Reviews
Breath-taking sentience: Cathal Ó Searcaigh introduces Kate Newmann at the Errigal Arts Event, Donegal, Ireland
With her first collection, The Blind Woman in the Blue House, Kate Newmann made her presence felt in Irish poetry. Since then she is a commanding voice, a poet who writes about the tumults of the human heart with a frankness and a tenderness that I value
The harrowing task of truth telling: Judith Nangala Crispin reviews ‘The Nightmare Sequence’ by Omar Sakr and artist Safdar Ahmed
The Nightmare Sequence is a profound and deeply moving act of truth-telling created by poet Omar Sakr and artist Safdar Ahmed. It is bravely published by University of Queensland Press, in an almost unprecedented period of censorship in Australia’s artistic and literary scene.
Upending common dichotomies: Leonie Bingham reviews ‘Parallax’ by Robin Morgan.
Parallax is not an easy read, and demands re-reading, which is perhaps its intention. Morgan explores and upends common dichotomies which, to the reader, are inherently familiar: chaos/ order, sanity/i nsanity, religion/science and freedom/ captivity.
The layered structure of the house of poetry: Jennifer Compton launches ‘Intents’ by Anne Elvey
I met Anne Elvey quite a few yonks ago at a soup and haiku night Myron Lysenko hosted when he was living in Brunswick, before he did the tree change thing and relocated to Woodend. I had taken my knitting in case it was boring, but then Anne arrived and sat on the couch next to me
An eloquent case for empathy: Denise O’Hagan reviews The Heart of the Advocate by Angela Costi
With both passion and precision, her poems explore the rift between justice and the law within the often-veiled domestic environment as well as in the courtroom and other more public spaces, in the past and also, urgently, in the present.
The August Katoomba Winter Poetry Readings featuring Brenda Saunders and Louise Wakeling
The Little Lost Bookshop & Rochford Street Review Present The Katoomba Winter Poetry Readings. The August reading, on Thursday 21st July at 6.30pm, will feature Brenda Saunders and Louise Wakeling along with an open mic.
Kai Jensen: 6 Poems from ‘The Zebra Path of Tree Light’
Kai Jensen was born in Philadelphia, USA; he lived from the age of five in Aotearoa/New Zealand, then moved to Australia with his Australian wife Rajni (Kathy) Troup in 2004, and is now learning to be Australian. Kai’s poems have appeared in most leading Australasian literary journals, and in many North American journals; his first book of poetry, The Zebra Path of Tree Light, was published by 5 Islands Press in May 2025.
A remarkable and many-sided achievement: Eamonn Wall launches ‘Seang (Hungering)’ by Anne Casey
Her new book is her best, bravest, and most ambitious work to date, a remarkable and many-sided achievement that elevates her work, thematically and aesthetically, to a new level.
Rochford Street Review 