Publisher Morry Schwartz will raise eyebrows in the media world again with his typically unconventional choice of anthropologist and media unknown Sally Warhaft to replace Christian Ryan as editor of The Monthly.

Schwartz told Crikey that Warhaft, who completed her Phd at La Trobe university in 2003 living with and studying the indigenous Koli fisher people in Mumbai, and edited the 2004 anthology Well May We Say… The Speeches that Made Australia for Black Inc, may not have any experience in magazine publishing – but she has “experience in thinking.”

Former editor Christian Ryan left the magazine just six months after its launch amid rumours of disagreements with Schwartz over content and concerns about circulation. Anyone in the magazine game will testify to the difficulty of elbowing a new publication into the tiny Australian market, so the decision to appoint a new editor with no background in journalism might seem downright weird to conventional media types.

But, says Schwartz, she is “politically very savvy and very articulate” and will “bring political intelligence which is important and I think she’ll lead us well…”

When asked if her appointment might seem a little strange, Warhaft told Crikey, “I think it’s part of what the mag
wants to do, which is to try to do things a bit differently…The difficulties I’ll face come with a lot of support from Black Inc staff who are very experienced…”

“The idea was to try someone with a completely fresh approach,” said Warhaft. And the new editor has a very definite vision of the direction she wants the literary magazine to head in in the new year: “I want to make the magazine meaner.”

“While we want to keep our focus on beautiful writing, the ideas and things that we investigate will be more in line with the current national debates… There will be more of a focus on investigative reporting,” she says. The Monthly exists to “fill a massive hole in the content and the level of debate and storytelling in Australia at the moment.”