Quadrant Online has published the recommendations of various eminent Australians visa vi books to read over the Christmas holidays. In his ”Christmas Books” recommendations, Hal Colebatch states:

Andrew Lansdown has published two excellent collections of poetry recently, Far from home, “poems of faith, grief and gladness” and Birds in Mind, both with Wombat publications. Unlike so many modern works, mired in the poet’s own state of mind, these celebrate life, both of the world and the spirit.

Read Colebatch’s other recommendations here.

Andrew’s recommended poetry collections, Birds in Mind and Far from Home, can be ordered through this website here.

Quadrant magazine has published four of Andrew’s poems in its December 2010 issue. One of the four is a gunsaku titled “Time to Write” and is reproduced here:

Time to Write

  

      i

Distracted by

the lack of distractions in

the empty house.

 

      ii

A ream of paper—

I feel intimidated

just looking at it.

 

     iii

I have waited

for weeks for the writing time

I have wasted.

            © Andrew Lansdown

The other three poems—”Samurai”, “Zebra Finches, Station Country” and “Suffering, Summer”—can be viewed on Quadrant Online at: https://www.quadrant.org.au/magazine/issue/2010/12 

You can read Andrew’s poem “Should I Fall and Fail to Rise” in the on-line antholgy, Western Australian Writing.

Edited by John Kinsella, this on-line anthology of Western Australian writing has been produced by the University of Western Australia Library and funded by AustLit: Australian Literature Gateway.

Westerly, the literary magazine published by the Westerly Centre, the University of Western Australia, has published Andrew’s poem, “Elijah and the Ravens”. The poem consists of three dramatic monologues, which have been taken from a longer sequence of 32 dramatic monologues on the Old Testament prophet Elijah. The complete sequence, titled “The God of the Glimpses”, has just been published in Andrew’s latest poetry collection, Far from Home. One of the three dramatic monologues published in Westerly (Vol. 55, No. 2, November 2010) is written in the form of a triolette and is reproduced below:

The Raven

 

The raven is a black and craven bird,

a bird by the Law unclean.

Its carrion cry on the wind is heard -

the raven, that black and craven bird.

Yet it is the one the Lord by His word

has sent for my keep and keen.

Oh, the raven’s a black and craven bird,

a bird by the Law unclean!

 

            © Andrew Lansdown

The latest issue of Island magazine (# 122) contains one of Andrew’s poems, “Disturbance”. The poem can be viewed on Island’s website at http://islandmag.com/122/poetry.html.

Wombat Books has published a new collection of Andrew’s poems, titled Far from Home: Poems of faith, grief and gladness.

Far from Home contains over 180 poems, including a series of 32 dramatic monologues on the life of the prophet Elijah. Half the poems in this 224 page collection have been selected from Andrew’s earlier poetry collections, while the other half are previously uncollected.

Last year Wombat Books published a 224-page collection of Andrew’s nature poetry, Birds in Mind: Australian Nature Poems. Far from Home is a companion collection, and could be described as a collection of Andrew’s human nature poems.

Far from Home can be ordered through bookshops. It can also be ordered through this website for AUS $19.95 + $2.00 postage (within Aust). Download an order form.

Read five poems from Far from Home here.

Blue Dog, the journal of the Australian Poetry Centre, has just published Andrew’s poem, “Depressions” (Volume 9, Number 17):

Depressions

 

          i

Long ago, women …

the rock-pool rock remembers

their grass-seed grinding.

 

          ii

Grooves in the granite …

the grinders, the grinding stones,

the ground seeds are gone.

 

          iii

Strangely depressing—

these depressions in the stone

from bygone grinding.

 

© Andrew Lansdown, 2010

Out of the Asylum Writers’ Group Inc invited Andrew to judge their 2010 Spilt Ink Short Story Competition. Andrew delivered his judgements at an awards lunch at the Fremantle Arts Centre on Firday 24 September. His Judge’s Report is reproduced below:

I would like to thank Josephine Clarke for inviting me on behalf of OOTA to judge the 2010 Spilt Ink Short Story Competition. I am honoured by the confidence and trust implicit in such an invitation.

