I don’t wish to exist in a literary community that relies on a whisper network to warn others. Many have fallen through the cracks. If we all have more courage, more accountability, there won’t be a need for a whisper network. There will be more safe spaces, a safe community.

An inclusive community, that comes together. Not us versus them. A community where toxic behaviour won’t be accepted, will be called out, will not be allowed to prey on vulnerable members of this community. We need to take better care of one another.

I don’t have all the answers. No one person will. But I really think this is something the Australian literary community can do together. I think it must. We need this, going forward. We need to make everyone safe, so we can all thrive. Not just the bullies. Not just the strong.

I think leadership orgs in AustLit can make this happen. Please, tag them below. Get them to read this. Get them to commit to positive change. Inclusion matters. Diversity matters. Equity matters. This will make Australian literature stronger, more reflective of its people.

Remember the true, warning words of Gwendolyn Brooks:

‘We are each other’s
business;
we are each other’s
harvest;
we are each other’s
magnitude and bond.’

We reap what we sow. We can share what we all grow.

I call on members of the Australian literary community to stand with us. I call on you, if you care about our community, about what it represents—your livelihood, your meaning-making, your reason for living. I call on you, whatever your identity, power, allegiances. I call on you

I call on you, poets, truth-tellers, writers, I call on you, those who love words, I call on you, those who guard these words & shepherd them out into the world so they may light the way for others. I call on you to protect the ones who make these words. I call on you. Stand up.

. @AusCouncilArts @CopyrightAgency @writingNSW @Writers_Vic @nlagovau @statelibrarynsw @Library_Vic @AusPoetry @ASAustLit @wheelercentre @AALITRA @FNAWN_ @Asialink_au @VarunaWriters @smallpressau https://twitter.com/nitv/status/1278614389944225795

Literary festivals: how many times have you invited someone, only to have others contact you to tell you quietly, in fear, that they are not safe? How many times have others been hurt by toxic people who are given a platform by your event? How many readers read them, unaware?

I call you, literary festivals, to examine your commitment to diversity, inclusion, equity. I call on you to ensure these festivals for writers & readers are safe spaces for our reading & writing community. I call on you to step up, to acknowledge you have this responsibility.

. @SydWritersFest @MelbWritersFest @adelwritersweek @BrisWritersFest @bbwritersfest @qldpoetry @EmergingWriters @newwritersfest @MilduraWriters
I call on you to undertake this commitment of diversity, inclusion, equity, SAFETY, to the community you serve, benefit from, exist for.

To be clear: this is not about cancel culture. This is about stopping toxic behaviour in our industry & community BEFORE anyone even needs to be cancelled. If as a community, we do not tolerate toxic behaviour, much less reward it, people will be held to higher standards of care.

If a space is not safe for one part of a community, it is not a safe space for the entire community. If our industry & communication is safe for all, imagine the words that will come forth, from those who might have been talked over, silenced, left. Imagine what we could create.

I call on everyone to stand for this. I really believe this is possible for Australian literature. It will not happen overnight, but it has to start somewhere. & it starts with speaking our truth. It starts with listening. It starts with public accountability. It starts with you.

Please amplify this thread. Please don’t let my words be buried, scrolled past, forgotten. Our community needs to step up & commit to change. We can’t look away any longer. Make them see, hear, act. Thank you for your support.

‘We are the music makers,
And we are the dreamers of dreams,
Wandering by lone sea-breakers,
And sitting by desolate streams; —
World-losers and world-forsakers,
On whom the pale moon gleams:
Yet we are the movers and shakers
Of the world for ever, it seems.’ AO’S