Come along to Binalong!

Launch of Lizz Murphy's SIX HUNDRED DOLLARS with Robyn Sykes, Chris Mansell, Kathy Kituai and, of course, Lizz Murphy herself. 

A Press of Poets

Saturday 6 November at 14:30

Black Swan Restaurant, Binalong

25 Stephens Street
Binalong NSW 2584
(02) 6227 4236

Firing Neurons: Barbara Orlowska-Westwood reads

Hear Barbara Orlowska-Westwood read from her new chapbooks of poems, Firing Neurons, at 2pm on 2 September, 2010 Inverloch Community Hub, Inverloch, Victoria.


In this chapbook, Barbara Orlowska-Westwood speaks from her experience and those of her Polish family. She writes about her childhood and her family’s life in Poland during the Second World War and later under the communist regime. It's direct and affecting. Don't miss the reading if you're down Inverloch way.

Anne Elvey and John Jenkins read at St Kilda Music and Poetry

St Kilda Music and Poetry

On Sunday 5 September 2010 Music, Poetry, Drama
at EcoCentre, St Kilda Botanical Gardens, Herbert Street , St Kilda

3:30 pm Classical acoustic  Kate Walker string quintet play Mozart string quintet in G
Violin Jenny Kirsner, Violin Sally Banks,
Viola Kate Walker, Viola Setsuko Minamikara
Cello Michael Condon
4:10 pm New work: Anne Elvey reads from her recently published collection Claimed by Country
4:40 Dramatic multimedia:  John Jenkins on landscape and ecology. A poetic meditation - observing the changing hills of Kangaroo Ground and the stretches of the Middle Yarra. Small and exquisite details juxtapose the panorama of wider ecological and philosophical questions. Incorporating projected photographic images and projected poem-texts with field sound recordings and piano.
$5 (conc.), $7 inc. vegetarian snacks, tea, coffee.

Chris Mansell launches Sandra Thibodeaux's *Extinctions*, Darwin, 2010

I'm very pleased to be here to launch Extinctions. It's a lovely chapbook which I was very proud to publish – the second chapbook by Sandra from PressPress. We're a bit of a fan, as you can see. There are good reasons for this.

I like Sandra's work: it is informed by performance I think – not a 'performance poet'  - of the shouting, ego-ridden kind but with a precise and clear diction on the page which makes it accessible and, at times, shocking as she turns a poem on a linguistic point (an image, a pun, a disruption of the expected).

Thibodeaux also has a penetrating sense of the ridiculous – which is always going to endear her to me – for example in 'Toll' where it begins with the poet musing on a tanker that carries 'air products' through many absurd tricks, and ends with a semantic twist which shapes language to her own purpose, and brings us along with her.

We come along for the ride even when we know she is playing with us, or perhaps playing us. One of my favourite poems in this collection is 'One or two poets make love' where she trips our idea of what the poem is from one frame of reference to the next and back again. You are never quite sure whether the poet referred to in the poem is an alter ego or a lover (now there's an eternal question!). This is easy to read but exceptionally hard to do: Thibodeaux is clever and crisp.

Sometimes there is a devastating simplicity ('Keeping Mum') and sometimes beauty rears up out of the darkness (I'm thinking here of 'Traffic Island'). You never quite know what this diverse little collection will bring next.

It's great to launch this chapbook. Actually, I'm looking forward to the next one. As I said, I'm a bit of a fan. Congratulations Sandra. Extinctions is lovely chapbook.  

Chris Mansell

Darwin, 31 July 2010

[Chris Mansell is a poet and publisher of PressPress.]

Launch of Jeanine Leane's *Dark Secrets*

Meredith Wright, owner of Daltons Books in Canberra, where Jeanine Leane's Dark Secrets (PressPress, 2010) was launched on 7 August this year, along with Jeanine Leane, Jennifer Kamarre Martiniello, Chris Mansell and Lizz Murphy.

Elizabeth Masters launches Lizz Murphy's Six Hundred Dollars

[Text of the launch speech given by Elizabeth Masters to launch Lizz Murphy's Six Hundred Dollars (PressPress, 2010)]

We in Boorowa consider ourselves very fortunate that Lizz Murphy chose to make her home just down the road in Binalong because, more than anyone, we have gained the benefit of Lizz’s talent and her willingness to share her knowledge and enthusiasm for writing. It also means that, while there is always an Irish tinge to Lizz’s works, she has spent much time writing about local and other regional landscapes.

