You might have noticed that we’ve been slowing down our activity here at Feminartsy. After four years of pumping out weekly content, hosting monthly events and adding to our programs with residencies and prizes, we’ve decided to take a bit of a break.

When I first dreamed Feminartsy up in 2014, I wanted to foster the feminist and creative communities in Canberra, and provide an avenue for women to share their stories both in person through our events, and also online through the journal. Hand in hand with this was my desire to pay all of our contributors for their words – a hard task for a fledgling, independent journal.

But, here we are, four years later, and we’ve paid every single writer that we’ve published (of which there are over 100), hosted countless events, and had the privilege of running development programs for writers with funding from the ACT Government.

It’s been amazing to see the community support for Feminartsy, but I’m a firm believer in always checking in and asking the question, ‘why are we doing this’? In the time since we launched, the Australian literary landscape has sprouted with new and different opportunities for feminist writing. The Feminist Writers Festival, the ongoing work of the Stella Prize, and the commitment to diversity shown by journals such as The Lifted Brow and Kill Your Darlings are just some of these great new avenues for women to pursue in sharing their writing.

In this space, Feminartsy plays a small role, and whilst I do think we give value to the emerging writers who submit to us, I want to make sure that we’re driving our skills and limited resources towards the areas where we can make the biggest impact.

Over the next six months, I’m going to be exploring this idea, and considering different ways to either continue the work we’re already doing, or to reframe Feminartsy for its next chapter.

To all the writers who have supported us and trusted us with their words, thank you. And to my team, Co-Managing Editors Camilla Patini and Gemma Killen, Social Media Manager Verity Cooke, and Social Media Coordinators Jessica Abramovic and Tara Presnell, thanks for all the work you do, and for sharing the journey with me!

Stay tuned.