In Australian Book Review August 2022 issue by Jennifer Harrison Heels on the throat of song: exploring the limits of poetry’s expressivity (a review of two books: see also Marjon Mossamaparast) The title of Marion May Campbell’s third poetry collection, languish, conjures ideas of laziness, daydream, failure to make progress, ennui, lack of enthusiasm, anhedonia. […]

In Australian Book Review August 2022 issue by Jennifer Harrison Marjon Mossammaparast’s earlier book, That Sight, won the 2018 Mary Gilmore award and was commended in several other awards. I was impressed by the way these new poems reach into spiritual traditions, such as that of the Bahá’í faith, yet also explore identity. This anchoring […]

From The Sydney Morning Herald/The Age by Lucy Sussex and Steven Carroll Non-fiction pick of the week Hard Joy: Life and WritingSusan Varga, Upswell, $29.99 Susan Varga’s distinctive memoir (incorporating her taut but resonant poetry) comes over as an effortless blend of the epic and intimate, and easy to read – but it was hard […]

In Australian Book Review, September issue, by Sarah Gory: a long and sparkling review. Here’s an excerpt: “Ostensibly, Life with Birds is about the author’s search for her father, a Vietnam War veteran who died when she was young and whose story she hardly knew. As I read it, though, I was reminded of a […]

“The Melbourne-based critic’s debut runs a gamut of social scenes (most of them pretty club-heavy): secret societies to art fairs to crypto. Every piece in the collection – subtitled “essays on work, leisure & loose living” – asks you to think harder about the ways we earn money, party, and look out for each other. […]