Poets Union 9 December e-news for Poets

Dear Poets Union Members and Friends,

Please see the updated website – click here to visit www.poetsunion.com
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Poetry events, festivals and readings all over Australia:
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In Sydney Sat. 12 December – invitation to read or recite your poems at Club Tap at the Tap Gallery

Patrons, subscribers, visitors and guests of Tap Art Gallery are invited to the last Club Tap performance of the year.
Event: Club Tap readings and music.
Venue: Tap Gallery
Address: 279 Palmer Street,
Darlinghurst
Date: next Saturday December 12
Time: at 7p m
Entry: $5 - Just rock up and have a good night.

If you have poems to read or recite, including songs and acoustic music, you are welcome to perform, or be a part of the audience.

Wishes from Robert Balas and Lesley Dimmick for the 2009 year and for next year, 2010.
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In Perth Sat 12th December – lush ladies: Jazmin & Sally Clarke
2– 4 pm at Perth Poetry Club

JAZMIN + SALLY CLARKE
Yes, it's that JAZMIN: she of the irrepressible smile; she of the gorgeously individual fashion sense; and, more importantly, she of the eco-raps and love poems on topics such as compost, bicycles, trees, luuurve and chocolate.

DR SALLY CLARKE is one of five poets published in the 'Amber Contains the Sun' anthology. Her biography of Western Australian author Donald Stuart was short-listed for the 2006 WA Premier's Book Award.
Plus open mike. Professional sound. Come listen and hang out with poetry lovers in the comfy back room of The Moon. 2-4pm. 323 William Street, Northbridge.
Have you seen our Perth Poetry Links? Readings, groups, poets, journals, publishers... everything WA poetry.

Our upcoming guests:
19 Dec: Janet Jackson, Neil Pattinson, Coral Carter
26 Dec, 2 Jan: break, for obvious reasons
9 Jan: Poetry and music from Danny Gunzburg

More info (yes, more!) at www.perthpoetryclub.com.
Enquiries: perthpoetryclub@gmail.com or Janet 0406 624 578.

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In Sydney on Sunday 13th December – DiVerse poets reading specially written poetry on the artworks of Nora Heysen

Venue: The SH Ervin Gallery – National Trust of Australia
Address: Watson Road,
Observatory Hill, The Rocks, NSW 2000

Date: Sunday the 13th of December
Time: 3.00pm
Cost $7 general admission, $5 seniors & concession card holders
$4 national trust members
Enquiries Phone: (02) 9258 0123 Contact: Leah Haynes
DiVerse will perform their specially written poetry on the artworks of Nora Heysen, from her exhibition Light and Life. Receive a free booklet of the poetry and images.
Poetry transcribed from painting and drawings, known as an Ekphrasis has a long tradition, going back to the ancient Greeks. Think of Homer’s writings, Keats and his Ode on a Grecian Urn.
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In Hobart – Tuesday 15th December
LITERARY LARK – The Tasmanian Writers' Centre End-of-Year Literary Lark! You are all welcome for free drinks and refreshments, to hear works from the fabulous Tasmanian writers who launched new books during 2009. Celebrate the strength of Tasmanian writing with the official launch of the Writers' Centre Summer Reading broadsheet. (By the way, it's not too late to include your 2009 book in our broadsheet! Just email bravo@tasmanianwriters.org.)
Date: Tuesday 15 December,
Time: 6pm - 8.30pm –
The Tasmanian Writers' Centre End-of-Year Literary Lark
Venue: the Lark Distillery,
Address : 14 Davey Street,
Hobart.

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In Hobart on 16th December at 6 pm Salamanca Collection Gallery
Poetic responses from Lyn Reeves and Liz McQuilkin

Venue: Salamanca Collection Gallery
Address: 91 Salamanca Place,
Hobart
Tel: 03 6224 0029
Email: admin@tasmanianwriters.org

Hear poets Lyn Reeves and Liz McQuilkin responding to an exhibition by Katherine Cooper at Salamanca Collection gallery. Celebrate the last reading for the year in this exciting partnership between the Tasmanian Writers Centre and Salamanca Collection curated by Karen Knight. Enjoy a glass of wine, hot chocolate and pre-dinner delectables.

