Australian Science Fiction

Australian science fiction grew tremendously in the 1960s and became a notable field around the 1980s. Most Australian science-fiction writers today are writing for the international market.

Australian science-fiction became a notable field of world science-fiction literature around the 1960s. In 1966, the monthly Australian Science-Fiction Review was first published; in 1969 it was joined by SF Commentary. That year also the Ditmar Awards were established, awarded in multiple categories. The first Australian World Science Fiction Convention Aussiecon was held in 1975 in Melbourne; that year also Paul Collins begun publishing the science fiction magazine Void. Collins went on to publish numerous science fiction titles under his Void book and Collins imprint, including books by such writers as David Lake, Russell Blackford, Trevor Donahue, Wynne Whiteford, and Keith Taylor (author). John Baxter (author) edited a number of early collections of Australian science fiction for Angus and Robertson publishers.

In the 1970s Van Ikin established the important critical journal Science Fiction co-edited by Terry Dowling. Ikin has edited a number of seminal anthologies including Glass Reptile Breakout, Australian Science Fiction and Mortal Fire (the latter with Terry Dowling). Damien Broderick also edited numerous anthologies in additionto his work as a writer. Jenny and Russell Blackford edited the long-running critical magazine Australian SF Review. Two book-length selections of essays from this journal have been published.

The number of authors and publications grew, particularly with the field of short fiction becoming established by the mid-1980s, with the first professional Australian science fiction magazine being published that decade (Omega Science Digest); in the 1990s it was joined by Aurealis: The Australian Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction and Eidolon: The Journal of Australian Science Fiction & Fantasy. Jonathan Strahan, co-editor of the latter, has gone on to become Australi's most prolific science fiction editor.

David G. Hartwell noted that while there is perhaps "nothing essentially Australian about Australian science-fiction", many Australian science-fiction (and fantasy and horror) writers are in fact international English language writers, and their work is commonly published worldwide. This is further explainable by the fact that the Australian inner market is small (with Australian population being only 22 million), and sales abroad are crucial to most Australian writers.