It's deeper than it's wide, is one way of looking at it, with, in many cases, more than the 'one anthology poem', and there are some longer poems and sequences. That is, not quite as bitsy as a lot of anthologies can be.

I agree, Andrew, the intro is a bit odd, whereas the intros to the various sections of the JK Penguin anthology were actually useful and, indeed, I used them for teaching purposes a few years ago. And, yes, there are the obvious two omissions and/or refusals - who knows?

I was approached by JK many years ago, when I was still living in Sydney, say, around 2007-ish, so my poems in it aren't that new (nonetheless one of them is in my latest book) and they mucked up the spacing in one of them, despite me asking them to correct it. But once JK did his commissioning, the US editor took over the process, in my case at least. I always understood, and others similarly contacted around that time, it was JK's baby from the beginning alongside the American guy. But maybe that's not right, given what you've said below.

I had been contemplating using it for teaching but its availability, and cost, may mitigate against that. I currently use the anthology Michael F and I edited as it's the only one with a broad selection of contemporary Aus poems, until this one. I did use the JK Penguin in another course but, for my specific purposes, it was too 19th and early 20th century and not enough contemporary, and very little 21st century. My classes have no problem with Out of the Box being all gay and lesbian poets, as the poems aren't simply focused on sexuality, coming out, etc. It's a good range of mostly 21st century Aus poetry, lyric, narrative, 'experimental', and they seem to like that, and read widely within it for their essays and exercises.

We have needed a decent contemporary AusPo anthology for a long time so, yes, I am contemplating this book from that angle, but the logistics may not work. It would be good if one was in the works somewhere across the wide Aus land (so it might be a touch cheaper and easier to ship in bulk) - one that was more multi-layered and generous than some of the other current 'historical' anthologies which have selections of contemporary, by-and-large pretty mainstream works within. I have heard the odd murmuring from the east coast, but I'm not holding my breath.

In sum, the turnrow is worth a squizz, imho.

Cheers,
Jill




On 09/03/2015, at 11:24 AM, Andrew Burke wrote:

> Well, it is a collection of samplings from various Oz poets more than a
> thorough anthology.  I was contacted some years ago by the other editors -
> JK seems to have been a late inclusion, with his own more contemporary
> choices showing up. His intro is not instructive and speaks more of who is
> not here when you read between the lines. But it is a multi layered
> selection and interesting for all that.
> 
> I put the advertisement up here because JK is the originator of this list
> many years ago from Cambridge uni, and because I'm included, in only 2
> poems - but there, none the less :-)
> 
> Andrew
> 
> On 9 March 2015 at 10:37, Max Richards <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> 
>> sounds totally unlike his previous, Penguin anthology...
>> 
>> Andrew, I find one review online - in Cordite - does Hetherington get it
>> right, I wonder?
>> 
>> Max in Seattle
>> 
>> http://cordite.org.au/reviews/hetherington-kinsella/3/
>> 
>> Paul Hetherington Reviews The Turnrow Anthology of Contemporary Australian
>> Poetry
>> 1 November 2014
>> 
>> On Mar 7, 2015, at 22:36, Andrew Burke <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>> 
>>> *The turnrow Anthology of Contemporary Australian Poetry*, edited by John
>>> Kinsella, features the work of 123 poets. The 600 page anthology is both
>>> inclusive and diverse, representative of both the major award winning
>> poets
>>> of the country and its younger poets who have published only one or two
>>> books of poetry. Readers will recognize a variety of styles and attitudes
>>> in the collection; they will find poems which might be labeled as
>>> formalist, innovative, confessional, political, pastoral, lyrical,
>>> narrative, and those poems which reflect a "new hybridization and
>>> hybridity" of these styles.
>>> 
>>> --
>>> 
>>> You will know a number of the poets from these pages; you will meet other
>>> poets from various schools of poetics; you will delight in the variety,
>> the
>>> depth of Contemporary Australian Poetry ...
>>> 
>>> Available at amazon $26.38
>>> 
>>> 
>>> Andrew
>>> http://hispirits.blogspot.com/
>>> 'Undercover of Lightness'
>>> http://walleahpress.com.au/recent-publications.html
>>> 'Shikibu Shuffle'
>>> 
>> http://abovegroundpress.blogspot.com.au/2012/03/new-from-aboveground-press-shikibu.html
>> 
> 
> 
> 
> -- 
> Andrew
> http://hispirits.blogspot.com/
> 'Undercover of Lightness'
> http://walleahpress.com.au/recent-publications.html
> 'Shikibu Shuffle'
> http://abovegroundpress.blogspot.com.au/2012/03/new-from-aboveground-press-shikibu.html