ISLAND PRESS
Publishing fine Australian poetry and other interests.
Probably the oldest still-operating poetry
press in Australia, Island Press continues to publish cutting edge work from
across the country.
Titles can be ordered. Cheques should be
made payable to Island Press and sent to 29 Park Rd, Woodford NSW 2778
Australia.
All prices are in Australian dollars.
1970
– Now
With
P. Hammial as Editor
David Musgrave Concrete Tuesday $19.95 2011
Philip Hammial Drink
from the Animal $18.95, Site $15.00 2011
Carolyn
Gerrish The View from the Moon $20 2011
Les
Wicks the Ambrosiacs $22 2009
Barbara
De Franceschi Strands $20 2009
rae desmond jones Blow
Out $20 2009
Philip
Hammial Wig Hat On $18,95, via Site $16.65 2009
David
Brooks Urban Elegies $19.95 2008
Philip
Hammial Juggernaut $18.95, via Site $15 2008
Philip
Hammial Sugar Hits $18.95 via site $15 2007
Jutta
Sieverding A Dangerous Place $18 95,via site $15 2005
Martin
Langford Microtexts $21.95, via site $20 2005
Philip
Hammial Voodoo Realities $18.95, site $15 2005
Lizz
Murphy Stop Your Cryin $18, site $15 2004
Leith
Morton At the Hotel Zudabollo $16 95, site $12 2004
Carolyn
Gerrish Dark Laughter $17, site $12 2004
Rob
Riel Rogue Perspectives 2004
Philip
Hammial In the Year of Our Lord Slaughter’s Children 16.95, site $12 2003
Martin
Langford Be Straight with Me $16 95, site $15 2000
Martin
Langford In the Cage of Loves Gradings $16 95, site $15 1997
Lizz
Murphy Pearls and Bullets $10 1997
Barbara
Petrie Farrow Night 1997
Marcel
Freiman Monkey's Wedding $13 1995
Carolyn
Gerrish Learning to Breathe Underwater $12 95, site $10 1995
Philip
Hammial Just Deserts $15 1993
Leith
Morton The Flower Ornament 1993
Martin
Langford Great Wall of Instinct $16
95, site $15 1993
Jutta
Sieverding Uneasy Weather $15 1993
Les
Wicks Tickle $15 1993
Philip
Hammial Vehicles (Art by A Mannix) 1985
Philip
Hammial Squeeze 1985
Adam
Aitken Letter to Marco Polo $25 1985
J.
S. Harry A Dandelion for Van Gogh 1985
Anthony
Mannix Erotomania 1984
Philip
Hammial Swarm 1979
Dennis
Gallagher Country Country
hc
$125 pb $95 1979
John
Tranter Dazed in the Ladies Lounge 1979
With
P. Hammial & P. Roberts as Editors
Chris
Hemensley A Mile from Poetry 1979
Andrew
Taylor The Crystal Absences 1979
J.
S. Harry Hold, for a Little While & Turn Gently 1979
Philip
Roberts Selected Poems 1978
Ken
Bolton Blond
& French 1978
With
P. Roberts as Editor
Michael
Witts Sirens 1978
Keith
Shadwick Windows & Mirrors 1978
Philip
Hammial Chemical Cart 1977
Andrew
Huntley Minor Pageant 1977
Robert
Adamson Swamp Riddles 1973
Martin
Johnston Modern Greek Poets 1973
Philip
Roberts Crux 1973
Kevin
Gilbert End of a Dream Time 1971
The Last Poet’s Choice 1979
Poet’s Choice 1971-78
ALL PRICES INCLUDE POSTAGE
Some comments on Island
books:
Concrete Tuesday, David Musgrave $19.95 on an
earlier title: "This is
witty, wry and perceptive poetry, noticable for its
deft and striking imagery and an impressive range of reference. To Thalia is
inflected with attitude, fullof surprise and
stretching always at the edges" Chris
Lee
Drink from the Animal, Philip Hammial
$18.95 Web: $15
“What’s startling – and I think original – is the
way shibboleths are torn down in a terse, colourful, street-talkin’
style.” Kerry Leves
The View from the Moon, Carolyn Gerrish, $20
“Gerrish is in fact a
wicked satirist, who takes aim with deadly accuracy at the many inauthenticities in our culture….” Louise Wakeling
The Ambrosiacs,
Les Wicks, $22.00
“…intense, quite relentless, often dark and pessimistic. But this of
course is not the whole story, for within these pages are striking moments of
grace, awareness, acceptance, restitution…” joanne burns
Strands,
Barbara De Franceschi, $20.00
“The poems of
place are redolent with taste and sights and sounds that she has savoured. Her
subtle, knowing poems about relationships compel us to reflect on what we know
of those we live among, and with – and of ourselves. … we
recognise the way words point beyond what words can tell us, to secrets that we
understand but cannot tell.” Michael
Sharkey
Wig Hat On, Philip Hammial,
$18.95
"I
have always thought he (Hammial) was an exhilarating
poet and I have no doubt that he is a very major one. He is also fantastically
enjoyable to read." Martin Duwell
Blow Out, rae
desmond jones,
$20.00
“While maintaining the often raw energy and
evocativeness of his earlier work, this collection has a new, deeper vision:
the past is a constant presence in this book.” S K Kelen
Urban Elegies, David Brooks, $!9.95
"I read Urban Elegies right through in one
sitting. There was a suspense in what the next page
might hold, and on the way to the end of the book, I encountered the best and
most uplifting poetry that I have experienced in years." Robert Adamson
Voodoo Realities, Philip Hammial $18.95, Site $15.00
"Hammial's technique
- in terms of language and structures - is astonishing: he leads us to believe
that truth can be spoken."
