I have poems in these two anthologies:

This is the Melbourne Poets Union anthology ‘Finding My Feet’. It contains my poem ‘She’ll Be Right’, which was previously published in the collection ‘Lines Waving’.

This is the Ginninderra Press anthology ‘Telling Australia’s Truth’. It contains my poem ‘Glamping’, which was written specifically for this anthology.

My second book in the Ginninderra Press Pocket Poets series, Cast of Supporting Characters, is now available. It can be ordered from the Ginninderra Press website here.

The 20 poems explore the viewpoints of the ‘supporting characters’ in the title, giving a sometimes unexpected twist to stories from literature, plays, the Bible, Shakespeare and history. The stories and characters may be well-loved or less familiar, but I hope all of them gain something from having a quirky sideways spotlight turned on them.

You can read one of these poems on the Extract of the Month page, here.

The poem ‘You Are…’ which won me the Kathryn Purnell Poetry Award, has now been selected to be included in Aesthetica Magazine’s Creative Writing Award Anthology, which will be coming out by the end of the year.

The collection ‘Cast of Supporting Characters’ has been accepted by Ginninderra Press for publication in their ‘Pocket Poets’ series. This is a collection of 20 poems giving a sideways look at lesser-known or neglected characters from plays, literature and history. (This includes two characters, Lord Bracknell and Godot, who famously don’t appear at all in the plays in which they’re referenced!)

My poem ‘Dune Shadows’ has been chosen by the judge of this year’s Poetica Christi Press poetry competition for inclusion in the 2018 anthology ‘Interludes’. The poem was originally inspired by an oil painting of the same title by John Whitelaw (shown left), and was performed in December 2017 at an ekphrastic poetry event at the Boathouse Art Gallery in Frankston.

You can read the poem on the Extract of the Month page, here.

Shakespeare Club logo

The Shakespeare Club of Western Australia ran a competition this year in honour of the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death. It was for a sonnet, in classical Shakespearean form, with a Western Australian theme. My sonnet, ‘The Wild Geese’, about the American ship Catalpa’s rescue of Fenian prisoners from Fremantle Gaol in 1876, won the $200 second prize.

The judge’s comments and an account of the award ceremony are available here

I am to be the feature poet at the November Di-Verse-City poetry event, on Sunday November 6th in Surrey Hills, Melbourne.

For details about the event and the venue, see the flyer below.

Link to Facebook page here.

The first Anywhere Theatre Festival gig is upon us – no idea what to expect in the way of audience or their reaction, but we have a varied program of poetry from a diverse group of poets, so we hope there will be something for everyone. And anyway, they can’t really grumble because it’s free!

On the short story front, I’ve now been commended in the Margaret Hazzard award for short stories, so I must still be doing something right – but not quite right enough, because I keep not actually winning!

My short story ‘Craftwork’ has been short-listed in the Eastwood/Hills Fellowship of Australian Writers 2014 Short Story Competition. (This is the original story from which I developed a play-script of the same name, which has been performed on Radio 3RPP.)

My three poems ‘Nostalgia Trip’, ‘Ladies Who Lunch’, and ‘Pied Cormorant’, appear in the July/August edition of Quadrant magazine.

Peninsula Poets are performing as part of Zinefest at Frankston Arts Centre on Saturday July 19th. This will be a taster for our full-scale performances in the Frankston ‘Theatre Anywhere Festival’ in August/September.

https://www.facebook.com/events/1446300155610768/

The highly successful ‘Theatre Anywhere’ festival from Brisbane is now also starting up in Frankston, and Peninsula Poets are performing in two gigs at the end of August and beginning of September as part of the festival. Events are being finalised, and the full programme will be announced at the festival launch on Tuesday July 22nd.