Cirrus@Austlit

'Pam Brown is not only one of Australia's most prolific and important poets writing today, but also one of our richest archives on the history of late twentieth century Australian poetry. Since this is Cordite's Sydney issue, I thought an interview with her might evince a valuably multifarious image of, perhaps, Australia's most speedily shifting poetic landscape. In particular, as a contemporary Australian poetic history of the late twentieth century stems in part from poets closely associated with the city, it only made sense to ask Pam Brown, Sydney avant-garde collaborator, instigator, publisher and poet. Author of 16 books and 10 chapbooks, Brown has lived most of her life in Sydney, and now lives with her partner in the suburb of Alexandria. As well as offer new understandings of a period thoroughly historicised, I hoped Brown's personal recollections of the formative 1970s would illuminate the significance of those small press and handmade initiatives of the past that Astrid Lorange sees as 'non-causal' and 'monadic' in her Jacket2 archival commentary. Naturally, I was not disappointed.' (Author's introduction)