I am pleased to report that the great majority of the stories entered in the competition were competently written. Most were tightly focused and expounded a single occurrence or followed a central line of events. Most had believable characters, interesting plots, and satisfying climaxes. Most had consistent style, tone and point-of-view. I commend the entrants for the quality of their stories.

The overall competence of the entries made judging the competition difficult. A judge’s work is always made easier when a number of the entries are poor. These entries can be spotted easily and quickly ruled out of the running. There is nothing subjective about this. Poor stories identify themselves because they fail to meet objective literary standards relating to characterisation, plot development, point-of-view, balance, restraint, consistency, originality and plausibility.

CLICK HERE TO READ ANDREW’S FULL REPORT

The Peter Cowan Writers Centre invited Andrew to judge the 2010 Patron’s Prize Literary Competition. Andrew delivered his Judge’s Report at a prize giving ceremony on Sunday afternoon, 12 September. The following is the text of his report:

I would like to thank the Peter Cowan Writers Centre for inviting me to judge the 2010 Patron’s Prize Literary Competition. I am honoured by your trust.

     Seventy-eight poems were entered in the competition and they varied greatly in subject, theme, style and tone. They also varied considerably in literary quality. However, almost all the entries were intelligible and accessible, which is a commendable quality in poetry, or any other literary work. There was little evidence of poets pretending to be profound by being deliberately obscure.

     Before announcing the prize winning and commended entries, I would like to make some comments on the entries generally.

     I could not help but notice a recurrence of certain problems in many of the poems, and it may be useful to mention these. …

CLICK HERE TO READ ANDREW’S FULL REPORT

Andrew’s poem “In from the Garden” has been published in Dear Dad: Poems by Australians about Fathers, an antholgy published jointly by the Australian Poetry Centre, Relationships Australia and designers/publishers Gracia and Louise.

 Celebrating dads, this attractive alternative to a Fathers’ Day card, includes the best poems about dads from poets across the country, as well as contributions from Premier of Victoria, John Brumby, esteemed poet, Chris Wallace-Crabbe, as well as TV and radio personalities Alan Brough and John Clarke.

Order a copy of Dear Dad for $15 (plus $3 postage) by emailing admin@australianpoetrycentre.org.au

Andrew has been invited to read his poetry at The Gods cafe at the Australian National University in Canberra on Tuesday, 10th August. The poetry reading will start at 8.00 pm.

Dinner: Light meals are available from 6pm.
Please book at The Gods on 6248 5538.
Patrons intending to eat are asked to arrive by 6.30 to ensure that the readings can begin at 8pm.

Seating is limited to 80 people.
To be sure of hearing a particular poet it is advisable to eat at the venue beforehand but ‘listening only’ ‘non-eating’ seats can also be booked.

Organiser Geoff Page
- book directly by phoning the Gods Café/Bar
Tel.6248 5538
— or email Geoff if you want to join one of his tables at gpage40@bigpond.net.au

Quadrant magazine published two of Andrew’s poems - “Every Cell” and “Timphony” - in its July-August issue. “Every Cell” is reproduced below:

Every Cell

 

While women try to leap it,

the gorge between the genders,

men mostly stand and gape.

O, that gorgeous otherness,

wider than ideology’s lies!

 

Breast, larynx and brain,

hip, heart and thigh—every cell

in every part of every woman

is female, feminine, familiar-foreign—

every cell is chromosomed double-X.

 

O! No wonder men stagger

with attraction and astonishment,

all their cells and senses

calling, yearning, crying,

The second X is the reason Y!

 

          © Andrew Lansdown

“Every Cell” can be viewed on the Quadrant website at http://www.quadrant.org.au/magazine/issue/2010/7-8/every-cell

Andrew’s poem “Timphony” is also posted on the Quadrant website at http://www.quadrant.org.au/magazine/issue/2010/7-8/timphony

The Weekend Australian has published Andrew’s poem, “Kimberley Cattle”. The haiku sequence appeared in the newspaper’s Review magazine on 26-27 June 2010:

Kimberley Cattle

 

          i

Low beam, high speed—

the cattle on the highway

too black, too close.

