Read a good interview of SHARON OLDS at
Wednesday, December 30, 2015
Tuesday, December 29, 2015
ALL ABOARD
I step on the plane
and turn my will
and my life
over to the care
of the pilot
as I did five years ago
on the theatre table
with a squad of
surgeons sharpening
their blades.
Big moments of trust in life!
Moonlight shines off
the starboard wing.
~
Coltrane plays
in the clouds
adding to
the turbulence
plane flying
straight through
cloud white fleece -
clashing cymbals ...
I edit on
a Qantas napkin
ANDREW BURKE
Monday, December 28, 2015
Sunday, December 27, 2015
Poetry anthology Bareknuckle has Howl at its heart - Reviewed by Geoff Page
The advent of a new Australian literary magazine is almost always welcome. Well-established journals such as Meanjin, Southerly, Westerly and Island have managed to survive for decades (sometimes half a century or more) but always with difficulty. Others such as Quadrant, Overland and Griffith Review, despite their overriding social and political concerns, have provided important venues for emerging (and vanishing) poets and fiction writers. It is easy to smile at Frank Moorhouse’s jibe that “Meanjin” is an Aboriginal word meaning “rejected by The New Yorker” but the annoying truth of it does not make Meanjin and its cohorts any less important.
Sounds of the Winter by WALT WHITMAN
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Thursday, December 24, 2015
Hispirits Christmas Gift to You
Bob Dylan Reads “‘Twas the Night Before Christmas” https://www.brainpickings.org/2015/12/23/bob-dylan-reads-twas-the-night-before-christmas/
I Love it!
Merry Christmas to All
Saturday, December 19, 2015
Queens University Seamus Heaney Scholasrhips
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Friday, December 18, 2015
ANTHOLOGY - AFTER GALLIPOLI/ ÇANAKKALE
This is a call for poems for a project that will bring Turkish, Australian and New Zealand poets together to respond to the centenary of the Gallipoli campaign of 1915. This tragic offensive led to mutual suffering. One hundred years later, Turks, Australians and New Zealanders find they have much in common. In each case the bloody campaign proved to be nation and myth-making, with powerful implications for a national sense of identity today. The aim of the project is to encourage a conversation across cultures and languages that will culminate in the publication of a bilingual collection of English-language and Turkish-language poems loosely themed around the Gallipoli/ Çanakkale centenary commemorations.
Send poems (maximum 2) to all 3 the Australasian editors – Kit Kelen KitKelen@gmail.com, Robyn Rowland bysea@bigpond.com & Les Wicks leswicks@hotmail.com by April 2 . Turkish poets can contact them for details of contributing to the Turkish component.
Call for Submissions: SOUTHERLY'S Writing and Disabilities issue
Southerly | 18 Dec, 2015 | News |
For its second number in 2016, Southerly will be producing an issue, co-edited by David Brooks and Andy Jackson, on Writing and Disability, and we are seeking contributions in all our usual fields – poetry, short fiction, essay, review, memoir, etc. Both physical and psychological disability will be considered – visible and invisible – and disability will be interpreted widely within these areas. The co-editors do not wish to limit contributions in any way. They do note, however, that the area of writing and disability is significantly under-theorised, especially in the Australian context, and hope that this publication might make some contribution in this area.
Deadline: June 30th 2016
Submit: Via our submissions portal here
Thursday, December 17, 2015
Announcing the Winner of the Whitmore Press MS Prize 2015
Dear poet,
Thanks very much for entering this year’s Whitmore Press Manuscript Prize.
For those of you not already familiar with this news following postings on our website and social media ...
The shortlisted poets in this year’s Whitmore Press Manuscript Prize were:
Broede Carmody
Steve Evans
Adam Ford
Rachael Wenona Guy
Carmen Leigh Keates
Carolyn Leach-Paholski
Ray Liversidge
Roberta Lowing
Juliana Qian (Lia Incognita)
Jane Williams
Following much anguish (and a delay for which we thank everyone for their patience), we are very pleased to announce that the winner of the Whitmore Press Manuscript Prize for 2015 is Carmen Leigh Keates.
