Last Monday (2 December) Rochford Street Review turned two years old with the first three reviews having been uploaded on 2nd December 2011. Over the past two years we have published close to 150 reviews, articles and opinion pieces and have received over 40,000 ‘hits’.

When I started RSR my intention was to provide a platform for criticism and discussion of creative writing and the arts in general and, over the last 24 months I hope the journal has gone some way to fulfill this mission. Given the recent change of government in Australia, and the direction the new government is heading, I suspect that the ‘Arts’ and those who value creativity, are in for a rough time. During such a period ‘independent’ journals and magazines, such as Rochford Street Review become even more important. Lets hope for some cultural activism over the next few years as writers and artists seek to defend, question and offer alternatives to the narrowness of mind that sometimes seems to be sweeping across the land.

Finally – as a reminder of those first reviews two years ago here are the links to those first articles:

• Comments on Mike Ladd’s review of Australian Poetry Since 1788, edited by Geoffrey Lehmann and Robert Gray, UNSW Press, in The Sydney Morning Herald ‘Spectrum’ 12-13 November 2011.
• Kris Hemensley on Pete Spence’s new collection Perrier Fever. Grand Parade Poets 2011.
• The Woolley Years: Mar Roberts reviews Wild & Woolley: A Publishing Memoir by Michael Wilding.

– Mark Roberts

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