 

          ii

They keep on staring,

the cattle on the road, as

we keep on skidding.

 

          iii

Taking the smells

of burning rubber with us

thanks to the bulls.

 

          © Andrew Lansdown

The Canberra Times has published Andrew’s poem “Music Haiku”. The haiku sequence appeared in the newspaper on 22 May 2010:

Music Haiku

 

i

The jazz drummer—

one wire bent up on the brush

as he scuffs the beat.

 

ii

The jazz soloist—

scatting first with the guitar,

then the saxophone.

 

 

iii

Irish fiddler—

even seated he can’t help

jigging his jig!

 

iv

Celtic vocalist—

between the phrases, that rasp

of her indrawn breath.

 

 

v

Blues guitarist—

the capo slightly crooked

between the frets.

 

vi

The blues singer—

how did he know ‘right now is

the needed time’?

 

          © Andrew Lansdown

Andrew’s poem “Boat” is one of 22 poems recorded on a newly released CD titled “22″. ”Boat”, from Andrew’s book Fontanelle, is read by Andrew himself.

Produced by writingWA in collaboration with the Western Australian Department of Education and with investment from the Western Australian Department of Culture and the Arts, “22” is a poetry resource that has been developed for use in secondary schools in Western Australia.

The resource comprises an audio CD featuring 20 Western Australian poets reading selected works.

The CD is supported with an accompanying text publication, in addition to individual lesson plans relating to each of the 22 poems featured on the CD.  The lesson plans have been developed specifically to assist teachers to make maximum use of the resource in the classroom.

The Lesson Plans can be downloaded as a pdf from the writingWA website here.

The May 2010 issue of Quadrant magazine contains a review by Hal Colebatch of Andrew’s latest poetry collection, Birds in Mind: Australian Nature Poems. The review, titled “Resonance in the Natural World”, begins:

Andrew Lansdown is one of a very small handful of West Australians who, for more than 30 years, has committed himself steadfastly to writing, with poetry a major part of his output. His many books include the popular series of children’s adventures beginning with With My Knife, and collections of essays. He has recently launched a website and has an impressive collection of literary prizes. He has, from his first work, established a distinctive and individual voice.

Birds in Mind, a very substantial collection of 224 pages, consists mainly of “nature” poems, of birds, fish, flowers and animals, often with a Japanese cast to them. “Lansdown spices the world with pinches of finches,” according to Les Murray. However many of these have deeper resonances behind them, such as the grim “Poised on a Premonition” and the equally grim “Blowfish” …

The full review can be found on this website here. It can be read on the Quadrant website here.

The Australian Poetry Centre has invited Andrew to be a guest of the Salt on the Tongue Poetry Festival in Goolwa, South Australia. Andrew will give two readings at the Festival, which will run over the ANZAC weekend, from 23-26 April.

Festival details can be viewed on the APC website at http://www.australianpoetrycentre.org.au/?page_id=846 

The full program can be viewed/downloaded at http://www.australianpoetrycentre.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/full-goolwa-program.pdf

Quadrant magazine has published four of Andrew’s poems in its April 2010 issue. One of the four is a choka titled “Creators” and is reproduced here: 

Creators

 

Having created

the bamboo, God created

in His likeness

human beings, and seeing

bamboos growing

they straightaway imagined

xylophones, wind-chimes and flutes!

            © Andrew Lansdown

The other three poems an be viewed on Quadrant Online at: http://www.quadrant.org.au/magazine/issue/2010/4 

Studio magazine has published Andrew’s tanka, “Azure”, in its latest issue (No. 116, 2010):

Azure

 

Surely a piece is

missing from the azure robe

of the Madonna

in some ancient mosaic

because of that fairy wren!

 

            © Andrew Lansdown

Andrew has been invited to read poetry at Voicebox on Thursday, 4 February 2010.

Voicebox is a monthly poetry reading run by Josephine Clarke at the Tropicana Cafe in High Street (near the Victoria Hall), Fremantle. The readings start at 7.30 pm.

Andrew will read from his new collection of poetry, Birds in Mind. Come and hear him!

