Poetry Shelf celebrates new books: Seven poets read from Sista, Stanap...
Sista, Stanap Strong! A Vanuatu Women’s Anthology, eds Mikaela Nyman and Rebecca Tobo Olul-Hossen, Victoria University Press, 2021 Sista, Stanap Strong! gathers new writing from three generations of...
View ArticlePoetry Shelf interviews James Brown
The plain words—the best ones— you couldn’t give them away. from ‘No Trick Pony’ What a delight to see Selected Poems from James Brown arrive in 2020 (Victoria University Press). Like a number of...
View ArticlePoetry Shelf Theme Season: Eleven poems about breakfast
Breakfast is a lifelong ritual for me: the fruit, the cereal, the toast, the slowly-brewed tea, the short black. It is the reading, it is the silence, it is the companionship. It is finding the best...
View ArticlePoetry Shelf celebrates new books: A poem sampler from Ian Wedde’s The Little...
The Little Ache — a German Notebook, Ian Wedde, Victoria University Press, 2021 From The Little Ache—a German notebook 2 Im Hochsummer besuchen die Bienen viele unterschiedliche Blüten ‘In high summer...
View ArticlePoetry Shelf review: Tayi Tibble’s Rangikura
Rangikura, Tayi Tibble, Victoria University Press, 2021 Cover: Xoë Hall ‘I love words so much they blind me.’ from ‘Mahuika’ Tayi Tibble caught my poetry heart with her debut collection –...
View ArticlePoetry Shelf review: Sam Duckor-Jones’s Party Legend
Party Legend, Sam Duckor-Jones, Victoria University Press, 2021 Dedications To Anita: complete with scissors and buttonsFor Donovan: a lessonTo Christopher: humming a little tuneFor Neil: we triedTo...
View ArticlePoetry Shelf celebrates new books: Dinah Hawken reads from Sea-light
Sea-light, Dinah Hawken, Victoria University Press, 2021 Cover: Breaker Bay, Looking South, Gerda Leenards, 2007 Dinah Hawken reads ‘Haze’, ‘The sea’ and ‘Faith’ from Sea-light Dinah Hawken is one of...
View ArticlePoetry Shelf audio: Tim Grgec reads from All Tito’s Children
All Tito’s Children, Tim Grgec, Victoria University Press, 2021 An intro: Tim reads ‘Infectious Divides’: Tim reads ‘Lost Tendencies’: Tim Grgec was the 2018 recipient of the Biggs Family Prize for...
View ArticlePoetry Shelf review: Tim Grgec’s All Tito’s Children
All Tito’s Children, Tim Grgec, Victoria University Press, 2021 i. History has never been an exact science. It is simply an emphasis of fact: figures moving in and out of view with a...
View ArticlePoetry Shelf says Wow: Kirsten McDougall’s She’s a Killer
She’s a Killer, Kirsten McDougall, Victoria University Press, 2021 My late Sunday afternoon plug: Kirsten McDougall’s She’s a Killer is an astonishing book. Daring, wise, jagged, smooth. I finished it...
View ArticlePoetry Shelf review: A Game of Two Halves: The Best of Sport 2005 – 2019
A Game of Two halves: The Best of Sport 2005 – 2019, ed Fergus Barrowman Victoria University Press, 2021 This book looks back through the fifteen issues of Sport from 2005 to 2019. In 600 pages it...
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