Free event!
All welcome.
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In Adelaide - 26th January 2010 with Friendly Street Poets - poetry relevant & responsive to John Brack’s work
Friendly Street Poets at the Art Gallery of SA

Iconic, Australian artist John Brack’s major retrospective exhibition is showing at the Art Gallery of SA until January 31st 2010. It covers all the eras of Brack’s amazing working life. Friendly Street Poets are presenting poetry relevant & responsive to Brack’s work. The final reading is on:
Date: Tuesday 26th January 2010
Time: 2– 2.30 pm
Venue: at the Art Gallery of SA,
Address: North Terrace
Adelaide (in the City).

Please come along & see the work of this brilliant artist and hear Friendly Street Poets perform poetry directly related to paintings & the times when they were created.
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In Sydney – Sunday 28 February, 2010 and on the 4th Sunday of every month
The Poets Union monthly reading at the Brett Whiteley Studio

Venue: Brett Whiteley Studio
Address: Raper Street, (off Devonshire Street and Esther Lane)
Surry Hills
Date: 2010 first reading Sunday 28th February
Time 2.00 – 3.30 pm

Convenor: Angela Stretch for Poets Union Inc.
Enquiries for 2010 : 0438 898 578
FREE entry

First three guest poets for 2010:

Sunday 28 February 2010 - Harbour City Poets
Conversations from the Bottom of the Harbour. Six poets from the Sydney-based group
Harbour City Poets present a reading of poems responding to poems, celebrating
contemporary city life. joanne burns, Louise Wakeling, Kerry Leves, David Musgrave,
Jenni Nixon and Margaret Bradstock.

Sunday 28 March 2010 - Kim Garcia
Kim Garcia’s poetry collection Madonna Magdalene was published by Turning Point Books in the fall of 2006. Her work has appeared in The Atlanta Review, Nimrod, Cimarron Review, Mississippi Review, Subtropics and Birmingham Poetry Review, among others, and has been aired on Writer’s Almanac.
Kim Garcia is the recipient of an AWP Intro Writing Award, a Hambidge Fellowship, an Oregon Individual Artist Grant, and the 2009 X.J. Kennedy Award. A graduate of Reed College and the University of Houston Creative Writing Program, she teaches creative writing at Boston College.

Sunday 25 April 2010 Edwin Wilson
Edwin Wilson is a poet who has also published novels, autobiographies and works on
botany. Since 1980 he has worked in community Relations at the Royal Botanic Gardens
Sydney. He is listed in the OUP publication Australian Poets & Their Works (1996), the
second edition of The Oxford Companion to Australian Literature (1994), and both editions
of W.D. Thorpe’s Who’s Who of Australian Writers. His Collected Poems were brought out
under the imprint of Kardoorair Press (Armidale) in 2002. My Brother Jim is his latest
book.

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Competitions and due dates for submissions:
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Members of the Poets Union are invited to submit poems to the Guest Editor of Five Bells by 15 December, 2009
15 December Poets Union Subscriber’s poems – submissions invited for the next double issue of Five Bells to be published early in 2010 (and including poems sent for the 15 September deadline).
Call for subscribers to submit one poem or an article to the Poets Union’s next issue of Five Bells
– due by 15 December.

Please submit only one poem per member:
- as a simple Word doc. attachment
- on the first page please include your name, the title of the poem and your contact details
- and on a separate page the Title and poem (poems are chosen ‘anonymously’ by the Guest Editor.
- Please email them to info@poetsunion.com with the Subject: Five Bells Submission

The Editors send all poems off for consideration by the Guest Editor (minus the poet’s name)who makes their selection and informs the Five Bells Editors who then return the poets’ names to the selected poems.
The theme for the 15 December 2009 issue of Five Bells is ‘Poetry of Space’ - these themes refer to the articles only (subscribers’ poems may be on any subject) – the editors accept themed and unthemed articles on poetry from members and non-members.
Please email them to info@poetsunion.com with the Subject: Five Bells Submission.
The postal address for submissions is Guest Editor, Poets Union Inc., PO Box 755, POTTS POINT NSW 1335.
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Submissions invited and due 18 December for an anthology of poetic responses to the ‘settlement’ and exploration of Australia
Opportunity…
Puncher & Wattmann and the Poets Union are planning an anthology of poetic responses to the ‘settlement’ and exploration of Australia (tentatively entitled Antipodes).
Indigenous responses especially welcome.

