AustLit

(Publication summary)

'Leopardwood is the first part of a verse novel series (including Kirinya and Dear Yukie) exploring how we are together, with our history and our environment. From the author of The Water Cart.' (Publication summary)

'Grace contains poems of reflection, memories and hope drawn from over a hundred years of a wonderful life. The fullness and diversity of Dorethie Willing's experiences are illustrated through her keen observations of the world around her at various stages of her life.' (Publication summary)

''In the tanka tradition, Amelia shares the personal in her life, yet offers her human adventure in a universal manner. Her readers will recognise their own lives in the specifics of the life Amelia has shared in her tanka. Also, she respects the tanka tradition of writing lyrical poems. Read out loud her tanka for yourself and/or recite for loved ones and friends so that you (and they) will hear the song-like quality of her verse.' - Neal Whitman' (Publication summary)

'This collection of short and 'micro' stories arises from imagination working on snippets of ideas gleaned across the times and places of my life. Many have an underlying autobiographical origin, but even these are fictionalised. They are not intended as a factual record, but as places where your thoughts, like mine, can come to play and dance. If you find at the end of a busy day that just a few minutes of reading are sufficient to leave the day's thoughts behind and induce sleep, then these stories are for you.'   (Publication summary)

'This is Irene Wilkie's third collection. Here are poems that invite the reader into the natural and human world, to see, hear, touch and empathise. They offer the idea that awareness of life's fragility can be softened by each new dawn.' (Publication summary)

'Dear Yukie is the third part of a verse novel series (including Leopardwood and Kirinya) exploring how we are together, with our history and our environment. From the author of The Water Cart.' (Publication summary)

'In 1984, after a somewhat acrimonious move out of the National Library of Australia, the newly minted National Film and Sound Archive took up residence in the old Institute of Anatomy in Canberra. From the first day, it seems, living archivists were not the only occupants of the building. The place had a colourful history associated with human and other animal remains, including racehorse Phar Lap's heart and what was thought to be Ned Kelly's skull. The fine art deco Institute building mostly cleared of soft tissue war-wounds floating in jars of preservative, as well as articulated skeletons, standing tall in elegant display cases. Within a year or two, as the beginner-archivists settled in, struggling with issues of identity and management, limited funding to preserve the nation's sound and moving image heritage, workers began to see and to hear things. An accusation persisted that film and sound had been 'deceitfully' ripped out of the National Library. Also, sound and moving image seemed incompatible bed-fellows. Could that have been a cause of disturbances at the Archive? People saw pestering spirits on balconies and in shady corridors. Incomprehensible voices hung in the air. There was nothing in the Occupational Health and Safety Manual that covered accepted behaviour and best practice in haunted buildings. But the author found Shakespeare helped. The Bard's works provided, perhaps, the largest catalogue of paranormal occurrences to compare and contrast with the encounters archivists described. Before long the National Film and Sound Archive was being touted as Australia's most haunted building. This book presents stories from that haunting. Investigating likely causes, it offers a tentative explanation as to why ghosts seemed to arise to bother the living.'   (Publication summary)

'Scrapbooks and Broken Strings recounts Jude Murphy's formative years set firmly in the Australian 80s. After a shocking tragedy pierces her childhood, Jude struggles to manage her grief, endure the challenges of young adulthood, navigate a series of tumultuous relationships and traverse the terrain of motherhood and post-natal depression. In this courageously candid and often darkly humorous memoir, Jude shares her battle with drugs, alcohol, illness and madness. Well paced and written in a conversational tone, Scrapbooks and Broken Strings will take you through a range of emotional highs and lows before concluding with a sense of hope.' (Publication summary)

''Each haiku is not a mere poetic sketch, but a journey to explore the mysteries hidden behind. Day Moon Fading suggests the secrets in familiar matters. The midday moon, not lying on the surface, is watching over the poet from the sky throughout in the collection. Day Moon Fading is a fantastic haiku collection.' - Toshio Kimura, Professor of English, Nihon University, Tokyo' (Publication summary)

