“It will surprise no one that Deane is best known as a poet – the prose is winnowed, the settings evoked in cool noir-like detail ”
Essays, etc.
My non-book essays, speeches, lectures, whatever are mostly locked away behind paywalls or lost in the ether of the internet. Here are some survivors.
‘The Radical Moderate’s legacy: What history might say about this leadership style,’ Institute of Company Directors Australia, 10 November 2025. https://www.communitydirectors.com.au/articles/the-radical-moderates-legacy-what-history-might-say-about-this-leadership-style
‘The Subject of Feeling,’ Blog, 21 September 2025. https://www.joeldeane.net/blog/2025/9/21/edfm6hh6kuz43gfag20pp4ofy6ay7x
‘Slouching Towards Spring St,’ Blog, 18 September 2025. https://www.joeldeane.net/blog/2025/9/18/slouching-towards-spring-st
‘What Albanese can learn from Dan “Getting Shit Done” Andrews,’ Crikey, 12 September 2025. https://www.crikey.com.au/2025/09/12/catch-and-kill-joel-deane-anthony-albanese-daniel-andrews/
‘Eulogy for Jan Deane,‘ Blog, 6 September 2024. https://www.joeldeane.net/blog/2024/9/6/our-fiery-one-eulogy-for-jan-deane
‘We once called TV journos the “Filth.“ Nine’s management has earned the label,’ Crikey, 23 August 2024. https://www.crikey.com.au/2024/08/23/nine-network-journalism-redundancies-mike-sneesby/
‘How the nanny state feeds Australia’s culture wars,’ Australian Financial Review, 31 August 2023. https://www.afr.com/politics/federal/how-the-nanny-state-feeds-australia-s-culture-wars-20230817-p5dxd5
‘“Ratbag” and policy giant: Andrew Herington left his mark on Victoria,’ The Age, 15 May 2021. https://www.theage.com.au/politics/victoria/ratbag-and-policy-giant-andrew-herington-left-his-mark-on-victoria-20210511-p57qwn.html
‘Drinking in the Sun: Media before Murdoch,’ Meanjin, 20 October 2020. https://meanjin.com.au/latest/drinking-in-the-sun-media-before-murdoch/
‘A Kombi Van Full of Koalas,’ Meanjin, 7 September 2019. https://meanjin.com.au/latest/a-kombi-van-full-of-koalas/
‘Launch speech for Andy Jackson’s Music Our Bodies Can’t Hold,’ Blog, 9 December 2017. https://www.joeldeane.net/blog/2017/12/10/launch-speech-for-andy-jacksons-music-our-bodies-cant-hold
‘A Word in Your Ear,’ Meanjin, Summer 2015. https://meanjin.com.au/memoir/a-word-in-your-ear/
‘Dear Discrimination High,’ ABC Ramp Up, 7 May 2013. https://www.abc.net.au/rampup/articles/2013/05/07/3753480.htm
‘Hey Watson, first rule of speechwriting: the words aren’t yours,’ Crikey, 27 August 2010. https://www.crikey.com.au/2010/08/27/hey-watson-first-rule-of-speechwriting-the-words-arent-yours/
‘An Email Upon Leaving Politics,’ Blog, 2009. https://www.joeldeane.net/blog/2022/7/24/from-the-archive-an-email-upon-leaving-politics
‘Political Language Can Illuminate The Darkness,’ Blog, 2008. https://www.joeldeane.net/blog/2025/9/22/from-the-archive-politics-and-poetry
‘Australia’s (Re)awakening,’ Overland, 26 September 2006. https://www.joeldeane.net/blog/2025/9/22/from-the-archive-australias-reawakening
‘Fear and Hacking in Las Vegas,’ The Site, 1997. https://www.joeldeane.net/blog/2019/3/12/fear-and-hacking-in-las-vegas
‘The Branding of a Generation,‘ On Being, October 1994. https://www.joeldeane.net/blog/2019/5/15/generation-x-the-branding-of-a-generation
Most of my post-2000 writing can be found at Australian Book Review. It’s a great magazine that is available through most libraries. Failing that, I’d highly recommend forking out for an ABR subscription. After all, ABR is the only reviewer-of-record for Australian literature and the arts, and they pay their writers properly.
I also have a variety of half-formed thoughts in my blog. Not sure I’d call that writing.
Poetry
As for my poetry, here are some individual poems that are available online:
‘Odyssey,‘ Coastlines, 2025. https://coastlinesjournal.com/issue-10-odyssey-joel-deane
‘Food court’ and ‘Cartmel’, Social Alternatives, 2022. https://www.proquest.com/openview/cc5611a8d37392e0c563e172609e252c/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=31438
‘Things I wish my father taught me,’ Blog, 27 October 2022. https://www.joeldeane.net/blog/2022/10/27/a-new-poem
‘Poem for Michael Gurr,’ Blog, 3 May 2017. https://www.joeldeane.net/blog/2017/5/3/poem-for-michael-gurr
‘Following the many elbows of the Yarra,‘ Australian Book Review, 2016. https://www.australianbookreview.com.au/features/162-poem-of-the-week/2935-poem-of-the-week-joel-deane-reads-following-the-many-elbows-of-the-yarra
‘Doors painted red, summer night drowsy with smoke,‘ Meanjin, Spring 2016. https://meanjin.com.au/poetry/year-of-the-wasp/
‘Poems from Year of the Wasp,’ Verity La, 2016. https://verityla.com/2016/05/27/poems-from-year-of-the-wasp-joel-deane/
‘Tuk-tuk,‘ Jacket, 2007. http://jacketmagazine.com/34/deane.shtml
‘Hansard,‘ Cordite, 2006. http://cordite.org.au/poetry/generation-of-zeroes/hansard/
‘King Kong,‘ Cordite, 2004. http://cordite.org.au/poetry/roots/king-kong/
‘Romeo y Julieta,‘ Blog. https://www.joeldeane.net/blog/2016/3/21/romeo-y-julieta
Short fiction
‘Passcode,’ The Saturday Paper, 4 June 2022. https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/culture/fiction/2022/06/04/passcode