Lovely to learn of the launch in Paris last week of Adrienne Eberhard’s new collection of poems, ‘Marie & Marie’, on Saturday 5th April. Thirteen years in the making, Adrienne’s bi-lingual collection ‘Marie & Marie’ imagines the correspondence between Marie-Antoinette and Marie-Louise Girardin. Adrienne, who’s been in France overseeing the book’s publication the past month,…
Alison J Barton – on 3CR’s Spoken Word, interviewed by Indrani Perera
Enjoyed a thoughtful interview with Wurundjeri poet Alison J Barton recently, aired on 3CR’s Spoken Word program (08 August 2024)…. Indrani Perera spoke to Alison about her collection, ‘Not Telling’, Alison’s debut full-length poetry collection published by Puncher and Wattman. Perera began by asking about the book’s ‘intriguing’ title… The title came to me because…
Ron Riekki | WE’RE SITTING AROUND A TABLE NOT FAR FROM THE RUSSIAN BORDER
US author Ron Riekki’s writing takes the measure of topics some might prefer not be discussed – protest, authoritarianism, immigration – as well as issues of which there’s too little discussion – prisons, overpopulation…. Below, references to some recent work … and the Chinese artist talks about holding up signs in Hong Kong that…
RIP David Bircumshaw
Sorry to learn of the loss of English poet David Bircumshaw recently. Had thought I might get to catch up with him on a visit to England mid last year, but it didn’t eventuate. We published a couple of issues together (British and Australian versions) of a short-lived poetry journal (‘The Chide’s Alphabet’) years back;…
Olga Tokarczuk: ‘It’s autumn in our countries now, the foggiest, darkest and most rainy season. A time of year when it’s easy to lose hope and to give in to negative thoughts.’
In one of your poems you write about the spring that will come. On our geographical latitudes, where for a long time the winter covers the world in darkness and cold, that’s a powerful metaphor. I understand it well. The spring always comes. (Olga Tokarczuk ~ from a letter to Kaciaryna Andrejeva, imprisoned in Belarus…
AI: Who founded the Tasmanian Poetry Festival?
Everyone’s talking about AI, but it’s not there yet …
Jane Williams, ‘Something about Beethoven’ – (‘wildness’, issue 37 – March 2025)
‘Something about Beethoven’
‘The Clinking’ by Susie Greenhill review – a stunning, devastating debut
(By Bec Kavanagh … ‘The Guardian’, Friday 21st March 2025) The Richell prize-winner’s novel, set in a near-future lutruwita/Tasmania, asks what does it mean to have hope in the face of climate crisis? When Susie Greenhill won the 2016 Richell prize for emerging writers, her writing was described by one of the judges, Michaela McGuire,…
2024 Anne Elder Award judges panel announced
Australian Poetry has announced the three judges for the Anne Elder Award 2024 panel. They are Jeanine Leane, Theodore Ell, and Ella Skibeck-Porter. Theodore was the 2022 Anne Elder Award co-winner with Harry Reid (a judge last year) and Ella was Highly Commended in the 2023 Award. 2024 Anne Elder Award panel: Jeanine Leane is a Wiradjuri writer,…
US politics — The client’s the voter…
There’s a thoughtful interview on the New York Times web site … ‘The Interview’ Feb 15, 2025, Lulu Garcia-Navarro in conversation with Senator Ruben Gallego of Arizona … Senator Gallego: “The base Democratic voter wants to be rich. And there’s nothing wrong with that. And so our job is to expose when there are abuses…
Tim Winton on the lack of effective nature laws
(Tim winton, ‘The Guardian’, 22nd Feb 2025) Having acknowledged our extinction crisis and the climate emergency, Anthony Albanese promised to introduce more effective nature laws. His government hasn’t delivered on that promise. A policy failure this monumental isn’t just politically embarrassing – in the real world of blood and fur and feathers, it’s calamitous. Because…
Anne Elder Award 2024
KEY DATES FOR THE 2024 AWARD, for first books published during 2024. Open call for entries – Monday, 27 January 2025. Close of entries – Monday, 17 March 2025, 5pm (Books must be postmarked no later than Monday, 17 March 2025.) The announcement of Judges takes place in February, after the award opens. There is…
Annie March’s ‘Eirenikon: Dictionary of a Reimagined Culture’
Tasmanian author Eleanor Vaughan, has released her fifth book, Eirenikon: Dictionary of a Reimagined Culture, under the name Annie March. A fledgling glossary exploring the whole, healed, holy, ecozoic culture I dream of bequeathing my grandchildren – all of them – sea-eagle eggs, Huon pine saplings, spawning phytoplankton, clear rivers running free… Excerpt: Chapter 21….