Recently noticed, this comment about (among others) Andrew published in The Australian newspaper earlier this year and written by the esteemed Austalian poet, Geoffrey Lehmann:

If I were to prepare an alphabetical list of Australian poets who are outstanding and whose first books have been published since 1980, my list would be ridiculously long. It would have to include Judith Beveridge, Kevin Brophy, Elizabeth Campbell, Caroline Caddy, Jennifer Compton, Tricia Dearborn, Stephen Edgar, Peter Goldsworthy, Philip Hodgins, Carol Jenkins, Andrew Lansdown, Anthony Lawrence, Bronwyn Lea, Emma Lew, Stephen McInerney, Homer Reith, Gig Ryan, Philip Salom, Andrew Sant, Shen, Craig Sherborne and Alex Skovron. Some of these poets are very different from each other and might look askance at their bedfellows. But all have written memorable and exciting poems. 

Quoted from “New poets mine rich seam of language”, Geoffrey Lehmann, The Australian, 21 February 2009 (emphasis added)

Andrew’s poem, “Sighting”, appears in the December issue of Quadrant magazine:

Sighting

On visiting the Bull Ranges with a traditional landowner

 

Pluck out the detecting eye,

break off the pointing finger,

shut up the exclaiming cry—

if only somehow I could!

 

But it’s too late to stifle

myself now or stop my friend,

who snatches up his rifle

and follows swiftly after

 

the wallabies I sighted,

the small wild rock wallabies

whose survival I blighted

simply because I saw them

 

and cried aloud, delighted.

            © Andrew Lansdown

The Katharine Susannah Prichard Foundation invited Andrew to judge the 2009 Karen W Treanor Poetry Awards. Andrew delivered his Judge’s Report at the Awards Ceremony on Sunday, 6 December. He said:

I was pleased to receive an invitation by the Katharine Susannah Prichard Foundation to judge the Karen W Treanor Poetry Awards. Given that this is the inauguration of the Awards, I felt doubly honoured to be entrusted with this responsibility. My thanks to Fay Dease, Glen Philips, Paula Jones, Katrin Kuenstler and others involved with by the Katharine Susannah Prichard Foundation.

      Sixty-nine poems were entered in the Karen W Treanor Poetry Awards, which is a good number for a new competition. As is to be expected, the poems varied greatly in subject, theme, style and tone. Although the quality of the poems was uneven, most were cogent and accessible. This is praiseworthy in an age when pretension and ambiguity are often passed off as profundity.

      Before commenting on the winning and commended poems, I would like to make a comment on the submissions generally. I noticed several faults reoccurring in the poems and it may be helpful to mention two of these faults.

      The first fault involves the use of clichés. … CLICK HERE TO READ ANDREW’S FULL REPORT 

Eminent Western Australian poet and critic, Shane McCauley, launched Andrew’s latest collection of poetry, Birds in Mind: Australian Nature Poems, on Saturday 24 October 2009. Speaking to a gathering of about seventy people, Shane McCauley said:

I was very touched, and of course honoured, when Andrew Lansdown asked me to launch his wonderful collection of poems, Birds in Mind: Australian Nature Poems. Ours has been a long acquaintance and friendship, going back to the mid-1970s or so. For a while, we were always the youngest WA poets to appear in anthologies such as Quarry, edited by Fay Zwicky in 1981. And I note that several of our near contemporaries in that anthology have gone on to either better or worse things, but Andrew and I have somehow managed to stay in the poetry-writing business.

Initially, there are several things to note about Birds in Mind. Firstly, the sheer size and scope of the subject matter. The joy in birds is apparent from the title, but they are only some of the creatures and plants the poet celebrates and sometimes mourns. You will also find superbly spare descriptions of, and reactions to, shells, frogs, lizards, kangaroos, crabs, fish, sunflowers, bamboo, orchids, trees in abundance—karri, jarrah, marri, redgum—and much, much more.

Another initial observation concerns the variety of places in which these poems have been published—they have obviously appealed to many different editors, and the Acknowledgements page is really mind-boggling. Apart from appearing in countless Australian journals and anthologies, many have been published overseas, in Japan, the USA, the UK.