We were impressed with the imaginative explorations of Carmen’s poems set in northern Europe – poems in which ancient ruins and contemporary museum alike are part of a disturbing yet subtly lyrical personal archaeology of place and space. Congratulations Carmen!
A collection of Carmen’s poems will be published by Whitmore Press in the second half of 2016.
We again thank all who submitted to this year’s prize, and in particular congratulate those who reached the shortlist and made our final decision an engrossingly difficult one.
Release of Breaking the Days by Jill Jones
As many of you would know, renowned poet, critic and novelist Alison Croggon launched Breaking the Days by Jill Jones in Melbourne in November.
For those who couldn’t make the launch but would like a copy of Jill’s – or of Tracy’s – collection, you can order online from the Whitmore Press titles page
Wednesday, December 16, 2015
Monday, December 14, 2015
Sunday, December 13, 2015
NEWS FROM PARIS CLIMATE CONTROL TALKS
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Friday, December 11, 2015
Celebrate The Lyrical Leunig
THE SONG COMPANY CELEBRATES LEUNIG | ||
To ring out the old year and ring in the new, The Song Company present twelve new songs, one for each month, based on the words and work of iconic Australian cartoonist, philosopher and author Michael Leunig. Twelve composers, including Robert Davidson, Lyle Chan and Kate Neal have collaborated with The Song Company to create a unique celebration of this wry observer of life. Thursday 17 December, 8pm >>more BUY A PRINT TODAY http://leunig.com.au/shop/shop/prints-detail |
Wednesday, December 09, 2015
Opportunities from West Australian Poetry Inc Newsletter
The Tom Collins Poetry Prize
The Tom Collins Poetry Prize is an annual competition inaugurated by FAWWA in 1975 in memory of Australian author Joseph Furphy (1843 - 1912) who wrote as Tom Collins. Number of Lines: Maximum 60 lines per poem.Closing Date: 15th December 2015 .Send in with a copy of your poetry submissions to Fellowship of Australian Writers WA to FAWWA Competition SecretaryPO Box 6180Swanbourne WA 6910 or Email
to fellowshipaustralianwriterswa@ gmail.com
Short and Twisted
Short and Twisted, an anthology of short stories and poetry with a twist at the end, is seeking submissions of short fiction up to 2,000 words, poetry and images for the 2016 issue. Deadline Thursday 31 December 2015.
Adelaide Plains Poets Inc Poetry Competition 2015/16
Submissions are now open for the Adelaide Plains Poets Inc Poetry Competition. This year's theme is 'Transitions.' Poems must be no longer than 60 lines. There is an open class section for over 18 years old and junior classes for primary and secondary school students. Prizes are awarded for first, second and third places. Closing 29 January 2016 http://www.carolyn- poeticpause.blogspot.com.au/
Eyre Writers Literary Awards 2016
Eyre Writers Inc. invites you to enter their annual Literary Awards, open to all Australian citizens. There are awards for following categories: Tom Black Memorial Award for a rhyming poem on any theme, limit 50 lines; Eyre Writers Award for a non-rhyming poem on any theme, limit 50 lines; Eyre Travel Short Story Award for a short story on any theme, limit 1500 words; Land and Sea Award for fact, fiction, or essay, on an Australian rural or maritime theme, limit 1500 words. First Place in each category receives a cash prize. Closing 31 January 2016
Banjo Paterson Australian Poetry Competition 2016
The Rotary Club of Orange is launching the Banjo Paterson Australian Poetry Competition for 2016. This competition is open to all poets to recite their original poetry on Saturday 20 February as a signature event during the 2016 Banjo Paterson Australian Poetry Festival in Orange NSW.
Closing 12 February 2016
Griffith University Josephine Ulrick Literature & Poetry Prizes
Among the richest poetry and short story prizes in the world, the Griffith University Josephine Ulrick prizes in 2016 are worth $30,000 in total prize money. Literature Prize for a short story up to 2000 words: first prize $10,000. Poetry Prize for a poem up to 100 lines: first prize $10,000.