I hadn’t been in Boorowa long when I read about a literary evening, where people could read and share their work. A friend told me: ’We have to go because Lizz Murphy will be there.’ She had just bought a copy of Wee Girls and said it was one of her favourite books ever. And of course, it only took a couple of lines from Lizz and I became a great fan as well. I remember thinking: if only I could write like that. If only I could elicit those smiles, and tears and share my life so eloquently.

It wasn’t long after that that Lizz offered to run a workshop for us here in Boorowa, on creative writing. We had the beginnings of a writers group here at the time. And I believe its subsequent success owed a lot to having Lizz run a professional workshop for us at that early stage. And what fun it was. With bits of coloured paper and lucky dips and sharing words, we all came up with some pretty creative stuff that day. And I still use some of the techniques I learnt from Lizz to get my creative juices flowing when I’m facing a blank page with little inspiration.

Recently Lizz has been running more writing courses here and has been a great inspiration for writers to get together and form another writers group. Lizz says she gets great pleasure from seeing people achieve their goals, whether it’s a new writer beginning to blossom or a more experienced writer getting their work ‘out there’, through performance or publication. Even at this stage of her highly successful career, she can remember what it’s like to take those first tentative steps and to have those first small successes.

Another day that I remember with fondness was Poets in Court which was touring South East NSW and which, as part of that tour, came to the Boorowa Courthouse. Lizz had organised several poets to tour, treating the residents of small towns to their own particular brand of creativity. This was yet another time when Boorowa enjoyed the benefit of having Lizz as a kind and thoughtful neighbour. I think it was at that time that she shared some of her works from Two Lips Went Shopping and Stop Your Cryin. Yet again I had that feeling: why can’t I write like that.

There is no end to Lizz Murphy’s talents. She wrote her first poems when she was about 11, one about her white mouse which made it into the school magazine. She took advantage of every spare moment to write, and when she was commuting by bus to Canberra in the late 80s, found the words flowing. She has  now published 11 books, including six collections of poetry. Her latest are Six Hundred Dollars, Walk the Wildly, Stop Your Cryin and Two Lips Went Shopping.  Her poems have also been published in a wide range of journals and anthologies.

It’s truly a measure of a poet’s success when she has an international following and Lizz certainly has that, with poems translated into Bengali, French, Irish, Polish and Serbian. In 2006 and 2007 she travelled to Kolkata as part of the Australia-India Poetry Exchange. Her talents have been acknowledged with many awards, including the ACT Creative Arts Fellowship for Literature and the Anutech national poetry prize.

And her talent doesn’t stop at writing. She has a background in visual arts and she is currently working on a Poetry as Public Art project for the region which is breaking new ground, something she finds very exciting.

Lizz has also worked in publishing, arts marketing and regional arts development. Not content to create her own literary and artistic works, she continues to commit time and energy to helping others develop their skills. I believe Lizz can take a great deal of credit for inspiring Australian poetry, both through her own work and through professional roles as the inaugural NSW Poetry Development Officer and as development officer for Southern Tablelands Regional Arts. She believes poetry can hit the nail on the head in a way that prose often does not. As she describes it: Poetry can soothe you – or turn you around and skin you raw in the space of a few words or lines.

I find it amazing that this woman, an over-achiever by any standards, says she often has a sense of ‘not achieving enough’. However she does acknowledge that she finds all areas of her work enriching and she allows herself - quote ‘a tiny bit of pride in each’.

I felt very honoured when Lizz asked me to launch her latest book of poetry Six Hundred Dollars. When I read the title poem, I felt an almost physical impact.  So few words, so carefully chosen, which, ‘turned me around and skinned me raw’. Yet again I thought: Oh to be able to write like that.

I won’t attempt to read it to you because nobody can read poetry like Lizz Murphy, particularly her own. So that you don’t have to wait any longer for that treat, it gives me great pleasure to launch Lizz Murphy’s latest in a long line of creative works Six Hundred Dollars.

Elizabeth Masters

Boorowa Courthouse

Sunday 8 August 2010


[Elizabeth Masters is a writer and editor of fiction and non-fiction. She is widely published in newspapers and magazines and has two books: Australia's Government Explained (Watermark Press) and Keeping Family Treasures (National Archives of Australia).]

Lizz Murphy, Jeanine Leane and Chris Mansell - on the road!

