Join Editor Carody Culver as she tours the animal kingdom with Griffith Review 82 contributors Laura Jean McKay, Melanie Saward and Amanda Niehaus. They’ll be chatting about why so many humans are dog people, what mysteries lie in wait for us beneath the waves, and what the birds might be trying to tell us – if we’re willing to listen.  

About Animal Magic 

Whether it’s man’s best friend or the king of the jungle, animals occupy a central place in our social, emotional and cultural lives. This edition of Griffith Review visits habitats near and far, wild and domestic. 

We visit the site of T-rex excavations, swim with turtles, spend a night at the zoo, find out about the storied history of mould, and diagnose pre-teen horse girls. 

We consider the lobster – and dodos, cockatoos, elephants, tigers and more. There’s even a lone – very loved – soft-toy rabbit tucked away in our pages. 

The cat’s out of the bag: Griffith Review 82: Animal Magic will bring the wonder of the animal world into your hands. 

Laura Jean McKay is the author of The Animals in That Country (Scribe, 2020), winner of the Arthur C Clarke Award, the Victorian Prize for Literature, the ABIA Small Publishers Adult Book of the Year and co-winner of the Aurealis Award for Best Science Fiction Novel. She is also the author of Holiday in Cambodia (Black Inc., 2013). Her latest collection is Gunflower (Scribe, 2023). 

Melanie Saward is a proud descendant of the Bigambul and Wakka Wakka peoples. She is a writer, editor and university lecturer based in Tulmur (Ipswich), Queensland. Her writing has been published in Flock, Overland, Kill Your Darlings and New Australian Fiction 2022 and 2019. Her debut novel, Burn, was published by Affirm Press earlier this year. 

Amanda Niehaus is an award-winning scientist-turned-writer and co-founder of the literary journal Science Write Now, which publishes creative writing inspired by science. Her first novel, The Breeding Season (Allen & Unwin, 2019), explores love and loss through the strange sex lives of northern quolls. 

Carody Culver is the editor of Griffith Review. She has written for publications including Kill Your Darlings, The Lifted Brow and Books+Publishing. Her chapbook, The Morgue I Think the Deader It Gets, was published by Cordite in 2022, and she’s been a featured Australian poet on the Best American Poetry blog.