A third observation is in regard to the quality of the book’s production itself and the generous 223 pages—no “slim” volume of verse this! … CLICK HERE TO READ FULL ADDRESS

Andrew has a new collection of poetry coming out next week.

Birds in Mind: Australian Nature Poems will be launched by the eminent Western Australian poet and critic, Shane McCauley.

Published by Queensland publisher Wombat Books, Birds in Mind contains over 200 pages of nature poetry.

If you live in Perth, Western Australia, you are welcome to come to the launching of Birds in Mind. 

Venue: Morley Baptist Church hall, Vera Street, Morley

Date: Saturday, 24 October 2009

Time: 3.00 pm

Andrew’s new chapbooks are cheaper than birthday cards or thinking-of-you cards - and yet the texts are immensely richer. Consolations is a 28 page collection of 48 tanka and Little Matters is a 24 page collection of 89 haiku and senryu. Both cost just $3.60, postage included. So why not send a chapbook instead of a card to those you are thinking of?

Consolations, and Little Matters are available through this website - click here. Or they can be ordered through the publishers website at www.picaropress.com.

Andrew was the Special Guest reader at the Perth Poetry Club on Saturday 26 September. He read from his recently published chapbooks, Consolations and Little Matters, and from his larger collections, Between Glances and Fontanelle. Promotional details on the PPC website: http://perthpoetryslam.com/perthpoetryclub/node/35

Andrew read 18 poems from three of his poetry collections on Twin Cities 89.7 FM on Thursday, 17 September. The radio program was hosted by Robyn Holmes and Andrew appeared courtesy of the Peter Cowan Writers Centre.

Picaro Press has published a collection of 89 haiku and senryu by Andrew Lansdown. The 24 page chapbook, titled Little Matters, is available through this website for $3.60, postage included. Alternatively, it can be ordered through the publishers website at www.picaropress.com. To download an order form from this website, click here.

Picaro Press has published a collection of 48 tanka by Andrew Lansdown. The 28 page chapbook, titled Consolations, is available through this website for $3.60, postage included. Alternatively, it can be ordered through the publishers website at www.picaropress.com. To download an order form from this website, click here. 

Tags: News

One of the merchants on Amazon.com is offering to sell a new copy of Andrew’s fantasy novel, With My Knife, for US $130.56. This website, along with many an Australian bookshop, offers to sell new copies of With My Knife for just AU $15.95!

Download an order form to purchase a copy of With My Knife for $15.95, plus postage.

Order Form - Books by Andrew Lansdown

Three new poems by Andrew have just been published in the July-August issue of Quadrant magazine. One of them, posted here, is a gunsaku (haiku sequence):

About Autumn

            i

Liquidambar—

anticipating autumn

with a red leaf.

 

            ii

Liquidambar—

the evergreens envy your

changing colours.

 

            iii

Liquidambar—

educating evergreens

about autumn.

 

© Andrew Landown

Tags: Poems

Andrew has begun a FELLOW WRITERS’ page on his website in honour of various Australian writers who are among his friends and acquaintances. The first writer to be included is the poet and novelist, Hal Colebatch. Have a look. More writers to follow.

In 2007 the Australian Haiku Society appointed the haiku poet John Bird to conduct a survey of “haiku definitions” as used by haiku poets in Australia. John recently asked Andrew for his definition of haiku. Andrew offered two definitions, both of which were posted on the Australian Haiku Society’s website, HaikuOz, on 31 March 2009:

(1) “Haiku are poems modelled on the seventeen-syllable three-line poems of the ancient Japanese. Being poems, haiku are a form of literature and may employ literary techniques and may be judged by literary standards. Generally speaking, haiku stir emotion and stimulate reflection in the reader through simple precise objective depictions of things in nature.”

(2)
“Haiku are pebbles
poets lob into the pond
of our emotions.”

© Andrew Lansdown

This second “definition” is a haiku taken from Andrew’s poetry collection, Waking and Always, which was republished last year by Picaro Press.

