What if Tom Wolfe was Australian?
Ever since Tom Wolfe wrote a thirteen-page essay entitled The Birth of the New Journalism, Eyewitness Report by Tom Wolfe in the Seventies, debate has raged over what this New Journalism or literary journalism or creative non-fiction is. Yet geographically, the debate has been confined to the United States and the UK. Australia has remained notably silent on the issue. This paper questions why the discourse seems to be anchored in the Northern Hemisphere. It further wonders whether, if Tom Wolfe had been born in Australia and published his essay in an Australian newspaper, would the signature diverse and ongoing discourse be Australian? One thing would be certain, no matter where the debate was born – the nomenclature would not be definitive. There is no consensus among media theorists about an appropriate name. This paper investigates the history of the evolution of the genre pre and post Tom Wolfe, adding an Australian perspective to the discussion. Creative non-fiction courses are i
