Aviva Tuffield

Aviva Tuffield is a publisher at University of Queensland Press, and a previous Deputy Editor of Australian Book Review. She has worked in publishing for almost 20 years, mainly as an editor. She was previously a publisher at Black Inc., at Affirm Press, and associate publisher at Scribe Publications, where she was responsible for building an Australian fiction list. She was the co-founder and inaugural executive director of the Stella Prize.

Aviva Tuffield reviews 'Meanjin: Under Construction' edited by Stephanie Holt, 'HEAT: Fire & shadow' edited by Ivor Indyk, 'Overland 162' edited by Ian Syson, and 'Southerly: Judith Wright & A.D. Hope' edited by David Brooks

July 2001, no. 232 • 01 July 2001

I would now like to begin with a plea for small literary magazines. I now have a vested interest in their survival (well, one, in particular), but then, I always thought I did. Little magazines are essential to the vitality of Australian literary and political culture. They play an important role in nurturing new poets, critics, storytellers, and reviewers. In the current book-publishing climate, ... (read more)

Aviva Tuffield reviews 'Whatever the Gods do: A memoir ' by Patti Miller

May 2003, no. 251 • 01 May 2003

In a number of guises, the question ‘why’ reverberated throughout my reading of Whatever the Gods Do: A Memoir. This book opens with Patti Miller describing her sadness at the departure of ten-year-old Theo, who is leaving for Melbourne to live with his father. We soon discover that the author has been Theo’s substitute mother for the past seven years since the tragic death of Dina, his birt ... (read more)

Aviva Tuffield reviews 'The Truth about My Fathers' by Gaby Naher, 'I’m Hungry, Daddy' by Cliff Nichols, and 'The Bean Patch' by Shirley Painter

December 2002-January 2003, no. 247 • 01 December 2002

These three memoirs share central focus on fathers: Gaby Naher’s is a meditation on fatherhood, Shirley Painter’s is about surviving an abusive one, while Cliff Nichols’s relates his life as an alcoholic and unreliable parent. They are also all part of the current flood of life-writing appearing from Australian publishing houses. Drusilla Modjeska, writing recently about the failings of cont ... (read more)