About — Visible Ink

Ethos. Pathos. Logos.

Visible Ink is a literary publication with a legacy nearing 40 years, produced and published by the students of RMIT University’s Professional Writing and Editing programs. We have long been committed to publishing works that push the margins of literature, by emerging and diverse voices.

Visible Ink was established in 1989 by Jane Leonard, because she thought that RMIT’s Professional Writing and Editing Course, of which she was a student, ought to have a student-run magazine. The magazine has continued as an annual co-curricular project in the decades following. It preserves its original ethos: to be written, edited, designed, run and ideated by students.

In 2009, students Emma Kerin, Gabby Trifiletti and Cameron White, among others, compiled a 21st anniversary anthology. In the foreword, Steve Grimwade noted,

“In many ways, Visible Ink is at the heart of what the Prof Writing program does. It provides the means to form an engagement with all parts of the publishing process ... to learn the ways of the (publishing) world and the wiles of the writers that inhabit it.”

Following their tenure on the magazine, numerous committee members have embarked upon careers as writers, editors, and publishers. Notable publishing ventures include Cardigan Street Press, Prolog, Platform, Casual Network Press, Salt-Lick Quarterly, and Harvest. Sleepers Publishing, Zoe Dattner and Louise Swinn’s independent small press, operated for 13 years and published numerous award-winning books.

After a break during the COVID-19 pandemic, Visible Ink returned in 2024 with its first Digital Edition, followed shortly by another in 2025.

This year, we’re returning to print. After years out of bookstores, we are making the return. Join us for the reemergence.