2009 Report
LITERARY NEWS FROM THE ISLAND STATE - 2009
Two Tasmanian literary journals celebrated important milestones in 2009. Island celebrated its 30th birthday with a special launch of its current issue and a display of the covers of all past numbers of the journal at the University’s Morris Miller library. First issued in June 1979 as The Tasmanian Review, the journal has grown in stature and reputation, continuing its interest in the fine arts and maintaining close connections with its island literary community while promoting the work of national writers. Many established Tasmanian writers such as James Charlton, Graeme Hetherington, Margaret Scott, Andrew Sant, Sarah Day, Stephen Edgar and Pete Hay gained early recognition from publication in Island and this support for writers will be enhanced with the launch in March 2010 of its online magazine Islet, a free quarterly collection of works by emerging writers and visual artists. The University of Tasmania has provided accommodation and financial support for Island since its first issue and the journal now enjoys the support of Arts Tasmania and the Australia Council and a growing number of individual sponsors.
The year was notable, too, for the publication of the fortieth issue of the locally published journal Famous Reporter, edited since its inception in the early 1990s by Ralph Wessman. Famous Reporter fosters the work of local and national writers and includes a regular segment on the haiku, edited by Lyn Reeves, as well an essays, interviews and extracts from weblogs. The journal is supported by Arts Tasmania and published by Walleah Press, a publisher that has issued poetry collections by nine Tasmanians including Tim Thorne, Gina Mercer, Liz Winfield, Mary Jenkins and Henry Sheerwater.
Several other Tasmanian publishers supported local writers and projects during 2009. Pardalote Press published Waiting for the Owl: poems and songs from ancient China translated by Ian Johnston. Quintus Publishing issued Reading Robinson: Companion Essays to Friendly Mission, edited by Anna Johnston and Mitchell Rolls. Blubber Head Press, founded by Dan Sprod in 1979, published two texts: Van Diemen’s Land Revealed: Flinders and Bass and their circumnavigation of the island in the Colonial Sloop Norfolk 1798-1799, edited by Dan Sprod, and Captain Robinson, The Reminiscences of a Tasmanian Master Mariner, James William Robinson 1824-1906, edited by Michael Nash. Early in the year, the University’s History Department published From Manuscript to Print, an annotated and illustrated catalogue of an exhibition of manuscripts and printed books pre 1600 held in the University’s collection and those of the State Library and Hobart’s Anglican Cathedral Church of St David. Compiled by Rodney Thomson and designed by Gillian Ward, the book is an outstanding example of production and design. Its launch was accompanied by an exhibition of the books at the University Library in February.
The Tasmanian Branch of the Fellowship of Australian Writers published an anthology of poetry by forty of its members during the year. Titled A Net of Hands and edited by Megan Schaffner, the collection is a worthy successor to the many collections of Tasmanian writing that the Branch has published over the past fifty years. Southern and North-Western members of the Branch continue their regular program of readings, guest speakers and competitions, and this year held a National Commemorative Shakespeare Sonnet competition Award.
The Tasmanian Writers’ Centre forms the hub of community literary activities in the State. Highlights of its work during 2009 include introducing a Regional Writers Fund to assist writing groups to organize workshops, establishing a Writers’ Employment Register, disseminating a vast range of information about writing residencies, publishing opportunities, competitions and literary festivals, coordinating and organizing activities for writers on topics such as editing and publishing, and extending and consolidating its year-long courses on novel, short story, biography and memory writing. Among TWC’s events that attracted enthusiastic audiences were:
- The residency of international journalist and novelist Jonathan Ledgard, sponsored by Arts Tasmania and supported by the Hobart City Council and the TWC.
- The visit of Peter Bishop, Creative Director of Varuna Writers’ House, in February to consult with local writers.
- The presentation of ‘Hebridean Dreaming - Writing from Distant Lands’ by Karen Knight and Heather Rose who undertook UNESCO/World City residencies in Scotland in 2007.
- Readings by leading Australian poets Judith Beveridge, Stephen Edgar and Jan Owen.
- Richard Lemm’s visit as TWC Writer in-Residence in the 2009 exchange program with Prince Edward Island, Canada
- ‘Poetry at the Gallery’, events conducted jointly by TWC and the Salamanca Collection featuring poets Liz McQuilikin and Lyn Reeves responding to an exhibition by Kathryn Cooper and poets Gina Mercer and Ron Moss responding to the art of Dallas Bromley.
- Poetry readings and artworks contributed by Tasmanian school children in response to Michael Stewart’s poetry.
- School visits by professional writers to provide students with literary role models and training.
