Michael Sharkey

Rolling Column | Michael Sharkey

May 1995, no. 170 • 01 May 1995

I don’t make a point of skiving off to every literary festival in the country but, once in a blue moon, comes an invitation that’s hard to refuse (commerce enters into it, yet I want the heady feeling of selling a book, too). So I went to the third, and probably last, Hawthorn Writers’ Week in March. Why ‘probably last’? Read on. The audience was small, but the issues raised were large. ... (read more)

Michael Sharkey reviews 'Jennifer Rankin: Collected Poems' edited by Judith Rodriguez

November 1990, no. 126 • 01 November 1999

Judith Rodriguez deserves a guernsey for this book. It’s one of the best collections to appear in a long while. I think it’s more interesting than its companions in the UQP Selected/Collected series which is now three-all with Shapcott, Taylor and Rodriguez standing as our Living Treasures, and Dransfield, Buckmaster and Rankin among those freed from earthly care. Two chaps and one lady in eac ... (read more)

Michael Sharkey reviews 'Tommo & Hawk' by Bryce Courtenay

June 1998, no. 201 • 01 June 1998

I suspect that Bryce Courtenay’s novels about early Tasmania, The Potato Factory and Tommo & Hawk, have introduced countless general readers to aspects of Australian literature which might otherwise remain terra incognita. For this reason, I applaud his enterprise. ... (read more)

Column by Michael Sharkey

October 1994, no. 165 • 01 October 1994

I don’t suppose Rosemary Sorensen could have continued forever at ABR’s desk. All the same, I believe she has manoeuvred the journal into a liveliness other magazines lacked. It’s a cheerful thing to see the ABR flourishing, its covers in the public face in newsagents about the country: something that few other literary review journals have managed to do, outside their city of origin. Try, f ... (read more)

Michael Sharkey reviews 'Henry Lawson: A life' by Colin Roderick

July 1991, no. 132 • 01 July 1991

Henry Lawson’s death prompted a torrent of lamentation and, despite the distaste of academics and critics, the poet was soon enshrined as a National Treasure. Colin Roderick’s biography is a monument of dedication to the poet. Harry Peckman, veteran coachman and poet of the scenic wonders of the Blue Mountains, publicly farewelled his friend Henry Lawson in practised balladic strains on 22 Se ... (read more)