Passion poetry and song: Yass Thursday 29 July, 7 pm, Yass Library


Featuring:

Jane Baker (Yass) is inspired by the region’s natural and social landscape and has a passionate interest in social justice. She has won numerous poetry awards including the Jean Stone Medallion.

Jeanine Leane (Canberra) A Wiradjuri poet from South West NSW; shortlisted for the David Unaipon Award 2006, 2007 and 2008. Her new collection Dark Secrets is a hard-hitting uncompromising look at white inscription of black history and experience in Australia.

Lizz Murphy (Binalong) An Irish-Australian poet with eleven books including six collections of poetry. Six Hundred Dollars is a collection of poems with a crocodile bite. Walk the Wildly is a walk through regional and personal landscapes.

Cecilia Pavlovic (Yass) Wiradjuri singer/songwriter. Classically trained as a mezzo-soprano she has seventeen years experience singing in classical and contemporary styles.

Passionate voices join forces for a night of words and song. A diversity of styles and interests from new, published and award winning poets and performers.


FOLLOWED BY:

Sat Aug 7, 2 pm Daltons Books Marcus Clarke Street Canberra
Jeanine Leane, Chris Mansell, Jennifer Kemarre Martiniello, Lizz Murphy. Includes launch of Jeanine Leane’s Dark Secrets by Jennifer Martiniello.

Sun Aug 8, 2 pm Boorowa Courthouse Chris Mansell, Lizz Murphy. Includes launch of Six Hundred Dollars by local author and editor Elizabeth Masters. Open mic.

Sat Nov 6, 2.30 Black Swan Restaurant Binalong Kathy Kituai, Lizz Murphy, Chris Mansell. Kathy will launch Lizz’ Six Hundred Dollars. Open mic.

Reading by Kit Kelen and others!

Reading by Kit Kelen, Debby Sou Vai Keng, Iris Fan Xing and Chris Song Zijang - all the way from Macao out to do a series of translation workshops at Bundanon (sponsored by the Bundanon Trust).

Kit's The Whole Forest Dancing was published by PressPress in English, Chinese, Italian and Portuguese.

This informal reading will be at The Manse (opposite Aldi carpark) in Kinghorne St Nowra at 2pm on Saturday 24 July - ie soon!

Come along and meet Kit and the other talented poets. One chance only!

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Going to Darwin to launch Sandra Thibodeaux's EXTINCTIONS

I'm going to Darwin to launch to Sandra Thibodeaux's EXTINCTIONS. A lovely chapbook. While I'm there I'll be doing a few things. Here they are:

WORKSHOP: Poetry Masterclass

Saturday July 31, 2-5pm

Chris Mansell is the founding editor of poetry chapbook publishers PressPress. Chris has published many volumes of poetry and this masterclass is a must for any poet wanting to develop their work and/or manuscript.

Venue: Frog Hollow conference room, McMinn St, Darwin

Cost: $60, $45 members, $$35 concession
Bookings: info@ntwriters.com.au or 8941 2651


OFF THE PAGE spoken word & open mic

Friday July 30, 7pm kickoff and open mic registration

Catch a sneak preview of playworks by Alana Valentine and Jason De Santis, new works being prepared for Darwin Festival. Visiting poet Chris Mansell.

at Brown's Mart Theatre, 12 Smith Street

Cost $10, concession $5.

And the launch of Thibodeaux's Extinctions on Sat July 31 at Ski Boat Club, Darwin 6pm

cost: free







If you are in Darwin and want to talk to me about publication etc, either come to the masterclass or the launch and say hello. I'd like to meet you.

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2010 PressPress Chapbook Award results!

The judging of the 2010 PressPress Chapbook Award has been finalised and we are happy to announce the full shortlist (given here in alphabetical order):
B.R.Dionysius The negativity bin
Howard Firkin Semele
Stephen Lawrence Chemical Events
Vanessa Page Memory Bone
Vanessa Roberts Tram Scribbles
Tim Sinclair Re: reading the dictionary

The entries for the 2010 PressPress Chapbook were of a very high standard with significant experimentation and originality. Entries came from the UK and USA, New Zealand, India, Sweden and from all over Australia. All of the short-listed works are from Australia (we look forward to an international short-listee one day).

After some tough decision-making the panel was pleased to choose B.R.Dionysius The negativity bin as the winner of the 2010 Award.