Deadline: 12 February 2016 https://www.griffith.edu.au/ humanities-languages/school- humanities/news-
and-events/josephine-ulrick- prizes/poetry-prize-entry-form
Sonnet Competition
The Shakespeare Club of Western Australia is sponsoring a sonnet-writing competition. Write your own sonnet is open to secondary students and adults. We invite all poets, amateur and professional, experienced or first-timers, to exercise their imaginations in a 14-line poem in the Shakespearean pattern. Writers may choose any theme with a Western Australian link. Your sonnet can be comic, serious, satirical, romantic or what you will. Prizes will be awarded in both categories. First: $300; second: $200; third: $100. All entries must be received by 1st March 2016 All information relating to competition rules and guidelines is available at:
2016 Ethel Webb Bundell Literary Awards now open
The Society of Women Writers WA has launched the 2016 Ethel Webb Bundell Literary Awards for poetry and short stories. There is no set theme and both categories are open to all writers. Poems may be in any style, up to 100 lines. Short stories are not to exceed 4,000 words. The closing date for entries is 31 March 2016 Guidelines and entry forms are available from the Society's website www.swwofwa.com For further information, call 0415 840 031, or email swwofwa@gmail.com
Call for submissions : Las Americas
Azuria is an independent journal published by Geelong Writers inc. in the early months of each year. .You are invited to submit essays, poems and short stories in response to the theme LAS AMERICAS for the next edition. Let us (re)discover and translate poets from Québec & México & Chile, find tales of travelling through the Andes and Mayan jungles, conduct interviews with American writers living in Geelong. Let us write about how we consider those ancient and new societies, and their literatures, and especially their impact upon our lives, and read accounts from the other side of the Pacific Ocean. Submissions should be sent by e-mail to geelongwriters@gmail.com& cc: tedreilly100@hotmail.com with the annotation “Submission_Surname_Azuria#5” [i.e., your surname] in the subject line. Please attach work as an MSWORD *.doc or *.docx file, and any images should be set in JPG format. Address the e-mail to: The Editorial Group / Azuria / Geelong Writers inc., including a concise 50 - 70 word literary biography, along with contact and postal information in the body of the e-mail.
MacGuffin - digital literature platform
MacGuffin hosts short stories and poetry in text and audio form. Anyone can upload a poem or short story, so long as they also upload a reading along with the text. This doesn't have to be professionally recorded (and in fact, many of our favourite poems and stories on MacGuffin have a homemade feel - recorded on a smartphone, with birdsong in the background, or a dog barking somewhere). https://macguffin.io/signup/? next=/
Call for Submissions P3
P3 (Poetry. Plays. Prose) aims to showcase the creative writing of Western Australians of all ages and backgrounds. Our team aims to adopt an all- inclusive approach. We would like to see work from writers at all levels. P3 is currently 100% privately funded, with advertising revenue subsidising publication costs. Kim Sanders Pty Ltd Publishing is calling for original creative writing submissions up to 4000 words in length for their quarterly publication. An annual prize pool worth $2,000. Kim Sanders Pty Ltd Publishing Mobile: 0428 166 515 Post: PO Box 1594, Wangara WA
6065 Email: wajm@jazi.net
Monday, December 07, 2015
SHORTLIST ANNOUNCED FOR 2016 VICTORIAN PREMIER’S LITERARY AWARDS
Media Contact: Karen Kissane 0428 657 076 | karen.kissane@minstaff.vic.gov.au
Monday, 7 December, 2015
Minister for Creative Industries Martin Foley has kicked off a summer of diverse reading, announcing the 21 works that have been shortlisted for the 2016 Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards.
The works comprise some of the best fiction, non-fiction, drama, poetry and writing for young adults produced in Australia in the past 12 months.
The shortlist ranges from a portrait of two of Australia’s most prominent art patrons to a science-fiction/fantasy that follows the story of a family from 2016 to 2057.
There is the young adult tale of an Aboriginal girl taken from her family in Northern Australia, poems exploring the ways the past intrudes on the present, gritty theatre works exploring secrets, damaged lives and crime, and a look into a writer’s lifelong obsession with horse racing.