Please send hard copy (up to 3 poems) to Margaret Bradstock .
Margaret Bradstock
Address: 2/302 Alison Road,
COOGEE NSW 2034

Due date for submissions: 18th December for consideration.
Enclose an SSAE for the outcome, contact details (including email) and a brief biography (5 lines).
Pre-published work may be submitted with a short acknowledgement of previous name and date of publication.

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Submissions invited and due 12 March 2010 – Henry Kendall Poetry Award 2010
HENRY KENDALL POETRY AWARD 2010

Closing date 12th March 2010.
Entry form and conditions available at www.centralcoastpoets.com.au or
by sending SSAE to
Central Coast Poets Inc.
PO Box 780,
WOY WOY NSW 2256.
Entry fee $7, unlimited entries,
32 lines max.
Prizes totalling $800 & possible inclusion in anthology to be published Sept. 2010.

Gillian Telford, for Central Coast Poets
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Expressions of interest invited for 2010 UNSW Literary Fellowship

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Submissions invited for 2010 Mary Gilmore Poetry Prize
Mary Gilmore Poetry Prize Entries are invited for the 2010 Mary Gilmore Poetry Prize.
The Prize is awarded every two years by the Association for the Study of Australian Literature (ASAL) for the best first book of poetry published by an Australian in the preceding two years – in this case the calendar years 2008 and 2009.
This is a prestigious poetry prize which has helped the careers of many now well-known poets, including Jan Owen, Judith Beveridge, Alison Croggon, Lucy Dougan, and David McCooey; the prize also draws attention to their publishers. ASAL will meet the cost of the winning poet attending and providing a reading of his or her work at its conference to be held in early July 2010.
Eligible publishers or poets are asked to submit three copies of each eligible book to:
Dennis Haskell
English & Cultural Studies (M202)
University of Western Australia
35 Stirling Highway
CRAWLEY WA 6009

Any queries about the prize can be sent to Dennis Haskell at the above address or dhaskell@cyllene.uwa.edu.au

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Submissions invited - Mascara has expanded…
Call for submissions for Mascara Literary Review

Mascara Poetry has recently expanded into Mascara Literary Review and is now accepting submissions of short fiction and essays (as well as poetry). We also have a new website: www.mascarareview.com.

Mascara Literary Review is an online literary journal particularly interested in the work of contemporary Asian (as well as Australian and Indigenous) writers.
We are able to pay: $75 for two or more poems, $50 for reviews and essays.
For full submission details visit: www.mascarareview.com/submissions.html.
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Submissions invited for Goolwa Festival in South Australia next April 23-26, 2010
Message from the Australian Poetry Centre seeking submissions and ideas for the Goolwa Festival
Dear Members/Subscribers,
As you may be aware, we are holding a National Poetry Festival in Goolwa, South Australia next year (April 23-26).
We are currently finalising the program, which includes a number of international and local poets (from all over Australia) reading and discussing their work, as well as participating in forums, panels and discussion about poetry and poetry-related activity.
And we would like to involve YOU and your ideas!
We are seeking proposals for events, activities, talks, workshops, launches and ideas for the program - for people of all ages, interests and backgrounds. The APC would like to make the festival completely inclusive to involve as many people interested in poetry as possible, so we need ideas, though there are some criteria we would love you to consider:
1. Your event/activity/idea should be held in Goolwa (or surrounding area) between April 23-26 (Friday-Monday inclusive) or at least involve people who will be in Goolwa during that time (online ideas are welcomed)
2. It must be self-sufficient requiring minimal external resources (other than the venue, which we will provide). The resources required for your event or activity (including people to run it) need to be sourced by you or your organisation/team.
3. It must be something you are passionate about and believe people will be interested in or want to attend (and thoughts about how/where you will attract your audience should be noted in your proposal).
4. It must be financially viable and thoughts about this should be noted in your proposal. The APC has funds to support events during the festival, but these funds are limited and we would like to work with you to combine/share resources for the mutual benefit of you, your event, the APC and people attending the festival.
Please email your proposal to paul@australianpoetrycentre.org.au, supplying your contact details along with your reasons for wanting to be involved.
Look forward to hearing your ideas.
Paul Kooperman, Acting Director, Australian Poetry Centre
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Call for submissions for new on-line magazine: Islet