Helen Swain’s poetry collection ‘Calibrating Home’ | launch speech by Gina Mercer (Nov 2024)
Gina Mercer, Hobart | 24th November 2024: So, here is a book. It’s Helen’s book. It’s a very good book. Filled with – and ‘about the goodness of people’. You, all of you – you are a ‘goodness of people’. Gift yourself this very good book. Gift one to any of your people who love…
Tasmanian Literary Awards 2025
The judges have selected longlists in the four book categories: Premier’s Prize for Fiction Premier’s Prize for Non-fiction Minister for the Art’s Prize for Books for Young Readers and Children Tim Thorne Prize for Poetry.
Vale Judith Mok
Sorry to learn of Judith Mok’s death last month. From The Hot Press Newsdesk – 28th November 2024 “Judith was a remarkable woman, a force of life, a powerhouse, with incredible life experience,” a statement from the Centre Culturel Irlandais in Paris reads. Tributes are continuing to pour in for Judith Mok, following the sad news…
The ubiquitous becomes sublime: Adrienne Eberhard launches ‘undercurrents’ by Jane Williams
undercurrents by Jane Williams’, Ginninderra Press 2023, was launched by Adrienne Eberhard at The Hobart Bookshop on Thursday 29 June 2023. Thank you for joining us tonight for the launch of Jane Williams’ latest collection, undercurrents, published by Ginninderra Press. Like most of you, I imagine, I have been a fan of Jane’s work for…
‘I fly, I drive. We’re all complicit’: Richard Flanagan on vanishing species and refusing the Baillie Gifford prize money
Richard Flanagan has won the Baillie Gifford prize for nonfiction with his book ‘Question 7’. “This book is about my father and my mother,” he says, “their love for each other and the way they used love to find meaning in a world they knew to otherwise be meaningless. I think everyone is confronted at…
Australian authors group give every federal politician five books to encourage nuance in Middle East debate
More than 90 Australian authors including writers Tim Winton and Charlotte Wood have paid for every federal senator and MP to receive curated package. Writers including Tim Winton, Charlotte Wood, Michelle de Kretser and JM Coetzee have backed the Summer Reading for MPs campaign which is appealing directly to parliamentarians to deepen their understanding of…
‘Class’: new (free) downloadable anthology of poems (Meuse Press, Aust)
Maybe of interest? New (free) downloadable pdf anthology of poems entitled ‘Class’ (Meuse Press, NSW Australia, edited by Les Wicks) featuring 74 contributors (45 Australiana along with international contributors published in 14 languages) — at https://meusepress.tripod.com/Meuse.htm (scroll down the right hand side of the page and click on Class.pdf) with contributors including Margaret Bradstock, Kit…
Valerie Tinmouth: ‘Oh god, now I’ve forgotten it…’ (Launceston Poetry Cup 2024)
Valerie Tinmouth and the 2024 Launceston Poetry Cup winning poem
Melrose, Shaine — book launch, Adelaide.
Melrose, Shaine — poetry collection ‘The Natural World Somersaults’. Launch, Adelaide, October 30th 2024
Daiza, Eliza Dune — book launch Melbourne 6th November 2024
Eliza Dune Daiza — poetry collection ‘Haibun Nation & Other States’, launch 6th November 2024.
