Books published by Ginninderra Press

Dissent can be a good thing, unless you are killed for it. We live in a world of social fissuring and disruption, where families and nations are stressed by the contexts we live in. Globally, we are witnessing the biggest population movement ever known. This is interlinked with the causes and effects of massive changes in climate which is causing unresolvable tensions around water and land access, citizenship and poverty. Armed conflict, fear, persecution and exclusion allow the fermenting of corruption and war. I write poetry to express contemporary issues and questions of our times about war, language, environment, climate and the planet's health, translation, dislocation, migration, terrorism, border crossings, dissent, gender, protest. Poetry is a specific way of knowing, of crystallising the dissonance in the dominant discourses in a way which is accessible to anyone who is driven by revolution, and which gives expression to social conscience.

';Pat Lee's poetry often reflects her respect and reverence for the things of the natural world. She has an artists eye for landscape and a Wordsworthian ability to paint it in lyric poetry. Many of her images and word choices have an inevitability about them, a surety that is enviable. Hers is a poetic voice that is true and trustworthy.' Louise Nicholas';Pat Lee's Nudge the Morning is a collection of poetry I found to be the work of the natural poet. Throughout there is a lyricism and landscaping from a once more pastoral time, mixed seamlessly with those of today's both urban and urbane one. Chosen word, inspired subject and thought, accompany throughout any mastery of craft or means which are also fully there by the way. Her titling, which can be a hugely neglected art in itself these days, alone draws the reader to each poem. Lee is a poet that not only sees her subjects so well, but one that can take that next vital step of conveying things to the reader, indeed fully as she did see them herself. Her work is simply a pleasure to read.' John Miles

';If stillness can be tasted, precious memories will return, such as poetry once learned by heart, which in Maurice Whelan's case told of King Arthur receiving his sword Excalibur from the maiden in the lake. If silence can be heard, a poetry in life will breathe, as in this poet's observation about a dawn which ';holds / its perfection/as long/as you hold your breath'. As contrast to a hurried world, Maurice finds a treasury in stillness Gaelic melodies in the twilight of his mind, his wandering in the slipstream of a silent father's dreams, and from a wonderful ';Perfect Pitch' his reassuring knowing that ';the bow is on the string / fingers caress keys, eyes / are closing and heaven's gate / is opening once again'. This beautiful anthology combines nostalgia for times past, gratitude for nature's riches and a psychoanalyst's characteristically sharp insights into personal relationships: ';I wasn't staring / I saw my youth in you. / That's all.' His skill in crafting apparently effortless lines, seldom interrupted by commas, semicolons or full stops, conceals the challenge of holding a pen and facing a blank page. ';Sometimes / finding the right word / is like drilling through concrete / with a jackhammer.' There's a brave frankness in such an admission but the poetry which then emerges has been conceived from the peace in silence, the reflection and recall made possible by stillness. No wonder that, on a front page, before his own work begins, Maurice quotes Hazlitt: ';Poetryis not a branch of authorship: it is the stuff of which our life is made.'' Stuart Rees

The Lilac Bow is the first book of poetry by the author of the collections Excalibur's Return, A Season and a Time and, most recently, Spirit Eyes. Maurice Whelan is also the author of the acclaimed novel Boat People.

When Dalley, a convicts son who became the first Australian Privy Councillor, died in 1888, The Bulletin described him as a man of many splendours, both of intellect and heart, and in many respects the most notable man Sydney has given birth to. Nine years later some 10,000 people gathered in Hyde Park for the unveiling of his statue. A plaque in St Pauls Cathedral, London, commemorates him. Clearly someone with a story worth telling. Unconventional and perennially popular, Dalley was a major contributor to the political, legal and literary life of NSW. While the despatch of colonial troops to Sudan in 1885 is the act he is most often remembered for today, contemporaries admired him for much more - not least the use of his remarkable oratorical power, honed in memorable court cases, to champion causes such as religious and racial harmony and a gentler form of parliamentary politics.';This remarkable book... Robert Lehane has captured the very flavour of late-colonial society, from the bushranging days to the 1888 Centennial.' - Reviews in Australian Studies';...much more than the account of a fascinating and full public life. It brings to life the colony of New South Wales' - Bar News';those whoread William Bede Dalley will rejoice in a rich and meaningful life' - Canberra Historical Journal

John Forrest DD, the exuberant scholar/priest recruited in Ireland in 1859 to set up the Catholic St John's College at Sydney University, found life in colonial NSW much to his liking. However, it soon became clear that divisions within the Church, even more than a shortage of candidates for degrees, would put paid to his high hopes for the college. Relations between the colony's English archbishops and Irish ecclesiastics were often poisonous, and he was in the Irish camp. Fortunately his interests and friendships extended well beyond the Church and university, and so does this story. Characters who make major appearances, as well as some colourful churchmen, include the extraordinary Henry Parkes and other notables of politics and the law. A central event is the attempted assassination of Queen Victoria's son Prince Alfred in Sydney in 1868.';a fascinating account Sydney never seemed so exciting.' The Sydney Morning Herald';full of interest and intrigue.' The Canberra Times ';deserves to be read by all those with an interest in the Irish diaspora, the history of New South Wales or the study of modern Catholicism' Australasian Journal of Irish Studies

