CQ and its writers feature in new collection
Published on 19 June, 2007
Denis CryleCentral Queensland and its diverse strains of writing over more than a century have been featured in a recent University of Queensland Press collection, By the Book, A Literary History of Queensland edited by Associate Professor Pat Buckridge and Dr Belinda McKay.
The collection represents the most recent and comprehensive attempt to document the importance of writers and writing across Queensland and its regions.
Professor Denis Cryle, from Central Queensland University's School of Arts and Creative Enterprise, contributed a chapter ‘(Re) Writing Traditions' on Central Queensland. His survey confirms that the ethos of the Bulletin and a preoccupation with country life and labour have been resilient ones throughout much of the 20th century.
"My interest in regional writing derived from long-standing research on the Queensland press, because its colonial newspapers published local verse and ballads as well as news," explained Professor Cryle.
The front cover of By the Book, A Literary History of Queensland "I undertook the project as part of a National Research Grant with colleagues throughout the State and especially with interested academics at Griffith University.
"I was struck on closer examination at the continuing vitality and abundance of regional writing, including both short stories and verse. My survey includes examples of station literature and early women writers, political verse and war writing. In the post war-period, these genres continue alongside new and emerging strains like Aboriginal and Islander work and environmental themes."
"Since its inception, CQU has been closely affiliated with regional writing through the involvement of Rob Hay, a noted poet, as well as senior academics like Associate Professor Wally Woods and the late Professor David Myers. This involvement is likely to intensify with a recent senior appointment to the newly established Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Education which aims to feature creative enterprise across a range of arts, including the electronic media."
"The Faculty is looking to capitalise on this tradition of regional collaboration between academics and writers in order to feature current work and past performance. Reviving the tradition of literary symposia which were a feature of the former Capricornia Institute from the 1960s will be one of our priorities as a commitment to regional residents," Professor Cryle said.