Draft:Ausnaissance

Ausnaissance (also informally called the '''New Oz Cunts''') is a tendency in contemporary Australian literature associated with a cohort of mainly Australian writers who have criticised the country's literary institutions and realist traditions while publishing fiction, criticism and poetry through small presses, podcasts and online platforms.<ref name="KYDMailers">{{cite web |last=Starford |first=Rebecca |title=Shed a Tear for the Norman Mailers |url=https://www.killyourdarlings.com.au/article/shed-a-tear-for-the-norman-mailers/ |website=Kill Your Darlings |date=4 June 2026 |access-date=20 July 2026}}</ref> The terms have appeared in online commentary and podcast descriptions in the mid‑2020s to label a group of writers and their interventions in debates about "moral hygiene" and originality in Australian literature.<ref name="NewMythologies">{{cite web |last=Power |first=Nina |title=How Writers Lost Their Nerve |url=https://newmythologies.substack.com/p/how-writers-lost-their-nerve |website=New Mythologies |date=14 July 2026 |access-date=20 July 2026}}</ref><ref name="WalterAustralia">{{cite web |last=Walter |first=Russell |title=AUSTRALIA w/The New Oz Cunts |url=https://russellwalter.substack.com/p/australia-wthe-new-oz-cunts |website=Substack |date=29 May 2026 |access-date=20 July 2026}}</ref>

== Background ==

In "Here's piety in your eye", published in ''The Monthly'' in April 2026, journalist [[Martin McKenzie-Murray]] described Australia's "mediocre literary culture" as being "more concerned with 'moral hygiene' than risking originality", arguing that contemporary institutions reward displays of moral virtue over artistic risk-taking and using [[Norman Mailer]] as a counter-example.<ref name="MonthlyPiety" /><ref name="MailerSociety">{{cite web |title=Piety vs. Artistry |url=https://normanmailersociety.org/news/2026/04/mailer-piety-mckenzie-murray/ |website=Norman Mailer Society |date=30 April 2026 |access-date=20 July 2026}}</ref> McKenzie-Murray's article referred to and endorsed an earlier essay titled "Australia – A Heartbreaking Mineral Resource Extraction Project of Staggering Muntedness", written by Justin Isis and published on the Neo-Decadent newsletter ''Neo-Passéism'' in December 2025.<ref name="MonthlyPiety" /><ref name="NeoPasseismAustralia">{{cite web |last=Isis |first=Justin |title=Australia – A Heartbreaking Mineral Resource Extraction Project of Staggering Muntedness |url=https://neopasseism.substack.com/p/australia |website=Neo-Passéism |date=4 December 2025 |access-date=20 July 2026}}</ref>

Isis's "Australia" essay assembled and framed contributions from several writers to offer a polemical survey of Australian literature and culture.<ref name="NeoPasseismAustralia" /> The essay criticised what contributor Matthew Sini called "hegemonic realism" in Australian fiction and argued that even genres such as crime and science fiction often function as policy-like allegories about Indigenous land rights or climate change rather than as formally inventive narratives.<ref name="NeoPasseismAustralia" /> Other contributors, including Liam Blackford and Ivan Niccolai, wrote about Western Australia's "material abundance and spiritual poverty", the enduring cultural presence of [[Ned Kelly]], and the neglect of writers such as Gerald Murnane and science fiction author Greg Egan.<ref name="NeoPasseismAustralia" />

The labels "Ausnaissance" and "New Oz Cunts" have been applied to the cohort of writers around Isis's essay and McKenzie-Murray's article, particularly in Substack commentary that treats their interventions as a distinct moment in Australian literary criticism in the mid‑2020s.<ref name="NewMythologies" /><ref name="WalterAustralia" /><ref name="DuncanOutOfControl">{{cite web |last=Duncan |first=Shona |title=Out of Control |url=https://mickmarlowe.substack.com/p/out-of-control |website=Duncan's Substack |date=18 June 2026 |access-date=20 July 2026}}</ref>

