Meuse Press

Last updated

Meuse Press is an Australian Press, publishing a range of "poetry outreach" projects in a number of media ranging from a literary magazine to poetry published on the surface of a river. It was founded by Bill Farrow and Les Wicks. It is mostly edited/curated by the poet Les Wicks, but others in editorial roles have included Bill Farrow, Geoff Aldridge, Grant Caldwell, Deidre Kelsall, Carol Chandler, Marvis Sofield, Barbara De Franceschi, and Susan Adams.

Contents

Initially, it was an occasional magazine and an insert into other publications and anthologies. The first issue was in 1976. Publication of most of Australia's leading poets of the time was accompanied by graphics, and the magazine was a market leader in merging these two art forms.

History

From 1992 to 1999, Meuse published Artransit, which put poetry/art collaborations on Newcastle and Sydney buses and ferries. This collection has been exhibited in London, New York, St Louis, Sydney (multiple times), Maroochydore, and Brisbane. Historian Robert Holden has said "They engage a truly democratic audience. They impose themselves into locations usually reserved for advertising and mass consumption. They are immediate in their effect, and in the final analysis contribute to the vitalism of a public space. It was described as "...a singular surprise and delight..." by Robert Holden. [1]

In 2002, in conjunction with Don Gunn produced Heritage Light with Parramatta City Council. This series of banners, soundscapes, and projected poetry sought to reconnect citizens with their city at night whilst simultaneously celebrating heritage Week. A key part was the publishing of a poem on the surface of the Parramatta River so that it appeared to float downstream. This was widely regarded as a world first.

In 1998–2003, Written in Sand was displayed in bus shelters across Waverley with council support. This was a project designed to capture a picture of the area – its people, landscapes, and history – through poetry. In 2009, the launch of the e-anthology "Guide to Sydney Beaches" aimed at an audience new to poetry. In 2010, from this Broken Hill, [2] there was a celebration of the famous outback city. In 2011, "AU/UA Contemporary Poetry of Ukraine & Australia" was produced in cooperation with Krok Press – a first attempt to explore both nations' poetries in both languages. It was edited by Les Wicks, Yury Zavadsky and Grigory Semenchuk. [3]

"Guide to Sydney Rivers" was released in 2015 as a companion volume to the earlier beaches project and is aimed at an audience beyond the usual poetry readership. [4] A third installment "Guide to Sydney Crime" *SydneyCrime.pdf was published in 2022.

Since April 2000, Meuse has produced Australian Poetry Collaboration. This online ezine publishes poetry arising from events like festivals, workshops, and tours within Australia (though one issue celebrated the Festival Internacional de la Poesie).

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Homebush Bay</span> Suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

Homebush Bay is a bay on the south bank of the Parramatta River, in the west of Sydney, Australia. The name is also sometimes used to refer to an area to the west and south of the bay itself, which was formerly an official suburb of Sydney, and has now become the suburbs of Sydney Olympic Park, Wentworth Point and part of the neighbouring suburb of Lidcombe, all part of the City of Parramatta. Homebush Bay is located 13 kilometres (8.1 mi) west of the Sydney central business district.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Palm Beach, New South Wales</span> Suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

Palm Beach is a suburb in the Northern Beaches region of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Palm Beach is located 41 kilometres (25 mi) north of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of Northern Beaches Council. Palm Beach sits on a peninsula at the end of Barrenjoey Road, between Pittwater and Broken Bay. The population of Palm Beach was 1,593 as at the 2016 census.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Narrabeen</span> Suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

Narrabeen is a beachside suburb in northern Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Narrabeen is 23 kilometres north-east of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of Northern Beaches Council and is part of the Northern Beaches region. This area was named Broken Bay by James Cook as he sailed by.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brighton-Le-Sands, New South Wales</span> Suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

Brighton Le Sands, is a suburb in southern Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Brighton Le Sands is located 13 kilometres south of the Sydney central business district, on the western shore of Botany Bay. Brighton Le Sands is in the local government area of the Bayside Council and is part of the St George area.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Parramatta Road</span> Road in Sydney, Australia