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Reading at Daltons Books by 3 PressPressers

Reading at Daltons Books 54 Marcus Clarke St Canberra ACT by three PressPress poets: 2pm Saturday 7 August 2010 -
Jeanine Leane
Lizz Murphy
Chris Mansell

You're welcome!

I'll let you know the other readers and launchers soon!


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Reading at Bundanoon's Winterfest

Chris Mansell and Lizz Murphy and others will be reading at Bundanoon's Winterfest - 1 pm at the Bundanoon Hotel Lounge on Sunday 4 July. See their new PressPress Chapbooks. Meet you there!

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Lizz Murphy launch of SIX HUNDRED DOLLARS

Lizz Murphy will be launching her Six Hundred Dollars at the Yass Library on 29 July at 7pm. Watch this space for details of the other writers who will be reading.



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REVIEWS: Vleeskens' Sandals in a Camel (Earthdance, 2010)

Well, he said he was retired but PressPress insisted on publishing a mini-retrospective called CV and now Vleeskens is doing it for himself  - a self-mashed collection which clearly says at the beginning:

all the words
and many of the phrases
used in these poems
have previously appeared in print

Sandals in a Camel has fluid black and white images that probably were done in pen and ink - accompanying a fluid style of writing - the sort that Vleeskens does best. Some poems are very clear and direct in diction (and in terms of their referents) eg

Wetlands

a corroboree frog
croaks on the submerged
engine block

others are obscure and difficult to place. Images poke through and you think you should know what the whole poems mean - but you don't. They all reflect Vleeskens' deep engagement with the word over a long period of time and have a confidence which comes of this. Even when you don't get it, there's an assured tone which convinces the reader that its their fault.

It's a confident persona, though he's self-deprecating and self-aware - as in POEM.

lavish decoration
and scribbled prints
are as decadents as it gets
...
... a life
travelling in underwear.

It's good to see Vleeskens back doing what he's been doing for decades. Welcome home.
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Get your Book off the Ground

by Anthony Santoro and Suzanne Male

Writers Resource Centre (PO Box 397 Williamstown Vic 3016) 2009 127pp RRP $27.95 ISBN  9780980615807

This is a short How To book for very new writers of prose fiction (primarily) which incorporates some technical hints on plotting and point of view etc along with some behavioural advice designed to encourage new writers to persevere and to resist discouragement.

Sub-titled ‘What you need to know to write and publish your book’, it overpromises and underdelivers: an unpublished writer with even a little experience would find this book unsatisfying if they believed the title, though a first time writer would probably be cheered by its advice.

Anthony Santoro has published a crime fiction novel, The Deception, and has worked as an editor. Suzanne Male is a journalist and editor and is probably best known for her A year of Writing inspiration: A prompt a day for the Creative Writer.

Spinifex by Beverley George

Pardalote Press (44 Bayside Drive, Lauderdale 7021) 2006 62pp; RRP $AU18.50;

ISBN 0 957843609 0

Reviewed by Lorin Ford

'Spinifex ', as John Bird writes in his introduction to the book, 'comes to us after Beverley George has achieved national and international success with haiku, tanka, haibun, free verse and children's literature'. Its publication 'comes to us at the end of her editorship of Yellow Moon Literary Magazine, which made her a household name and friend of most haiku writers and many other poets. Spinifex assumes the status, although unsought, of a benchmark in Australian haiku.'

I looked forward to the release of Spinifex and was not disappointed. The book is presented in Pardalote Press's classic haiku book style - portable, aesthetically pleasing, with a good amount of white space around easy to read print and with subtle illustrations to complement the poems. There are 59 pages of Beverley George's prize-winning haiku, some of which are formed into sequences but each of which can stand alone and a three page haibun.

Interestingly, the title, doesn't originate from any of the poems in the book, nor does it designate any theme. The cover image and the delicate illustrations make it clear that the title names the tough, flexible, grey-green 'dune grass' which binds the sand along our coastal regions - the true spinifex, not the inland tussock grass often referred to by the same name. The spinifex illustrations haunt the pages, functioning, with the title, like a symbol to remind us that haiku, can take the reader beyond the obvious, the observed, to connections and correlations that surprise and delight.

