New Releases 15 Sept 2021

I am busily engaged in Margaret River Open Studios as some of you will be aware, the TBR continues to grow so I thought I would do a quick shout out to the new releases that are sitting on the top of my TBR. I have started the new book from Sandie Docker “The Wattle Island Book Club” (Penguin Random House)- and am loving it.

” A Journalist Infiltrate the Police: Cop” by Valentin Gendrot (Scribe) looks intriguing,

“The Banksia House Breakout” (Ventura Press) from debut author James Roxburgh sounds like a fun and enlightening.

“Brainwaves” from Ziggy Alberts (Commonfolk Publishing) – poetry and prose that you can carry in your bag or pop in your pocket and read when you have a few minutes – inspirational prose.

brainwaves
is a polite request
an invitation into
a vulnerable relationship
between the writer
and the reader
it is an ode
to word of mouth
to paper pages
to hard copies
handed to strangers
shared with lovers
kept with family
to taking chances on books
without knowing
the entirety of its contents first
to do and practice just that
of which we do so little of today
with books and relationships alike.
brainwaves
was not made for the internet
it was made for you

I hope you find something on my TBR that might interest you.

New and Old Friends – Margaret River Readers and Writers Festival Day 3

Margaret River Readers and Writers Festival

This years festival has been outstanding! I have been privileged to hear some great authors share stories about their latest releases and writing in general. Some are “old friends” (authors I have read previously to the festival), some are “newly discovered friends”.   Thank  you Sulari Gentill, Sara Foster (and hello to Sara’s charming parents), Dr Liz Byrski, Rosemary SayerBernice Barry, Ann Turner, Madelaine Dickie, Josh Langley, Ian Andrew (always a delight to meet a fellow blogger who just happens to be a best selling crime fiction writer)  What generous people you all are!  Sadly I could not attend every session or the External/parallel events… so much talent so little time 🙂

 

I will wind up my spotlight on the festival with a few images from day 3.

 

day 3 MRRWF 005

Short Story Panel

 

Michael Cathcart interviews Ann Turner

Michael Cathcart interviews Ann Turner

 

 

 

And

Post Script – Faber and Faber Poetry Diary 2016 – Faber and Faber

Cover Faber and Faber Poetry Diary

Faber & Faber Poetry Diary 2016: Dark Blue

Various

Allen & Unwin AU

ISBN:9780571318070
rrp A$24.99

Description:

The Faber Poetry Diary for 2016 is a week-to-view diary offering poetry lovers a different poem or illustration to enjoy for each week of the year.

The Faber poetry list, originally founded in the 1920s, was shaped by the taste of T. S. Eliot who was its guiding light for nearly forty years. Since the sixties, each passing decade has seen the list grow with the addition of poets who were arguably the finest of their generation. In recent years the creation of the Poet to Poet series has further broadened the scope of Faber poetry by including the work of great poets from the past selected and introduced by the contemporary poets they have inspired.

Simon Armitage * W.H. Auden * John Berryman * John Betjeman * Thomas Campion * John Clare * Wendy Cope * Hart Crane * Daljit Nagra * Emily Dickinson * Lawrence Durrell * Dylan Thomas * T.S. Eliot * Mark Ford * Matthew Francis * Lavinia Greenlaw * David Harsent * Seamus Heaney * Robert Herrick * Ted Hughes * John Donne * Emma Jones * John Keats * Nick Laird * Philip Larkin * Dorothy Molloy * Andrew Motion * Edwin Muir * Paul Muldoon * Alice Oswald * Don Paterson * Sylvia Plath * Ezra Pound * Christopher Reid * Jo Shapcott * Percy Bysshe Shelley * Stevie Smith * Edward Thomas * Derek Walcott * W.B. Yeats *

 

 

My View:

This is the perfect gift for the poet, writer or reader in your life!

 

There is more to this diary then the very useful and practical hardcover diary, seven days to a page, aspect of this book – it is a beautiful compilation of poetry from the past and present. It is a joy to hold and to read. My personal favourites (and there are many) but I have tried to limit them to five for the purpose of this review:

 

Because I Liked You – A E Houseman

 

Modern Love – Douglas Dunn

 

The Flower That Smiles Today – Percy Bysshe Shelley

 

The Naming Of Cats – T S Eliot

 

Changes – Michael Hofmann

 

A perfect gift – though I am having second thoughts about  actually giving this one away 🙂