Concrete Playground

Let’s imagine The Monthly and Meanjin get together. The longnecks come out, witticisms are exchanged and before you know it, things are hotting up. Ampersand is what you might expect to turn up nine months later: young, literary and just a little rough around the edges.

The self-styled ‘curiosity journal’ was launched in 2008 and combines columns, essays, fiction and interviews, with plenty of visual art thrown in for good measure. It’s gratifying to see a magazine operating on the premise that kids today might just be more interested in arts, politics and culture than whether or not Lindsay Lohan has flashed her lady-parts in public this week (hint: she probably has). Our only complaint? An average (thus far) of one issue annually won’t be enough to sate our culture-hungry countrymen.

ampersandmagazine.com.au

This post is an extract from Conspirators: A Snapshot of Sydney's Creative Community.