Contributors
Sharyn Anderson re-discovered education long after leaving school. After majoring in English literature she moved to the country and became an English teacher, working in country State secondary schools for over twenty years. She now works as a reference librarian for a regional university and lives at the edge of Victoria's vast basalt plain - hence her interest in things stony. In 2015 she began a PhD in Australian literature, specifically the early 20th century poetry of Dorothea Mackellar and her friend and sometime collaborator, Ruth Bedford. She sees the development and practice of her own poetry as an essential part of understanding others' creative processes and finds it exhilarating, as well as educational.
Lynne Arjava is a poet who studies ancient languages and philosophies. She lives on the Central Coast of NSW.
Judith Beveridge has published six poetry collections, most recently Devadatta’s Poems (Giramondo, 2014).
Margaret Bradstock has six published collections of poetry, including The Pomelo Tree (winner of the Wesley Michel Wright Prize) and Barnacle Rock (winner of the Woollahra Festival Award, 2014). Editor of Antipodes: poetic responses to ‘settlement’, Margaret recently won the national Earth Hour poetry competition and the Banjo Paterson Award.
Kevin Brophy is the author of 13 books of poetry, fiction and essays. He teaches Creative Writing at the University of Melbourne. His latest book is Walking: New and Selected Poems (John Leonard Press, 2014). At present he is poet in residence at the Australia Council BR Whiting Library in Rome.
Anne M Carson has been published in Australia, USA and France. Her first collection, Removing the Kimono, was published by Hybrid Publishers in 2013. She was shortlisted for the 2015 Ron Pretty Poetry Prize. As a Creative Writing Therapist she has edited three books. She teaches poetry writing and appreciation to adults.
Bonny Cassidy is a poet and critic living in Melbourne. Her most recent book is Final Theory (Giramondo, 2014). She lectures in Creative Writing at RMIT University and is Feature Reviews Editor for Cordite Poetry Review.
Julian Croft has been publishing poetry for over 50 years. He lives in northern NSW.
Amy Crutchfield is a poet living in Melbourne. She completed Honours degrees in Classics and Law at the University of Melbourne. Her poetry is forthcoming in foam:e.
Ross Donlon’s last book was The Blue Dressing Gown & Other Poems (Profile, 2011).
Dave Drayton was a sauna enthusiast, founding member of the Atterton Academy and recipient of the 2014 Blake Prize for poetry.
Stephen Edgar’s most recent book is Exhibits of the Sun (Black Pepper, 2014). His website can be found at stephenedgar.com.au.
Anne Elvey is author of Kin (Five Islands, 2014) and three poetry chapbooks. She is managing editor of Plumwood Mountain: An Australian Journal of Ecopoetry and Ecopoetics and holds honorary appointments at Monash University and University of Divinity, Melbourne. She lives in Seaford, Victoria, with her partner Greg Price and their two adult sons. anneelvey.wordpress.com
Johanna Emeney tutors in Creative Writing at Massey University, Albany, where she has been studying for her PhD. She has taught English Literature at senior schools in England and New Zealand. Her book Apple & Tree (Cape Catley, 2011) was runner up in the British Hippocrates prize for Poetry and Medicine, and her poetry can be found online.
Adam Ford is the author of the poetry collections Not Quite The Man for the Job (Allen & Unwin, 1998) and The Third Fruit Is a Bird (Picaro, 2008), the novel Man Bites Dog (Allen & Unwin, 2003) and the short story collection Heroes and Civilians (online). He lives in Chewton, Victoria. theotheradamford.wordpress.com
Jane Frank lives in Brisbane and teaches a range of writing disciplines in the School of Humanities at Griffith University and courses in cultural policy and arts and event management for Open Universities Australia. She is completing a PhD examining the rise of the global Book Town Movement.
Carolyn Gerrish has published five collections of poetry, the most recent The View from the Moon (Island Press, 2011). She performs her work and runs creative writing workshops and courses in the community and at the Workers Education Association in Sydney.
Ross Gillett is a Melbourne-born poet living in Ballarat with his wife Julie Phillips and, from time to time, one or more of their three adult offspring. He is obsessed with Emily Dickinson and thunderstruck by the perfection of Keats’ great odes.
Kumpaya Girgiba is an Aboriginal artist. Kumpaya was born near Kiwirrkurra and walked all around that area with her family. Her brothers include the established artists Charlie Wallabi, Helicopter and Patrick Tjangurrayi. Kumpaya grew up, married and had children while living a nomadic life. She and her family avoided Europeans, but were eventually spotted from an aeroplane during a program of clearing people out of the desert prior to weapons testing in the area. After a number of contacts and lengthy consideration, Kumpaya and her family agreed to move to Jigalong mission, where they re-joined many of their relatives. After living in Jigalong mission, Kumpaya worked on several stations washing clothes and making damper before moving to Parnngurr community in the 1980s. Kumpaya is an extraordinary teacher and orator, with particular skill in gathering artists together for large collaborative projects. She is also part of the Punmu Women's Ranger team.