CDK — ‘Somebody that I used to know’, by Gotye
song by CDK — Gotye’s ‘Somebody that I used to know’, at CDK – Gotye’s ‘Somebody that I used to know’
Farhad Bandesh
Back in 2017, the Youtube video of a song — ‘Mey’ — performed by Farhad Bandesh and Mostafa Azimitabar, (Kurdish asylum seekers held in detention on Manus Island, Papua New Guinea), caught my eye. The following year, I managed to get in touch with Farhad who shared a little of his experience of detention on…
ACT Literary Awards 2024
Lovely to see Elanna Herbert’s 2023 poetry collection ‘sifting fire writing coast’ has been shortlisted in the ACT Literary Awards, along with Sandra Renew’s ‘Apostles of Anarchy’, K. A. Nelson’s ‘Meaty Bones’, Tim Metcalf’s ‘The Moon the Bone’, and Paul Hetherington’s ‘Sleeplessness’. Good luck to all.
‘He made every sentence electric’: Martin Amis remembered by Tina Brown, his old friend and devoted editor
Tina Brown, ‘The Guardian’ 11th June 2024 He was cocky, beguiling and witheringly funny. Martin’s most seductive appeal was in his voice. Off the page, a rich, iconoclastic croak. On the page, a combination of curated American junkyard and British irony that hit the low notes so hard against the high that sparks flew and…
Poetry manuscripts sought, for publication Jan-Mar 2025
Walleah Press welcomes unpublished poetry manuscripts by Australian residents, for publication early in 2025. Submission details. Closing date | 30th June 2024.
Stuart Barnes – new poem and interview in Welsh journal ‘Modron Magazine’
(from an interview with Glyn F. Edwards, published in the Welsh journal Modron Magazine (Writing on Nature & the Ecological Crisis), April 14th 2024. Q4. Sexuality and ecology are central themes in your poetic voice – do you consider them disparate or allied? I’ve always felt very comfortable writing about ecology and the sexuality of…
Adrianne Lenker, ‘Sadness as a Gift’
(song) Adrianne Lenker, Sadness as a Gift (2024)
Martin Flanagan and Cameron Hindrum in conversation
Thursday 21st March 2023 — 18:00 to 20:00 UTAS Inveresk Library celebrates Tasmanian Reads Week with ‘The Place that Made Us: Martin Flanagan in conversation with Cameron Hindrum’. Martin Flanagan explores what it is about Tasmania – its places. its stories, its people and its ghosts – that seep into the bones and the imagination…
Research journals and gatekeeping
Caitlin Cassidy, The Guardian, 10th March 2024 “We’ve set up a crazy system where publishers own and control knowledge and we’ve let them do that,” Foley says. “Researchers give content for free, sign over copyright, and publishers make a lot of money. “You can get rubbish, nonsense and misinformation online for free but you have…
More Margaret Drabble….
A throw-away line from her novel, ‘The Peppered Moth’ | ‘Bessie is a widow now, and she and Chrissie are … pretending to watch BBC nine o’clock news. (Bessie refuses, in company, to acknowledge the existence of commercial channels, though she has occasionally and inadvertently betrayed her acquaintance with them.)’
Omar Sakr, Jinghua Qian and Alison Evans — writers’ workshops cancelled
(Kelly Burke, The Guardian, 6th March 2024) Omar Sakr, Jinghua Qian and Alison Evans have been left to speculate on whether cancellations relate to their pro-Palestinian stances. State Library Victoria has cancelled a series of writing events out of concerns over “child and cultural safety”, leaving some of the participants demanding an explanation. More
Australian poetry
Winners of the 2023 Troubadour International Poetry Prize (1st Prize 2000 pounds, 2nd 1000 pounds, 3rd 500 pounds) have been announced. And of the three prizewinners and 19 commended, four are Australian – one each from NSW and Victoria and two from Tasmania, with the overall winner the Victorian (Jennifer Harrison). Not a bad effort….
Anne Elder Award —Australian Poetry announces Call-Out
KEY DATES FOR THE 2023 AWARD, for first books published during 2023. Open call for entries – Monday, 15 January 2024 Close of entries – Tuesday, 12 March 2024, 5pm (AEST). Books must be postmarked no later than Tuesday, 12 March 2024. Winner announcement – May 2024 Information and enquiries Jacinta Le Plastrier Email: ceo@australianpoetry.org…
The magazine Overland has been targeted for its solidarity with the Palestinian cause.