Islet: a free online journal of micro works from emerging writers and visual artists.
An initiative developed and supported by Island magazine.
Call for submissions
Islet is a new online companion to Island magazine's existing print journal, and will publish a free quarterly collection of works by emerging writers and visual artists. Islet accepts poetry, fiction, and reviews, with size the only limitation: we are committed to publishing small works.
Maximum lengths: poetry -- 25 lines; fiction -- 600 words; reviews -- 400 words. Our pay rates are $50 per poem and $75 per prose work (fiction or review). For submissions or more information, contact the editor at islet.online@utas.edu.au . Until the website is live, detailed submission guidelines will be temporarily available, from the end of October, at http://www.islandmag.com
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Submissions now open for Cordite Poetry Review
Writing haikus, snryus or other ultra-short poems?
Submissions are now open for the 31st issue of Cordite – EPIC.
Details available at www.cordite.org.au

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Submissions invited from November 15
The Margaret Reid Poetry Contest will re-open on November 15!
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Poetry Competition for School Students – submissions due by 8 Jan 2010
it's that time of the year again - Adelaide Plains Poets are seeking poems for our annual poetry competition. There is a $500+ prize pool, with no entry fee for Primary School or Secondary School students.
$5.00 entry fee for the Open Section,
Entries close 8 January 2010.
Entry form and guidelines are available at the website below,

or contact Carolyn Gordon on (08) 85272412; jeebers@bigpond.com ;
30 Germantown Road
REDBANKS SA 5502.

The theme is Life, the Universe and Everything.
and winners will be announced in early March 2010
Carolyn Cordon http://carolyn-poeticpause.blogspot.com/
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Entries invited and due 10 March, 2010 for Tenterfield Art Prize
Competition
Tenterfield Art Prize - A Brush with Verse,
offers $4000 prize money for art inspired by poetry.
Includes a $1,500 Shire Acquisition award, and a poetry competition.
Entries due March 10 for March 25 show.
Find out how - google A Brush with verse 2010. Entry forms www.tenterfield.nsw.gov.au or (02) 6736 1305
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e-zines and e-anthologies for poets
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Jacket Magazine – Number 38 now available
Announcing Jacket 38 -- Late 2009:

http://jacketmagazine.com/38/index.shtml

Jonathan Williams -- Niedecker -- H.D. -- Blaser -- Dorn -- Geoffrey Hill -- Bei Dao

A free internet literary magazine --

Interviews -- Reviews -- Articles -- Poems

Editor: John Tranter :::::: Associate Editor: Pam Brown

Writers previously published in Jacket (only) may submit material. We only have time to read for Jacket in June, July and January: please don't send material out of season.

"You were talking of continuing fashions and of course you see these periods come and go. If you lived through the Leavis era, you'd know what it was like for a whole doctrine of literature to be created, defended and lost. There are very few Leavisites now, as you know.
There was a time when every grammar school had a Leavisite English master." -- Frank Kermode, 2009, in conversation with Tom Bailey, in The Literateur
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Now up on the Poets Union website : the 2008 Longlines e-anthology
The 2008 Longlines Fellows:

Ali Cobby-Eckermann
Helen Hagemann
Kimberley Mann
Andrew Slattery


What is Longlines?

In 2008, the Australian Poetry Centre, together with the Varuna Writers’ Centre, devised a fellowship for poets who lived more than 100 kilometers outside Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane or Canberra. Four Fellows were invited to spend a week at Varuna workshopping their poetry with Ron Pretty. The manuscripts were then published in a series which effectively became a continuation of the Five Islands New Poets collections. The New Poets Series 2009, comprises:

little bit long time by Ali Cobby Eckermann

Evangelyne & other poems by Helen Hagemann

Awake During Anaesthetic by Kimberley Mann

Canyon by Andrew Slattery


In 2008, the Poets Union were considering the possibility of incorporating a regional fellowship into the Australian Poetry Festival. When we learnt that the APC and Varuna had already compiled such a program, we thought that the most useful (and efficient) thing we could do was to complement the Varuna workshops with a small number of Sydney events. The Fellows were invited to read at the Friend-in-Hand, to meet some locals at Anna Kerdijk-Nicholson’s, and to attend a day of extra workshops facilitated by Charlotte Clutterbuck, Martin Langford and Jutta Sieverding.

