Going Down Swinging #40 Launch

Join us for a very special anniversary party as we celebrate forty years of wild words.

This year, we're saying cheers to four decades of writing with a bumper print edition and a special bash at Brunswick Mechanics Institute on Saturday November 16. Come and grab a copy of our shiny new book and catch performances by talented writers TBA.

See the artworks on display, grab a glass of wine and meet some of the writers who’ve helped shape this milestone edition. We’ll be toasting to our history, our readers, our contributors and our team.

Going Down Swinging #40 is both a retrospective celebration of all we've published and a look forward into the future of storytelling. The book is crammed with words, comics, art and spoken word, some new, some from our favourite back issues.

Edited by Magenta Sheridan and Renata Carli and designed by Carolyn Ang, #40 is a perfect storm of writing from the likes of Winnie Dunn, Julie Koh, Eloise Grills, Ellen Van Neerven, Tony Birch, Eleanor Jackson, Fury, Bella Li and a whole blast more, plus illustrations by Maeve Baker.

True to our name, we've been packing punches since 1979. When poets Kevin Brophy and Myron Lysenko released the typewritten, stapled-together Going Down Swinging #1, they started something mighty. The cover featured Ned Kelly in a boxing stance, fists up, ready to swing. That spirit of cheek and defiance would imbue what we published for the next forty years.

We're proud to still be knocking about in 2019, doing what we do best—sharing our favourite stories with hungry readers. And while we're not yet down, we're still swinging.

This event is Auslan interpreted. Brunswick Mechanics Institute is a wheelchair accessible venue with an accessible bathroom. Accessible entry to the building is via the front door, which has a ramp to its left (if viewing from Sydney Road). This is the main entrance and exit to the building for all patrons.

If you have particular access requirements, let us know. We want you there.