A discussion group that includes Australian writers, teachers and academics is campaigning to get an editor and academic sacked and funding withdrawn, in response to a literary journal’s publication of pro-Palestinian and anti-Israel articles. Messages from a WhatsApp group, which were posted to X/Twitter by Evelyn Araluen, appear to show an “urgent call to action” against Jonathan…
Seasonal Poets – The Summer Reading | Monday February 26th (Hobart)
Seasonal Poets returns to Hobart on Monday 26th February for the Summer Reading with poets Pamela Leach, Irene McGuire and Peter Jerrim. Seasonal Poets’ new venue is Fullers Bookshop 131 Collins Street and tickets are $10.00 at the door or via the Fullers website: www.fullersbookshop.com.au./events The $10.00 which no longer needs to be cash includes…
Koraly Dimitriadis — book launch, Launceston 29th February 2024
The TPF 2024 kicks off its first pre-festival event with a book launch by Koraly Dimitriadis – a Melbourne poet, performance artist, film maker and short story writer. Join us upstairs at 6 pm on the 29th February at the Plough Inn (lift available) 170 Brisbane St., Launceston to hear this wonderful and multi-talented woman….
Grace Yee wins at Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards
Huge congrats to Grace Yee (and Giramondo) whose debut collection Chinese Fish, published by Giramondo, was this evening awarded both the Victorian Premier’s Award for Literature, and the Victorian Premier’s Award for Poetry.
‘Into The Blue’ – Drever McCusker Woomble
‘Into The Blue’ … Recorded at Celtic Connections 2009, Glasgow,Scotland. Kris Drever, John McCusker and Roddy Woomble . Harmony vocals – Heidi Talbot
Julie Fowlis & Muireann Nic Amhlaoibh (2009)
The Hollywood Inn, Co. Wicklow: “Scottish Hebrides singer Julie Fowlis & Kerry singer Muireann Nic Amhlaoibh singing ‘Dá bhFaighfinn Mo Rogha de Thriúr Acu’ (0:00), Dhannsamaid Le Ailean (1:24) & Cairistion’ Nigh’n Eoghainn (2:16) with accompaniment from Éamon Doorley (Bouzouki) and Martin Ross (Guitar). This clip was recorded for the Geantraí music series on TG4…
Carol Patterson — short story collection launch, Hobart, 8th Feb 2024
Carol Patterson third collection of stories (22), Vanishing Point will be launched by the Hobart Bookshop at Irish Murphy’s, Salamanca, Thursday 8 February, 5.30pm. The band Sanctuary will accompany the event: all are welcome. ‘Carol Patterson deserves much wider recognition for her brilliant mastery of the short story form. Each story immerses the reader in…
Fourth Australian Haiku Anthology — Hobart launch, 16th Feb 2024
Hobart launch of under the same moon: Fourth Australian Haiku Anthology, at 5:30pm at Fullers Bookshop, 131 Collins Street, Hobart on their 104th birthday. The haiku readings by Watermeet haiku poets will be accompanied by the inimitable music of Michael Fortescue on double bass.
