New publisher Vitagraph launches literary journal

New independent publishing house Vitagraph Publishing has launched Written Off, a new literary journal dedicated to Australian literature.

Vitagraph said Written Off will highlight the work of writers with broad artistic sensibilities, showcasing a spectrum of writers from emerging talents to established voices. Contributors to the first edition include Max Easton, Roanna Gonsalves, Gretchen Shirm and Mary Rachel Brown. The journal is published both in print and online.

Founding director Augusta Supple said, ‘Australian writers have a literary tradition of innovation, of playful, ambitious daring’. ‘It is this energy which has led to the establishment of Vitagraph Publishing,’ Supple continued. ‘During the pandemic, people rediscovered their love of reading—returning to classics and seeking out new voices and horizons. Vitagraph Publishing has identified an opportunity to provide an avenue for adventurous readers to discover the best of Australia’s local talent through Written Off.’

Vitagraph added that Written Off emerged in response to ‘the critical challenges facing the Australian literary community’, as discussed in a recent Creative Australia report on literary journals in Australia, which Vitagraph noted ‘highlighted a scarcity of publication opportunities in Sydney, including chronic funding shortfalls, precarious employment for writers and artists, and the need for opportunities and platforms to support emerging and established writers’.

Vitagraph is a not-for-profit publisher founded in Sydney last year. The publisher stated its commitment to ‘providing equitable compensation for all writers’ and to ‘fostering gender equity and diversity within Australian literature’, ensuring that at least half of the authors published are women. Its core activities will comprise a publishing imprint, literary events and Written Off.

Its founding directors are Western Sydney University professor Anthony Uhlmann; writer, producer and festival director Augusta Supple; academic and writer Benjamin D Muir; and author and business development professional Bill Dunbar.

An event celebrating the launch of Written Off will be held at the University of Sydney’s Chau Chak Wing Museum on 30 April. More information about Vitagraph and Written Off is available on the publisher’s website.

Category: Local news