Cirrus@Austlit

'Robert Adamson, one of our greatest poets, died aged 79 on December 16, 2022. By that time, as recorded in the biographical note in his final book, Birds and Fish: Life on the Hawkesbury, he had published 21 volumes of poetry and had long been a renowned editor, critic and publisher. He made a significant and lasting contribution to Australian literature.' (Introduction)

I first encountered Max Frankl during a Masterclass at the University of Sydney. He was one of three visiting writers, the only one I hadn't heard of, and to be honest, I almost didn't attend his session. He was listed on the programme as a German literary critic and philologist, a scary prospect for any member of the likely audience, still worse for those of us who needed to google 'philologist'. Also, Max was scheduled for late in the day, a 7pm start, on a Tuesday, and I knew I'd have a train to catch - in those days, I always had a train to catch. But as it happened, for the middle session I was seated  next to Maxine Sayastri, an Indonesian student I recognised from the previous semester's previous poetry workshop. Maxine and I hadn't spoken much - she was in the English Literature stream, I was in Creative Writing - but I'd liked her poems; they were pithy, in the best sense of the word, and therefore departed favourably from much else that was presented, my own work included. (Introduction)

This is the story of Sunni and Marli who have fled their homeland and now must flee a violent father. Hope prevails through Sunni's imagination of the stars, the sky and new friends. [Source: The Blue Mountains Gazette, 12 November 2014]