ISLAND PRESS
Publisher of fine Australian poetry and other interests.
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
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
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
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.
Island Press is not open to unsolicited manuscripts at this stage.
LINKS
www.australianpoetry.org
Island Press