AustLit

'Well before the pandemic, the future for poetry’s slim volumes was looking far from healthy.  Last November, the threatened closure of UWA Press, one of the largest publishers of poetry in Australia, drew attention to the narrowing opportunities for emerging poets to make their mark.  The venerable Griffin Press, however, now under the Ovato umbrella, remains in the business of fostering ‘untried authors’.' (Introduction)

'In these times of heated social media diatribes, political Greco-Roman wrasslin’ and semi-permanent lockdowns (cue the mandatory beating of my Melburnian breast), I have decided to observe October as a month to observe other people observing things. For me, there was a sense of self crumbling under the weight of being house arrested for the good of all. Gravitas, like gravity, can be crushing; I knew I needed a break from howling at the Moon (16 October is the ‘international observe the Moon night’). So to the calendar I turned.' (Introduction)