An anthology of new and contemporary Indigenous poetry and short stories from the Northern Territory.
To be officially launched by the Honourable Mr Gerry McCarthy, Minister for Arts and Museums, Northern Territory.
Saturday 4 September 2010 1.30-2.30pm Nyinkaa Nyunyu Aboriginal Art and Cultural Centre, Tennant Creek
How to look after your poet in the event of a cyclone
Six Northern Territory poets are featured in this chap book: Kaye Aldenhoven, Leni Shilton, Bronwyn Mehan, Rosemary Plummer, Michael Giacometti, and Finn O'Branagain.
This chap book is the first in a series of annual publications planned by NTWC.
The chapbook series aims to encourage NT poets by sharing their work with readers.
This project aims to be self-sufficient. With this size book, you can be like Dorothy Porter, who always had poetry on hand to enjoy during her day.
Published in 2009 by NT Writers' Centre. Purchase your copy from the NT Writers' Centre for only $10.00. For more information or to purchase email:
How to look after your poet in the event of a cyclone
Whilst known to address issues common to humanity poets are idiosyncratic and unpredictable. For these reasons public emergency shelters do not accept poets.
Poets should be clearly identified.
What is a poet? A poet observes reflects offers hope critiques and seeks asylum in word play.
Poets sometimes hump visitors.
During these uncertain times poets may be at risk from flying objects or self injury.
Comfort frightened poets.
If you find a poet ill-treated exhausted wild - keep in a dark box in a quiet place
- and call this number
Bronwyn Mehan
Terra
TERRA : A Bilingual Anthology from Wordstorm, the Northern Territory Writers' Festival
TERRA is a unique and timely publication representing the best prose and poetry from over 40 guest writers at WordStorm, the NT Writers' Festival. It is the first bilingual publication of its kind with leading and emerging writers from the Austronesian region published in English and Bahasa Indonesia languages.
At a time when 'Terror' too readily dominates preconceptions throughout the region, particularly between Indonesia and Australia, this anthology offers a welcome and illuminating exchange of themes and ideas of local and universal import. In short, the anthology represents an outstanding selection of (mostly) previously unpublished contemporary literature from Indigenous and Non-Indigenous Australia, East Timor, Indonesia and Singapore.
TERRA is published by The NT Writers Centre and KataKita Press, June 2007. Edited by Dr Sandra Thibodeaux and Sitok Srengenge; Chief Translator: Kadek Adidharma. ISBN: 978-0-646-47529-5 Pages: 402 RRP: AU$30
For bulk orders, independent booksellers and international orders please contact:
INTERNATIONAL PRAISE FOR TERRA
Like a random assemblage of seashells, a collection of literary pieces put together after a festival gives you the freedom to be indifferent to the Gestalt. Terra covers both the intensely lyrical and the predictably angry, the magical and the banal. Out of politeness, I refrain from saying that my preference is for most of the Indonesian pieces superbly translated here. But that is not the only merit of this book. Finding the kinds of writings produced in Gregory Day’s The Heavenly Morning Along The Roads and Sean M. Whelan's Dear Elliot—to mention just two of the delights—is a bonus. Goenawan Mohamad, Jakarta
This engaging collection captures the imperatives of multiconsciousness—some more potent than others—as well as a few genuine literary talents that have emerged from a complicated, dynamic, fractured region in the last decade. It balances silences and discovery, convention and immediacy, contemplation and play—seemingly random acts of inhalation from a wind that offers its scents, where writing itself seems to represent the mind as it tries to translate between the past and the future. Yet as with any chance, you’ll occasionally find—as in Amal, Utami, Christanty and Pratama, as well as in Mansell, Day and Pang— acts of returning the voiced breath to the air it was drawn from: the reciprocity of smells. Laksmi Pamuntjak, Jakarta
Edgy and vibrant, TERRA is an exciting assembly of Australian, Indonesian and East Timorese writers giving us insights into the multiple aspects of “Territory”: possession, dispossession, racial, religious and environmental conflict, personal spaces, love, fear and hope. Mike Ladd, Radio National, Adelaide
Wordstorm is a home-grown festival and one that’s been a big hit with Territorians. Its success has a lot to do with the quality and diversity of the writers and storytellers who have gathered at the Museum and Art Gallery of the NT each year since 2004.
This anthology reflects that diversity and brings together a compelling selection of Australian and South-East Asian writing, including many of our finest Aboriginal writers.
Terra is a great read and I thoroughly recommend it to anyone with an interest in contemporary writing. Clare Martin, Chief Minister of the Northern Territory
A good anthology is a great meeting place, a wide-ranging, absorbing conversation. Terra is a great anthology, and the conversation is the sort that could only be had in Darwin at Wordstorm, where the mix of writers will always include Indigenous Australia, Singapore, Indonesia and East Timor and the tone will be everything from the passionately serious to the most engagingly laid-back. Unique, essential, surprising –the freshest tastes from Australia's freshest festival! Peter Bishop, Creative Director, Varuna, The Writers' House.
This anthology assertively shows that modern literature among the peoples of Austronesia continues to be written and continues to develop among the advances of technology. A book of literature, a reflection of changing values, is a world that can be carried anywhere anytime – a necessity in our era of high mobility. Sapardi Djoko Damono, Jakarta
Reading each piece of this anthology is like plucking pearl by pearl as they blossom out of their shell, finding them strung upon a clear thread that links Australia, Indonesia, even the world. There is a magnet that draws and unites these pearls: literature. Not only presenting beauty, but also soul-warming, how words and literature can pierce the disparity of language and unite different worlds. Dewi Lestari, Jakarta
In summation, these works from Indonesia, Singapore, East Timor and Australia reveal a hidden corner of world literature. Anthologies such as this prove that post-20th century world literature is a movement from fringe to fringe, rather than something that spreads out from the centre. Nirwan Dewanto, Writer and Editor, Jakarta
Terra resonates with the sensual surreality of the aftermath of a tropical thunderstorm. This collection of short stories and poetry moves effortlessly across themes of belonging, connection to country, imperceptible bonds across diverse cultures, and the grace of forgiveness in the face of terror. Terra unveils fragile and momentary fragments of witnessed humanity amidst the interconnected and absurdly beautiful landscapes of Austronesia. Gathering together the voices of some of our region’s best and most engaged writers, Terra resounds with the seamless unity of a well-loved choir. Stephen Kinnane, Perth
As an Australian by birth and an East Timorese by adoption, the powerful works brought together in this collection speak to me with force and passion of matters of huge individual and political relevance to our region: freedom, belonging, fear, insecurity, identity. Kirsty Sword Gusmao, Chairwoman, The Alola Foundation, Timor-Leste
