Q&A :: PAN Magazine editor Emma Dallas

September 21st 2011

 

I love Sydney. It seems you can’t leave the house anymore without stumbling across the launch for something or other. It’s the best kind of overexcitement. Next Wednesday is no exception, as World Bar’s artsy night The Wall plays host to the launch of the second ever PAN Magazine.

PAN is a mixed bag. Part features, part fiction, part visual arts, the fledgling publication promises to join to ever-increasing ranks of Sydney’s literati as they turn their back on the Cosmo’s and MX’s of the world in favour of something a little more home-grown, creative, and intelligent to leaf through with their morning macchiato.

Flog caught up with PAN’s Editor, Emma Dallas, to chat about the second issue.

 

Flog: Can you give us your take on what PAN is all about?

Emma Dallas: PAN magazine is a mildly eccentric mix of articles art and music and interesting things, with short fiction and poetry. It's a magazine built for reading with an emphasis on interesting relevant content. I wanted to make something less boring than a literary journal and more intelligent than a glossy magazine but with elements of both.


There seems to be more and more mags cropping up locally – whether online or in print – do you think this proliferation signals a change in what kind of mag people are looking for or is this just something different?

It seems to me like most of the glossy mags are little more than shining beacons of advertising interspersed with articles designed to create self-loathing. I'm not surprised people are looking for more relevant content to read.


Do you have a favorite publication that's inspired you to do this or represents a benchmark for you?

There are so many brilliant publications, I admire magazines and journals that set their own style and tone, brave publications that stay true to their editorial voice, this is what makes them interesting. At the moment my favourite magazine is Apartamento but I'm at least partially addicted to seeking out new and interesting publications, next week I will be in love with something I have never seen before.
 

What can we expect from this second issue? How has it grown from the first?

We've concocted a mix of articles and literary bits. There's an astonishing piece of writing by Geoff Lemon who walked across the ice in Antarctica, Robert Hollingworth has contributed a short story that will stop you in your tracks and I am personally quite a fan of a retrospective piece on Ghosts Of Television. This issue is a little leaner than the first. We were quite savage in the final stages, cutting articles and the entire fashion section. We sat around a table and just took the red pen to anything we didn't love which left us with only the things we did love. This issue feels sharper and more focused than the last one. I can't wait to get started on issue #3 and see what happens next.


And you're launching it of course? Can you tell us about what's happening?

We're launching with a party at The Wall at The World Bar. September 28, you should come. We're having a few short readings by contributors, including Trent Marden (The Holy Soul), who will be reading his article Politeness: Should It Fuck Off?

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