Join journalist Jasper Lindell (The Canberra Times) and Meanjin Editor Esther Anatolitis for a 'salon-style' discussion event marking the release of both Meanjin's Summer 2024 edition and the special Meanjin publication Essays That Changed Australia.

Jasper Lindell is a reporter on The Canberra Times, covering ACT politics and government. He also writes for the paper about heritage, local history, books and the arts.

Esther Anatolitis is one of Australia’s most influential advocates for arts and culture. With two decades in creative and media leadership, she is a highly respected champion of artists’ voices, with extensive literary sector experience: she is a former CEO of Express Media and publisher of Voiceworks, an Emerging Writers’ Festival founder, a Small Press Network founding partner, and a former Melbourne Writers Festival programming committee member. Working across multiple languages, she has edited a diverse range of print and online publications. Esther has curated talks programs, honoured many a PEN empty chair, and mentored zine makers, independent publishers and literary festival directors. A prolific writer and commentator, Esther is one of the nation’s most published arts leaders.

About Essays that Changed Australia - A curated collection of essays that shaped Australia's culture and society Since the 1940s, Meanjin essays have set the national cultural agenda. Arthur Phillips' idea of 'cultural cringe' has become a household word, instantly conveying Australians' sense of place in the world while expressing our frustrations and our ambitions - yet very few of us know it came from an essay first published in Meanjin. Over half a century later, Chelsea Watego's 2021 'Always bet on Black (power)' roars with the fire of a manifesto; Hilary Charlesworth's 1992 'A law of one's own?' challenges Australia's legal system with a formidable feminist ethic; Tim Rowse's 1978 'Heaven and a Hills Hoist' passionately defends suburbia; David Yencken's 1988 'Creative City' sparks a global urban planning movement with artists at the centre. This anthology brings togethers twenty impactful Meanjin essays for the first time. 

Copies of Meanjin and Essays That Changed Australia will be on sale. 

Parking outside the National Library of Australia is free on Saturdays. Bookplate is open serving coffee, wine and snacks.