';Megan Schaffner knows how poetry works. She knows the way a strong poem can float you gently to somewhere you've never been before/ [where] with luck/ you'll land wrong side up/ exhilarated/ ready to explore a new country. This is precisely what Megan's poetry does. As soon as you land, you realise you are in the hands of a consummate guide. Pleasure awaits. This poet-guide is deeply wise and funny. She is thoroughly intelligent and gentle. She is totally without bluster or ego. She chauffeurs you through her country with thoughtfulness, wit and dexterity. She is fearless in the face of the big topics: beauty, dementia, eros, anger, silence, art and war. But a list cannot take you to a country. You simply have to go there. Set off on your travels into this elegant and well-wrought book with high hopes and total confidence. Megan Schaffner knows how poetry works.' Dr Gina Mercer

Taking us across culture and landscapes and evoking other states, Derek Baines's new collection touches raw nerves and brings humour to some of our most challenging experiences. A lone traveller enjoys hospitality at an ancient Japanese inn, an insomniac artist produces a masterwork from his subconscious, and a marathon runner moves out of his own body. A Most Urgent Task is a compelling story in verse of how we are living and dreaming today.

Charting an international journey through the beauty of nature and art, the starkness of urban life and the honesty of human emotion, Flying Through Cloud evokes both the humour and vulnerability of our condition. Derek Baines, in this first collection, reconciles our thirst for travel with a constant need for home. A singular and accessible voice, luring us to sensuous highs. ';These poems are elegant as a kimono. Indeed, at times they feel slightly Japanese gentle, beautiful, graceful and flowing.' Kate Llewellyn

In this, her fourth book, Barbara Fisher addresses diverse subjects ranging from literature and art to the natural world, traveI, food, family, and narratives of colonial days and the migrant experience.';Barbara Fisher has a highly personal way of seizing an historicaI moment or a daily event and transforming it into a striking image or reflective occasion. Her individual voice and fidelity to her own vision and experience have won her an increasing following among readers of Australian poetry.' VivianSmith';The poemsdemonstrate aspects of poetry I admire: empathy, wit and an edgy alertness She writes on matters of enduring interest, and her reflections convey attractive elements of her sophisticated framing of human concerns.' MichaelSharkey

As a child I drove my mother to distraction with my constant question, Why? After a stream of these endless whys I can still hear her exasperated voice saying, ';Why because.' and I knew that was the time to stop at least for a while. Nothing has changed. I am still asking questions. These days I know there are no specific answers but it can be fun exploring possibilities. Wise woman or philosopher? Is there a difference? I have no piece of paper that says I'm qualified to be either or both, but my life has been an amazing journey of experiences and in this collection of essays I am using them to try and understand the world I live in and perhaps be more aware of how I might be affecting others.

Margaret Clark's poetry moves comfortably between cosy domesticity, family relationships, art, religion and occasionally politics. She finds inspiration in simple things (a walk in the park, coffee with friends, domestic chores), which reminds us to look for the poetry in the everyday. The metaphor is wielded with great aplomb (Scotland and England as a dysfunctional couple, a mountain range as a sleeping serpent) and the love and respect she has for Australia's impressive landscape is evident in poems such as ';October Storm' and ';Namatjira's Way'. These are straightforward, straight-talking nuggets of joy and wisdom and although Clark is not afraid to tackle the bigger issues, the pages twinkle delightfully with her quirky sense of humour. Alison FlettMargaret Clark's poetry is enriched by wide life experiences and keen observations. We are transported north with apt imagery of time spent living in Alice Springs, a thousand miles from tides, where the grey green casuarinas fuss and whisper in the breeze. A woman of the outback, Clark reveals the art, the beauty and the dangers of the natural world. She recalls Cyclone Tracy, leaving a city littered with tinsel and wrapping paper. She is not afraid to confront pain and hardship; she sees the irony of feral animals shot by feral man. Poems in Frayed Edges also capture scenes from her homeland in the UK and take us on literary journeys, paying tribute to writers and poets from biblical to contemporary times. Clark is a poet of wisdom and depth, making sense of science, domesticity, history and society with a refreshing sense of grace, empathy and often humour. Jude AquilinaMargaret Clark's poetry intelligent, wry observations of places and people is candid but elegant, gritty but lush. Patrick Allington

Cynthia Sidney Hallam grew up in Lismore in the Northern Rivers district of New South Wales. Her poems, short stories and articles have appeared in magazines and anthologies. Her poems have been read on ABC radio and performed on stage. She now lives in the Blue Mountains, west of Sydney.