== Associated writers and works ==

Several writers have been associated with the Ausnaissance tendency through their participation in Isis's "Australia" essay, subsequent podcasts, and small-press publications.<ref name="NeoPasseismAustralia" /><ref name="WalterAustralia" /> Among them is Ivan Niccolai, who has self-published a book titled ''Like you have a choice'' (2024); a review on the blog ''The Dark Forest'' described the book as "arriv[ing] already vibrating with that dangerous mix of bitterness and wit".<ref name="DarkForestReview">{{cite web |title=Ivan Niccolai's Debut |url=https://socialecologies.wordpress.com/category/mennipean-satire/ |website=The Dark Forest |date=9 September 2025 |access-date=20 July 2026}}</ref>

[[Bonfire Books]], an independent publisher founded in Victoria in 2019, has published works by authors linked to these debates.<ref name="BonfireAbout">{{cite web |title=About Us |url=https://bonfirebooks.org/about-us/ |website=Bonfire Books |access-date=20 July 2026}}</ref><ref name="BonfireProfile">{{cite web |title=Bonfire Books Book Publisher Profile |url=https://publishersarchive.com/publisher/12198 |website=Publishers Archive |access-date=20 July 2026}}</ref> Jack Norman's short story collection ''Sleep Capricorn'' (2025) was issued by Bonfire Books and is listed in the National Library of Australia's catalogue.<ref name="SleepCapricornBonfire">{{cite web |title=Sleep Capricorn by Jack Norman |url=https://bonfirebooks.org/sleep-capricorn-by-jack-norman/ |website=Bonfire Books |access-date=20 July 2026}}</ref><ref name="SleepCapricornNLA">{{cite web |title=Sleep capricorn / stories, Jack Norman |url=https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/catalog/10175380 |website=National Library of Australia |access-date=20 July 2026}}</ref> Bonfire is also scheduled to publish Audience Capture by Jack Cuthbertson, a prominent personality within the Ausnaissance who publishes conversations with a number of writers associated with the movement through his podcast The Book Club From Hell/Heaven. https://bonfirebooks.org/product/audience-capture-by-jack-cuthbertson-pre-order/

Bonfire's editor Lucas Smith has written fiction and essays about Gippsland and regional Victoria, discussed in his section of Isis's "Australia" essay as examples of non-metropolitan settings overlooked by mainstream Australian literature.<ref name="NeoPasseismAustralia" /><ref name="BonfireFanning">{{cite web |title=Fanning the Flames · Issue #10 |url=https://bonfirebooks.org/fanning-the-flames-%C2%B7-issue-10/ |website=Bonfire Books |date=30 October 2022 |access-date=20 July 2026}}</ref> Lucas Smith has also been identified in the Wall Street Journal as a ‘courageous outsider who eschews easy assimilation into Australia’s literary milieu,’ due to his depictions of Melbourne’ Covid lockdowns in his debut short story collection Spare Us Yet (Wiseblood Books, 2025). https://www.wsj.com/opinion/what-art-does-covid-and-the-2020-riots-justice-c19365de

Poet and novelist Liam Blackford has been linked to the Ausnaissance through both his contribution to Isis's essay and his forthcoming novel ''The Stud'', announced by the publisher Verdurin for release in late 2026.<ref name="NeoPasseismAustralia" /><ref name="VerdurinStud">{{cite web |title=Verdurin announcement (The Stud) |url=https://www.instagram.com/p/DYg1ZvpoiQ8/ |website=Instagram |date=21 May 2026 |access-date=20 July 2026}}</ref> Promotional material and podcast discussions describe ''The Stud'' as a near-future satirical novel set in a hypernatal Republic of Western Australia, where four professional women collectively hire a man to father and help raise their children.<ref name="VerdurinStud" /><ref name="BCFHStud">{{cite web |title=The Stud w/ Liam Blackford |url=https://bookclubfromhell.substack.com/p/the-stud-w-liam-blackford |website=Book Club From Hell |date=21 April 2026 |access-date=20 July 2026}}</ref><ref name="BCFHSpotify">{{cite web |title=The Stud w/ Liam Blackford (podcast episode) |url=https://open.spotify.com/episode/4cIiGAZWnhw3IOKIuHWW6X |website=Spotify |date=12 April 2026 |access-date=20 July 2026}}</ref>