Judges' comments, 2001 NSW Premier's Literary
Awards
a dangerous place, Jutta Sieverding
“The poems are sharp, direct and understated, with a restraint
that suggests more than it says. There is an edginess and insight into the
unstated or buried, the beneath the surface of life; a tension between quiet
observance and angry, rebellious participation.” Brook Emery
Microtexts, Martin Langford
"a collection of aphorisms and condensed argument about
poetry and poetics"
Sugar Hits, Philip Hammial
$18.95, Site $15.00
"His work deserves a place at the front of any
future anthology of language-based writing as a significant precursor and major
practitioner." John Hawke
Juggernaut, Philip Hammial
$18.95, Site $15.00
"Hammial lived Blade
Runner before the movie was made." Adam Aitken
Dark Laughter , Carolyn Gerrish
continues her ironic/lyrical
exploration of the self and contemporary culture.
Monkey’s
Wedding, Marcelle Freiman $13
“The poetry
becomes a way of gaining focus, balancing diverse elements,fashioning something aesthetically beautiful,
emotionally sharp out of human experiences.” Peter Boyle
Stop Your Cryin Lizz Murphy $18
"… a talent for
expression in a distinctive and variable voice …" API Review
In the Cage Of Love's Gradings , Martin
Langford, $16.95 (via site $15)
"a quite different
touch and voice in Australian poetry" Jack Bedson
Pearls & Bullets, Lizz
Murphy
“...arrestingly
simple and yet profoundly memorable...” The Canberra Times
Uneasy Weather, Jutta
Sieverding
“The style is
spare and succinct, the language unadorned yet assured in its effect… These are
poems of understatement, which reach their point of revelation with an enviable
economy of words.” Judith Beveridge
Tickle, Les Wicks $13.00
“...personal & engaging, accessible & immediate.” Warwick Wynne, Aust. Book Review
Be Straight With Me, Martin Langford, $16.95 (via site $15)
" at its best, equal to anything
now being written in Australia" Brian Purcell
Letter to Marco Polo, Adam Aitken
$25
“nuanced textures of
meaning that pull you inside the words rather than merely to them…consistently
remakes the language on the page” - JA Wainwright, Antipodes
Blond & French, Ken Bolton
“amply repays the debt to O'Hara &, through him, to
Apollinaire" David Malouf
Country country, Denis Gallagher
" ... the sort of conversational ease most of us sadly
lack except in talking." Carl
Harrison-Ford
All prices RRP
ISLAND PRESS CO-OPERATIVE: A
HISTORY
Island
Press was founded in 1970 by Canadian poet, musician and Sydney University
lecturer Philip Roberts. He lived on Scotland Island at that time, hence the
name. In 1973 Philip moved to Bundeena. The first ten
Island Press books were printed on expensive paper on an old hand-operated
press, with hand-set lead type. In the mid seventies this press was sold to
Sydney University where it was used to print diplomas for a few years. In 1979
Philip Roberts returned to Canada and gave Island Press to Philip Hammial. PH moved to Woodford in the Blue Mountains in late
1994. In 1993 Island Press became a
co-operative with nine members, now eleven.
Over its long career Island has published over 50 titles.
Island Press is not open to unsolicited
manuscripts at this stage.
LINKS
www.australianpoetry.org
Island Press Co-operative
Ltd