Read more haiku definitions on the Australian Haiku Society’s website at: http://www.haikuoz.org/

The March 2009 issue of Quadrant magazine contains 4 of Andrew’s poems, including the following choka (a traditional Japanese poetic form):

Western Yellow Robin 

 

When the Almighty

spoke yellow-bellied robins

into bright being

and told them to multiply,

he already knew

I would observe this robin,

this gentle-grey bird

too shy to wear its colour

on its petite breast,

this yolk-yellow-under bird

drawn from the forest

by the feather-grey and -fine

smoke of my campfire—

and he also foreknew that

I would by virtue

of his implanted image

want to celebrate

and recreate this bird by

speaking it into a poem.

 

© Andrew Lansdown

The March 2009 issue of Quadrant magazine contains 4 of Andrew’s poems, including the following tanka (a traditional Japanese poetic form):

Sheep

 

Only three days since

they were shorn and already

their whiteness is gone.

Still, who of us has managed

even that long in this world?

 

© Andrew Lansdown

Amazon.com is now selling copies of Andrew’s short story collection, The Dispossessed. The book can be purchased for US$17.95. This is an economical price for readers in the United States. Go to: http://www.amazon.com/Dispossessed-Other-Stories-Andrew-Lansdown/dp/1876819308/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1235820886&sr=1-7 

The Dispossess can also be purchased from this website (which, given postage and dollar conversion rates, would be a cheaper option for readers in Australia). Click here to download an order form.

Omibus Books/Scholastic Australia has reprinted Andrew’s fantasy novel, The Red Dragon. This is the third print run of The Red Dragon, which was first published in 2006 and is the third novel in the Chronicles of Klarin trilogy.

Omibus Books/Scholastic Australia has reprinted Andrew’s fantasy novel, Dragonfox. This is the fourth print run of Dragonfox, which is the second novel in the Chronicles of Klarin trilogy.

Andrew’s essay, “Reading and Reflecting on Haiku”, which was recently published in Zest, the online magazine of the Australian Poetry Centre, is now available on this website. Click here to read the essay.

Australian poets Les Murray, Andrew Taylor, Andrew Burke and Andrew Lansdown enjoyed a chinwag over coffee at Andrew Taylor’s house in Mount Lawley (WA) in March 2008. Andrew L was surprised recently to find photographs of that gathering on Andrew B’s blogsite, Hi Spirits (http://hispirits.blogspot.com/search?q=Andrew+Lansdown). One of the photographs is reproduced below, having been brazenly lifted from Hi Spirits:

Poets Les Murray (left) and Andrew Lansdown (right)

Photographed by poet Andrew Burke at poet Andrew Taylor’s house in March 2008

In October (2008) Andrew Burke asked several fellow Western Australian poets, including Andrew Lansdown, to provide a poem-with-comments for his blogsite, Hi Spirits (http://hispirits.blogspot.com/). Andrew L sent Andrew B the poem “Finishing Up”, which Andrew B (confusing, isn’t it!) posted on 22 September 2008. The poem and brief explanatory comments are posted below:

Finishing Up 

 

Nightfall … and I am still here
in the school at the prison farm.

My children will be at the table, filling
their mouths with food and chatter.

And the littlest one will be asking
her mother, “Where is Daddy?”

I am where my resignation
has led me. My roguish students

are in the compound, locked up
for the night. Except for the sentries

the guards are gone. I am alone,
finishing up. Did I miss someone

when I said goodbye? Does it matter?
We have been good to one another,

these bad men and I. I try not
to think I will never see them again.

I am alone. I look out the window.
The forest is in silhouette.

On the lawn, almost dissolved
in the dusk, a young kangaroo

hunches on its haunches to graze.
It was not there a moment ago and

in a moment when I open the door
it will not be there again.

Although “Finishing Up” was published for the first time in Quadrant magazine in March this year [2008], it is a poem that I began writing in 1987. At the time, I didn’t feel the poem was good enough to publish and I couldn’t work out how to make it good enough. However, I did feel it had “something” and so I kept it in a file with other “almost” poems. I came back to it last year [2007] and substantially revised it into its present form. And I am pleased with it now.

