Cirrus@Austlit

'Welcome to our last issue for 2020. What a turbulent year it’s been – but also a rousing one for ABR, as the Editor reports in Advances. Highlights of the issue include our perennial favourite, Books of the Year: 33 ABR critics nominate some of their favourite books. The list forms a testament to the resilience of great writing even during a pandemic. Meanwhile, Morag Fraser, reviewing two new edited volumes, imagines what Australia might look like after Covid-19. Nicholas Jose reviews the second volume of Helen Garner’s inimitable diaries, and Frank Bongiorno reviews the new collection of writings from Don Watson. Anna MacDonald finds much to admire in Josephine Rowe’s short tribute to the late Beverley Farmer, and Brenda Niall relishes the task of revisiting the short stories of one of Australia’s greatest writers, Shirley Hazzard. Paul Giles – our Critic of the Month – writes about William Faulkner.'(Publication summary)

'Best of Australian Poems is a new annual anthology collecting previously published and unpublished poems to create a poetic snapshot of the year that was. Capturing the richness and diversity of Australian poetry, across a timeframe of 1 July 2020 - 30 June 2021, the series will explore how poetic responses to the contemporary moment develop with each passing year.

'The book opens with an introduction by its 2021 editors, award-winning poets Ellen van Neerven and Toby Fitch. They discuss their approach to curating the 'aural events' of this inaugural anthology, which features 100 poems across a considered, also provocative at times, range of poetic voices, approaches and themes.

'The Best of Australian Poems (BoAP) series is published by Australia's national poetry organisation, Australian Poetry, and will feature two different guest editors each year.' (Publication summary)