel Producers on Hook for Climate Harms
New research suggests a way to link oil, gas and coal companies to specific climate harms.
drilled.media
May 7, 2025 at 12:50 AM
Good news, @drilledmedia.bsky.social now has a BlueSky account. Act accordingly.
Reposted by Melanie Ostell Literary
Just a reminder that you still have two days to help Slick do better than Peter Dutton at this recent federal election and win the People's Choice category at the NSW Literary awards. Go vote - and then get all your friends to vote.
Slick's up for an award at the 2025 NSW Literary Awards and there is a People's Choice category. If any of you out there want to support my work, or just want to make an oil executive sad, consider throwing me a vote. Takes two secs and cut off is 7 May: form.typeform.com/to/iRmKIe8U?...
May 4, 2025 at 9:24 PM
Just a reminder that you still have two days to help Slick do better than Peter Dutton at this recent federal election and win the People's Choice category at the NSW Literary awards. Go vote - and then get all your friends to vote.
Reposted by Melanie Ostell Literary
Just a reminder to vote early, vote often - including the People's Choice category at the NSW Literary Awards.
Slick's up for an award at the 2025 NSW Literary Awards and there is a People's Choice category. If any of you out there want to support my work, or just want to make an oil executive sad, consider throwing me a vote. Takes two secs and cut off is 7 May: form.typeform.com/to/iRmKIe8U?...
May 2, 2025 at 3:38 AM
Just a reminder to vote early, vote often - including the People's Choice category at the NSW Literary Awards.
Reposted by Melanie Ostell Literary
Oh baby you haven’t even touched yr deformed dinner
“Disturbing underwater footage claiming to show deformed and diseased salmon swimming in Macquarie Harbour on Tasmania’s West Coast has raised further alarm bells…”
Outrage over footage of apparent deformed and diseased salmon in Macquarie Harbour
Greens Senator Nick McKim condemned the Tasmanian salmon industry, calling it a grotesque model based on animal cruelty…
pulsetasmania.com.au
April 30, 2025 at 7:57 AM
Oh baby you haven’t even touched yr deformed dinner
Happy publication day to the most charming family saga of the year! @sarahmclutton @allenandunwin 👏👏🫶🏼
April 29, 2025 at 1:04 AM
Happy publication day to the most charming family saga of the year! @sarahmclutton @allenandunwin 👏👏🫶🏼
Reposted by Melanie Ostell Literary
Introducing The 113th Assistant Librarian: Lost in a Book! It's being released on 30 September 2025, and pre-orders are available now! (link in bio).
The stunning artwork is by Federica Frenna and the design is by unparalleled Kristy Lund-White and I can't wait to have it in my hands!
The stunning artwork is by Federica Frenna and the design is by unparalleled Kristy Lund-White and I can't wait to have it in my hands!
April 24, 2025 at 6:02 AM
Introducing The 113th Assistant Librarian: Lost in a Book! It's being released on 30 September 2025, and pre-orders are available now! (link in bio).
The stunning artwork is by Federica Frenna and the design is by unparalleled Kristy Lund-White and I can't wait to have it in my hands!
The stunning artwork is by Federica Frenna and the design is by unparalleled Kristy Lund-White and I can't wait to have it in my hands!
Reposted by Melanie Ostell Literary
Thirty-eight of 43 experts cut last month from the boards that review the science and research that happens in laboratories at the National Institutes of Health are female, Black or Hispanic, according to an analysis by the chairs of a dozen of the boards.
Women, minorities fired in purge of NIH science review boards
Scientists, with expertise in fields that include mental health, cancer and infectious disease, typically serve five-year terms and were not given a reason for their dismissal.
www.washingtonpost.com
April 16, 2025 at 6:46 PM
Thirty-eight of 43 experts cut last month from the boards that review the science and research that happens in laboratories at the National Institutes of Health are female, Black or Hispanic, according to an analysis by the chairs of a dozen of the boards.
Reposted by Melanie Ostell Literary
Pretty cool how generative AI can be bad for the environment, put people out of work, utilize plagiarism, and be totally worthless creatively and uninteresting all at the same time.
April 13, 2025 at 4:05 AM
Pretty cool how generative AI can be bad for the environment, put people out of work, utilize plagiarism, and be totally worthless creatively and uninteresting all at the same time.
A quick reminder that our submissions window is closing on 30 April for some months. Fortify yourself with hot cross buns over Easter to get your mss to us in time, but do please follow the guidelines: melanieostell.com.au/contact
🤞
🤞
Contact – Melanie Ostell Literarytwitter-icon
melanieostell.com.au
April 13, 2025 at 3:49 AM
A quick reminder that our submissions window is closing on 30 April for some months. Fortify yourself with hot cross buns over Easter to get your mss to us in time, but do please follow the guidelines: melanieostell.com.au/contact
🤞
🤞