Update from Liquid Amber Press – 2024 publications, and beyond
(from Liquid Amber’s newsletter | 19th January 2024) Publications for 2024 – and beyond What an amazing round of submissions we had for the Liquid Amber Publication Call! Thank you to everyone who submitted – for your willingness to share your wonderful work with us. We would certainly love to have been able to publish…
Seasonal Poets Summer Reading — 26th February, Hobart
2024 is bringing changes to Seasonal Poets. Seasonal Poets will be partnering with Fullers Bookshop for each of its Seasons. The format will continue as it has always been, with three poets each reading for 20 minutes. The biggest change is the venue. After seven years at Hadley’s Hotel, Seasonal Poets will now be meeting…
Simon Grove’s ‘Seasons in the South’ (launched Hobart, 23rd Nov 2023)
Author Simon Grove, illustrator Keith Davis and Dr Sally Bryant AM joined in conversation to mark the launch of Simon’s new book ‘Seasons in the South’, at Fullers Bookshop in Hobart on 23rd November 2023. Simon Grove is Senior Curator of Invertebrate Zoology at the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery in Hobart. He hails…
Booranga Writer’s Centre, publisher of literary journal ‘fourW’, loses Create NSW funding for 2024
The Booranga Writers’ Centre has been unsuccessful in it’s bid for annual funding from Create NSW under Chris Minn’s Labor government. This came as a real shock to the Booranga Committee as Wagga Wagga Writers Writers, to give Booranga its full legal title, has been operating for 30 years. Booranga serves its members and the local…
Alison Flett, published in ‘Saltbush Review’
Lucky. You have been so lucky with the chemo. Hardly any side effects until now. But this week, there’s not just the muscle-pain to deal with, the nausea has also been furious. Waves and waves, all through the day. And the fatigue! You’re hardly capable of looking after yourself. Making a cup of tea is…
Bruny Island Bird Festival — March 15th-17th 2024
The Bruny Island Bird Festival: Bringing together Science, Conservation, Community and Creativity to create three days of enjoyment and education about the birdlife of this wonderful island. Packed with new features as well as old favourites, there will be Expert Speakers, Birdwatching Tours & Walks, a Market Day, Art Exhibition and evening events to celebrate…
Andy Jackson, interview with Advocacy for Inclusion (28th Nov 2023)
Thoughtful responses from poet Andy Jackson, interviewed by Rob from Advocacy for Inclusion (28th Nov 2023), online at Buzzsprout. Rob, discussing Andy’s poetry collection Human Looking The poem that really struck me that I sat with for quite a bit was separation, and for me it spoke of the violence of surgical intervention and a…
… the Aran jumper crowd
… the Aran jumper crowd (Pat Carty, ‘The Sunday Times, 3rd December 2023) https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/shane-macgowan-the-man-who-made-irish-music-cool-gj0fvk505 (apologies, it’s probably behind a firewall) Rum Sodomy & the Lash made it into the UK Top 20 in 1985 and it was likely the first time most of us heard of them. MacGowan’s songwriting had taken a quantum leap and…
Metric — ‘Formentera’, live at the Fillmore Philadelphia (2022)
Metric — ‘Formentera’, from their 2022 album ‘Formentera’. Live at the Fillmore in Philadelphia, 2022.
2 paragraphs from Doris Lessing’s ‘Under My Skin’
2 paragraphs from Doris Lessing’s ‘Under My Skin’ (vol one, autobiography to 1949) Something else happened, which I have had to think about ever since. At a Mission in Old Umtali there was an afternoon’s fete, and black people as well as white wandered about under the trees drinking tea and eating cake. I had…
Liz Lefroy and Jonty Watt, a Tasmanian Poetry Festival event – 16th Nov 2023
Liz Lefroy and Jonty Watt – Launceston, November 16th 2023. Visiting UK poet Liz Lefroy Liz’s opening poems of the evening involved “that very British sport of queuing,” the first of which – “In the Queue in the Waitrose Cafe, I Meet My Love” – can be read online at Liz’s website, at Liz…
Pub to Park – a Bothwell storytelling event, Tasmania, Fri 1st December