E A Gleeson is a writer and a funeral director who lives and works in the South-West of Victoria. She has published two volumes of poetry, In Between the Dancing (2008) and Maisie and the Black Cat Band (2012) with Interactive Press. She is currently working on a third book of poetry and a collection of essays. eagleeson.com.au
Rachael Guy works in writing, performance and visual art. As a performer and vocalist, she has featured in festivals across Australia and overseas. Recently she collaborated with poet Andy Jackson on Ambiguous Mirrors, a poetry/puppetry work that toured Ireland in 2013. Her writing has appeared in Overland and Sleepers Almanac. rachaelwenona.wix.com/disquieting-objects
Allis Hamilton collects memories and discarded nests. She is an exhibiting artist, a musician, and teller of folk tales. She is a joint convener of ‘PoetiCas’, Castlemaine’s Poetry Readings, and is currently working towards her first chapbook. She lives on a treed hill in country Victoria.
Andy Jackson’s Among the Regulars (Papertiger, 2010) was shortlisted for the 2011 Kenneth Slessor Prize. A new collection, the thin bridge, won the Whitmore Press Manuscript Prize and was published in 2014. His latest book is Immune systems (Transit Lounge, 2015). He has performed across Australia, in India, the USA and Ireland. Blog: amongtheregulars.wordpress.com
Carol Jenkins has two books published: Fishing in the Devonian (2008) and Xn (2013), both from Puncher & Wattmann and shortlisted for Premiers’ Awards. Her next book Select Episodes from The Mr Farmhand Series is due out in 2015.
Helga Jermy’s work has been included in journals and anthologies including Regime Magazine, Rabbit, AP Members Anthology, Sotto and Cordite. She is 2013 Australian Poetry ‘poem of the year’ winner.
Tiggy Johnson is an Australian poet whose poems have appeared widely in Australian journals and anthologies, including Black Inc’s Best Australian Poems 2012. Her poetry collection First Taste was published by Page Seventeen in 2010 and That Zero Year, co-written with Andrew Phillips, in 2012.
John Kinsella’s most recent collection of poetry is Sack (Fremantle Press, 2014). He is a Fellow of Churchill College, Cambridge University, Professor of Sustainability and Literature at Curtin University, and a Professorial Research Fellow at the University of Western Australia.
Andy Kissane’s fourth collection of poetry, Radiance (Puncher & Wattmann, 2014), was shortlisted for the 2015 Victorian Premier’s Prize for Poetry. His book of short stories, The Swarm (2012) was also published by Puncher & Wattmann. He won the 2013 Fish International Poetry Prize and is the Coriole National Wine Poet. Blog: andykissane.com
Peter Lach-Newinsky’s publications include The Post-Man Letters (Picaro, 2010), Requiem (Picaro, 2012), and Cut a Long Story Short (Puncher & Wattmann, 2014). He has also received the Melbourne Poets Union Poetry Prize and the Vera Newsom Poetry Prize.
Yve Louis’ five poetry titles include Lilith’s Mirror (Kardoorair 1999) and The Yellow Dress (Five Islands 2005); the most recent, A Door in the Forest (Blue Tongue, 2012), received the 2013 Society of Women Writers biennial Book Award for Poetry. She lives in Armidale on the NSW Northern Tablelands.
Mike Ladd lives and writes in Adelaide. He ran Poetica on ABC Radio National for 2 decades and currently makes radio documentaries for RN. His new collection of poems and short prose Invisible Mending is due out this year from Wakefield Press.
Jacinta Le Plastrier is a Melbourne-based poet, writer, editor and publisher. jacintaleplastrierofficialblogspot.com
David McCooey is a prize-winning poet and critic. His latest collection, Outside (Salt, 2001), was short-listed for a Queensland Literary Award and the ‘Best Writing’ Award of the Melbourne Prize for Literature in 2012. His album of audio poetry, Outside Broadcast, was released in 2013. He is a professor of writing and literature at Deakin University.
Paula McKay lives and writes in Sydney. Her first collection, Travelling Incognito (2003), was published by Five Islands Press. Her most recent, Why Policemen Stopped Flying (2012), was published by Ginninderra Press.
Julie Maclean is the author of Kiss of the Viking (Poetry Salzburg, 2014), When I saw Jimi (Indigo Dreams Publishing, UK, 2013) and e-chapbook You Love You Leave (Kind of a Hurricane Press, US, 2014). Her work appears in Poetry and The Best Australian Poetry (UQP). Blog: juliemacleanwriter.com
Hugh McMillan is a Scottish poet, published previously in the Australian Poetry Journal. His Selected Poems: Not actually being in Dumfries is due out in June 2015.
