Anna Poletti

Dr Anna Poletti BA (Hons) PhD (Newcastle) is a staff member of the School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Charles Sturt University, New South Wales, Australia, who teaches English and Creative Writing; having previously taught literature and cultural studies at Monash, La Trobe University and The University of Newcastle.

Poletti's research interests include autobiography studies; DIY culture; the materiality of texts; literary theory; feminist theory; and technologies of cultural production. She has published papers on Australian zine culture, and has co-edited journal issues on the topics of AutoGraphics and the limits of testimony. Anna has also been involved in the programming of writing events such as the National Young Writers Festival and the Emerging Writers Festival, and conducts workshops on diy writing and publishing for community and arts organisations.

In 2002, while indertaking her doctoral research on Australian zines as an autobiographical form at the University of Newcastle, Poletti started the zine Trade entrance - aimed at 'demysitfying' the academic process for the zinesters who were the subject of her doctorate, as well as acting as a journal recording the developments of her research.

Poletti has undertaken a variety of programming roles with the This Is Not Art group of festivals (2000-2003) and was president of the Octapod Association in 2003. Between 2001-2003 she volunteered at Sticky and since July 2008 she has been on the board of Sticky.

Bibliography

Book

• 'Intimate Ephemera: Reading Young Lives in Australian Zine Culture' (2008), Carlton, Victoria: Meourne University Press.

Thesis

• Intimate ephemera: an investigation of life narratives in Australian zines (2005) a Thesis (Ph. D.) by Anna Poletti through the School of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Newcastle.

Journal articles

• Poletti, A. (2008) 'Auto/assemblage: Reading the Zine'; Biography: an interdisciplinary quarterly, 31.1 Winter 2008.
• Poletti, A. (2008) ‘Where the popular meets the mundane: lists in personal zines’ Canadian Review of American Studies special issue on pop culture and autobiography, edited by Julie Rak.
• Poletti, A. (2006) ‘A People’s History of Australian Zines’ (editor and introduction) HEAT 11: Sheltered Lives. 15-38.
• Poletti, A. (2005) ‘Self-publishing in the Global and the Local: Situating Life Writing in Zines’. Biography: an Interdisciplinary Quarterly 28.1 (Winter 2005). Guest Editor David Parker. 183-192.
• Poletti, A. (2003) ‘Life writing in zines: memory, public spaces and intimacy’ New Media Poetics 3.

Conference presentations

• Poletti, A. (2007) 'Things to make and do with a photocopier: introducing zines' BOOKS.07 Works of Imagination: The Search for the Impossible, Noosa Regional Gallery, 24 August – 30 September. This presentation was followed by a discussion with Australian zinesters Gracia Haby and Louise Jennison.
• Poletti, A. (2006) ‘Auto/assemblage: Reading the Zine’ Modern Languages Association Convention Philadelphia, December.
• Poletti, A. (2004) ‘Self-publishing in the Global and the Local: Situating Life Writing in Zines’ Fourth International Auto/Biography Association Conference Chinese University of Hong Kong, March.
• Poletti, A. (2003) ‘Life writing in zines: memory, public spaces and intimacy’ Critical Animals Newcastle, October.

Zines

• A people's history of Australian zines, #1-2 (2007-)
• TRade entrance (2002-2006)

External Links

• Anna Poletti's website
• A people's history of Australian zines. This project is an on-going anthology of short essays written by past, present and future zine makers and readers about self-publishing and zine culture in Australia. The original collection was published in HEAT 11: Sheltered Lives.
• Dr Anna Poletti, Monash University staff profile