Henry Sheerwater (1984–2025) grew up in Sydney and gained a BA (English) at the University of New South Wales. He lived in Tasmania for many years, writing poetry and essays about ecology, war and literary culture.
Category: poetry collections
Louise Akers | 12 to 20 questions (from rob mclennan’s blog)
(from ‘rob mclennan’s blog’, 17 April 2025) 5 – Are public readings part of or counter to your creative process? Are you the sort of writer who enjoys doing readings? I love doing readings–because they are fun and social and ephemeral experiences, but also it is a hell of a way to edit a poem….
Dulcetly (Kristy Bowen): Adventures in self-publishing
(from a post on Kristy Bowen’s blog Dulcetly | notes on a bookish life – 03 March 2025)) I was moving some books around on my shelf and realized I have now published just as many books via self-publishing as I did traditional publishing…. After 2020, I felt a shift in my relationship toward po-biz…
Five Islands Poetry Prize ~ for a First Book of Poetry
Terms & Conditions This is an annual prize for a first already-published book-length collection of poetry by an Australian poet or a poet living and writing in Australia. The author of the prize-winning book will receive $2750 and the publisher will receive $1100. A book can be entered by the author or publisher. The book…
Adrienne Eberhard | ‘Marie & Marie’, Paris launch
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…
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,…
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…
‘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…
Elanna Herbert ~ 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.
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.
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…
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.
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…
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…
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…
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 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. * * * * …
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;…
Tasmanian poet Tim Slade, reading ‘Thylacine’
Tim Slade’s been writing poetry for a decade, his work has appeared in publications as diverse as The Weekend Australian, The Koori Mail, Australian Poetry Anthology, Growing Up Disabled In Australia and Cordite Poetry Review. Originally from Hobart, he settled in the tiny Tasmanian town of Pioneer a decade ago where he’s drawn inspiration for…
Fullers Poets — Mary Blackwood & Liz McQuilkin: 12th May (Hobart)
Fullers Poets is a new event series celebrating contemporary poetry. The first event in this series will feature poets Liz McQuilkin (Unwrapping Clouds) and Mary Blackwood (Small Cosmos) in conversation, with readings from their work. Praise for Liz McQuilkin: ‘Liz McQuilkin has Mary Oliver’s ability to show us ordinary, yet extraordinary, moments in the natural and human worlds….
Notes from a launch: Esther Ottaway’s ‘Intimate, low-voiced, delicate things’
My take on Jane Williams’ launch of Esther Ottaway’s poetry collection ‘Intimate, low-voiced, delicate things’ in Launceston last year — please visit here. ‘I’ve been a fan of Esther Ottaway’s poetry since her first, small, powerful book Blood Universe some fourteen years ago.’ she said. ‘The long wait has been well worth it and … I suspect Intimate,…
Review, Jane Williams’ ‘Points of Recognition’
Alison Clifton reviews Points of Recognition, one of two of Jane’s collections to appear in 2021 (the other: Between Breaths, Silver Bow Publishing, Canada). ‘Jane Williams’ Points of Recognition is inherently human poetry. Her concerns are wide-ranging: from empathy to idiosyncrasy, the mundane to the marvellous, compassion to passion, diffidence and restraint to ecstasy and…
Launch — Les Wicks’ poetry collection ‘Time Taken — New & Selected’
Time Taken — New & Selected’, (Puncher & Wattman) is Les Wicks’ fifteenth poetry collection. 2022 will mark the 50th anniversary of Wicks’ first poem publication. His imprint Meuse Press will turn 45. He has been presenting workshops around Australia across 35 years. Time Taken is a New & Selected collection revisiting his best poems…
Geoff Goodfellow at Adelaide Festival, 7th March 2022
Geoff Goodfellow returns to Writers’ Week with a reading of his new verse novella, ‘Blight Street, (Walleah Press), featuring Geoff and performers Roslyn Oades and Nic Darrigo. (From the festival’s notes): “Set in the northern suburbs of Adelaide, ‘Blight Street’ is written in the language and idiom of the culture it portrays. Harrowing but tender,…