Such implied connections also inform the editorial sequencing of the book. The opening haiku:

train tunnel

the sudden intimacy

of mirrored faces

and the second last (within 'Gathering Coke')

waterfall

our faces ripple closer

in the pond

both focus on images of reflected faces, though what a difference there is between the mutual discomfort experienced by train travellers shocked from private daydream into unexpected, fluorescent-lit intimacy and the gentler, hesitant of growing intimacy with those we know.

Those who are new to haiku and consider it a form of 'nature reporting' will be illuminated by Spinifex. Beverley George is not deceived by over literal interpretations of the notion that haiku should be about 'things as they are', aware that human beings perceive the world through the human senses and construe pattern and meaning with minds shaped by personal and cultural history.

clanking billy

the mist draws

eucalypts together

'Things as they are', when we observe them, become things observed by a human being whatever they may be without our presence: acknowledging this brings us into relationship to their mystery and to our own.

This haiku:

leafless stem

I prune above

a green bud

from the 'Scorched Garden' sequence shows the gardener's careful husbandry focused on a living bud's promise of regeneration. It's what gardeners do. It is also what poets do with unpromising poems and what we all do to promote new beginnings in our lives. Haiku such as:

winter twilight

the shadowed hill

beyond the hill

resonate with perceptions and concerns beyond the observed image of nature. 'Winter twilight' is an example of how the right kigo, well juxtaposed with an accurate visual image, can work to define context and to suggest a metaphorical relationship between the seasons of the year and the seasons in human life.

I was delighted to find some of Beverley George's haiku that I was already familiar with, such as the many-layered, prize-winning 'lengthening shadow - /above her eggs the hen's heart / beats against my arm'. My new personal favourite from this inspiring collection, one I find myself going back to again and again, is from the 'Village Hall, April 25, 2006' sequence:

sprigs of rosemary

something about the tea urns

makes me cry

I don't fully comprehend why this haiku affects me so much, any more than the haiku seems to comprehend what it is about the tea urns - those homely, functional, two-gallon steel fixtures of ordinary community life in Australia - that make the 'me of the poem' cry. Rosemary, of course, is for remembrance, on Anzac Day, in a Shakespearean tragedy or on any occasion which requires reflection on or acknowledgment of the significance of the past. Perhaps the poem's effect might be that it subtly springs a recollection of the value of ordinary community life and the sometimes taken-for-granted service that holds a community together, as the roots of spinifex bind sand and prevent erosion.

Beverley George's haibun, 'Gathering Coke', winner of the World Haiku Club R.H.Blyth Award for 2004 and voted Best of Issue by readers of Presence #26 2004, concludes the book. This haibun's three pages of tight prose, incorporating two well-placed haiku, validates Beverley George's anti-Procrastean belief that the topic and its sufficient development are the best criteria for haibun length.

I wholeheartedly recommend Spinifex to new readers of haiku and to seasoned readers and haijin alike. The haiku are as long as each needs to be, no more, no less, and the language throughout has the flow of carefully honed spoken language - no outdated adherence to the 5-7-5 model nor the chopped English of haiku 'telegraphese' here. Enter Beverley George's beautifully written, deceptively small poems and you'll find the world widening and deepening.

BLOGS, LITERARY SITES, WRITER'S SITES, MAGAZINES AND JOURNALS

Blogs take all forms - many very sophisticated (and many, not). Look to the blogrolls on the blogs you visit to find other interesting places to visit. Try some of the blogs on Famous Poets & Poems. There is also The Australian Index which attempts a comprehensive listing of Aussie blogs. Add yours if it's not there already.

And if you still don't know what a blog is, go to this blog entry at Scripting News and see what Dave Winer has to say about voice and ownership under the heading ‘The unedited voice of a person’ and his earlier article at Weblogs at Harvard Law. See also Eurozine's "Blogging, the nihilist impulse" article.

Also included is just a few of the very many writer’s sites and magazine/journal sites.

Australian Literature Resources has a listing of Australian authors which is well worth a look and there are other sites which have lots of links to information on Australian writers eg the Literature site.

A

About Poetry site - lots of excellent links to poetry sites (American).

The Academy of American Poets

Robert Adamson - personal site

American Life in Poetry put together by Ted Kooser (their poet laureate 2004-2006)

Alternative-Read - review site

American Poetry Review - paper journal, rarely publishes Australians. Poetry and articles about poetry, poems in translation.

ars poetica - poems about poetry. Look at this developing poetry project/anthology put together by Dan Waber

Artists without Frontiers - modelled on the medical version. A human rights site for artists (including writers).