Paul Magee studied in Melbourne, Moscow, San Salvador and Sydney. He teaches at the University of Canberra. His poetry collections, Cube Root of Book (2006) and Stone Postcard (2014), were published by John Leonard Press. Australian Book Review listed Stone Postcard as one of the books of the year.
Caitlin Maling is a Western Australian poet whose first collection, Conversations I've Never Had, was published by Fremantle Press in 2015.
Gita Mammen’s work has appeared in magazines and anthologies. Her collection Feefafafaluda was published by Five Islands Press in 2006. Lode rust, an artist-book of poetry and etchings is held by Rare Books, State Library of Victoria, and Special Collections, National Library, Canberra. She lives in Melbourne.
Karen Murphy is the pen name of Karen Lowry, a poet and multimedia artist from Perth, Western Australia. She coordinated the 2012 and 2013 WA Poetry Festivals and is currently studying a PhD in poetry and electronic literature at Curtin University. www.karenlouisemurphy.com
Norm Neill’s poetry has appeared in journals, anthologies and the Sun-Herald newspaper. He convenes a weekly poetry workshop and publishes an email newsletter listing NSW poetry events.
Simon Patton lives with his partner, two cats and Sealyham the Terrier near Chinaman Creek in Central Victoria. He translates Chinese literature.
Jenny Pollak has been a visual artist most of her life. More recently, she has focused her arts practice on poetry. She has been shortlisted for the Bridport Poetry Prize (2013), the Fish Poetry Prize, (Ireland, 2014) and awarded third prize in the ACU Literature Award, Victoria (2013).
Jeff Rich is a Melbourne writer of poetry, history and essays, and long time government official. His collection, After the Pills (2013), explored addiction, recovery, madness and the uncertainties of his errant mind. His recent poetry investigates the fragility of culture before the demands and threats of contemporary life.
Tracy Ryan was born in Western Australia but has also lived in the USA, the UK and Ireland. Her most recent books are Unearthed (poems, Fremantle Press, 2013) and the novel Claustrophobia (Transit Lounge, 2014). She has a work of poetry forthcoming in 2015 with Whitmore Press.
B.W. Shearer is a Melbourne writer of poetry, plays and short stories.
Stephen Smithyman lives in Melbourne, where he teaches English at a suburban secondary college. His poems have won a number of awards, and have been published in a range of anthologies and magazines.
Tim Thorne, author of 14 collections of poetry, was the 2014 recipient of the Gwen Harwood Prize. His latest book is The Unspeak Poems and Other Verses (Walleah Press, 2014).
N.N. Trakakis is Senior Lecturer in Philosophy at the Australian Catholic University. He has published extensively in the area of the philosophy of religion. He also writes and translates poetry, his most recent poetry collection being Appearance and Reality (2015).
Rob Walker writes poetry, music, essays, short stories, reviews, occasional Christmas cards and shopping lists. Some of these have been published all over the world. Tropeland, his newest collection, was published by Five Islands Press in June. He lives an isolated existence in the Adelaide Hills with his wife, donkey, cows and sheep. robwalkerpoet.com
Rob Wallis’ chapbook, My Life As A Sheep Dog (Mark Time Books) was published in 2009. His poems have appeared in Woorilla, Poetry Monash, Wet Ink, Westerly and Blue Dog, and his awards include the FAW J.S. Neilson Poetry Award (2006) and the Martin Downey Urban Realism Prize (MPU) in 2010.
Mitchell Welch is a writer, editor and poet from Brisbane. He currently lives in Melbourne where he is writing a novel and working as a cemetery administrator.
Dugald Williamson lives in Armidale, NSW, where he teaches and researches writing and media at the University of New England. Recent publications include the co-authored Australian Documentary (Cambridge, 2011).
Chloe Wilson’s first collection, The Mermaid Problem (Australian Poetry Centre, 2010), was commended in the Anne Elder Award and highly commended in the Mary Gilmore Award. She won the 2014 Arts Queensland Val Vallis Award for Unpublished Poetry, and was a co-winner of the 2013 Gwen Harwood Poetry Prize.
Mark Young’s most recent books are a chapbook of visual poems, Arachnid Nebula (Luna Bisonte, Columbus OH, 2014), HOTUS POTUS (Meritage Press, California, 2015) and the ebook A Small Compendium of Bats (Swirl, Sweden, 2015).
Ouyang Yu is alive and writing in Australia and China.
Fay Zwicky has published eight books of poetry, most recently Picnic (Giramondo, 2006), edited several anthologies of Australian poetry, a book of short stories (Hostages, FACP, 1983) and a collection of critical essays (The Lyre in the Pawnshop: Essays on Literature and Survival, UWAP, 1986). Her awards include the NSW Premier’s Award, the WA Premier’s Award, the Patrick White Award and the Christopher Brennan Award.