'Natalie D-Napoleon is a writer, singer-songwriter and educator from Fremantle with an MA in Creative Writing currently working on her PhD. She came to prominence on the poetry scene when she won the 2018 Bruce Dawe Poetry Prize with ‘First Blood: A Sestina’. Also titled First Blood, her debut collection explores various histories—her own, her forebears’, and the wider histories of identity and place. D-Napoleon grew up on a farm on the outskirts of Perth worked by her Croatian-immigrant parents. Her childhood is embedded in that landscape, that culture, and the realisation that the world is much larger. The poems vividly render a girlhood and coming of age coloured by the experience of dislocation.' (Introduction)
'Gail Hennessy launched Knitting Mangrove Roots by Kerri Shying at the Markwell Poet’s Picnic on 22 December 2019.'
'Tricia Dearborn was scheduled to launch Ali Whitelock’s the lactic acid in the calves of your despair at Better Red than Dead in Newtown. Unfortunately that launch, along with many other launches and readings had to be cancelled due to the COVID-19 crisis. Here then, is a virtual launch of the lactic acid in the calves of your despair by Ali Whitelock.'
'The colours on the cover of Lisa Jacobson’s South in the World suggest a sunset. Blooming clouds, glowing sky. An image that summons deep breaths. Blink, and there’s violence in the scene. Not clouds, but smoke moving as quickly as the forest fire that must be beneath it. This sensation of stillness one moment and then suffocation the next is a sensation I felt throughout the collection, full of poems that capture the sweetness of childhood along with the speed and danger of adolescence and adulthood. This feels like a highly personal work. Jacobson’s poems are beautifully written, and the collection is tightly structured: divided into five parts, the collection explores the themes of childhood and motherhood, faith and loss of faith, and activism and awareness.' (Introduction)
'Malapanis has been writing for 20 years and her first solo collection does not disappoint, unless you were hoping it might be nominated for the Anne Elder award . Unfortunately, it does not have the required minimum 20-page length. But the art of a good work, is its quality, its tightness and thematic unity. This book has all that. It leaves me wanting to read more of Malapanis. The twelve poems that form this collection are all rich.' (Introduction)
'Ashbery Mode is an anthology of poems by 67 of some of the brightest and most innovative contemporary poets from all around Australia; and also contains a 1992 photo portrait of John Ashbery, plus a thumb-nail sketch and several concrete poems. I also have a poem included, but will endeavour to be objective.' (Introduction)