Arts & Letters Daily - general literary and comment site

ArtsRush - Literary and arts site

Arts in Shoalhaven news site - news of the arts in the Shoalhaven

Australia Council - premier Australian funding body (and their journal OzArts)

The Australian Index - a listing of Australian blogs on all topics.

Australian Literature resources up-to-date list of poets

AustLit - a resource for Australian Literature. Unless your organisation subscribes, you'll have to pay to get into some of it, but there are some free bits which are worth investigating too.

Australian Book Review - edited by Peter Rose. A great source of literary reviews and essays.

B

Bad Press - not what you think.

Baghdad Burning - a famous and revolutionary use of a blog

Blue Acres - 'poetry, process & sundry' - the blog of poet Jen Crawford

Blue Stalking Reader - a great blog for readers of prose. Get to it.

Bob's Byway Glossary of Poetic Terms

BookSlut - site and blog for rabid readers

Janice M. Bostok - personal site

Pam Brown - personal site

C

Children's Book Council useful site with helpful links among other helpful information for writer's for children, a peak body

Cordite - online literary magazine includes poetry and reviews. Poetry is often good, though the reviews are variable.

copyblogger - a blogger's blog. Full of useful information on copywriting, interestingly told and useful for non-copywriters too.

createillawarra

Alison Croggan - personal site

D

DC Green Yarns - Children's Author site

The Deletions Pam Brown's blog

Divan - online journal edited by Earl Livings out of Box Hill TAFE in Victoria.

DiVerse blog Australian Arts groups which transcribes visual art and special exhibitions into poetry

The Drunken Boat

Martin Duwell - personal site

E

Edge - Fascinating. Their tag goes: 'To arrive at the edge of the world's knowledge, seek out the most complex and sophisticated minds, put them in a room together, and have them ask each other the questions they are asking themselves.'

The Empire of Larks - occasional blog of Chris Mansell

The Empty Page blog of the Queensland Writers Centre

Enterprising Words Di Bates & Bill Condon's site.

F

The Famous Reporter - the online version of the paper journal edited by Ralph Wessman. Coming out of Tasmania it has fiction, poems, gossip, reviews, interviews and articles on writing.

FICTIONS - short prose fiction by Chris Mansell

Fiera Lingue - interesting Italian site (which also has English)

foam:e - poetry site which grew out of the Espresso discussion list

40x365 40 words | 40 years 365 days | 365 people ...a very special blog.

Friendly St Poets - site of one of the longest running readings in the country (Adelaide).

A Fugitive Phenomenon An AustLit blog by Kerryn Goldsworthy

Fulcrum - an annual magazine of poetry & poetics. "From out of nowhere, FULCRUM has in only a few years established itself as a must-read journal, a unique annual of literary and intellectual substance positioned on the cutting edge of culture. - BILLY COLLINS"

G

The Ghazal Page - a page devoted poems in the form of the ghazal.

H

Haiku Review - excellent site, nothing to do with haiku, but has essays and discussions on literary and critical topics.

Kristin Hannaford - personal site

Dale Harcombe - personal site

Heat Magazine - poetry, fiction, criticism, visual arts.

Hi Spirits - blog of Andrew Burke

How to make a living as a poet Gary Mex Glazner

Haiku Oz

HOW2 - a women's innovative writing site edited by Kate Fagan.

Langston Hughes

hutt ezine from papertiger

I

Identity theory- is a web-based magazine of literature and culture edited by matt borondy

Internet Poetry Archive - great resources on some of the 'great names' of contemporary poetry

Island Magazine - site of the premier paper magazine of Tasmania, includes poetry, fiction, articles, reviews

J

Jacket. Also a good place to go for news is the Jacket Noticeboard

Jackson Mac Low

Jill Jones - personal site

K

Khalil Sakakini Cultural Centre Palestinian writers.

L

Law Like Blog - blog of Tim Hamilton

The Literature Page- a place to read classic books, plays, stories, poems, essays, and speeches

Literary Minded - blog of Angela Meyer

Literary Kicks 'where literature lives online' - since 1994.

M

McSweeney's - The famous site (prose fiction).

Chris Mansell

Masthead - literary arts magazine edited by Alison Croggon

Metro Magazine film and movies

Modern American Poetry - This link is a sampler of Hass's Poet's Choice. Well worth a visit.

Mipoesias

Meanjin - 'Meanjin is a forum for reflection, speculation, opinion and fresh creativity in various literary and visual genres.'