A Bothwell storytelling event featuring Kim Nielsen-Creeley, Marilyn Arnold, Tim Hurburgh and Mallika Naguran. Friday 1 December at the BoHo (Bothwell Hotel) from 3-6 pm. Listen to stories and poems on highland life and love, over wine, cheese and crackers. Kim Nielsen-Creeley is a Launceston-based writer and poet. She has released a chap book titled Roughly, and…
Winning poem by Marley D — West Launceston Primary School, Year 6 (Red Room Poetry)
Winning poem — Upper Primary (Y4-Y6) with a poem, ‘The Whale’s Wings’, by Marley D Read poem at The Whale’s Wings
The musical genius of Julie Fowlis – ‘Hùg air a Bhonnaid Mhor’
The musical genius of Julie Fowlis in Concert at ABC Glasgow January 2008 ‘Hùg air a Bhonnaid Mhor’ From North Uist in Scotland’s Outer Hebrides, Julie Fowlis is probably the most successful artist ever to work with predominantly Scots Gaelic material and has some high-profile fans, including Björk, Ricky Gervais, and Phil Selway of Radiohead. While Runrig and Capercaillie had previously achieved breakthroughs…
Australian poetry news — Five Islands Press
Oystercatcher Enterprises Ltd, a not-for-profit company recently founded by Mark Tredinnick and Steve Meyrick, is proud to announce its intention to revive Five Islands Press as a publisher of new poetry and writing about poetry and other lyric works. Founded in 1986 by Ron Pretty, and named for the five islands off Port Kembla, where…
Small Press Network — Book of the Year Award 2023
News from Small Press Network’s latest newsletter… BOTY shortlist We recently announced the six books shortlisted for this year’s SPN Book of the Year Award (plus two titles that received honourable mentions from the judges). They are: The Branded (Jo Riccioni, Pantera) Our Members Be Unlimited (Sam Wallman, Scribe) Paradise (Point of Transmission) (Andrew Sutherland, Fremantle Press) Against…
Pedlars Poetry Open Mic — Launceston, 14th November 2023
The Pedlars Open Mic Poetry night is on the second Tuesday next month: the 14th November. The competition for November will be THE POETRY HANDICAP ! This means that the poets who have won competitions in the past, who have been published and/or are well known poets are handicapped, giving newer poets a greater chance of winning! So enter…
Perth Poetry Festival
Event by WA Poets Inc – Perth Poetry Festival ********* Perth Poetry Festival is continuing its accessibility commitment to those who are unable to attend events in-person OR who live regionally, interstate or internationally. There will be a large number of events that you can attend virtually via Zoom. These events include: – WAPoets Presents, Saturday…
Fullers Poets in Conversation: Esther Ottaway & Susan Austin, 10 August
5.30pm – 6.30pm, Thursday 10 August Fullers Poets in Conversation – Esther Ottaway and Susan Austin Venue: Afterword Café, Fullers Bookshop, cnr Collins and Victoria Streets How intelligent and seemingly social women can be exhausted from undiagnosed autism/ADHD; and how some women end up travelling on unseen, gruelling medical and IVF rollercoasters to become pregnant:…
Seasonal Poets, Hobart, 17th July — A Taste of Poems from our Winter Poets
Dear Friends of Seasonal Poets, Each of our featured poets, Pam Schindler, Therese Corfiatis and Susan Austin has provided a poem for you to ‘taste’ before the reading. As usual, RSVPs are essential and admission is $10.00 (cash only) at the door. We look forward to seeing you at Hadley’s on Monday, July 17th at…
A new Tasmanian blog — Kim Nielsen-Creeley
Artist and poet Kim Nielsen-Creeley has begun a blog on her website, with her first post about her experience of this year’s Cygnet Folk Festival. The Cygnet Folk Festival 2023 mantra is Back in Full Swing. After such a rich day, I’m feeling it. Professional comedian Jenny Wynter had a Masterclass, Freeing the Funny from 11 – 3.30…
Vale Charles Simic
Charles Simic (May 9, 1938 – January 9, 2023) was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1990 for The World Doesn’t End.
what seemed maybe the dorsal fin of a sunfish
I was reading The Guardian’s story today of how ‘Yeah Baby’ was forced out of the Sydney to Hobart yatch race after a collision with a sunfish. As crew member Louis Ryckmans describes it, The boat was fantastic in the conditions and we were looking forward to the stronger conditions thinking that the boat is…
New episode of PoemTalk: on Armand Schwerner with Jerome Rothenberg, Pierre Joris & Charles Bernstein