Tasmanian writers published a variety of novels, poetry and non-fiction during the year. Novels included Katherine Johnson’s Pescador’s Wake, Heather Rose’s The River Wife, Richard Flanagan’s Wanting, Katherine Scholes’s The Hunter’s Wife and Grant Rodwell’s Goulburn’s Deliverance. Poetry collections included Sarah Day’s Grass Notes, Andrew Sant’s Fuel, Anne Morgan’s A Reckless Descent from Eternity, Robyn Mathison’s To be Eaten by Mice, Peter Macrow’s Waiting for the Mountain, Karen Knight and Dilys Rose’s Twinset, and Far Beyond the Sun by Andrew Hardy & Chris Rattray. Non-fiction works included Walter Pridmore’s Port Arthur: Convicts and Commandants, The Career of William Thompson, Convict edited by Julia Clark, Georgia Warner and Alice Bennett’s Country Houses of Tasmania, Peter Timms’s In Search of Hobart, Phil Davenport’s Hurrah for the Next Man and David Owen’s Shark: In Peril on the Sea - meditations on science, mythology and our relationship with the shark. Memoirs included Jenny Williams’s Jenny’s Coffee House, Alan Rea’s Nothing’s Impossible: The Alan Rea Story, Gwen Hardstaff’’s Cider Gums & Currawongs, and Ronnie: Tasmanian Songman by Ronnie Summers (with Helen Gee).
This year’s three major Tasmanian Book Prizes were sponsored by Arts Tasmania and the University of Tasmania. The Tasmania Book Prize of $25,000 for the best book with Tasmanian content in any genre was awarded to James Boyce for his Van Diemen’s Land. Hamish Maxell-Stewart’s Closing Hell’s Gates: The Death of a Convict Station won the Margaret Scott Prize for the best book by a Tasmanian writer ($5,000) and the University of Tasmania Prize for the best book by a Tasmanian publisher ($5,000) was awarded to Lynne Andrews’ Antarctic Eye: The Visual Journey published by Studio One. Other writers to win recognition this year included Richard Flanagan whose novel Wanting won the Queensland Premier’s Fiction Award and was short-listed for both the Prime Minister’s Literary Award for fiction and the Miles Franklin award, and Stephen Dando-Collins who won the Queensland Premier’s Science Writer Award for Pasteur’s Gambit: Louis Pasteur, the Australasian Rabbit Plague and a Ten Million Dollar Prize. The Wildcare Tasmanian Nature Writing Prize was awarded to Maureen Scott Harris, and Kathryn Lomer’s poem ‘The Dark Zone’ was shortlisted for the ABR poetry prize. Five Tasmanian writers featured in the ABR’s Favourite Australian Novel survey - Nan Chauncy, Robert Dessaix, Richard Flanagan, Amanda Lohrey and Christopher Koch.
The fifth Tasmanian Ten Days on the Island Festival was held at venues across the state early in the year. The Festival presented a variety of events including dance parties featuring performers from Jamaica, Cuba, Mauritius and Tasmania, a collection of weathered and neglected pianos on which composer Ross Bolleter performed, the Australian premiere of a theatrical version of Kafka’s short story ‘Metamorphosis’, art installations, dance theatre performances, a one-man performance of King Lear, home-grown films and a national play festival.
Republic Readings celebrated National Poetry week with a special event in Hobart in September and the annual Tasmanian Poetry Festival held in Launceston during October featured Kevin Gillan as poet in residence and other prominent poets including Sarah Day, Nathan Curnow, Ross Donlon and Rob Morris. Of particular interest this year was the Australian Poetry Centre’s Café Poets Program conducted by Tasmanian poet Anne Collins at ‘Chado - The Way of Tea’ café in Hobart. Anne wrote at the café, read poetry to customers, conducted a ‘Tea and Haiku’ event and entertained visiting school children with readings.
The Tasmanian literary community continues to receive strong support from local booksellers such as Fullers and the Hobart Bookshop who promote new publications and offer special events from time to time. Christopher Bantick, who coordinated a weekly book column in the Sunday Tasmanian for many years, retired from that position in April. Bantick’s support for writers and publishers and his occasional astringent comments about the Tasmanian writing scene will be missed. Carlene Ellwood is undertaking this role admirably.
The School of English, Journalism and European Languages at the University maintains its support for the study of Australian and Tasmanian literature. Undergraduate courses focus on postcolonial and contemporary fiction, the representation of Australia in writing and film, and include a creative writing unit titled ‘Writing Tasmania’. Recent research projects by Honours students included work on Les Murray, the representation of Tasmania in colonial guide books, and contemporary women’s travel literature on Antarctica. Dr Katherine Bode was appointed to the School in July and her expertise in Australian literature and role as ASAL’s Communications Officer will enhance the work of the Association within Tasmania.
Ralph Spaulding Tasmanian Representative