Book Description

More than other genres, biography defies methodology. So how do we read it? asks Evelyn Juers in a bravura essay that opens HEAT Series 3 Number 11. Her resolution – to interpret, digress, to walk on some biographical byways – leads first to Virginia Woolf, and on to Albert Einstein and his significant connection to a scientific expedition at Wallal in Western Australia in 1922. In a striking work of fiction, Sara Mesa (translated from the Spanish by Katie Whittemore), takes us into the mind of a young translator, alone in an oppressive small town, as she attempts to make sense of her surroundings. And poets Mona Kareem (translated from the Arabic by Sara Elkamel) and Suneeta Peres da Costa complete the issue with minimalist sequences that traverse beauty, pain, displacement, totems and food. Recent praise for HEAT: ‘The revival of HEAT journal has been one of the high points of the year. In the 1990s and 2000s, HEAT was the most exciting, forward-looking literary magazine in the country. After more than a decade on ice, this new series — under the editorship of Alexandra Christie — has raised the bar once again. Elegantly designed and thoughtfully curated, and including work from canonical Australian writers to emerging voices to authors in translation, the journal reminds us how crucial such organs are to the vigour and health of our literary ecosystem.’ — Geordie Williamson, The Saturday Paper’s ‘Best of 2022’ ‘So slender and elegant, nothing wasted, nothing grandiose – and beautiful work.’ — Helen Garner ‘HEAT magazine was a trailblazer from the day it was launched…[The new series is] still dedicated to publishing non-Anglophone views of the world, alternatives to the mainstream and points of view that are both thought-provoking and expressed in high literary style.’ — Openbook, NSW State Library Magazine ‘A very beautiful and stylish object…long may this new series of HEAT continue!’ — Sarah Holland-Batt ‘I welcome the return of HEAT. Readers and writers alike will revel in its daring audacity, bold exploration and innovative celebration of literature.’ — Alexis Wright