Fry, Tu appointed Age/SMH emerging book critics
Book critics Declan Fry and Jessie Tu have been appointed to write for Nine’s newspapers, replacing Jack Callil and Bec Kavanagh, who resigned from the Copyright Agency/Judith Neilson Institute-funded emerging critics initiative citing a lack of diversity of applicants selected from the program.
Fry, originally from Kalgoorlie and a descendent of the Yorta Yorta people, received first-class honours in English and Cultural Studies/Asian Studies at the University of Western Australia and also has a Juris Doctor law degree from the University of Melbourne. Fry’s critical writing and essays have been published in Meanjin, Australian Book Review, Sydney Review of Books and Overland.
Sydney-based Tu is a journalist and books editor for the Women’s Agenda news site. She has been published in the LA Review of Books and the Guardian, and this year Allen & Unwin published her debut novel A Lonely Girl is a Dangerous Thing.
Following Callil and Kavanagh’s resignation, the Age/SMH reopened applications for the emerging book critic roles, and received nearly 40 applications. Fry and Tu were chosen following a ‘rigorous’ selection and interview process by the publication’s books editor Jason Steger, SMH Spectrum editor Shona Martyn, and authors Melissa Lucaschenko and Maxine Beneba Clarke.
‘We reviewed our recruitment process and made a concerted effort to get the call for applicants out to a broader audience, which resulted in a very strong and diverse field of candidates,’ said the Age/SMH Life editor Monique Farmer.
Fry said, ‘We live in a continent with a rich tradition of story. Many of these are still being told, and deserve to be widely heard. It’s always an act of love to see words put to paper and shared with the world. Particularly during a time when many of us cannot see each other—and hope to be together with our families and communities—and it’s that kind of love which can help us to feel less alone.
‘This appointment would mean nothing without those who have paved the way, our ancestors, Elders, family, mentors, and teachers. They are the original critics and we owe them so much. I can’t wait to get started.’
Tu said, ‘This country’s literary landscape is overwhelmingly white. The publishers are mostly white, the writers mostly white. This means that only a very particular and narrow cohort of society are getting to curate the shape of our national identity.
‘It’s time we begin to face up to the ways in which we perpetuate unconscious bias and racism through the stories we consume. The role of the critic is vital to a nation’s sense of self and its unique lens. We need more lacerating, impenitent perspectives on our homogeneous literary environment, and I hope to precipitate critical cultural and political discussions with my writing.’
Category: Local news
