The Association for the Study of Australian Literature (ASAL) is an Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

n organisation which promotes the creation and study of Australian literature

Australian literature

Australian literature is the written or literary work produced in the area or by the people of the Commonwealth of Australia and its preceding colonies. During its early western history, Australia was a collection of British colonies, therefore, its literary tradition begins with and is linked to...

 and literary culture especially through the interaction of Australian writers with teachers and students. It administers several awards, holds a yearly conference, publishes a newsletter and journal, and has sponsored several publications.

The Australian Literature Society, which had been formed in Melbourne in 1899, merged into ASAL which, since 1982, has administered the http://asaliterature.com/?page_id=9ALS Gold Medal

ALS Gold Medal

The Australian Literature Society Gold Medal is awarded annually by the Association for the Study of Australian Literature for “an outstanding literary work in the preceding calendar year.” From 1928 to 1974 it was awarded by the Australian Literature Society, then from 1983 by the Association for...

]. ASAL also administers:

• the Mary Gilmore Award;
• the A.D. Hope Prize, awarded annually for the best paper delivered by a postgraduate student to the ASAL annual conference;
• the Walter McRae Russell Award for the best book of literary scholarship on an Australian subject published in the preceding two calendar years; before 1994, it was awarded to a young or unestablished author for an outstanding work of literary scholarship;
• the Magarey Medal for biography, a biennial prize for the best published biographical writing by a female author on an Australian subject in the preceding two years;
• the A.A. Phillips Award, an occasional award for a work or the work of an author which the ASAL executive considers an outstanding contribution to Australian literature or literary studies.

ASAL maintains a directory of postgraduate research.

History

ASAL held its inaugural conference at Monash University

Monash University

Monash University is a public university based in Melbourne, Victoria. It was founded in 1958 and is the second oldest university in the state. Monash is a member of Australia's Group of Eight and the ASAIHL....

 in May 1978 when it adopted its constitution and appointed A.D. Hope and Judith Wright

Judith Wright

Judith Arundell Wright was an Australian poet, environmentalist and campaigner for Aboriginal land rights.-Biography:...

 as patrons.

Life members

It has conferred life membership upon Clem Christesen

Clem Christesen

Clement Byrne Christesen was the founder of the Australian literary magazine, Meanjin. He served as the magazine's editor from 1940 until 1974.-Early years:...

, Mary Lord

Mary Lord

Mary Lord may refer to:*Mary Dimmick Harrison, born Mary Scott Lord, wife of U.S. president Benjamin Harrison*Mary Lord for U.S. News and World Report...

, Judith Wright

Judith Wright

Judith Arundell Wright was an Australian poet, environmentalist and campaigner for Aboriginal land rights.-Biography:...

, Thea Astley

Thea Astley

Thea Astley was an Australian novelist and short story writer. She was a prolific writer who was published for over 40 years from 1958. At the time of her death, she had won more Miles Franklin Awards, Australia's major literary award, than any other writer...

, Peter Cowan

Peter Cowan

Peter Cowan may refer to:* Peter Cowan * Peter Ernest Cowan, better known as Ernest Cowan, politician* Peter Cowan, better known as Pete Cowan, English golf coach...

, Rosemary Dobson

Rosemary Dobson

Rosemary de Brissac Dobson AO is an award winning Australian poet, who is also significant as an illustrator, editor and anthologist...

, Gwen Harwood

Gwen Harwood

Gwen Harwood AO , née Gwendoline Nessie Foster, was an Australian poet and librettist. Gwen Harwood is regarded as one of Australia's finest poets, publishing over 420 works, including 386 poems and 13 librettos. She won numerous poetry awards and prizes...

, Eric Irvin, Ken Stewart

Ken Stewart

Ken Stewart is a politician from British Columbia, Canada. Stewart won the riding of Maple Ridge-Pitt Meadows in the British Columbia general election, 2001....

, Julian Croft

Julian Croft

Julian Croft is an Australian poet and Emeritus Professor of English, University of New England. He was a founder of the Association for the Study of Australian Literature and co-edited its journal, Notes and Furphies for many years. In addition to gathering prizes for his published poems, he is...

 and Ian McLaren.

Publications

From October 1978 until October 2000, ASAL published 43 issues of a bulletin, Notes and Furphies. The bulletin was merged with ASAL's publication of conference proceedings to form the Journal of the Association for the Study of Australian Literature .

ASAL initiated the ASAL Literary Studies Series of specialist monographs on Australian writing:

• Paul Genoni, Subverting the Empire: Explorers and Exploration in Australian Fiction (2004)
• Anne Pender, Christina Stead: Satirist (2002)
• Susan Lever, Real Relations: The Feminist Politics of Form in Australian Fiction (2000)
• Alison Bartlett, Jamming the Machinery: Contemporary Australian Women’s Writing (1998)
• Leigh Dale, The English Men: Professing Literature in Australian Universities (1997)
• David Carter, A Career in Writing: Judah Waten and the Cultural Cringe (1997)

Included in the important publications ASAL has sponsored are:

• The Oxford Literary Guide to Australia (1987, revised 1993)
• the Penguin New Literary History of Australia (1988) and
• the Macquarie Dictionary of Australian Quotations (1990).

External links

• Association for the Study of Australian Literature