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Folk Odyssey – The Magazine
http://www.folkclub.com/folkodyssey/
As you browse Folk Odyssey – the Magazine you will discover that several sections offer an invitation for you to contribute your work to this enterprise.
You may do this in the form of
-a Letter to the Editor,
-an article for Features,
-information for Event Horizon,
-photographs for FolkShot Gallery,
-poetry
-autobiography for Poet in Profile
-a story for StoryBoard.
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The Compulsive Reader News
maggieball@compulsivereader.com
http://www.compulsivereader.com/html
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Call for submissions to Islet
- new online publishing space from Island Magazine
A message from Anica Boulanger-Mashberg, the editor of Island magazine's new online publishing space. They are hoping to have the first issue up by the end of the year, and while they are commissioning writers for this issue, they're welcoming submissions now for future issues.
Islet: a free online journal of micro works from emerging writers and visual artists.
An initiative developed and supported by Island magazine.
Islet is a new online companion to Island magazine's existing print journal, and will publish a free quarterly collection of works by emerging writers and visual artists.
Islet accepts poetry, fiction, and reviews, with size the only limitation: we are committed to publishing small works.
Maximum lengths: poetry -- 25 lines; fiction -- 600 words; reviews -- 400 words.
Our pay rates are $50 per poem and $75 per prose work (fiction or review).
For submissions or more information, contact the editor at islet.online@utas.edu.au .
Until the website is live, detailed submission guidelines will be temporarily available, from the end of October, at http://www.islandmag.com
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A new web anthology saunters the sand with some of Australia’s leading poets.
Guide to Sydney Beaches - http://sydneybeaches.tripod.com/guide.htm - is aimed at an audience that may not normally access this artform.
This is a driftwood concept – people seeking information about a certain beach stumble across this collection & discover fine Aust poetry. 20 great beaches, 30 superb poets. Hit numbers indicate it is already a huge success. This will increase as we move into Spring.
The anthology is from Meuse Press, edited by PU member Les Wicks.
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Poetica Radio National program - www.abc.net.au/rn/arts/poetica/
Australia-wide Poetry program- every Saturday at 3.05 pm and repeated Thursdays at 3.05 pm POETICA PRESENTED BY BRENT CLOUGH AND MIKE LADD,
SATURDAY AT 3.05 PM, REPEATED 3.05 PM THURSDAY.
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MELALEUCA
Melaleuca is a free e-zine of Australian poetry, delivered monthly
through your email in-box. For submissions and subscriptions, contact
the editor, Phillip A. Ellis, at phillip.a.ellis@gmail.com
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From PU member and WA poet Janet Jackson
'Coracle: Selected poems 1991-2007' by Janet Jackson now has a webpage
Read a sample poem from Janet Jackson's first full-length collection, 'Coracle: Selected poems 1991-2007', and find out where to get it or order your copy online.
www.proximitypoetry.com/coracle.html
Janet Jackson: Words with attitude & soul Poems Performances Workshops Courses
Creative, technical and corporate writing. Editing.
www.proximitypoetry.com (Poetry)
Perth Poetry Club: www.perthpoetryclub.com

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PressPress Chapbook Award winner 2009,
WA writer Scott-Patrick Mitchell - songs for the ordinary mass.
Mitchell’s chapbook songs for the ordinary mass is available now online from www.presspress.com.au or Planet Books in Mt Lawley in Western Australia.
News from Fremantle Press
NEWS: Shorelines 2 - poetry winners announced
Scott-Patrick Mitchell, James Quinton and Emma Rooksby will feature in Shorelines 2, a collection of works by emerging poets to be published by Fremantle Press in 2010. Guest editor and poet Tracy Ryan said the editorial committee was spoilt for choice ...
Read More
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Keep up with Aesthetica and the latest arts and culture happenings at aestheticamagazine.blogspot.com