     The gist of the poem is clear from the text of the poem. But a few specific details may be of interest. I was at the time the education officer-in-charge of the education centre at Barton’s Mill Prison Farm. The farm held minimum security male prisoners and was located near Pickering Brook in Western Australia. I had been granted leave without pay for a year in order to write a book on the Swan waterways with the painter Donald Green. The poem picks up on my mood as I stayed late to pack up my things on the last day at the prison.

© Andrew Lansdown

Over the years, various poets have paid tribute to Andrew and his work by dedicating poems to him. Among them are the eminent Australian poets Les Murray, Shane McCauley and Peter Kocan. Click here to view their poems.

Andrew’s fantasy novel, The Red Dragon, has won the Hoffman Award, which is part of the West Australian Young Readers Book Award (WAYRBA).

     WAYRBA is a readers’ choice award, organised on a statewide basis for young readers. The Award has two broad categories: Younger Readers and Older Readers. Children and youths are invited to nominate, through their libraries, recently published books of fiction that they have enjoyed. These nominations are then considered by the WAYRBA committee and the two lists are drawn up. Young people are then asked to read titles on the lists and evaluate them as ”terrific”, “good”, “okay” or “awful”. (Information taken from the WAYBRA website: http://www.wayrba.iinet.net.au.)

     The Hoffman Award is given to the highest ranked Australian/Western Australian book on the young readers’ list. This year, thanks to the “terrific” votes of West Australian young readers, the Hoffman Award has been given to The Red Dragon!

     Andrew accepted the award in person, and gave a reading from The Red Dragon, at the WAYRBA Awards Presentation Night at the Subiaco Theatre on Friday 24th October.

     The Red Dragon is published by Omnibus Books/Scholastic Australia and is the third novel in the Chronicles of Klarin trilogy. The other novels are With My Knife and Dragonfox. 

The respected Western Australian poet, Andrew Burke, has published Andrew’s poem, “Finishing Up” on his website, Hi Spirits. Andrew (Lansdown!) has written some background comments to accompany the poem.

You can read the poem and comments at: http://hispirits.blogspot.com/search/label/Lansdown

Zest, the online magazine of the Australian Poetry Centre, has published an article by Andrew titled “Reading and Reflecting on Haiku”.

The article can be accessed at: http://www.australianpoetrycentre.org.au/?page_id=37

Tags: News

Poem in Quadrant

October 19th, 2008

Quadrant magazine published one of Andrew’s tanka, “Becoming”, in its October 2008 edition:

Becoming

A girl from my girl

and her love … A new human

being has become …

So becoming—this person

who soon will call me “Grandpa!”

 

© Andrew Lansdown

Tags: Poems

Picaro Press has just released the new edition of Andrew’s 1987 poetry collection, Waking and Always.

The book is published as part of Picaro Press’s Art Box Series, which “aims to provide low-cost access to significant Australian poetry titles which, for whatever reason, are no longer generally available to the public.”

The new edition of Waking and Always can be ordered through this website (download an order form) or through the publisher’s website at: www.picaropress.com. RRP $15.00.

The Weekend Australian newspaper published Andrew’s haiku sequence, “Mosquito Haiku”, in its “Review” pages on 26-27 July 2008.

Mosquito Haiku

 

            i

Might as well tow

a bright sign as that high sound,

doomed mosquito!

 

            ii

A round of applause

for the mozzie skywriting with

sound instead of smoke!

 

            iii

Off and on all night,

a miniature winged syringe

disturbing my dreams.

 

            iv

Ha, that mosquito

just heard the mystical sound

of two hands clapping!

 

            v

I’m the only one

here—so it must be my blood

in the mosquito!

 

© Andrew Lansdown

Five of Andrew’s poems and two of his stories have been included in the newly released anthology, Grow: Under the Southern Cross, edited by Lyn Hurry and Anne Hamilton, with illustrations by Rowena Evans. The anthology contains poems, stories and activities for children and young teenagers by various Australian and New Zealand writers. It is especially suited for classroom and homeschool use.

     The book also comes with a CD that contains readings of ten poems and eight stories. One of Andrew’s poems and one of his stories are included on the CD.

