Cirrus@Austlit

'My first encounter with an Australian poem, after arriving in Tasmania as an overseas immigrant teenager, was Gwen Harwood’s ‘Barn Owl’ (the devastating but beautiful first part of ‘Father and Child’). I have never forgotten it. Gwen Harwood, who would have turned 100 in 2020, remains Tasmania’s most recognised poet. It has been a pleasure to be able to run the Gwen Harwood Poetry Prize competition in 2020/21, and we thank the Cultural Fund of the Copyright Agency and The Hobart Bookshop for sponsoring the prize. Enjoy the five fine poems in this issue, selected by Island's poetry editor Lisa Gorton, Lachlan Brown and Bella Li from more than 300 submitted for judging. Another very special inclusion in this issue is ‘If These Halls Could Talk’ – a set of 10 creative responses to place and community in collaboration with Tasmania’s Ten Days on the Island festival. We hope you enjoy this virtual literary trip around the island along with stories, essays, poems and art from many remarkable Australian creatives.' (Vern Field, Publication introduction)

'Best of Australian Poems is a new annual anthology collecting previously published and unpublished poems to create a poetic snapshot of the year that was.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)