Writer Lewis Woolston has published three collections of short fiction, The Last Free Man, The Everlasting and Remembering The Dead, all with Truth Serum Press. Lewis’ work is characterised by what he calls ‘lo-fi prose’, and often deals with people and places remote from the alleged cultural centres of Australia’s large cities. The Last Free Man is believed to be the first extended treatment of Australia’s Nullarbor region in fiction.

Poet and cultural critic Felix McNamara published the poetry book Atrocities reflecting on the "liberal Death of God" in late August of 2026 with Hyperidean Press (refers to sources 1, 2, 3, 4). McNamara is also an editor of the Australian art and architecture publication Memo (refers to source 5).

== Reception ==

The arguments advanced by McKenzie-Murray and Isis prompted responses in mainstream Australian literary media. In "Shed a Tear for the Norman Mailers", Kill Your Darlings CEO [[Rebecca Starford]] explicitly addressed "Here's piety in your eye" and the bloggers cited therein.<ref name="KYDMailers" /> Starford criticised what she characterised as a tendency to blame "tyrannical arts administrators" and unnamed "gatekeepers" for perceived mediocrity in Australian fiction, and argued that some of the complaints amounted to scapegoating women working in publishing.<ref name="KYDMailers" /> She wrote that "it will be unsurprising to learn that some of these bloggers (and it must be said they are mostly young white men)" and quoted podcast remarks describing women in arts administration as "kindergarten teachers of the soul" and "glorified HR ladies".<ref name="KYDMailers" />

McKenzie-Murray responded in a Substack post titled "Guilty!", arguing that the Kill Your Darlings article misrepresented his broader body of work and disputing the accusation of misogyny.<ref name="Guilty">{{cite web |last=McKenzie-Murray |first=Martin |title=Guilty! |url=https://martinmckenziemurray.substack.com/p/guilty |website=Rickenslacker |date=9 June 2026 |access-date=20 July 2026}}</ref> In "Out of Control", Duncan discussed the ''Neo-Passéism'' writers at length, criticising their reliance on vague references to "gatekeepers" while defending the legitimacy of some complaints about Australian publishing and questioning the rhetorical use of their demographics.<ref name="DuncanOutOfControl" /> The Norman Mailer Society's note "Piety vs. Artistry" summarised McKenzie-Murray's Monthly article as using Mailer "as a battering ram against the sanctimony of Australian literary culture", reflecting external interest in these debates.<ref name="MailerSociety" />

As of the mid‑2020s, ''The Monthly'' and Kill Your Darlings provide the principal secondary coverage of the Ausnaissance debates, framing them as part of a broader discussion of risk, readership and moral expectations in Australian literature.<ref name="MonthlyPiety" /><ref name="KYDMailers" />

In August 2026 the Ausnaissance held their first live event in Melbourne, featuring readings from most of the principal figures.

References

1) https://www.hyperideanpress.com/shop/p/atrocities-by-felix-mcnamara

2) https://substack.com/@neopasseism/p-208432069

3) https://substack.com/home/post/p-212600262?selection=04357897-6b66-4f17-ae69-0ca1887e951d#:~:text=Remember%20the%2020th%20century%3F%20That%20was%20102%20years%20long%3A%20%2F%201914%2C%20to%202016

4) https://open.spotify.com/episode/6AOoyish4Ag9d1435SxUIx

5) https://www.memoreview.net/about