From left: Jerome Rothenberg, Pierre Joris, and Charles Bernstein in the garden of the Kelly Writers House. Photo by Al Filreis. LISTEN TO THE SHOW Al Filreis gathered together Jerome Rothenberg, Charles Bernstein, and Pierre Joris to talk about two poems by Armand Schwerner. The first was written near the end of Schwerner’s life, for…
Vale Robert Adamson
A facebook post by Anthony Lawrence. Simple, eloquent…. Vale Robert Adamson 1942-2022 Poet, friend
(Song) Metric—’What Feels Like Eternity’
‘What Feels Like Eterntiy‘, by Metric—from the album ‘Formentera’ (Jul 2022). (Tim Sendra’s album review at ALLMUSIC)
SCAP Writers, featuring Irish poet Kevin Higgins—Sept 2022
Sep 17, 2022 This SCAP writers on Zoom is introduced by Donna Campbell and Linda Jackson and features the writing of Rachel McJury, Katharine McFarlane, Jo Gilbert, David Stakes and the master poet of satire, Kevin Higgins. Kevin Higgins “… death arrives, impeccably dressed.” (Poem ends) “I spent yesterday” (Kevin continues conversationally), ‘in the Accident…
Melbourne Poetry Map
A note from Indrani Perera’s newsletter ‘The Poet’s Express’, (November 2022 issue) exploring Eleanor Jackson’s creation, the Melbourne Poetry Map. Take a walking tour around the city of Naarm (Melbourne, Australia) courtesy of some of the city’s finest poets. Curated by poet and performer, Eleanor Jackson, the Melbourne Poetry Map is a brilliant way to discover a city. About The…
Courtney Marie Andrews, ‘Loose Future’
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j2ZaU2hCdOY&list=RDj2ZaU2hCdOY&index=1
Reading David Marr’s ‘Stories, Essays & Speeches’ (Black Inc 2018)
Reading David Marr’s publication of a few years ago, ‘Stories, Essays & Speeches’ … it surprises me at times the way that personal connections have a habit of arising unexpectedly. In Marr’s essay on John Gorton, he mentions Gorton’s elevation to Minister for the Navy in 1958, explaining Gorton being told ‘never to use the…
Review, David Mason poetry collection ‘Pacific Light’ (Los Angeles Review of Books, 20 Nov 2022)
Thoughtful words, both by and about US poet David Mason, now resident in Tasmania. Siham Karami reviews Mason’s Pacific Light (Forty South Publishing, Sept 2022)…. In this collection, we sense it in the very first poem, “On the Shelf,” whose title rhymes with and is the same metric length as that of the final poem,…
Launch speech—Karen Knight’s & Jules Witek’s ‘AT FIRST GLANCE’
Launch also covers Jules Witek’s photographic exhibition, both were launched by Liz McQuilkin, at Triabunna on 12th November 2022
WestWords—David Adès and Peter Boyle in conversation [24th Nov 2022]
More than an hour of poetry and conversation between poets David Adès and Peter Boyle, on Peter’s selected theme— exploring the unknown in life. DAVID Peter, with the theme that you’ve selected ‘Exploring the unknown in life’, you’re reading poems today from your last two books ‘Ideas of travel’, and ‘Notes towards the dream book of endings’….
Small Press Network—2022 Book of the Year Award: winner Eleanor Jackson
The Small Press Network (SPN) this evening announced the winner of the 2022 Small Press Network Book of the Year Award (BOTY): Gravidity and Parity by Eleanor Jackson, published by Vagabond Press! Below, from Small Press Network’s Fiona Wallace’s interview with Eleanor earlier in the month: Q. Your poems have a powerful sense of immersion in the…
Colette—from the short story ‘Grape Harvest’
She wanted some more bacon, and cut into the peasant bread, made of pure wheat, brown but succulent, and demanded from the gnarled giant an account of the war of 1870. It was brief. “What’s to say? It wasn’t a very pretty sight … I remember everybody falling all around me and dying in their…
Woorilla Poetry Prize 2022
The Woorilla Poetry Prize was judged this year by Kevin Brophy and Alicia Sometimes, with the awards event taking place in Emerald, Victoria. Kevin Brophy spoke briefly about the judging process. ‘I guess I want to remind you at the start that judging a poetry competition is a very human process. There is a human…
Ukrainian folk music quartet DakhaBrakha—NPR Music Tiny Desk (Home) Concert
DakhaBrakha—an NPR Music Tiny Desk (Home) concert DakhaBrakha … founded in 2004 … The group’s name derives from Ukrainian verbs daty and braty, which mean “give” and “take”, respectively.
