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All work, no play: The cruel reality of being an Australian writer

Jane Sullivan Books columnist and reviewer October 3, 2025 — 6.00pm Advertisement

Writers in Australia have always had a precarious career path. But lately, it seems even those things you have can be swept away.

You’ve found a publisher, but then they merge with a bigger publisher, and where are you in the new pecking order? You can submit to a prestigious literary journal, or apply for a grant or a prize, but then they disappear. You’ve won a prize, or a teaching gig, or a place on a writers’ festival panel, and then it’s all upended when controversy breaks out.

All these things have happened to writers in the last few months. The reasons vary. Sometimes it’s just a case of

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