Parramatta Road is the major historical east-west artery of metropolitan Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, connecting the Sydney CBD with Parramatta. It is the easternmost part of the Great Western Highway. Since the 1990s its role has been augmented by the City West Link and M4 Motorway.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kenneth Slessor</span> Australian poet and journalist

Kenneth Adolphe Slessor was an Australian poet, journalist and official war correspondent in World War II. He was one of Australia's leading poets, notable particularly for the absorption of modernist influences into Australian poetry. The Kenneth Slessor Prize for Poetry is named after him.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bob Holman</span> American poet and poetry activist

Bob Holman is an American poet and poetry activist, most closely identified with the oral tradition, the spoken word, and poetry slam. As a promoter of poetry in many media, Holman has spent the last four decades working variously as an author, editor, publisher, performer, emcee of live events, director of theatrical productions, producer of films and television programs, record label executive, university professor, and archivist. He was described by Henry Louis Gates Jr. in The New Yorker as "the postmodern promoter who has done more to bring poetry to cafes and bars than anyone since Ferlinghetti."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pittwater</span> Estuary in Sydney, Australia

Pittwater is a semi-mature tide dominated drowned valley estuary, located about 40 kilometres (25 mi) north of the Sydney central business district, New South Wales, Australia; being one of the bodies of water that separate greater Metropolitan Sydney from the Central Coast.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Les Murray (poet)</span> Australian poet and critic (1938-2019)

Leslie Allan Murray was an Australian poet, anthologist, and critic. His career spanned over 40 years and he published nearly 30 volumes of poetry as well as two verse novels and collections of his prose writings.

Anne Kellas is an Australian poet, reviewer and editor, who was born in South Africa and emigrated to Australia in 1986.

Les Wicks is an Australian poet, publisher and editor. He has published more than fifteen books of poetry.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Geography of Sydney</span> Overview of the geography of Sydney

The geography of Sydney is characterised by its coastal location on a basin bordered by the Pacific Ocean to the east, the Blue Mountains to the west, the Hawkesbury River to the north and the Woronora Plateau to the south. Sydney lies on a submergent coastline on the east coast of New South Wales, where the ocean level has risen to flood deep river valleys (rias) carved in the Sydney sandstone. Port Jackson, better known as Sydney Harbour, is one such ria.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rob Hood</span> Australian writer

Robert Maxwell Hood is an Australian writer and editor recognised as one of Australia's leading horror writers, although his work frequently crosses genre boundaries into science fiction, fantasy and crime.

Nationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature.

Performance poetry is poetry that is specifically composed for or during a performance before an audience. During the 1980s, the term came into popular usage to describe poetry written or composed for performance rather than print distribution, mostly open to improvisation. From that time performance poetry in Australia has found new venues, audiences and expressions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anna Couani</span> Contemporary Australian poet and educator

Anna Couani is a contemporary Australian poet and visual artist.

Australian Poetry is a national not-for-profit organisation representing Australian poets, based at The Wheeler Centre in Melbourne. The organisation was created in 2011 by the amalgamation of Poets Union Inc., based in New South Wales, and the Australian Poetry Centre Inc. of Victoria.

Robbie Coburn is an Australian poet.

'Catherine Cole is an Australian author and academic. She lives between Australia, South West France and the UK Cole's work in the fields of fiction, poetry, non-fiction and academic writing has been widely published both in Australia in the UK, US, China and Vietnam. Her writing has won, been shortlisted or commended in a range of awards including The Munster Poetry Prize; The Elizabeth Jolley Short Story Prize; Davitt Award for Australian Crime Writing; The Ned Kelly Award; The Peter Blazey Prize for Non-Fiction Manuscript; and The Asher Award Melbourne University 2005 award. Cole also has judged some of Australia's leading writing prizes including the Age Book of the Year; The Barbara Jefferis Award; and The National Jazz Writing Competition.

Stephen Kenneth Kelen, known as S. K. Kelen, is an Australian poet and educator. S. K. Kelen began publishing poetry in 1973, when he won a Poetry Australia contest for young poets and several of his poems were published in that journal.

References

  1. Access – State Library of Queensland – Spring 2004 p3
  2. "from this Broken Hill".
  3. AUUA site
  4. Guide to Sydney Rivers site