Czeslaw Milosz

Mudlark - online journal of poetry and poetics

Les Murray

N

narcissusworks - blog of Anny Ballardini

Ibrahim Nasrallah

New England Review - out of Middlebury College in the US. Not to be confused with the Australian New England Review which comes out of Armidale, NSW.

The New Quarterly - Canadian. A mix of fiction, poetry, interviews, and talk about writing. Won Gold in the 2004 (Canadian) National Magazine Awards.

nthposition very good magazine with political and visual and written art, discussion etc.

nonlinear poetry - blog of Jukka-Pekka Kervinen (Finland). Has links to a variety of interesting blogs

North of the Latte Line - edited by Anne Kellas and Ivy Alvarez. Australian happenings and events, items of interest.

O

Overland Express- the online version of the paper journal Overland. Poetry, fiction, articles, reviews.

P

The Page - very good poetry page - includes news from all over

Papertiger

Paradise Lost? 'the blog of the blogger who got sick of blogging' - Dee Rimbaud

Poetry Bay - online poetry magazine out of the Bay area (US)

Poetry Daily - interesting. Picks up poems from newly published books and journals.

Poetry International Web - 160: Texting and Poetry

The Poetry Kit Based in the UK but all sorts of useful things here

The Poetry Library - UK

Poetry magazine - comes out of Chigaco, USA

Poetica ABC Radio National (Australia). Mike Ladd's definitive radio poetry show.

PoetServ.com - home to The Salt River Review, RelativeLinks, reviews of poetry online and resources for poets and writers who frequent the web

PoetrySoutheast out of the University of Illinois

The Poet Watch - interesting site with some good links as well.

The Prairie Home Companion of Garrison Keilor fame. If you don't know his work the subtitle of the site - "Consider the em-dash." might give you an idea.

The Prairie Schooner - long-established magazine out of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and University of Nebraska Press

Selwyn Pritchard

Q

Quadrant - paper journal, includes poetry, fiction, reviews and articles.

R

Rattle styles itself 'Poetry for the 21st Century'. They have a new emagazine available for download and its free. Worth a look.

Recommended Poets from Dee Rimbaud's site.

Real Poetik

Reeling and Writhing "A place to chat about literature of the world, or Australian literature, writing and publishing, as we choose." Previously known as You Cried for Night.

David Reiter

Dee Rimbaud

Ruby Street - blog of Jill Jones

S

Screen Hub Screen news and comment

Silliman's Blog - Edited by Ron Silliman. Deals with poetry and poetics. Probably the most well known of the poetry blogs.

Silva Rhetoricae The forest of Rhetoric - a guide to the terms of classical and renaissance rhetoric

Small Press Exchange - good reviews of small press publications. Also has blogs, profiles, bookstore etc.

Southerly - out of University of Sydney

Stylus Poetry Journal - Online journal out of Queensland

Soul Sphincter blog of Jim Barrett, an Australian poet and PhD student in Sweden.

SoundEye - interesting stuff on a collaborative project

Synaptic Graffiti - for link to multimedia poetry

T

teaching poetry in the 21st century put together by Elizabethe Lhuede who writes: “If you're a lover of digital poetry, whatever the language, tradition or media, please enjoy this site.”

theatre notes an 'independent theatre reviewing and commentary' blog by Alison Croggon. Well-regarded.

3 Quarks Daily The editors say they hope to collect 'interesting items from around the web on a daily basis, in the areas of science, design, literature, current affairs, art, and anything else we deem inherently fascinating. We want to provide you with a one-stop intellectual surfing experience by culling good stuff from all over and putting it in one place. In other words, we are what has come to be known as a "filter blog".'

thinking about poetry blog of Warwick Wynne

Thunderburst has a useful link to the AA Independent Press Guide (UK based) which is a free online writers resource, listing over 2000 magazines and publishers and 700 internet magazines. Dee Rimbaud's site.

Thylazine Foundation site - arts, ethics, literature

John Tranter

U

UbuWeb - excellent literary site.

V

video blog of Chris Mansell

WXYZ

Dan Waber - this is a series of interlinked sites which are all well worth a visit. Not your usual ill-kempt site. It's address (www.logolalia.com) belies its contents.

Web del Sol - great site. From here you can get just about everywhere.

