Category: Island

Island 104

Thursday 27th April, 2006 – 5.30pm, Hobart Bookshop, Hobart.

Island 104 was launched in Hobart this evening by Norman Reaburn, Chair of Island’s Management Committee.

Norman spoke of the procedures followed for finding a new editor, how in the past the committee had met behind shut doors and scratched its collective head till coming up with a name. This time, they’d decided to do things differently, instigating a national search for an editor by networking through friends and colleagues across the whole of the continent. And the response, said Reaburn, amazed and astounded, there was a significant number of people interested in the job.

Secretly, in its heart of hearts, the committee had hoped to be able to find an editor who lived in Tasmania. Gina Mercer’s application had been one of the early ones, and in Reaburn’s mind was the vague notion that even at this early stage of proceedings they’d found their applicant. Gina possessed a strong academic background, had published a novel, a poetry collection, had acted as a judge for literary competitions and won critical and academic attention for her work. ‘We took great pride and pleasure in offering her the editorship of Island, and took great delight when she accepted.’

David Owen, retiring editor, spoke of Island as ‘an unpredictable magazine’, but with so much communal support and goodwill ‘it is impossible to see how it could fail’. He named and thanked the work of previous editors who’d brought good things to Island and made it a truly national magazine. ‘I’ve had a few handover sessions with Gina, the magazine is in very, very good hands, I’m absolutely thrilled to be handing over to her.’

‘As for anecdotes,’ David continued … ‘well there were the occasional difficulties, such as with the second issue I edited. A reference I made in the editorial was – I realised – basically a big mistake on my part. This was at eight o’clock at night, just after we’d taken the magazine to the printers. I rang them first thing next morning, “I hope you haven’t started printing yet?” ‘

‘Yeah, just about finished….’

‘So I told them my problem, and they said don’t worry, we’ll just cut the page out, do a cut and paste job & no one will notice, you might at most see a little join.’

Owen said he lived with – and learned from – the experience.

‘And then there’s Island’s letterhead masthead,’ he continued, ‘which on one side says “excellence’ and on the other “variety”. I’ve had quite a few letters just addressed to The Editor, Island Excellence Variety. Or addressed to Rodney Croome; this will happen to you too Gina, so when they come your way, simply reply mentioning Rodney left about nine years ago….’

Owen went on to relate a wee mishap in a portaloo, remarking that ‘if there’s any writer who I felt worthy of pissing on my leg it was him: that’s the way I’ll remember Island!’

Gina Mercer spoke of her vision for Island as a ‘national conversation’, rooted and composted in Tasmania with writing diverse and rich. ‘Tasmania has been a fantastic and welcoming place to come to, as has been the experience of coming to grips with editing the magazine. I’ve always been a reader, but now I’m reading Island six or seven times before publication – and it’s David’s turn to be able to relax and enjoy the magazine for what it is without the responsibility of editing it into print.’

Gina wished David well and invited a half-dozen contributors to read from Island 104. ‘The next Island launch will be on Friday 23rd June’, she continued, ‘as part of The Tasmanian Writers Centre’s Ice Cold Words Festival dealing with writing about the Antarctic.’ Gina encouraged continued support for the magazine. ‘All my family and friends know what they’re getting for Christmas … Island in their stockings. And if you ever feel the need to contact and converse with me, feel free – particularly if it’s at the time I’m stuffing Island magazine into envelopes to contributors and subscribers, I’d love your help.’

Gwen Harwood Prize 2005

A small crowd has gathered at Hobart Bookshop for the announcement of the winner of the Gwen Harwood Prize. Island’s editor David Owen welcomes guests, thanks judges Adrienne Eberhard and Kevin Gillam, “two individuals far apart – Kevin in Perth, Western Australia, Adrienne here in Hobart – a distance that could of course cause difficulties, but then again … maybe it’s a positive!”

David introduces Sarah Day, who describes the background to the Gwen Harwood Poetry Prize. Gwen was born in Queensland in 1920, raised and educated in Brisbane and in 1945 moved to Tasmania with her husband William – a move she did not at first appreciate. But her life here became immensely rewarding and productive, not least being mother to four children. And over a thirty-year period she published seven highly acclaimed volumes of poetry including The Lion’s Bride, In Plato’s Cave, Bone Scan and two Selected Poems. “Gwen Harwood is justly considered a major twentieth-century English language poet and it’s therefore all the more rewarding to be able to announce this year’s winners of this prestigious prize established in her name”.

Sarah announces the three Minor Prizes: first runner up Carolyn Fisher for ‘A Life of Birds’. “Carolyn lives in Ulverstone. It’s always very pleasing to have a Tasmanian poet recognised in this prestigious national award. She is here this evening and will shortly red ‘A Life of Birds’.”

“The second runner up is Ray Liversidge for ‘The Divorce Papers’. Ray Liversidge is a Melbourne poet whose first book of poetry, Obeying the Call, was published by Ginninderra Press in 2003. His verse novel The Barrier Range will be published next year by Flat Chat Press.”

“The third runner up is Lucy Holt for ‘The Love-doggedness Sonnets – Part I’. Lucy is a twenty-three year old poet who lives in Brunswick, Victoria. Her collection Stories of Bird was published earlier this year by the Poets Union.”

“I have much pleasure,” Sarah continues, “in announcing that the winner of the Gwen Harwood Poetry Prize for 2005 is Mark Tredinnick for ‘The Child & Time’. Mark is an essayist, poet, critic and writing teacher. He lives both in Katoomba and in Sydney, NSW. His books include The Land’s Wild Music, published this year, and the forthcoming landscape memoir The Blue Plateau. He is also the editor of A Place on Earth: An Anthology of Nature Writing from Australia and North America. Mark teaches creative nonfiction, nature writing, ecology and literature, business writing, composition and grammar in the University of Sydney’s continuing education program and elsewhere. His work will be familiar to readers of Island: his essay ‘Days of Christmas’ won the 2005 Wildcare Tasmania Nature Writing Prize, and he will in fact soon be in residence at Lake St Clair, as part of that prize winner’s package.”

“As we did last year, with the winner not from Tasmania, the winning poem is read out on the winner’s behalf. This evening John Hale, well known stage actor and good friend of Island magazine, will read ‘The Child & Time’.”

John Hale makes his way to the front of the room – “I’m an actor & I need a stage!” – noting how pleased he is to be faced with a small crowd this evening. “I’ve read Mark’s poem, and think it best felt in a room where there’s a sense of intimacy and perhaps a shared bottle of wine. It’s the kind of poem suggestive of whispers in a lover’s ear, a poem of intimacy and of great beauty.”

David Owen rounds off the evening with ‘Thanks John. I only wish we’d had a recorder here to tape your rendition of Mark’s poem’.