'The self is not fixed, but reflects and refracts, appearing in innumerable variations,' writes Isabella Trimboli, in her essay on diaries and the writers who keep them that opens the new HEAT. Four short stories follow, each, in their own way, concerned with the construction of the self. In Ellena Savage's piercing satire 'Bare Life', a woman muses on the duelling forces of body and mind at the nexus of capitalism, sex and philosophy. Kat Capel's 'Sightseeing' follows a man with unsettling obsessions as he travels from Melbourne to Guangzhou, searching for human connection. Danish author Harald Voetmann (trans. Johanne Sorgenfri Ottosen) peers into childhood fixations in 'Common Room Rocking Horse'. And the narrator in Lin Bai's 'The Light in the Mirror' (trans. Nicky Harman) recalls queer dreams and desires of a girlhood spent in rural China.
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