Author Miles Allinson has been shortlisted in the fiction category for his first novel Fever of Animals. The nomination caps off a significant year for the novelist. In 2014, Allinson received the Victorian Premier’s Literary Award for an Unpublished Manuscript for the story, which went on to be published by Scribe.
The winners of the five award categories – fiction, non-fiction, drama, poetry and writing for young adults – each receive a prize of $25,000, and go on to contest the Victorian Prize for Literature. Worth a further $100,000, the Victorian Prize for Literature is Australia’s single richest literary prize.
The public are encouraged to participate in the Awards by voting for their favorite shortlisted work. The winner of the $2,000 People’s Choice Award will be named alongside the main category winners on Thursday 28 January 2016.
The Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards were established by the then Labor Government in 1985 to honour literary achievement by Australian writers. The Awards are administered by the Wheeler Centre on behalf of the Premier of Victoria.
The Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards include two further Awards: the Unpublished Manuscript Award, which is presented as part of the Emerging Writers’ Festival in May each year, and the biennial Award for Indigenous Writing, which will be announced in September 2016.
To vote for the People’s Choice Award, please visit wheelercentre.com. The full shortlist is attached.
Quotes attributable to Minister for Creative Industries Martin Foley:
"The Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards showcase the strength and diversity of Australian literature, celebrating our most exciting stories and story tellers."
"These stories do what great literature does best: they allow us to reflect on the past, or explore an imagined future. The shortlist showcases the best local literature from the past year and provides us with plenty of fantastic summer reading."
"This year’s shortlist includes some of our country’s best known writers alongside emerging voices. The Andrews Labor Government congratulates all authors on making the shortlist." Media Contact: Karen Kissane 0428 657 076 | karen.kissane@minstaff.vic.gov.au
2016 VICTORIAN PREMIER’S LITERARY AWARDS SHORTLIST
PRIZE FOR FICTION
Fever of Animals by Miles Allinson (Scribe Publications) – Brunswick, Vic
The Other Side of the World by Stephanie Bishop (Hachette) – Springwood, NSW
Clade by James Bradley (Penguin) – Darlington, NSW
Forever Young by Steven Carroll (HarperCollins) – Brunswick East, Vic
The World Without Us by Mireille Juchau (Bloomsbury) – Earlwood, NSW
The Natural Way of Things by Charlotte Wood (Allen & Unwin) – Marrickville, NSW
Highly commended: Six Bedrooms by Tegan Bennett Daylight (Random House Australia), The Mothers by Rod Jones (Text Publishing) and Black Rock White City by A.S. Patrić(Transit Lounge Publishing)
PRIZE FOR NON-FICTION
Modern Love: The Lives of John and Sunday Reed by Lesley Harding and Kendrah Morgan (MUP) – North Fitzroy, Vic, and Fitzroy, Vic
Thea Astley: Inventing Her Own Weather by Karen Lamb (UQP) – Dulwich Hill, NSW
Australia’s Second Chance by George Megalogenis (Penguin) – North Caulfield, Vic
Second Half First by Drusilla Modjeska (Knopf) – Birchgrove, NSW
Something for the Pain by Gerald Murnane (Text Publishing) – Goroke, Vic
Mannix by Brenda Niall (Text Publishing) – Deepdene, Vic
Highly commended: Good Muslim Boy by Osamah Sami (Hardie Grant Books) and Small Acts of Disappearance by Fiona Wright (Giramondo Publishing)
PRIZE FOR DRAMA
Mortido by Angela Betzien (Currency Press) – St Peters, NSW
Broken by Mary Anne Butler (Currency Press) – Rapid Creek, NT
SHIT by Patricia Cornelius (Melbourne Theatre Company) – Thornbury, Vic
Highly commended: I am a Miracle by Declan Greene
PRIZE FOR POETRY
The Guardians by Lucy Dougan (Giramondo Publishing) – East Victoria Park, Vic
Crankhandle by Alan Loney (Cordite) – Malvern East, Vic
The Subject of Feeling by Peter Rose (UWA Publishing) – Melbourne, Vic
Highly commended: Happiness by Martin Harrison (UWA Publishing)
PRIZE FOR WRITING FOR YOUNG ADULTS
Sister Heart by Sally Morgan (Fremantle Press) – Bicton, WA
A Single Stone by Meg McKinlay (Walker Books Australia) – Hamilton Hill, WA
Welcome to Orphancorp by Marlee Jane Ward (Xoum Publishing) – Brunswick West, Vic
Highly commended: Illuminae by Aimee Kaufman and Jay Kristoff (Allen & Unwin) and Becoming Kirrali Lewis by Jane Harrison (Magabala Books)
For images and interview requests, contact Kate Blackwood, Publicist, the Wheeler Centre E: kate.blackwood@wheelercentre.com T: 03 9094 7806
Sunday, December 06, 2015
Saturday, December 05, 2015
2016 Newcastle Short Story Award
Newcastle Short Story AwardEntries accepted from Australian residents
Up to 2000 words
$15 entry fee
closes midnight 31st January 2016
Up to 2000 words
$15 entry fee
closes midnight 31st January 2016
Prizes
Friday, December 04, 2015
Woolworths 12,000 Pokies People
Woolworths' poker machines use deceptive design tricks to con Australians into addiction, but their executives are doing their best to ignore the revelations.
