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Creative Writing: Form, meaning and language

Axon: Creative Explorations Vol 16 no 1 June 2026

June 18, 2026

Creative writing, as a form of artistic expression, is inherently multifaceted, rooted in language yet transcending it to explore the emotional, philosophical, and cultural dimensions of human experience. This thematic issue, Creative Writing: Form, meaning, and language, brings together a diverse range of studies that examine how language shapes both the form and meaning of literary works. These contributions explore the dynamic relationship between structure and interpretation, drawing from an array of linguistic and cultural perspectives to reflect on how writers use language to create meaning and how readers interpret that meaning through the lens of their own cultural contexts.

Art and Conflict

Axon: Creative Explorations Vol 15 No 3 November 2025

November 21, 2025

The Art and Conflict Special Issue edited by members of Hunar Symposia arises from an approach to art and art-making as sites of witnessing, and as scenes for the making of communities to bear witness. Art made in relation to conflict makes a claim upon its witnesses and audiences: ‘this happened’, ‘this is the effect’, ‘this is what it was like’, or ‘this is what could be’. These mixed tenses of witnessing link together what Grabska and Horst (2022), in a special section on art for Conflict and Society, characterise as the capacity of art to generate alternative ‘ways of knowing’ with the potential for art to create or disrupt visions of the future. It is this potential which led to the existence of Hunar Symposia, and its inaugural activities in 2022.

After Ania

Axon: Creative Explorations Vol 15 No 2 August 2025

August 23, 2025

In what will surely be the long trail of her wake, of what comes after Ania [Walwicz], what she opened up and made possible, we glimpse the beginning of her legacy, both individual and cultural, as a teacher, certainly, as an intellectual also, but most of all as a writer. Wakes only widen into clear visibility as the distance from the movement producing them increases, and no doubt the after-effects of Ania’s considerable body of work will continue to make themselves felt over time, and not only in the form of writing. A performer as well as a writer, Ania liked to take on roles, to act out in other guises, costumed as a man, or as a bear, she would try things out as she visited friends and these everyday performances, personal and designed for the particular friend, would often work their way into public pieces or the image she created would then materialise in writing.

Connections: Between Creative Writing, Place & History

Axon: Creative Explorations Vol 15 No 1 July 2025

August 4, 2025

There are many pithy and fascinating interconnections between works of creative writing, place and history, some of them more obvious than others. In this bumper issue of Axon: Creative Explorations various contributors consider diverse aspects of these interrelationships, and, in many cases, they demonstrate that history is inscribed in the places that creative works address. Indeed, a sense of place and its historical records often constitute aspects of the same set of understandings, because history occurs in specific locations and any idea of a particular place is inflected by the narratives and mythologies attached to that place, and the assumptions that attend on reading about such matters.

We Need to Talk

Axon: Creative Explorations Vol 14 No 2 March 2025

March 29, 2025

There is a well-established line of thought, among writers and editors, that our work should contribute to healthier communities and equitable politics; should offer alternative ways of seeing the world; and provide readers with tools for thought and for social engagement. This issue of Axon includes scholarly and creative works that take up various wicked problems, and provide ways of seeing and talking about their forms and impacts.

Translate | Transform | Transdiscipline

Axon: Creative Explorations Vol 14 No 1 July 2024

July 31, 2024

When does collaborative work become transdisciplinary? What arises in the effort of translation? And where and how does the unbordering of disciplinary expertise contribute to transformation? (Here we assert our human intention and note with interest but resist unburdening, autocorrected by Word.) In this issue we take it as axiomatic that approaches which integrate diverse ways of knowing and doing are inherently valuable. This edition of Axon is less interested in evaluating the outcomes of interdisciplinary collaborative work, attending instead to the crossings of disciplinary boundaries as unfixed processes of movement and relations. Thus, we focus on the how (process, practice, doing), the what (people, materials, practice) and the where (place, practice, relations) as the groundwork required for doing collaborative practice. 

Out of the Ordinary

Axon: Creative Explorations Vol 13 No 2 November 2023

February 21, 2024

Despite many attempts over many decades, it is difficult to point to a single straightforward definition of poetry; but perhaps the most often cited phrase is that it is the use of language and prosody to stir the imagination and the emotions; to concentrate one’s awareness of experience. Both framings — imagination/emotion, and concentrated awareness — feature in the essays including in this issue. And, given that this issue is both the product of a poetry conference, and focuses entirely on poetry, a number of the contributions are combinations of poetic sequences (in text, images and film) and short contextualising essays. Attention is given to poetry directed at social or political change; poetry emerging on new platforms, in new relationships or for new audiences; and the exploration of various modes of writing.

Text | Page | Art

Axon: Creative Explorations Vol 13, No 1, July 2023

July 24, 2023

Text|Page|Art explores various ways to engage pagespace with images, sound and text. There is a particular focus on the book as art. You, the reader, also have the chance to download and print a variety of zines, and to create your own. Edited by Caren Florance.

Archives, Counter-memory, Creative Practice and Poetry

Axon: Creative Explorations Vol 12, No 2, Dec 2022

March 9, 2023

A great deal of poetry and other creative writing uses diverse archival material, including the literary, historical and the biographical. Yet the relationship of creative writers—and creative artists more generally—to existing archives has often been uncomfortable and has posed significant questions for the writers, historians and archivists involved. This issue brings numerous research and creative perspectives to bear on these relationships, including the perspectives of writers who have found the archives richly populated with material relevant to their projects, and writers who have found very little archival material at all connecting to their creative work. In every case, these writers have addressed archival material in particular ways, shaping it for their own creative and often political purposes.

Poetry, Creativity and Travel

Axon: Creative Explorations Vol 12, No 1, June 2022

June 28, 2022

This issue of the Axon journal investigates ways in which contemporary poetry (and other forms of creative practice) constitute, result from or are otherwise connected to travel—whether this is understood literally or metaphorically. This issue was jointly conceived and compiled by Cassandra Atherton and Paul Hetherington, who received many outstanding contributions, and Paul Munden then edited the issue. For complex reasons, there has been a delay in publishing the issue and we thank all of the contributors for their patience.