     Copies of Grow: Under the Southern Cross can be purchased for $29.95 from Writerlynks GROW Magazine, P.O. Box 603, Kenmore, Qld 4069. For further information, email growmag@bigpond.com.

ABC Radio National recently broacast a two-part series on “Australian Haiku”. Described as “A detailed exploration of this burgeoning poetic form with some of Australia’s leading practitioners”, the series was produced by Ron Sims for Radio National’s Poetica program.

     Twenty-six of Andrew’s haiku, along with excerpts of an interview he did with Ron Simms, were included in the series.

     “Australian Haiku - Part 1″ was broadcast on Saturday 21 June and again on Thursday 26 June. “Australian Haiku - Part 2″ was broacast on Saturday 28 June and again on Thursday 3 July. Both parts of “Australian Haiku” can be heard on the ABC’s website at: http://www.abc.net.au/rn/poetica/.

Andrew’s fantasy novel, With My Knife, has gone into an eighth print run. Omnibus Books (an imprint of Scholastic Australia) reissued the book at the end of May 2008.

     With My Knife is the first novel in the trilogy, The Chronicles of Klarin. The other two novels (which have also gone into additional print runs) are: Dragonfox and The Red Dragon.

Picaro Press has undertaken to published a new edition of Andrew’s 1987 poetry collection, Waking and Always.

     Apart from minor revisions to several poems, the new edition will be the same in content as the original edition.

     The new edition of Waking and Always will be published in Picaro Press’s Art Box Series.

     According to the publisher, “The Art Box Series aims to provide low-cost access to significant Australian poetry titles which, for whatever reason, are no longer generally available to the public.”

     Advance orders for Waking and Always can be placed through this website (download an order form) or through the publisher’s website at: www.picaropress.com. RRP $15.00.

Tags: News

Andrew was invited to address the Society of Women Writers (WA) in Perth on Tuesday 20th May 2008. He spoke about his writings and read from The Dispossessed, Fontanelle, Between Glances and Waking and Always.

Andrew is among 12 leading Western Australian poets to have his work represented on large free-standing panels by the City of South Perth in its new Poetry Park.

     The impetus for the Poetry Park came from Dr Ken Spillman, who conceived of it as a way to acknowledge and acclaim the work of Western Austalian poets.

     The dozen poets whose work was chosen for the panels lining the “Walk of Honour” in the park are all winners of the WA Premier’s Book Awards. Andrew won the Award in 1982 and 1985.

     Situated in the Neil McDougal Park, Como, the Poetry Park was opened by the Mayor of the City of South Perth on Thursday 15th May 2008.

     The poem printed on Andrew’s panel in the Poetry Park is “Happiness”, which is taken from his award-winning collection, Between Glances (William Heinemann Australia, 1993). It reads:

Happiness

A small green bird is hopping
up the grey trunk of a river gum.
The tree leans toward the water.
A duck floats on its reflection.

The climbing bird knocks a fleck
of bark into the water. The duck
inspects it then paddles away.
The Chinese poet Tu Fu wrote,

“After the laws of their being
all creatures pursue happiness.”
Watching the birds, the dragon-
flies, it occurs to me that Fu

is quite wrong. Apart from man,
all creatures simply are happy.
No duck ends the day with regret.
We alone aspire to something

Other. And we alone fall short.

 

© Andrew Lansdown

Published in May 2008
on a two-meter high free-standing panel
in the South Perth Poetry Park
(situated in the Neil McDougal Park, Como, WA)

Click here to view/download a pdf of the full-size panel bearing the poem.

Waking unwell,
wondering how I will cope
with a new day,
I glance out the window to
see a thornbill
hopping lightly in the twigs
of a wandoo—
and it flits into my mind
to set that bird
in a poem, catch it in words
as a distraction from pain.
© Andrew Lansdown
Published in Studio, No. 108, 2008

A cup on a cross-
beam in the carport,

a grass cup covered
with a cobweb gauze—

the nest some goodness
has filled to the brim

with wagtail hatchlings
that lift wobbling heads

above the low rim
and gape with gladness

each time their parents
return with insects,

not to mention twit-
chings and chatterings!

© Andrew Lansdown
Published in Island, No. 112, Autumn 2008