ISLAND PRESS

 

 

 

island

 

 

Publisher of fine Australian poetry and other interests.

 

philiphammial@hotmail.com

 

 

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.

 

 

 

   

 

 

 

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1970 – Now

Philip Hammial Marooned with Pork Jinn $18 2021

Philip Hammial Inveigling Snafus $18 2020

Philip Hammial Squandering Veronicas $18 2020

Philip Hammial Rococo  $18.95    2017

Philip Hammial Testicle & Tomb  $25    2016

Michele Seminara Engraft $20 2016

Les Wicks, Getting By   Not Fitting In $20 2016

David Gilbey,  Pachinko Sunset       $20  2016

Mark Roberts, concrete flamingos $20  2016

Lauren Williams Cleanskin Poems     $20   2016

 

ALSO

 

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Philip Hammial Sculpture & Sculpture 2   $25    2015 & 2016

Visual retrospectives of Hammial’s sculpture work.

 

Christine Townend, Walking with Elephants $20 2015

Philip Hammial, Ticket to Ride  $18.95     2015

Jeltje Fanoy  Princes by night  $18.95         2015

Roberta Lowing, The Searchers $18.95      2014

John Watson ( B )          $18.95 2013

Philip Hammial   Sky Burials $18.95 2013

Susan Adams Beside Rivers $20       2013

Philip Hammial   Detroit $18.95, Site $15.00        2012

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

Denis Gallagher Country Country    hc $125 pb $95      1979

John Tranter Dazed in the Ladies Lounge 1979

 

 

With P. Hammial & P. Roberts as Editors

 

Kris 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

 CLICK HERE FOR ORDER FORM

 

Some comments on Island books:

 

Philip Hammial Rococo $18.95 it’s a discomforting proposition that, as our response to the world is to find it more and more irrational and incomprehensible, we will find Hammial’s poetry more and more central, more real! Martin Duwell

 

Philip Hammial Testicle & Tomb $18.95 His 29th book …however bizarre or deliberately obscured the events described in his work might seem everything he is writing about is perfectly real: there’s none of the decapitated mysticism of Surrealism in his work, and his juxtapositions aren’t randomly generated by automatist procedures. John Hawke

 

Michele Seminara Engraft   $20

Seminara’s analytic prayers, domestic fables and eloquent centos work their ludic wit and charms in the house of loss and disturbance. She is not afraid to say ‘beauty’ in the language of economy engrafted with careful flourishes.  Michelle Cahill

 

Les Wicks, Getting By          Not Fitting In            $20

self-aware, debonair, generous, weary, even despondent, yet never despairing. Dominique Hecq

 

Mark Roberts, concrete flamingos $20 

In these ironic contemplative poems, Roberts has examined our literature and assumptions with precision, depth  and delicacy...  Rae Desmond Jones

 

David Gilbey,  Pachinko Sunset       $20

Revealing the quirks and glitches of contemporary transnational life, the poems in Pachinko Sunset slide between Sendai, Japan and Wagga Wagga, Australia, offering the unique perspective of someone who is both … a benefactor and a provocateur. This is a supple and intelligent writing that unspools across each page with generosity and stylish grace. Lachlan Brown

 

Lauren Williams Cleanskin Poems     $20

Taste the difference!

Christine Townend, Walking with Elephants $20

“This is a strong debut. It is a pleasure to welcome a poet of such compassion, with so keen a sense of the persuasive power of poetry. I am envious of some of her fine images.” David Brooks

 

Philip Hammial, Ticket to Ride  $18.95

“There is a violence in the language, a lacerating quality to the juxtaposed images that makes the reader sit up and take notice.”

Mark O’Flynn

 

Jeltje Fanoy  Princes by night   $18. 95, website $15

"... locates exchange of history in moments of home, held by the poems like fragile heirlooms that link to each other and travel together, cover to cover."  Kerry Loughrey

 

Roberta Lowing, The Searchers $18.95

“...handles words as if they were, as they are, magic talismans, or ancient, gnarled things laminated by human use and desire.” David Brooks

 

John Watson, ( B ) $18.95

“poetry as an art-form with plenty of wit and whimsy” Geoff Page

 

Philip Hammial, Sky Burials $18.95

“… provocative and punchy. It engages with the world and is full of humour, irony, sarcasm, extreme images with the universality of interests and a cosmopolitan flare that servers are good antidote for mere good intentions in writing.” Peter Boyle

 

Susan Adams, Beside Rivers $20

"In exploring human joy and suffering, this volume represents the extremes of our existence: the heights and depths we are capable of. Susan Adams seeks out and conjures every detail with unflinching precision." Rae Desmond Jones

 

Philip Hammial,  Detroit  $18.95

“Philip Hammial would be placed on a dais with John Tranter and John Forbes – his range and intellect and poetic skill are easily their equivalent.” David Brooks

 

David Musgrave, Concrete Tuesday $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

 

Philip Hammial,  Drink from the Animal  $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

 

Carolyn Gerrish, The View from the Moon   $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 60 titles.

 

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Island Press is not open to unsolicited manuscripts at this stage.

 

 

LINKS

www.austlit.com/a/index.html

www.collectedworks.com.au

www.gleebooks.com.au

www.cordite.org.au

www.islandmag.com

www.walleahpress.com.au

www.australianpoetry.org

 

 

Island Press