AustLit

'On 3 April 2020, US Democrat and presidential hopeful Joe Biden—or more likely one of his team of social media minions—tweeted: ‘Now more than ever, we need to choose hope over fear. We will beat COVID-19. We will overcome this. Together.’ It’s hard not to appreciate the banality of this little squitter. Its kitschy burble so manfully yet sagely seeks to convey the urgency of the current situation; the starkness of our choices; the clear and present danger of a named enemy; the necessity and value of our solidarity. Behind Biden’s thumb-pumping bumpf lurks a lineage of inspirational North American wisdom literature, from Ralph Waldo Emerson to Maya Angelou. ‘Hope and fear cannot occupy the same space,’ Angelou announces. ‘Invite one to stay.’ Exhortatory, buoyant, on-topic, what could be more uplifting than such clear-eyed, courageous messages of triumph-in-togetherness in these terrifying times?' (Introduction)

'In Australian literature, Barron Field is at once marginal and foundational. His usual claim to fame is that in 1819 he published the first book of poetry in Australia, a collection entitled First Fruits of Australian Poetry and comprised of two poems, which he then republished with four further poems in 1823. Notably, the book was self‐published using the official government printer, and bears on its title page the declaration ‘For Private Distribution’.' (Introduction)

'Brief, risible, finicky, the limerick is a form whose greatest successes never rise above the mildly embarrassing. Yet despite never having enjoyed unqualified approbation from critics or public, the form has its enthusiasts and eminent ­aficionados: there is no lack of literary luminaries who have lavished love on the limerick. This title continues this queer minor tradition, ­presenting seventy-seven limericks about writers and philo­sophers from St Thomas Aquinas to Simone Weil. Of all the grades of doggerel, the limerick is one of the lowest. Populist and participatory if not precisely popular, the limerick first becomes a hit in Victorian England with Edward Lear’s books of nonsense. It spreads at once across the English-speaking world like a highly contagious linguistic rash. Including a critical essay that delineates the limerick’s salient features, along with a dictionary that collects brief physiognomies of the subjects of the limericks, this book dares to descend into the maelstrom of ­mediocrity and to return, arms overflowing with mixed metaphors and mouldering microplastics.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'2019 will see another Australian bicentenary, the 200th anniversary of the first book of poetry published in this country. You could be forgiven for knowing neither the book nor its author; you could probably also be forgiven for not finding the event all that worthy of memorialisation, let alone celebration. Aside from a few specialists in colonial literature and a handful of historically inclined local poets, who in contemporary Australia could possibly be interested in the (exceedingly) minor poetaster Barron Field — yes, his real name — and his First Fruits of Australian Poetry? Would Field's work be of more interest if it were crucial evidence in the establishment of terra nullius in this country?' (Publication summary)
 

'Amanda Stewart is a poet, author and composer/performer. As well as writing poetry, she is interested in expanding poetic notions to other forms and has worked extensively in new music, radio, film, theatre, dance, sound poetry and new media environments. Some of her poetry utilises more traditional literary devices while other works aim to make an intervention at the level of the materiality of language, itself, exploring a range of conceptual approaches that challenge how we see and hear language structures. She is currently working on a new book of poetry, collaborating on several new music and theatre projects and producing a solo LP.'  (Introduction)