Hidden Author
Why do you write?
Because it’s magic – it turns the frog of life into a prince. (Or is it the other way round?) And it is, as Wilde once said of smoking, so exquisitely unsatisfying. Actually, the real reason I write is that talking, either aloud or on paper, is the only thing I’m good at.
Are you a vivid dreamer?
In terms of colour, yes. Most of my dreams are very Le Grand Meaulnes, tho ... (read more)
‘Pure, incidental song’
Dear Editor,
Your readers cannot have failed to detect the unsympathetic undertone running through Susan Sheridan’s politely disengaged account of my edition of Lesbia Harford’s poetry (ABR, November 2014), culminating as it did in the cool injunction to visit the Poetry Library website. Those lines from ‘Mortal Poems’ (‘I think each year should bring / Litt ... (read more)
Performances of the year
We know how much our readers (not to mention nominated authors) enjoy our annual ‘Books of the Year’ feature. This year – to highlight ABR’s fast-expanding arts coverage (both in the magazine and in Arts Update on our website) and to celebrate outstanding film, theatre, dance, and music, we have invited key critics and professionals to nominate their favourite pro ... (read more)
Which poets have most influenced you?
Many. I admire Jeremy Prynne, Clark Coolidge, Mina Loy, and Lyn Hejinian, but I don’t know whether they have influenced my work. To limit this list in time somewhat: Baudelaire, Rimbaud, Eliot, Auden, Berryman, Ashbery, O’Hara. Among the Australians: Kenneth Slessor, Francis Webb, Michael Dransfield, John Tranter, Jennifer Maiden, Martin Johnston, John Fo ... (read more)
When did you first write for ABR?
It was 2001. A dual review of Malcolm Knox’s début novel, Summerland, and Steven Carroll’s The Art of the Engine Driver. Luckily, I was generous about these relatively unknown authors and their books, since both went on to become significant figures in Australian letters.
Which critics most impress you?
There are so many. Elizabeth Hardwick, the doyenne o ... (read more)
What is your favourite music?
Once again I am pleading 'no favourites', although I am always moved and astonished by Gavin Bryars’s 'Jesus' Blood Never Failed Me Yet'. No, I’m not a Christian. Also, generally speaking, I am forbidden to sing.
What is your favourite book?
The longer I live, the harder it is to have a favourite anything. I admire the work of Thomas Bernhardt, Jean Rhys, Iris ... (read more)
Calibre Prize
The Calibre Prize for an Outstanding Essay is open again. The winner will receive $5,000. This year, for the first time, Calibre is open to writers around the world. We also have a quick, inexpensive online entry system. Guidelines and the entry form are available on our website. Entries close on 19 January 2015. The judges on this occasion are Delia Falconer and Peter Rose, our Edi ... (read more)
Mikhail Khodorkovsky
Dear Editor,
I was very disappointed that the review ‘Putin and the Kleptocrats’ gave such a misleading impression of Mikhail Khodorkovsky (August 2014). Nick Hordern seemed to have no idea of Khodorkovsky’s Damascene moments when he began to understand and adhere to the (small l) liberal underpinnings of a civil society, working on many fronts, and of course against t ... (read more)
Which poets have most influenced you?
First encounters sink deep: Shelley, Blake, Hopkins, Yeats. The Revelators in my youth: Rimbaud, Lorca, Hart Crane. The Golden Codgers of middle age: Mallarmé, Emily Dickinson, Lorine Niedecker, Robert Creeley, Robert Duncan, and David Malouf. Life Support: Wallace Stevens and Thomas Traherne. The Diamond-headed hard men of technique: Ezra Pound, Louis Zukof ... (read more)