2022 Tasmanian Literary Awards—shortlists announced
Lovely to see Lyn’s book made it to the shortlist, sorry Pete’s didn’t (he had two nominations that made the longlist)… sorry too for Adrienne who also had a couple of longlistings. (And for Jane, of course). Meanwhile, congrats to those who made it through. There’s a link to the shortlists on this page, as…
The Joan Didion estate sale
Sophie Haigney, writing for ‘The Paris Review’ (17th Nov 2022) about the artefacts being auctioned in the US at the Joan Didion estate sale…. Then there were the three lots of blank notebooks, tied with twine. They went for $9,000, $11,000, and $11,000 each. They were empty, some still wrapped in plastic, yet they were…
Csik Zenekar—Hungarian folk music ensemble
Jane’s poetry residency in Slovakia in 2016 led to an introduction to Hungarian and Slovak music. This, from Csik Zenekar, (recorded 2009)….
Launch of ‘Reaching Light’, by Robert Adamson [Sydney, July 2022]
Robert reading and in conversation with his Flood Editions USA editor/publisher & poet Devin Johnston, with readings by Sarah Holland-Batt and Michele Seminara. The very sad news is that Robert Adamson is gravely ill. * * * * …
Anne Collins—book launch
Lovely to see that Anne Collins has launched her newest collection of poems and prose—’Listening to the Deep Song’ (Bright South)—in Hobart last week. The book was launched at Hadley’s Hotel on 11th November by Petrina Meldrum: I’d like to say how happy I am to be back in Hobart to share in the…
Didion: ‘the civil war was yesterday’
Haven’t decided on Didion. Some things she writes are breezily anecdotal—and no more—at other times she hits the spot. Here she’s in Greenville, Mississippi, reflecting on New Orleans and the South with locals. The year is 1970. The time warp: The Civil War was yesterday, but 1960 is spoken of as if it were about…
Poets on the Line—featuring Gina Mercer (18th Nov)
‘Poets on the Line’ is zoom event organised by Ross Donlon from Agitation Hill (Castlemaine, Victoria) this Friday 18th November, from 6 – 7 pm. Zoom link will be posted in a few days. Featured poet for this first event is Gina Mercer. Format is of a 20 minute reading, then Q & A involving…
Hobart launch—Jan Colville’s ‘a small universe’
Jan is releasing a new chapbook of her poetry, a small universe! (published by Bright South). Where: Hobart Bookshop When: 24th of November, at 5.30pm Please rsvp: rsvpbrightsouth@gmail.com or call (03) 6223 1803
Book launch—Gayelene Carbis’ ‘I Have Decided To Remain Vertical’; Melbourne 16 Oct 2022, launched by Marion May Campbell
Plenty of support for Gayelene Carbis, when Marion May Campbell launched her new poetry collection—’I Have Decided To Remain Vertical’—at Readings in St Kilda last month. With Claire Gaskin MC-ing the event, local choir The Red Hot Singers — (‘This is not a choir, it’s a singing group … in other words, informal’, someone clarified;…
Fourth Australian Haiku Anthology—Call for submissions
The Australian Haiku Society has announced a call for submissions for the Fourth Australian Haiku Anthology (4AHA) that will showcae the work of poets who are writing haiku in Australia today. It is almost a decade since the previous Australian haiku anthology was released and the landscape has changed significantly since then. The society’s mission…
Myron Lysenko: ‘If we lose this war, we’re going to lose our country, our language and our culture….’
Myron Lysenko, in conversation with Tina Giannoukos on 3CR Spoken Word this morning, Thursday 27th Oct 2022. “A lot of the Ukrainian people believe that we will win the war, even though we’re fighting against extreme odds. If we lose this war, we’re going to lose our country, our language and our culture so it’s…
All their information was fifth-hand….
[Joan Didion: from ‘South and West’ (pg 34)] “You-all ought to come visit with us,” a third woman said. They were all young women, the oldest among them perhaps thirty. “I’d play organ for you.” “We’ll never get up there,” the first woman said. “I never been anyplace I wanted to go.” (and, a couple…
Alice Allan—3CR’s ‘Spoken Word’
It was good hearing poet and podcaster Alice Allan in conversation with 3CR’s Waffle IronGirl on the ‘Spoken Word’ show, on the 20th October 2022. Alice has published a couple of poetry titles—’The Empty Show’ (Rabbit Books), and the chapbook ‘Blanks’ (Slow Loris)—but considers herself primarily a podcaster. She produces the weekly podcast ‘Poetry Says’,…