Australian poet & editor | Author of CARTE BLANCHE
Many thanks to Jake Goetz, Reviews Editor for Plumwood Mountain, for the opportunity to review Ed Wright’s latest book of poems, Gas Deities (Puncher & Wattmann, 2020). Click here for the REVIEW.
It’s 10 years this week since the culmination of a project Aidan Coleman and I ran in 2012, in which we invited South Australian poets to write about the renowned stained glass in St. Bart’s Church, Norwood, one of Adelaide’s oldest churches. Many of South Australia’s – and Australia’s – finest poets took up the challenge, 30 of them in all. The poems were showcased at a poetry reading at St. Bart’s in early November of that year, at which the poets read alongside the windows. A selection of the poems was anthologised in Light & Glorie (Pantaenus Press, 2012). The poems ranged from devotional to skeptical, from detailed to digressive, from the personal and aesthetic, to the historical. In the 10 years since, the newspaper articles about the project and two of the radio interviews have disappeared from their respective websites. But, happily, the Light & Glorie anthology is still available from Amazon, ABC Radio National’s hour-long podcast about the project is still online, and so are Robert Rath’s excellent photos of the poetry reading. Links below.
One of my poems is among 20 that have been tagged on the footpaths of Adelaide’s CBD, using invisible paint that appears only when it rains. My poem (‘To remember that a tree / is aired in sky as much / as it’s grounded in earth.’) can be found near the corner of Union and Grenfell Streets, opposite the Crown & Anchor Hotel. Many thanks to the Raining Poetry in Adelaide team, the JM Coetzee Centre for Creative Practice, and the City of Adelaide.
My poem ‘Dance of the Last Rhino’ has been published in Issue 2 of The Saltbush Review, an important new journal which focuses on connecting the South Australian literary community with readers and writing spaces across the world. Many thanks to Lyn, Gemma, Melanie, Clare, and Theodora of the editorial team.
Many thanks to Matthew Bulfer who has reviewed Carte Blanche for Westerly. Click here for the REVIEW.
My poem ‘Buonanotte’ has been published in Australian Poetry Anthology Volume 8, produced by Australian Poetry.
This Saturday, 20 July 2019, my debut book of poems will be launched at Mothership Studios, at 18-22 Sydney Street, Marrickville, Sydney, from 2:30-4:30pm, along with new books of poems by Peter Boyle, Natalie Harkin, and L.K. Holt. Sydneysiders are welcome to attend. Copies of CARTE BLANCHE will be available at the launch, and are available already from vagabondpress.net, along with all of Vagabond Press’s 2019 releases – books by Peter Boyle, a.j. carruthers, Toby Fitch, Natalie Harkin, L.K. Holt, and Jessica L. Wilkinson. A launch in my home city, Adelaide, will follow. Further details soon.
CARTE BLANCHE, my debut collection of poems, is available now from Vagabond Press, as a softcover and a limited edition hardcover. Along with CARTE BLANCHE, Vagabond Press has released its full suite of 2019 Australian poetry titles, including new books of poetry by Peter Boyle, a.j. carruthers, Toby Fitch, L.K. Holt, Jessica L. Wilkinson, and fellow South Australian poet Natalie Harkin. Readers of Australian poetry are well served by our best publishers and the quality of books they produce. Even in that esteemed company, Michael Brennan of Vagabond Press has achieved something special with the presentation of these books. Vagabond Press has a great history of publishing Australian poetry, dating back to 1999, but uniquely among Australia’s poetry presses, it’s also known for its books of poetry in translation – including the work of poets from Europe, the Asia Pacific and the Americas.
An interview about my writing (influences, motivations, routines, projects, etc) was published today at The Wombwell Rainbow, a site curated by Paul Brookes, which includes interviews with a very wide range of poets and writers.
My REVIEW of John Kinsella’s Graphology Poems: 1995-2015 (Five Islands, 2016) has been published in Plumwood Mountain.
Thom Sullivan 