Paul Hetherington

http://uwap.uwa.edu.au/products/burnt-umber

Paul Hetherington co-wrote Prose Poetry: An introduction
(Princeton, 2020), and co-edited Anthology of Australian Prose
Poetry (MUP, 2020). He has published sixteen volumes of poetry
and prose poetry and won or been nominated for more than thirty
national and international awards and competitions, recently
winning the 2021 Bruce Dawe National Poetry Prize. He is Professor
of Writing at the University of Canberra.

Paul Hetherington reviews 'The Lake Woman: A romance' and 'Folk Tunes' by Alan Gould

February 2010, no. 318 • 29 September 2022

Alan Gould’s imagination has been steeped in a wide range of reading, from Shakespeare, Milton, Kipling, and Auden to less well-known works such as the sophisticated verse of the Cavalier poets. His recent novel, The Lake Woman, also reveals the influence of the tough and tender lyricism of Thomas Wyatt. Gould’s literary voice is unusual among contemporary writers, partly as a result of his i ... (read more)

Paul Hetherington reviews 'Collected Prose Poems' by Gary Catalano

March 2022, no. 440 • 21 February 2022

The poetry community in Australia, as in the United Kingdom, has been slow to accept prose poetry as a legitimate poetic form. Yet there have been celebrated exponents of prose poetry over nearly two centuries – and even longer if the prose component of the Japanese Haibun, developed by Matsuo Bashō (1644–94), is understood as prose poetry. ... (read more)

Paul Hetherington reviews 'Press Release' by Lisa Gorton

February 2008, no. 298 • 01 February 2008

In Lisa Gorton’s first collection of poetry, somewhat ambiguously entitled Press Release, light, absence and doubt are major preoccupations. The poems speak of ‘a weight of light’, ‘neon expectation’, ‘ruined cities overrun with light’ and ‘all that falling light’ – in just the first of this volume’s four sections. Light, for Gorton, is a sometimes mesmerising and often overw ... (read more)

Paul Hetherington reviews 'The New Dark Age' by Joan London

May 2004, no. 261 • 01 May 2004

Over the last couple of decades in Australia, short fiction has been a poor cousin to the literary novel. While this country continues to produce fine writers of short fiction, many of them struggle to achieve book publication of their works. Larger publishers often seem no more interested in collections of short fiction than they are in poetry collections. Their argument: short fiction, like poet ... (read more)

Paul Hetherington reviews 'The Poet: A novella' by Alex Skovron

February 2006, no. 278 • 01 February 2006

The Poet is an unusual book. Dispensing with many of the conventions that underpin most extended works of prose fiction, such as significant characterisation, it presents a central protagonist, Manfred, who is ‘honest’ – as the author repeatedly states. Manfred is also a poet. The novella is written in formal and refined prose, as if the narrative style is designed to reflect Manfred’s ob ... (read more)

Paul Hetherington reviews 'Some Things to Place in a Coffin' by Bill Manhire

June-July 2017, no. 392 • 30 May 2017

Poetry books that focus on memory, recuperation, and loss are common, but it is rare to find poems that speak about such matters as sparely and eloquently as these do. Bill Manhire’s new poems are bony and sinewy, resonating with an awareness of public and personal grief. Although these works often speak by indirection, many of them pack a real punch. As Manhire probes the awkwardness of memory ... (read more)

'Ship', a new poem by Paul Hetherington

April 2017, no. 390 • 28 March 2017

... (read more)

Paul Hetherington reviews 'Towards the Equator' by Alex Skovron

June-July 2015, no. 372 • 29 May 2015

Alex Skovron’s impressive volume of new and selected poems, Towards the Equator, drawn from all of his published work to date, shows him to be a writer of recurrent and abiding preoccupations. He cares passionately and sometimes rather fastidiously about culture (particularly European culture), and continually worries about words, books, and their import. He is formally accomplished, writing son ... (read more)

Road trip to Piccadilly

November 2013, no. 356 • 31 October 2013

Ninety years after ‘An Exhibition of Australian Art’ was held at Burlington House, London, home of the Royal Academy of Arts, the exhibition Australia opened on 21 September 2013. Touted as the biggest exhibition of Australian art to be staged in the United Kingdom, it is an ambitious undertaking – nothing less than a survey exhibition encapsulating the response of Australian artists to land ... (read more)

Paul Hetherington reviews 'Another Fine Morning in Paradise' by Michael Sharkey

July–August 2012, no. 343 • 09 July 2012

The variety of Australian poetry is attested to by books such as Another Fine Morning in Paradise. Neither entirely fish nor fowl, it is by turns satirical, watchful, effusive, and lyrical. Its central preoccupation is with a sharp-eyed scrutiny of what might be called the-idea-of-a-better-life. ... (read more)