Cirrus@Austlit

'Denham Grierson's new volume of poems gladly acknowledges that the poet's craft and art is unlike any other genre of writing and composition. The thoughts and words come often unbidden, unresolved, into the poet's consciousness, requiring openness, hesitancy and perhaps, above all, a degree of humility in offering what are ultimately reflections on situations and realities experienced personally and socially in our troubled world.

'In 'times of heaviness', the poet seeks to bring light and air, to offer hope, to remind us of kindness, compassion and the other utterly human values that help us experience the goodness of life in all its expressions. He writes: '... each poem carries a gift to be received, and vistas to be discerned and contemplated. It is hoped they will do their work well'.

'Of their nature, all poems are unfinished. Only in our reading do we notice those things unknown and unnoticed; the gifts offered for our consolation; the words that express awareness, longing, challenge and the possibility of fulfilment in our journey.' (Publication summary)

'Music from a Breaking Wave is a new selection of poems from Uniting Church minister Denham Grierson. As in his previous volumes Turning in Time and Sharing Water by the River, he suggests that the mystery of the divine and the purposes of life are found not only in Scriptures, creeds and formal occasions of worship but in everyday encounters with nature, people, situations and the ordinary 'stuff' that shape our lives and give them meaning.

'The poems witness his personal and faith-filled conviction that all poetry seeks the extra-ordinary buried in the ordinary; and in the tradition of the model parable teller, his poems are themselves music to surprise, delight, challenge; and, above all, to celebrate and be thankful for the richness of our lives.'  (Publication summary)

'A Quiet Place Within is a collection of short reflection entries and poems that anyone - young and old, religious or spiritual - can read, reflect and absorb even amid the humdrum and busyness of everyday life. The writings are the result of years of praying, reflecting and contemplating on ordinary experiences, social and political issues of the days. Most of all, they reflect the author's awareness of the delicate and gentle presence of the Divine within one's heart and soul. 
'The author acknowledges that a gift with words is a grace in his life something gifted in his life because he believes that such words - expressed as reflections or as poems - represent bread for his journey and fruits of a reflective life. He asserts the centrality of serious, daily reflection because he believes that without reflection, life is no longer worth living. Yet he acknowledges that reflection is not done only through our own ability and effort; it is always a gifted grace in which one sees everything in the light of God and understands everything according to the Spirit. 
'The book is offered as a practical help for the reflective life of the reader, not only for Christians but for anyone who searches for meaning and integrity in their everyday life.'  (Publication summary)

'This is the story of the part one man played in the origins, development and general acceptance of Australia’s policy of Multiculturalism.

'James Houston traces his role in Multiculturalism’s earliest formulation. In 1973, strategically located in the Immigration Department – and contrary to the views of its officials – he distilled his vision for Australia’s future into a speech written for Al Grassby, Minister for Immigration in the Whitlam Government. He drew on the convictions of some visionary academics and Melbourne migrant activists, as well as his own four-year Australia-wide field research with ethnic community leaders.

'Following the Dismissal, in the face of the Fraser Government’s disinterest and grudging funding, he recounts the heroic seven-year struggle by the puny Office of Community Relations to implement the new Racial Discrimination Act. Houston’s ‘simple’ role was to reshape community attitudes towards the discrimination experienced by Aborigines and migrants! In the process, his Christian convictions about social justice would be sharpened.

'So how did the son of an unemployed labourer, born during the Great Depression, find himself in this role? Benefiting from quality education in NSW for gifted but poorer students and accessing Sydney University through scholarships, he became a modern languages teacher – in NSW, UK and Germany.

On a lighter note, the book evokes a 1940s childhood, a dawning awareness of the wider world and a fascination with language, culture and travel – each a lifelong passion. It traces a long and purposeful life marked by creative endeavours, delight in travels worldwide and a love for tutoring university students in China. Ordained to the Anglican ministry in later life, he served as vicar in Melbourne’s neediest parish and, later, as Director of Cross-Cultural Ministry for the Diocese.

'The closing chapters offer a Christian commentary on life in Australia today and the search for meaning in a fractured world. The Memoir describes a life-embracing journey of faith and self-discovery with God as gracious companion.' (Production summary)

'From Turner, Picasso and Keats to the anonymous and little known, from poets to dancers to painters, these poems sweep through mythology and art, gathering inspiration from tiny Sumerian seals of antiquity through to Brancusi's birds and Michelangelo's Pieta. Irreverent and intense, both challenging and challenged, this is one woman's take on the twin passions of her life - love and art. Both are engaged with as she quests for a woman's language of a lived poetry of both mind and heart.' (Publication summary)