Wengu - Chinese Classic poetry site

Westerly - annual, out of the University of Western Australia

Les Wicks

Wild Grape gives up to date news on the Australian poetry scene.

Write and Read with Dale - Dale Harcombe's blog

The Write Stuff - edited by Ann Kellas and Giles Hugo out of Tasmania.

Writing Macao - includes poems by Christopher Kelen, Zheng Danyi, Leith D. Morton, Madeleine Marie Slavick and Matthew Power.

WORKSHOPS + COURSES

Choosing a workshop

There are also workshops of various kinds advertised by all sorts of people...some of whom (believe it or not) have not actually been published or even written much. This seems incredible, but I've come across it more than once. Usually they have done quite a lot of workshops as participants (one even used a writer's workshop exercises to put together a photocopied booklet which she then sold!). Sometimes they might have edited material in the past (which can be fine if they're running workshops on how to edit your work).

You have to assess whether you prefer a practitioner or someone who has it second hand. The rule of thumb: look at the person's experience/qualifications carefully. If you're writing as a hobby, it might not matter much if the person has just borrowed a lot of workshop exercises from someone else, but if you're very serious about your work, you might want to look for someone with more experience.

PressPress Workshops

Residential workshops and tours can be arranged within Australia and at selected overseas locations (eg Italy, Egypt, Morocco) to work on your projects and to get inspiration with targeted exercises and one on one consultations.

Join a workshop at beautiful Bamarang Bush Retreat in the Shoalhaven with expert tutors and visiting writers.

Script

Free script templates

Free templates on the Coherent Visual site. This is what the site says:

   The BBC offers for free some excellent script templates called Script Smart for screenwriters. Templates are included for a screenplay, a TV studio sketch, and a radio sketch (in both United States and U.K. formatting standards). The package with all the templates runs about 400K. Available in both Windows and Macintosh format.

QuickMuse + Poetry generator

QuickMuse is a great idea. Totally fascinating to the practising poet. See Pinsky, Muldoon and others write a poem to a set topic in a limited time in real time...that is with hesitations, corrections, backtracks, additions, as it happens, unfolding before your eyes. I love this.

If QuickMuse doesn't do it for you, this one literally does: Poem Generator.

Other courses or resources

Remember: you must make up your own mind about what is good value and what isn't. Ask questions.

A

About Poetry - a vast repository of information, links and articles about poetry (obviously)

Australian Poetry Centre Based in Melbourne.

B

Bookdoctor Commercial site offering courses, advice, manuscript assessments etc

Buzz Words Di Bates' newsletter about children's books and writing available through Enterprising Words.

CD

Culture & Recreation Portal - an Australian Government site which is a portal, as it says, to all manner of cultural material- grants, government organisations, cross media arts etc etc.

E

Enterprising Words Australian children's book authors and freelance writers Di Bates and Bill Condon offer a range of writing, editing and manuscript assessment services as well as book products for the general public, including writers of all ages, teachers and librarians.

FGHIJKLM

Famous Poets and Poems - self-explanatory really. A good site though what is considered 'famous' might be open to debate.

N

NIDA Playwright's Studio. Playwriting workshop course at the National Institute of Dramatic Art in Sydney.

O

Oz Poetic Society - poets' resource site. Not a site about poetics as the name suggests. Does have some useful links.

P

Poetry About - a vast repository of information, links and articles about poetry (obviously)

Poetry Daily news Interesting news, links.

Poetry Magic - Don't be put off by this title. Actually a good, basic introduction to prosody at beginner and more advanced levels, arranged under categories.

Poetry Resource - an good site for links to poetry-related topics. It is intended for students but not limited by this. I liked this site.

Poewar - writers' resource centre

QRS

QuickMuse live poems unfold

TUVWXYZ

Teenwriting: Advice for young writers - addressed to teenage writers, but very clear and useful for all ages.

And look at:

These are things that I've found that might be interesting to you:

Chris Hamilton-Emery, 101 Ways to Make Poems Sell: The Salt Guide to Getting and Staying Published (Salt Publishing)

or Gary Mex Glazner's How To Make a Living as a Poet (Soft Skull, 2005). (For more on this, go to the poetry.about.com site. While you're there, have a browse around at all the good work that Margery Snyder and Bob Holman are doing.)

Writing on writing: some books to search out

Searching for the Secret River by Kate Grenville.

The Art of the novel Milan Kundera.

Making Stories Kate Grenville & Sue Woolfe.