That's why GetUp members caused a stir last week at the Woolworths Annual General Meeting. We got our special 'Woolworths: Gambling with Lives' Green Bags into the hands of shareholders and delivered our 51,000-strong petition to Woolworths' Company Secretary.
And in response? Not a peep.
Woolworths trades daily on its supposed family values, while its 12,000 poker machines devastate Australian families. And now, despite 51,000 Australians calling out this hypocrisy, Woolworths is refusing to front up.
But Woolworths just copped a hiding from cranky shareholders and journalists last week over its growing loss of customers. So the last thing they need right now is thousands of disgruntled shoppers flooding customer service, demanding answers about their questionable poker machine investments.
Click here to write to Woolworths now and get some answers.
Thursday, December 03, 2015
UTQ Call for Papers
University of Toronto Quarterly
Call for Papers
Acclaimed as one of the finest journals focused on the humanities, the
< http://bit.ly/utqonline> University of Toronto Quarterly (UTQ) publishes
interdisciplinary articles and review essays of international repute. This
interdisciplinary approach provides a depth and quality to the journal that
attracts both general readers and specialists from across the humanities.
The <http://bit.ly/utqonline> University of Toronto Quarterly welcomes
contributions in all areas of the humanities – literature, philosophy, fine
arts, music, the history of ideas, cultural studies, and so on. It favours
articles that appeal to a scholarly readership beyond the specialists in the
field of the given submission.
UTQ is especially interested in submissions for special issues or special
sections on the following topics:
- Representations of urban life in Canada
- Literature and the media in an age of global fear (terrorism,
environmental disaster, economic crisis)
- The return of formalism in literary studies
- Religion and secularism
- The state of the humanities in Canada
Submissions should be no more than 10,000 words inclusive of notes and works
cited. Submissions should be sent in either Microsoft Word DOC or RTF format
to utq@chass.utoronto.ca> utq@chass.utoronto.ca.
For more information on UTQ’s house style and editorial policies, please see
here - <http://bit.ly/utqsubmit> http://bit.ly/utqsubmit - or visit the
journal’s website: http://bit.ly/utqonline
For more information on UTQ’s house style and editorial policies, please see
here - <http://bit.ly/utqsubmit> http://bit.ly/utqsubmit - or visit the
journal’s website: http://bit.ly/utqonline
Tuesday, December 01, 2015
Overland Poetry Prize CLOSES 6th December
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Monday, November 30, 2015
The Guardian reviews KING LEAR
King Lear’s unreasonable expectations drive Shakespeare’s plot. After abdicating in order to “unburden’d crawl toward death” Lear expects the fawning and flattery that only power can procure to continue undiminished. It doesn’t, and his suffering begins.
Sydney Theatre Company’s production, which closes its 2015 season, is weighted by high expectations too.
