Publisher's synopsis
..it is clear from the quality of the works collected that the project… is a thoughtful, sensitively realised one that seeks to go beyond mere representation to explore a beautifully ambiguous, ambivalent and therefore more exciting set of linguistic, historical and cultural possibilities.
Congratulations to Puncher & Wattman for their support of a fine project, to the three editors, the cohort of writers featured and a hearty recommendation from the team at Peril to seek out the collection.
— Eleanor Jackson, Poetry Editor, Peril Blog, Review: Contemporary Asian Australian Poets
Adam Aitken was born in London in 1960, to an Anglo-Australian father and a Thai mother. He spent some of his childhood with relatives in Thailand, and was educated at a convent in Malaysia, before coming to Australia in 1968. Adam was Associate Poetry Editor for HEAT magazine and has published four poetry collections in Australia.
In 1987, Kim Cheng Boey won the first prize at the National University of Singapore Poetry Competition while studying as an undergraduate. At age 24, he published his first collection of poetry. Somewhere-bound went on to win the National Book Development Councils (NBDCS) Book Award for Poetry in 1992. Two years later, his second volume of poems Another Placereceived the commendation award at the NBDCS Book Awards. In 1995, Days Of No Name, which was inspired by the people whom he met in the United States, was awarded a merit at the Singapore Literature Prize. In recognition of his artistic talent and contributions, Boey received the National Arts Council’s Young Artist Award in 1996. After a long hiatus, Boey returned with his fourth volume of poetry in 2006. After the Firedeals primarily with the passing of his father in 2000. Boey’s works have also appeared in anthologies like From Boys to Men: A Literary Anthology of National Service in Singapore, Rhythms: A Singaporean Millennial Anthology of Poetry and No Other City: The Ethos Anthology of Urban Poetry.
Michelle Cahill is a Goan-Anglo-Indian writer who lives in Sydney. She writes poetry, fiction and essays. Her second collection Vishvarūpa was shortlisted in the Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards. She received the Val Vallis Award and was highly commended in the Blake Poetry Prize.
Her poems are anthologised in 30 Australian Poets, ed. Felicity Plunkett (UQP) the HarperCollins Anthology of Modern English Poetry ed. Sudeep Sen, Contemporary Australian Poets (Turnrow) ed. John Kinsella and The Yellow Nib Anthology of Modern English Poetry by Indians (QUP, Belfast) ed. Sudeep Sen and Ciaran Carson. She was a fellow at Hawthornden Castle and Sanskriti Kendra International Retreat.
From 2013 Cahill will be the CAL/UOW International Writing Fellow at Kingston University, London.