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Other news for poets
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Congratulations to the winners of the 2009 Newcastle Poetry Prize:
OPEN SECTION
Patricia Sykes (winner)
BR Dionysius (Highly Commended)
Tracy Ryan (Commended)
John Mateer (Commended)
LOCAL AWARD
Andrew Slattery (winner)
NEW MEDIA
Rob and Ben Walker (winners)
Carolyn McKay and Nick Creecy (Runners-Up)

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Congratulations to Robert Gray –
His memoirs, The Land I Came Through Last, has just won The Nib: CAL Waverley Library Award for Literature.
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Congratulations to PU member Jean Kent
MEANJIN names JEAN KENT inaugural WINNER of
THE DOROTHY PORTER POETRY PRIZE
Meanjin is delighted to announce that the inaugural winner of the Dorothy Porter Poetry Prize for 2009 is Jean Kent, for her poem ‘The Polish Guitarist’s First Paris Concert’ (Vol 68/4).
The prize was run this year as a tribute to much-loved Australian poet, Dorothy Porter, and her legacy of work, and is co-sponsored by Porter’s agent, Jenny Darling & Associates. Kent’s poem was chosen by judges Andrea Goldsmith and Kristin Henry out of all the poems accepted for publication in Meanjin throughout 2009. She was presented with a $1,000 cash prize at an awards ceremony to be held at Gleebooks in Sydney on Saturday 14 November at 4pm. The event featured readings from Porter’s most recent collection, The Bee Hut, which was published by Black Inc. in September 2009. ‘The Polish Guitarist’s First Paris Concert’ will also be published in the forthcoming December edition of Meanjin.
Jean Kent has released three books of poetry, including Verandahs, which was recently republished by Picaro Press in its Art Box Series. Her fourth collection, Travelling with the Wrong Phrase Books, was highly commended for the 2008 Alec Bolton Prize. She lives at Lake Macquarie in NSW.
Meanjin is pleased to announce that the Dorothy Porter Prize will run again in 2010
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Congratulations to Christine Paice
poet and long term member of the Poets Union who was the winner of the 2009 Josephine Ulrick Poetry prize with her poem The Ministry Of Going In. Sorry we are so late in acknowledging it Christine – it’s wonderful news!
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VOICEWORKS MAGAZINE TURNS 21
The Words We Found: the best writing from 21 years of Voiceworks magazine available from November 16.

Express Media’s flagship publication and Australia’s premier youth literary magazine Voiceworks is celebrating more than a generation of writers who have made their forays into publishing through Voiceworks.

Edited by Lisa Dempster, The Words We Found: the best writing from 21 years of Voiceworks magazine is Express Media’s coming-of-age anthology and, like all good 21st celebrations, it’s a fierce, flirtatious and furious record of our life so far.

The Age Journalist, Marieke Hardy says, ‘What resounds through each page is the song each writer sings through their craft – a dizzying cavalcade of thoughts, a profusion of wit. Breathtaking not only in its scope but in its ambition.’

The Words We Found will be available through all good bookshops and online at www.expressmedia.org.au from November 16. Extract rights are also available.

For all media enquiries, please contact Bel Schenk, Artistic Director on 0431 054 190 artisticdirector@expressmedia.org.au

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In Florida, USA Palm Beach Poetry Festival January 18-23, 2010
Palm Beach Poetry Festival,
Delray Beach, Florida

The Palm Beach Poetry Festival has grown from a weekend event at Lynn University in January 2005 into a six day series of events including eight workshops with individual conferences; craft lectures, panel discussions, readings and performances, open to the public.

Because the festival will be participating in the Miami Book Fair, we are extending our application deadline from November 2 to November 16, 2009. Workshop acceptances and assignments will be emailed shortly thereafter.

Those who have already applied, or who apply by midnight, November 2nd, will be given preference in workshop placement compared to those who apply during the extension period.

Thanks to a generous donation, a limited number of partial scholarships may be available for the Intermediate Workshop with Mary Cornish, and the Advanced Workshops with Kevin Young and David Wojahn. Scholarships are for those who are unable to participate in a workshop without financial assistance.

