Eastlit Journal 2012 to Now.
Eastlit is a journal of English Literature focused on East and South East Asia. The first issue of the online journal came out on December 1, 2012. It is a monthly journal. Eastlit took a hiatus in 2017 after the 50th issue was released and it to date it remains on one. There are plans to re-open publication but in a different more modern way.
Originally founded by Graham Lawrence and Bryn Tennant, now only Graham remains. Each month an independent editorial board selects the literature and artwork to be published.
Eastlit journal evolved over the first year to become more of a journal mixing literature, reviews, advice and artwork with independent photography. As it evolved, the literary journal rapidly saw its readership expand all round the globe. The idea of furthering English literature from the increasingly important economic areas of East and South East Asia clearly was taking off. As Asia assumed its role as a leading economic zone, so the confidence and interest in the area expanded out into development of its arts. Eastlit journal has been and will remain a part of this as local writers and artists assume their role a the table with those of other regions producing English literature and artwork. There is a full team of editors to review all submissions, decide on what will be published and maintain both standards and independence.
The online journal now ranks within the top 500,000 websites in the world. This makes it one of the leading journals of literature and art from the regions of East and South East Asia.
View the October 2013 issue as an example of the work.
Eastlit is now well over three years old and we have published over 30 issues.
Eastlit journal has also led to several offspring. These are the ongoing Eastlit Live concept, an International Writers’ Group and Southlit Supplement. Southlit Supplement sprang from Southlit which was a sister journal of on art and literature focused on South Asia. After several issues it seememd to make sense to merge Southlit into its far larger sister as a monthly supplement.
Eastlit Live
Eastlit Live is based on a concept of combining multimedia and mobility with art and literature. It is an initiative based on the ever developing literature and artwork experiment. Easlit Live was launched in mid-2013 by Graham Lawrence as a logical extension of the initial Eastlit concept.
The idea behind this new multimedia concept was to bring the power of mobile multimedia and other forms of multimedia to English literature and art to create an all-encompassing experience for those that appreciate these arts. By using a creative mix of web and social media platforms and linking them through the already existing Eastlit architecture and base of contributors and readers/viewers, the idea was to further make the arts further accessible to others. It was also hoped to create a new experience away from the traditional purely text based literary experience by employing the power and adaptability of various web based possibilities to create new fusions of art, literature and multimedia.
To date Eastlit Live is an ongoing very low budget experiment with a slow pace of development.
