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Landfall (journal)

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This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Chocmilk03 (talk | contribs) at 18:31, 16 November 2020 (Changing short description from "New Zealand's oldest extant literary magazine" to "New Zealand literary magazine" (Shortdesc helper)). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Landfall
EditorEmma Neale
Former editors
List of former editors
FrequencyBiannual
PublisherOtago University Press
FounderCharles Brasch
Founded1947
CountryNew Zealand
Based inDunedin
LanguageEnglish
Websiteotago.ac.nz/press/landfall/

Landfall is New Zealand's oldest extant literary magazine. The magazine is published biannually by the Otago University Press. As of 2020, it consists of a paperback publication of about 200 pages.[1] The website Landfall Review Online also publishes new literary reviews monthly. The magazine features new fiction and poetry, biographical and critical essays, cultural commentary, and reviews of books, art, film, drama, and dance.

Landfall was described by Peter Simpson in the Oxford Companion to New Zealand Literature (2006) as "the most important and long-lasting journal in New Zealand's literature".[2]

Background

Denis Glover, of Caxton Press, visited New Zealand poet Charles Brasch in London while on leave from naval service during World War II, and it was then the two "discussed the idea for a new, professionally produced literary journal in New Zealand".[3] Other periodicals in existence at that time were smaller and irregularly published, such as Book, edited by Anton Vogt, and also published by Caxton Press.[4]

The title Landfall was likely to have been inspired by Landfall in Unknown Seas, a poem written by Allen Curnow in 1942 and set to music by his friend Douglas Lilburn in 1944.[2] The poem records the arrival of the first Europeans in New Zealand.[5] It is one of the best-known of all New Zealand poems.[6]

History

The magazine was established in 1947 and published by Caxton Press, with Brasch as the editor-in-chief.[7] For its first 46 years (174 issues), Landfall was a quarterly of 76 pages (with some variation) with a brown paper cover, printed in two colours (and four colours from 1979 onwards).[2] 800 copies of the first issue were printed.

The Oxford Companion to Twentieth-Century Literature in English describes the magazine as being "of central importance in fostering an independent literary culture in New Zealand during the 1950s and 1960s ... Its literary articles and reviews made it the country's principal forum for critical writing and space was regularly devoted to coverage of the arts in general and current affairs".[8]

At the peak of the magazine's popularity, in the early 1960s, around 1600 copies were being printed of each issue.[2] In 1962, Brasch published Landfall Country: Work from Landfall, 1947–61, an anthology of works published in Landfall.[9] Writers and poets featured included Maurice Gee, Frank Sargeson, C.K. Stead, Ruth Dallas, Curnow, James K. Baxter and Fleur Adcock, and there were reproductions of paintings, sculptures and photographs by various New Zealand artists including Colin McCahon, Evelyn Page and others.[2]

Brasch left the magazine in 1966 and chose the young editor of magazine Mate, Robin Dudding, to succeed him.[10] Dudding's noteworthy achievements were to commission artists to illustrate short stories, and to publish issue number 100, which included a lengthy interview with Brasch.[2] In 1972, however, Dudding was dismissed by Caxton Press, reportedly for failing to deliver an issue on time. He set up a competing journal called Islands, and some of Landfall's key contributors such as Brasch, Curnow and Stead switched their allegiance to this new journal; Landfall did not recover its status as the leading literary journal of New Zealand until the editorship of David Dowling in the early 1980s.[2]

In 1993, the Otago University Press took over publication of the magazine, and from issue 185 onwards the publishing frequency decreased from quarterly to biannually.[2]

In 1997, to celebrate the magazine's 50th anniversary, the Landfall Essay Competition was held. In 2009 the competition was made an annual one and it is judged each year by the current editor.[11]

Since March 2011, the website Landfall Review Online has supplemented the printed magazine, with six to eight book reviews published on a monthly basis.[12]

Editors

  • Charles Brasch (1947–1966, issues 1 to 80)[2]
  • Robin Dudding (1966–1972, issues 81 to 101)[10]
  • Leo Bensemann (1971–1975, issues 102 to 115)[2]
  • Peter Smart (1975–1981, issues 116 to 140)[2]
  • David Dowling (1982–1986, issues 140 to 159)[2]
  • Edited by a board with rotating members (1986–1992, issues 160 to 174)[2]
  • Chris Price (1993–2000, issue 175 to 200)[2][13]
  • Justin Paton (2000–2005, issues 200 to 209)[13]
  • Guest editors (2005–2010, issues 210 to 217)
  • David Eggleton (2010–2017, issues 218 to 234)[14]
  • Emma Neale (2017–present, issues 235 onwards)[15][16]

See also

References

  1. ^ "Landfall 239: Autumn 2020". Otago University Press. Retrieved 16 November 2020.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Simpson, Peter (2006). "Landfall". In Robinson, Roger; Wattie, Nelson (eds.). The Oxford Companion to New Zealand Literature. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/acref/9780195583489.001.0001. ISBN 978-0-1917-3519-6. OCLC 865265749. Retrieved 16 November 2020.
  3. ^ "Caxton Press: The Art of Ordered Plainness: Case 11". Reed Gallery. Dunedin Public Libraries. Retrieved 13 August 2015.
  4. ^ Schrader, Ben. "Art and literary magazines, 1930 to 1950". Te Ara: The Encyclopaedia of New Zealand. Ministry for Culture and Heritage. Retrieved 13 August 2015.
  5. ^ Holford, Josie (30 June 2017). "Landfall in Unknown Seas". Rattlebag and Rhubarb. Retrieved 16 November 2020.
  6. ^ Simpson, Peter (2006). "'Landfall in Unknown Seas'". In Robinson, Roger; Wattie, Nelson (eds.). The Oxford Companion to New Zealand Literature. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/acref/9780195583489.001.0001. ISBN 978-0-1917-3519-6. OCLC 865265749. Retrieved 16 November 2020.
  7. ^ Eugene Benson; L.W. Conolly (30 November 2004). Encyclopedia of Post-Colonial Literatures in English. Routledge. p. 902. ISBN 978-1-134-46848-5. Retrieved 31 October 2015.
  8. ^ Stringer, Jenny, ed. (2005). "Landfall". The Oxford Companion to Twentieth-Century Literature in English. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-1917-2757-3. Retrieved 16 November 2020.
  9. ^ Brasch, Charles, ed. (1962). Landfall Country: Works from Landfall, 1947–61. Christchurch, New Zealand: Caxton Press.
  10. ^ a b McWilliams, Tom (17 May 2008). "Above all, delight". New Zealand Listener. Archived from the original on 23 February 2018.
  11. ^ "Otago University Press: Landfall Essay Competition". University of Otago: Te Whare Wananga o Otago. Retrieved 16 November 2020.
  12. ^ "About". Landfall Review Online. Retrieved 16 November 2020.
  13. ^ a b "Landfall editor to change". Scoop Independent News. 8 March 2000. Retrieved 16 November 2020.
  14. ^ "Eggleton, David". New Zealand Book Council. Archived from the original on 14 January 2015. Retrieved 7 January 2015.
  15. ^ "New editor appointed for Landfall journal". University of Otago. Retrieved 3 November 2017.
  16. ^ "Current issue". Landfall. Otago University Press. Retrieved 5 November 2016.
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