WHO ARE WE?

We are an Australian student-run media publication, who have been churning out quality content since 1969.

We have a reputation nationally as a premium student magazine, delivering quality features, interviews, and reviews through informative copy and slick design.

We operate seven editorial departments — Art & Film, Music, Student Life, Politics & Economics, Science & Technology and Guild Survival Guide — to deliver a variety of content. We also have our Prose & Poetry section where we publish poems, short stories, essays, memoirs and visual arts.

We publish regularly here and produce a glossy print edition each semester — which you can pick up at Guild outlets across campus or view online.

To ensure you’re informed, like us on Facebook and follow us on Instagram and Twitter.

If you’re interested in contributing to Grok as a writer, illustrator, photographer, or designer, or if you have a scoop, contact our team at grok.editor@guild.curtin.edu.au

ORIGIN OF “GROK”

The term “grok” was coined by Robert A. Heinlin in the science-fiction novel Stranger in a Strange Land.

Published in 1961, Stranger in a Strange Land was a proto-hippie novel — a celebration of free love and counter-cultural rebellion. It follows Valentine Michael Smith, a human born on Mars and raised by Martians who comes to Earth in early adulthood; it is through their eyes that humankind is denaturalised.

Heinlein coined “grok” to mean “to drink” in Martian. But, more specifically, it meant to take something in so thoroughly that it becomes a part of you. Grok was later incorporated into English-language dictionaries as a verb, used with object, “to understand thoroughly or intuitively”.

In 1972, then-Chief Editor Rod Cole adopted Grok as the title of the publication; it had been titled Aspect from 1969 to 1971.

MEET THE TEAM

Dhanya Vimalan is a fourth-year Bachelor of Arts and Commerce student, studying a double degree in Journalism and Public Relations. As Grok Magazine’s Editor-in-Chief, she strives to curate a platform where voices are heard, and people are seen.

— Dhanya Shri Vimalan (she/her), Editor-in-Chief

Jessica Evensen is a third-year Journalism student and is Grok’s Contributing Editor for ‘What Matters at Curtin’. She enjoys writing about people and their issues and interests within their local community.

— Jessica Evensen (she/her), Contributing Editor for Grok Magazine

Olivia Ford is a third-year Journalism student and is Grok’s Contributing Editor for ‘People of Curtin’. She loves reading, writing and listening to other people’s stories.

— Olivia Ford (she/her), Contributing Editor for Grok Magazine

Andrew Williams is a third-year Journalism student and is Grok’s Contributing Editor for ‘Curtin Life’. He enjoys meeting new people, listening to their experiences, and writing stories that matter. He’s as pleased as punch to be able to write for the Curtin University news team.

— Andrew Williams (he/him), Contributing Editor for Grok Magazine