Axon: Creative Explorations

Female poets seeking to have their work published in Australian literary journals in the second half of the twentieth century faced a predominantly male culture: most positions as poetry editor for major journals were held by male poets. This study of the rate of publication of female poets from 1945 to 1990 in those journals also investigates the rate of submission by female poets. Using archival material not previously researched for this purpose, it is shown that the rate of publication of female poets is well below their rate of submission for most of that period. The misogynistic attitudes of some male editors are also evident.