Edited by Jamie Grant.
A beautifully bound hardback that falls open in the hand, it is clearly andexpansively designed, and full of fine etchings and drawings by Bridget Farmer
Peter Kenneally - The Age"refreshing" "this volume will be welcomed" Barry Oakley - The WeekendAustralian"engaging, heartwarming, heart-breaking, resolutely vivid and rollicking goodfun." "The mix is delightful" Amanda Horswill - The Courier Mail After the success of 100 Australian Poems You Need To Know in hardback,it is now available in paperback. Poetry? For today's readers? Yes, and not justfor those who buy their poetry collections religiously either; this book is foreveryone. Frustrated by the perception that Australian poetry is dry, inaccessibleand focused only on the country's landscape, acclaimed poet Jamie Grant decidedto form his own collection. One that properly encompassed the liveliness of ourcountry's writing and showed that the only thing dry about its poetry was thehumour within it. The collection ranges from the early nineteenth century ofFrancis Macnamara and Charles Harpur, through the later years of CJ Dennisand Henry Lawson, right up to the present day of Gig Ryan, David Malouf,Stephen McInerney and Kate Jennings. The preoccupations of the different erasare given a full airing - convicts and stockriders, the challenges of drought andwar, the rivalry between Melbourne and Sydney, the divide between the city andthe bush, and the different approaches of generations X, Y and Z. The ‘smaller'issues have their outing too: love, barbecues, giraffes, sky writing and pumpkinsso big they don't seem real. For anyone curious about what makes Australianswho they are, this collection is a must-have. This beautiful collection, illustratedthroughout with etchings by Bridget Farmer, should be in every Australian home.
