Cirrus@Austlit

'This article discusses the extent to which female poets in Australia were disadvantaged by the predominance of male anthologists from the 1940s until recently. Through their actions many male anthologists, whether they were conscious of their bias or not, discriminated against female poets, often believing firmly in their own judgements about ‘quality’. Virginia Woolf’s personification of the patriarchy as Professor von X is still found in this period in the pronouncements of male anthologists who confuse their judgement of quality with an absolute truth, rather than understanding it as a matter of personal preference. However, ground-breaking female anthologists such as Kate Jennings, Susan Hampton, Kate Llewellyn, Jennifer Strauss and Susan Lever were able to identify strong work by many female poets, suggesting that many male anthologists were unconsciously discounting the work of female poets or favouring the work of male poets because they were men. From 1975, the publication of a number of women-only anthologies, particularly those by mainstream publishers, brought attention to the many female poets and the different voices and subjects they brought to their poetry, and compelled future anthologists to at least consider the female poets published in them. There has been a demonstrable upswing in the percentage of female poets included in mainstream anthologies since the appearance of the early women-only anthologies.' (Publication abstract)

'… like a passenger hovering

above a glittering city in a holding pattern,

waiting for clearance. I walk out on the street

and feel warm rain like permission on my face.

'From the opening poem of Maggie Shapley’s first collection Proof, we know we are in the company of a thoughtful, sometimes restless, poet. Here, in explorations of childhood and family, memory and loss, belonging and dislocation, we find every word conveying a powerful sense of lived encounters and experience. This is poetry characterised by close observation, a restrained wit and a fine precision of language.' (Publication summary)