Kill Your Darlings (magazine)


Kill Your Darlings is an Australian literary magazine dedicated to arts and culture. Kill Your Darlings was established in March 2010 with a mission of "reinvigorating and re-energising this medium – to shake it up, if you like, and publish literature that bites back". It publishes new fiction and commentary, memoir, interviews and reviews. The magazine name comes from a quote regularly attributed to the American novelist William Faulkner: ‘In writing, you must kill all your darlings.’ The editor-in-chief is Rebecca Starford.

History

Kill Your Darlings was established in March 2010, supported by funding from the Australia Council. Founding editors Rebecca Starford, Hannah Kent, and Jo Case set out to create a new kind of print literary journal. The first issue was positively received.
In 2017, after 29 issues, KYD ceased publishing its flagship quarterly print magazine in order to focus on its growing online publishing program.
KYD contributors include Benjamin Law, Clementine Ford, Jane Caro, Ron Rash, Antony Loewenstein, Chris Womersley, Rebecca Shaw, Gideon Haigh, Krissy Kneen, Amy Espeseth, Maria Turmarkin, Jennifer Down, Omar Musa, Toni Jordan, Jack Cowell, Melanie Joosten and Jon Bauer.
KYD produces a regular podcast, provides professional writing services such as workshops and manuscript assessments, and hosts literary events.

Awards

KYD runs two annual writing awards, the KYD New Critic Award and the KYD Unpublished Manuscript Award. The awards are designed to support the development of an early-career critic and early-career author, provide them with the opportunity to work with industry professionals, and assist them in creating publishing pathways in the future.