A Journal of Australian & International Cultural Reviews, News and Criticism.
Shey has a distinguished track-record of short-listings and publications. The Hum Hearers was short-listed for the Dorothy Hewett Award, individual poems have been noticed in the Gwen Harwood Poetry Prize, the Woorilla Poetry Prize and the Bruce Dawe Poetry Prize, among others.
Since its founding in 1986 by Ron Pretty, Five Islands Press has been a lighthouse for poets and readers sailing in the variable waters of Australian poetry.
Mark Roberts (co-editor of Rochford Street Review) and 5 Islands Press invite you to the Sydney Launch of ‘The Office of Literary Endeavours’ To be launched by Les Wicks with Angela Stretch as your MC
on Sunday 25 May 2025, 3:00 pm – 4:30 pm, Benledi House, 186 Glebe Point Rd, Glebe NSW 2037, Australia
While many of his paintings are impressionistic of nature, his poems – particularly in his latest book Filmworks – are more impressionistic of movies. (It’s almost like a juxtaposition of the still life and the motion picture. The point being, his approach to Impressionism is as far-reaching as possible.) And, like his paintings, Purcell’s poems are more or less characterized by a select number of essential details which convey a sense of urgency in both feelings and sensations.
Like all truly satisfying works of art, Al is in possession of an auteur vision. He’s managed to pull all the disparate and quirky aspects of his reading and dreaming life (dreams are very important in this book) – he’s managed to pull all that into a persuasive whole, into poems that are small journeys, atmospheres or theatres through which a reader can roam.
This is a collection brimming with life, love and humour. These poems assert their independence while acknowledging their cohesion. They are parts of a greater whole.
Bronwyn’s poems are alive, they talk to us. Often as quiet presences that draw us into a life from childhood on. She left home early. Her poems can be fierce and poignant regarding family dynamics.
The Seal Woman is a novel with a clear narrative arc, albeit a slow-moving one, but overwhelmingly it is a patient reverence for the continuity of time, rhythm of the seasons, the oceans and, of course, its living creatures.
Thanks to the much-appreciated revival of 5 Islands Press, led by poets Mark Tredinnick and Steve Meyrick, we now have Steep Curve. Robyn is meticulous not only about the writing itself, but she is scrupulous about the publication of her poetry. She takes the work of publication seriously and insists on it being perfectly presented on the page. So her books are also beautiful objects.