AustLit

'As we began to compile this issue towards the end of 2020, the local Melbourne poetry scene (and beyond) was deeply saddened to hear of the unexpected passing of Ania Walwicz. Ania was a poet, writer and artist born in Poland in 1951; she came to Australia in 1963 with her family, and it became her permanent home. I first met Ania in person about 10 years ago; we sat at an outside table at Federal Coffee Palace in the Melbourne CBD as I interviewed her about her dual careers in writing and teaching (that interview was published in issue no. 7 of Rabbit). I had read Ania’s prose poems and other experimental works long before this time, and had also heard her read at numerous events—her distinctive voice and style, both on and off the page, disrupted norms of speaking and communicating as she regularly challenged concepts of self and belonging. She was also fond of psychoanalytic modes of thinking, which infused all of her writing. Not only had Ania amassed a considerable following, but she always managed to draw a crowd to a public reading event. And yet, chatting to Ania in person for a few hours showed me the expanse of her thinking mind, and her curiosity and concern for art and for the world.' (Jessica L. Wilkinson, Editorial introduction)