Sunday, November 29, 2015
Blake's Birthday
Happy Birthday, William Blake, November 28, 1757
(From www.poets.org): William Blake was born in London on November 28, 1757, to James, a hosier, and Catherine Blake. Two of his six siblings died in infancy. From early childhood, Blake spoke of having visions—at four he saw God “put his head to the window”; around age nine, while walking through the countryside, he saw a tree filled with angels. Although his parents tried to discourage him from “lying,” they did observe that he was different from his peers and did not force him to attend conventional school. He learned to read and write at home. At age ten, Blake expressed a wish to become a painter, so his parents sent him to drawing school. Two years later, Blake began writing poetry. When he turned fourteen, he apprenticed with an engraver because art school proved too costly. One of Blake’s assignments as apprentice was to sketch the tombs at Westminster Abbey, exposing him to a variety of Gothic styles from which he would draw inspiration throughout his career. After his seven-year term ended, he studied briefly at the Royal Academy.
_____________________________
Blake’s description of a holographic universe, 200 years before we knew about holograms (from Auguries of Innocence):
“To see a World in a Grain of Sand
And a Heaven in a Wild Flower
Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand
And Eternity in an hour”
Kings Cross Shorts 2016 START NOW!
Kings Cross Shorts 2016 - $1,000 minimum 1st Prize
Kings Cross Arts & Cultural Festival Inc (“kxacf”) has announced that as a result of a generous donation from a benefactor, the minimum first prize for Kings Cross Shorts 2016 will be $1,000 cash.
The Kings Cross Shorts 2016 winner will be announced during the week long Kings Cross Festival to be staged by kxacf in November 2016.
The basic rules for the film competition are:
* Film of 5 minutes duration
* Theme – “Kings Cross”
* Shot on location in 2011 postcode suburbs ( Potts Point, Elizabeth Bay, Rushcutters Bay and Woolloomooloo) and/or suburb of Darlinghurst
* Not previously exhibited
* Entry fee per film - $15
Entries will close mid October 2016 and a screening and award presentation night will be held in mid November 2016.
Further details will be announced as soon as possible.
The organising committee for the film competition headed jointly by Shane Briant and Magdalena Stamos are determined to bring additional sponsors on board to increase the prize pool.
START SHOOTING Now!
Thursday, November 26, 2015
Rainer Maria Rilke Quote
Paris climate talks won't beat dangerous global warming but they will try to build a vehicle that can
As Australia’s lead UNFCCC negotiator Peter Woolcott pointed out last week, back in 1992 there were only three developing countries on the list of the world’s 12 biggest greenhouse gas emitters. Now there are seven.
China has replaced the US as the major global emitter and geopolitical power has shifted towards Asia.
So we need a new deal. COP21 in Paris is the culmination of years of work to get that deal done. This time, all countries are being asked to sign it and because the process works on a consensus approach, all parties need to agree or the deal dies.
The Climate Institute’s Erwin Jackson, who routinely attends UNFCC meetings, offered me a neat summary of how much further advanced the process is heading into Paris than at previous meetings.
But there has also been a fundamental change in how the UNFCCC is trying to canvas agreement.At Copenhagen we had a draft agreement that was 200 pages long. At Kyoto it was 80 pages. At Paris, it’s 50 pages.
At Kyoto and at Copenhagen the UNFCCC was trying to impose targets to cut emissions from on high. This time the target-setting has been done by the countries themselves – a bottom-up approach.
READ THE COMPLETE ARTICLE AT http://www.theguardian.com/environment/planet-oz/2015/nov/26/paris-climate-talks-wont-beat-dangerous-global-warming-but-will-try-to-build-a-vehicle-that-can?utm_source=esp&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=GU+Today+AUS+v1+-+AUS+morning+mail+callout&utm_term=139651&subid=7413251&CMP=ema_632
Wednesday, November 25, 2015
The Wilderness Society's PHOTO OF THE MONTH
IMAGE: Whale watching off Moreton Island, Queensland | Angela Schweikert
For a chance to see your own wilderness photo in the next issue of Wild News, email it to images@wilderness.org.au by Friday, 15 December with your name and short description. Good luck! Read the terms and conditions.
Tuesday, November 24, 2015
'MIST' by Henry Thoreau
Mist
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