This month we revisit the work of Gwen Harwood (1920–1995), a great Australian poet who wrote many astounding pieces, a number of them feminist, which continue to resonate today. Harwood’s poetry criticized idealised concepts of motherhood and exposed the frustration and isolation faced by women, especially young women with children. She wrote under a variety…
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I feel privileged to review this unassuming little gem of a chapbook. It’s a debut collection from a young poet and, as such, it has received reviews that are positive while at the same time mildly condescending, with some reviewers noting that the poet’s voice ‘is still developing’. I’m sure the same could be said…
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Tracy Ryan’s The Argument is a profoundly thoughtful and sensitive volume of poems. It won the 2011 Western Australian Premier’s Book Award for Poetry, which was announced in September last year, and it is the poet’s sixth collection. More than anything, it’s the domesticity that appeals to me about this book. The poems often point…
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A few years ago, Melbourne Books began compiling the country’s prize-winning stories and publishing them in an annual collection called, Award Winning Australian Writing (AWAW). Last year, they added poems to the mix. It’s such a wonderful idea I don’t know why it wasn’t done sooner. The series is now in its fifth year. There are…
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There are some prize-winning books, which, to be honest, after reading, I haven’t felt any wiser as to why they received the accolades emblazoned on their covers. But it’s hard to miss what’s extraordinary about Tracy K. Smith’s Life on Mars. It blew me away with Big Bang impact. It’s clear why this book won…
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It’s like the Australian poetry scene’s twelve-monthly check-up; the so-called “best” of the year’s poems, as chosen from around three thousand submissions, with a little over one hundred making the cut. It is John Tranter’s second and final year as editor of the series, which changes editors regularly to keep the collections fresh. In his…
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By Bronwyn Lovell ‘His words stand alone as poetry’, says Ray Purvis from The West Australian on the first page, and the blurb on the back cover claims ‘Don’t Start Me Talking comprises some of the finest poetry written in Australia’. I both agree and disagree with these statements. The way the lyrics appear on…
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The Sunlit Zone refers to that layer of ocean where the light penetrates, above the dark depths. Lisa Jacobson’s verse novel is aptly named. It is lilting and tidal. Its lyric language is lively, playful, and yet dares to dip into the darkness that dwells under the surface of ordinary lives. This is an incredibly…
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