About Westerly

Westerly

Westerly (westerlymag.com.au) is Western Australia's flagship literary magazine — a biannual journal of literature and culture produced at the University of Western Australia since 1956, and one of Australia's oldest literary journals, with more than 180 issues across seven decades. Published by the Westerly Centre, it has been instrumental in the careers of many of WA's most prominent and internationally renowned writers, from Randolph Stow and Dorothy Hewett to Tim Winton and Kim Scott.

Overview

Westerly is a literary magazine of literature and culture, published biannually in print and online from Crawley, Western Australia (35 Stirling Highway, Crawley WA 6009), with the website carrying continual updates. It covers literature and culture throughout the world while maintaining the strong connection with the Asian region established at its inception. All academic work published in Westerly is peer-reviewed. The magazine is published with assistance from the State Government of Western Australia through the Department of Culture and the Arts and from the Literature Board of the Australia Council.

History

Westerly was launched at the University of Western Australia in 1956. Although the magazine has always sought to provide a Western Australian-based voice, its contributors and subject matter have never been geographically exclusive: it covers literature and culture throughout the world, and has maintained from its inception a strong connection with the Asian region — a distinctive positioning among Australian literary journals.

The journal's role as a career-maker is exceptional. It has been instrumental in the careers of many of Western Australia's most prominent and internationally renowned writers: canonical Australian writers such as Randolph Stow, Dorothy Hewett, T. A. G. Hungerford and Elizabeth Jolley; highly awarded contemporary writers including Tim Winton, Kim Scott and Sally Morgan; and important local poets like John Kinsella, Tracy Ryan, John Mateer and Lucy Dougan.

A notable chapter came in November 2000, when Salt Magazine — founded in 1990 by WA poet John Kinsella and later renamed Salt: An International Journal of Poetry and Poetics — began publishing in affiliation with Westerly: Salt appeared in the first half of the year covering European and American literature, while Westerly, published each November, covered Asian and Australian literature. Salt ceased publication around 2003.

The mid-2010s brought reinvention. In 2015 Westerly ran "Word Matters," a campaign responding in publication to the funding cuts seen in the arts in federal and state budgets — publishing poetry from two young emerging poets and seeking reader engagement through online responses (#westerlywordmatters). Around the same time it developed a more extensive online presence with a new website and social media engagement, broadening its publications to include special issues and regular online pieces. In early 2016 the magazine ran a successful crowdfunding campaign on Chuffed, exceeding its target; it has also received funding from the Copyright Agency's Cultural Fund to support an annual Writers Development Program. In 2016 Westerly released its first online special issues — the first, "Walking with the Flâneur," converting the full backfile of Westerly (1956–) to electronic text, supported by a grant from the Cultural Fund of the Copyright Agency.

With the launch of its own domain at westerlymag.com.au — after years as a subsite of the Westerly Centre, the research centre for Australian literature from which the magazine is published — Westerly made its entire back catalogue available as free PDF downloads. Editor Professor Tony Hughes-D'Aeth called it "a remarkable literary archive, a continuous record of thought, art and culture from 1956 to the present day." The new site also features ongoing digital publication: highlights from past issues, previews from the current edition, and regularly updated articles on the blog.

In June 2026 the magazine moved to a publishing schedule of two issues each year, with the website updated continually.

The archive project

The digitisation of Westerly's full backfile is one of the most significant open-access acts in Australian literary publishing. Supported by a grant from the Cultural Fund of the Copyright Agency, the project converted the complete run from 1956 to electronic text, available to readers and researchers on the magazine's website. The terms were carefully author-respecting: all creative works, articles and reviews converted to electronic format are correctly attributed and appear as published; copyright remains with the authors and the material cannot be further republished without authorial permission; and Westerly honours any request to withdraw material from electronic publication. The result — every issue from the mid-1950s to the present, searchable and downloadable — is a continuous record of Australian literary thought across decolonisation, the new nationalisms of the 1970s, the culture wars, and the digital turn. Few journals anywhere in the world offer their entire history so freely.

A Western Australian voice with an Asian outlook

Westerly's founding distinctiveness was geographic: a serious literary journal based in Perth, looking west and north as well as east. The strong connection with the Asian region established at its inception has been maintained across the decades — a reflection of Western Australia's position on the Indian Ocean rim. The editorial masthead has mirrored that outlook, with consultants from the University of Hong Kong, Kobe College in Japan and the National University of Singapore alongside Australian universities. The magazine's office at UWA stands on Whadjak Noongar land, and its pages acknowledge the Noongar people as the spiritual and cultural custodians of the land — a recognition woven into the journal's contemporary identity. Writers of the calibre of Randolph Stow, whose work defined the literature of the continent's west, found in Westerly their natural home; so did the poets and novelists who followed.

The journal's sixtieth year — Volume 60, 2015 — found it confident enough to campaign publicly for the value of words themselves. The "Word Matters" response to arts funding cuts, the Chuffed crowdfunding success, the Copyright Agency-backed Writers Development Program and the online special issues all belong to the same story: a 1956 journal learning, in its seventh decade, to be a digital publisher as well. In June 2026 it formalised that rhythm with two print issues a year and continual website updates.

Content and Positioning

Each print issue (recent volumes running to substantial page counts; a single issue retails at AU$24.95 including postage within Australia) mixes fiction, poetry, essays and reviews with writing and ideas from contributors across Australia and beyond — recent issues have featured Kent MacCarter, Paul Magee, Alison J. Barton, Denise Duhamel, Jane Frank, Rachel Robertson, Stephen Chinna, Paul Hetherington, Caitlin Maling and many more. The editorial team has included editor Catherine Noske, with editorial advisors, consultants and administrators drawn from UWA, Curtin University, Edith Cowan University and beyond, plus international consultants from the University of Hong Kong, Kobe College and the National University of Singapore.

Coverage and Audience

Westerly serves a national and international readership of literary readers, writers, academics and students — a Western Australian flagship with a global contributor base and a distinctive Asian-region focus. Its free PDF back catalogue makes seven decades of Australian literary history available to readers and researchers worldwide.

Ownership

Westerly is published by the Westerly Centre at the University of Western Australia. It receives support from the State Government of Western Australia (Department of Culture and the Arts) and the Literature Board of the Australia Council, alongside crowdfunding and Copyright Agency Cultural Fund grants. Further ownership and financial details are not publicly confirmed.

Digital Presence

The magazine maintains westerlymag.com.au with current issues, the complete back catalogue as free PDF downloads, a shop, and a blog with ongoing digital publication. Contact: westerly@uwa.edu.au.

Sources and Further Reading

• Wikipedia, "Westerly (magazine)" — history, frequency, the Salt affiliation, campaigns.
• UWA News, "Westerly Magazine launch new website" — the back catalogue, editorial significance, contributor rollcall.