Participants will have time to focus on their work with a brilliant poet as a guide and teacher, in the company of other talented poets. Participant tuition includes the workshop, a one-on-one conference with the workshop leader, attendance at the gala and admission to all festival readings, panel discussions and social events. For details, see the guidelines on our website.
This year's workshops are:
The Poem's Intention with Stephen Dobyns
Toward New Poems with Carolyn Forché
Discovery and Power with Marie Howe
Word By Word, Line By Line with Thomas Lux
Enhanced Techniques with David Wojahn
Poems Of Praise with Kevin Young
Poetry and the Visual Image with Mary Cornish
Masters As Models with Ilya Kaminsky
Apply before the November 2nd deadline. Review the application guidelines. A limited number of partial scholarships may be available. Email srw@palmbeachoetryfestival.org to request more information. The festival week is an extraordinary opportunity. Don't miss out!
Please visit their website, www.palmbeachpoetryfestival.org for complete workshop descriptions, faculty biographies, application guidelines and an easy-to-use online fill-in application form.
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CONTEMPORARY POETICS

"Redefining the Boundaries of Contemporary Poetics, in Theory & Practice, for the Twenty-First Century"

Edited by Louis Armand

ISBN 0-8101-2359-2 (paperback). 384pp.

Publisher: Northwestern University Press, Evanston.

http://nupress.northwestern.edu

Exploring the boundaries of one of the most contested fields of literary study--a field that in fact shares territory with philology, aesthetics, cultural theory, philosophy, and even cybernetics--this volume gathers a body of critical writings that, taken together, broadly delineate a possible poetics of the contemporary. In these essays, the most interesting and distinguished theorists in the field renegotiate the contours of what might constitute "contemporary poetics," ranging from the historical advent of concrete poetry to the current technopoetics of cyberspace. Concerned with a poetics that extends beyond our own time, as a mere marker of present-day literary activity, their work addresses the limits of a writing "practice"--beginning with Stephane Mallarme in the late nineteenth century--that engages concretely with what it means to be contemporary.
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Congratulations to Lucy Holt - The 2009 NSW Premiers Literary Awards were announced at the Sydney Writers Festival.
Congratulations to Lucy Holt on her receipt of the Kenneth Slessor Prize for Poetry for her collection ‘Man Wolf Man’. Lucy was a 2004 Poets Union ‘Australian Young Poets Fellowship’ holder and was mentored by the Poets Union. In 2005 the Poets Union published a chapbook of Lucy’s poems ‘Stories of A Bird’. The Poets Union is committed to raising funds to develop our mentoring, Poetry Fellowships, Poetry Scholarships, Residencies and Prizes. The full list of winners of The NSW Premier’s Literary Awards and more information about the awards can be found here: http://www.pla.nsw.gov.au/
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Congratulations to Jean Valentine - Jean Valentine has been selected as the recipient of the 2009 Wallace Stevens Award from the Academy of American Poets. The $100,000 prize recognizes outstanding and proven mastery in the art of poetry.
and to Harryette Mullen Harryette Mullen has been selected as the recipient of the 2009 Academy Fellowship. The Fellowship is awarded to a poet for distinguished poetic achievement and provides a stipend of $25,000. The Academy’s Board of Chancellors, a body of sixteen eminent poets, selects the Wallace Stevens Award and Academy Fellowship recipients. Who says poetry isn’t profitable? Full story is here: http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/21013
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Congratulations to Forward Prize Winner: Don Paterson Scottish poet Don Paterson has triumphed over one of the strongest poetry shortlists in years to take the Forward prize for best collection with Rain. Paterson, 45, beat a line-up of acclaimed poets including Peter Porter, Sharon Olds and Glyn Maxwell to win the £10,000 award for Rain, a continuation of his personal and philosophical exploration of the world around him.
and to Emma Jones Emma Jones's The Striped World, inspired by her home country of Australia, was named winner of the £5,000 best first collection prize. Hart called her "an ambitious and intriguing new voice" whose poems "are both elliptical and visionary – inhabiting a parallel world of strange disjointed images within which we nevertheless find echoes of familiar experience".
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Best wishes,
Cathy Bray
for Brook Emery and the Poets Union committee,
Poets Union Inc,
PO Box 755,
POTTS POINT NSW 1335

Tel. (02) 9357 6602
Email: info@poetsunion.com
Please visit the Poets Union website: www.poetsunion.com