'At twenty, Anna married an ambitious computer scientist. Now, twelve years later, they have three young daughters. Yet something vital is missing. He is more away than at home, and she dreams of an equal love. But she dreads the price of breaking free. Within a year, the marriage shatters and her children are abducted overseas. In the vengeful shadow of their father's blame, how can she nurture and protect those who were the crown and comfort of her life? The true-life story of a desperate choice and its heart-breaking yet redemptive consequences for Anna and her daughters. '(Publication summary)

'A trade unionist conceives a grand poem which will encompass his whole life since World War II. Soon he finds he must include his grandfather in 1915, his mother in Hobart in 1935, his father in Egypt with the air force, George Orwell in Spain, a German pilgrim, some French resisters shot in 1944, Soviet sailors drowned in a sub, Cole Porter, Venice, Bob Dylan, Hans Holbein, Anne of Cleves, Trotsky and Tsar Nicholas II. His daughters will be in there, and his wives, and his work. There will be politics, dreams, elections, paintings, mountains, funerals, vineyards, folk music. He cannot evade his implication in dispossession and oppression. These poems try to make some sense of our disquieting times - without certainty, without buttressing from religion or ideology. There's nothing else like this.' (Publication summary)

''Williamson presents great images and plays so well with colour in this manuscript. His environmental poems shine with naked engagement.' - Les Wicks

'A new collection from the author of Ties to Red Hill, Edge of Southern Bright, To the Spice Islands, Moments from Red Hill and The DNA Bookshelf.' (Publication summary)

'Exploring issues like the need to respect a fragile environment and the rights of marginalised people (with quite a focus placed on migration), this collection is underpinned by the belief we should show greater care for fellow humans; for our world; for other living things.' (Publication summary)

''Robert Frost said, "Poetry is saying one thing in terms of another." David Kelly's unique craft, showcased in planes, birds, cats, things, does exactly that. Don't be fooled by the simplicity of the title. Aspects of life, observation and appreciation are embodied in these poems. Strong lines and often unusual vision are the hallmark of David Kelly's writing.' - Helene Castles

''Dear David, I have nothing to offer but my slackness, that and the fact of my birthday weekend and getting to bed at about 8 a.m. this morning. If it's any consolation I really like the MS and will get you something glowing earlyish next week.' - Tug Dumbly

''In a tete-a-tete between sincerity and the literal, David Kelly's poetry raises its head above the literary parapet to personably (colloquially, proletarianly maybe) see and say exactly what's what. This book of his shorter poems does the job with wit, sentiment & charm. '- Kris Hemensley' (Publication summary)

''There is a fierce tenderness in these poems of happy remembrance and devastating sorrow. With so much love expressed so beautifully in the first half of the book, we instinctively fear what is to come, as if all that light cast shadows across our path. Though the death of a loved partner - also a poet - is deeply personal, these passionate poems open out and touch us with a consoling grief.' - Paul Kane

''"Life, like a dome of many-coloured glass, stains the white radiance of eternity." - Percy Bysshe Shelley. From the first poem that speaks of the "delicate prints of oyster catchers" to the comfort of a ragged dressing gown, the protective love of the kahu-feather cloak and the "butcher-bird that perches very close", Pip, as a poet and wordsmith transports us into an experience that shines multicoloured with the beauty of a stained glass window. Each poem is a facet that adds to the mosaic, each poem a gentle play of light, illuminating page by page. For those of us who know life is a gift and are called to the hard work of hope, The Climb Back is invaluable.' - Colleen Keating

''Poignant, sensual, spiritual, sorrowful, and funny, Pip Griffin's latest poetry collection The Climb Back encompasses a life richly lived. What is not to admire about a poet who can write lines as diverse as "the shags open their sodden wings like flashers' raincoats" and "cherry trees in blossom line the streets like flower girls at a wedding". This book is a hymn to New Zealand, Pip's homeland, and a celebration of its landscape, wildlife and the Maori language. But even above this, it is a memorial to Ted, her friend, lover and fellow poet. If he were still here, I'd be clinking my glass with his, to celebrate her achievement.' - Mark Mahemoff' (Publication summary)