AustLit

'Foxline by Chris Mansell, Flying Island Books 2020, was launched by Jean Kent at The Shop Gallery, Glebe on 21st February 2021.'

'Forty years ago — when I was such a new poet I would never have dared call myself one— I bought a book which is still one of my most treasured possessions. It was the catalogue for a touring exhibition of poems by Australian poets. There were only 75 poets included: one of them was Richard Tipping.' (Introduction)

'On First Looking publishes poems by student writers at Avondale College of Higher Education alongside work by some of Australia's best contemporary poets. It is the fifth volume in a project which has run over the last decade, and like the books it follows, this anthology introduces a diverse range of poetic voices and places them within the context of a wider poetic community. With a nod in homage to John Keats' poem 'On First Looking into Chapman's Homer', this collection celebrates a long tradition of connections between writers. It is a unique showcase for work by new and mature poets, all of them united by poetry's gift of bringing us the world as if it has been looked at for the very first time.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'All These Presences publishes poems by creative writing students at Avondale College alongside work by a selection of established Australian poets. Like the three earlier volumes it follows, Wording the World (2010), Here Not There (2012) and A Way of Happening (2014), it is a unique collaboration between writers at very different stages of learning and practising their craft.

'Poetry writing is an intensely personal expression of experience. The poems themselves, however, have a magical ability to move from silence into a world of unexpected conversations and deep connections, not only with readers, but also with other poets. All These Presences is an exciting illustration of that connectedness. It is a vibrant gathering of presences: a fresh and wide-ranging collection of new and mature voices from Australia's contemporary poetic community.' (Publication Summary)

'Jean Kent’s new collection comprises poems written over the last 20 years, from a group of rural meditations through to recent reflections of life lived as part of a lakeside community in northern NSW.

'Launched initially at the Newcastle Writers Festival in March 2015 and then at a celebratory event at the Cardiff Library, where poet and poetry academic Christopher Pollnitz provided a characteristic wryly humorous and insightful celebration of a book destined to be sought after by Jean Kent’s many readers.' (Publication summary)