The Saturday Paper has announced Alison Croggon has been appointed arts editor.
Croggon is a Pascall Prize-winning critic and a celebrated playwright, poet and novelist. She has written on theatre for more than 30 years, including for The Saturday Paper, and is the founding editor of Witness.
Alison Croggon said: “I’m thrilled to join The Saturday Paper. Serious discussion of the arts is becoming all too rare in Australian media, and the invitation to expand and deepen the scope of The Saturday Paper’s arts coverage is profoundly exciting.
“I’m hoping to use that precious space to bring fresh voices and new perspectives into the conversation, and to deepen our readers’ appreciation of the variety and strength of our culture.”
The editor of The Saturday Paper, Maddison Connaughton, said: “We’re so proud to have Alison on board as The Saturday Paper’s arts editor. Alison is someone who thinks deeply about the arts and we’re excited to see her bring her intellect, rigour and creativity to the arts and culture pages of the paper.”
At Witness, Croggon established a strong record of finding and developing diverse voices in the arts. Witness was the first arts publication to introduce a First Nations Emerging Critic program and recently began a collaboration with StoryCasters, an initiative of Western Sydney’s Sweatshop.
Croggon has been recognised internationally for her writing and was writer- in-residence at Pembroke College, Cambridge University, and visiting scholar at the University of Southern California.
Her work The Riders, based on the Tim Winton novel, in 2015 won the Green Room Award for best new opera. She has also won the Anne Elder Prize and the Dame Mary Gilmore Prize for her poetry.
Recently, The Saturday Paper undertook its first print redesign since launching six years ago. The title is growing strongly, and the appointment of Croggon as arts editor marks a further commitment to quality, independent journalism.
