Winner,
IP Picks 2007, Best Creative Non-Fiction. This inspiring travel memoir is about a man learning to open up to the new culture around him, letting in freedom and happiness. Written in an honest and natural voice Chris skillfully balances keen observations on Ireland, as well as historical and cultural details, with a good dose of humour.
Winner
IP Picks 2005 Best Non-Fiction. ‘ A
wonderful story of ordinary people made extraordinary through events
not of their own making, coping with a much loved but always difficult
child, and with an unheeding and incredibly unhelpful bureaucratic system.’ – Sharyn
Pearce, QUT. Endorsed by SANE, Australia.
“Alive
with wisecracks, broad jokes, puns, (‘making his bed out of procrustination’)
as it moves through rhetorical high and low styles to portray mood
swings between ‘negative optimism’ and cheerful melancholic
openness to life.” – Michael Sharkey
Kearney
lays just claim to being a Master of Limericks, Master of Obfuscation (Oxbridge),
Fellow of the Royal Society of Limerickers, Honorary Fellow of the Ancient
and Royal Society of Obfuscators in delivering limericks and satires that
are an antidote to a world that takes itself far too seriously.
37
year-old Claire is hitting her stride as a woman behaving badly. Merle
Thornton’s novel is an exhilarating trip through a feisty woman’s
escapades in the course of a turbulent life. “Stylishly written,
clever and funny.” — Dan O’Neill
The
essential reference and research guide for professional and amateur growers
of orchids. Over 100 pages of interactive text and 750 colour images
about orchid genera worldwide.
Phil
Brown brings a sharp journalistic eye to subjects ranging from his childhood
in Hong Kong to Brisbane. Streetwise and accessible, these are poems confronting
everyday experience with insight and enticing wit. “An idiosyncratic
and engaging collection of poems that is fresh and wonderfully liberating.”
— Ross Fitzgerald
Gauguin
and van Gogh reflect on their stormy relationship at Arles, which may
have contributed to Vincent's suicide. A multimedia production based
on the sell-out Brisbane live performance.
Winner,
IP Picks 2004, Best Fiction. “This is the rubble of suburbia,
an Australia we are too smug to acknowledge, too scared to enter. Joel
Deane has written a dark and moving novel
about families on the margins.” — George
Megalogenis
Rowbotham
has continued to write 60 years on, in a confident and lucid voice that
transcends single continents and cultures. This book is certain to earn
him that elusive literary Oscar. “Should
be nominated for a Patrick White Prize.”
— David
Gilbey
Pumping life, the teenagers in this novel jump off the page. From the intelligent but physically abused Gray Morrow, to his heroic but temperamental older brother, Gordon, and his tragic relationship with the city-wise but sexually abused Dusty Jones, this is a world many of us fail to recognise as very much our own.
Almost
in the same breath, poet Liam Ferney tackles the legend of Babe Ruth,
the neon jungle of Surfer's Paradise, and the pathos of Monet.
Winner,
IP Picks 2005, Best Fiction. “When an author unleashes an imaginative concept
into reality trans-global adventures conspire, best friends turn detective,
and lovers’ trails unfurl. Will dazzle the adventure-minded and armchair
travellers alike.” — IP Picks 2005 Judges’ Report
The Best of IP 10th Anniversary Celebration CD, with nearly
400 pages of fiction, poetry, multimedia, podcasts, even a movie trailer
from some of the finest authors working in Australia today.
Winner,
IP Picks 2002, Best Poetry by a Queensland Author. “Brett Dionysius
has chronicled urban and rural life, aligning myth and truth with an uncompromising
lyrical seriousness.” — Anthony Lawrence
Jon,
like many young boys, is fascinated by guns. He finds a loaded pistol hidden
under
his parents’ bed, with nearly tragic consequences. The close call
prompts his father to explain to Jon why he needs to keep the gun, forging
a much closer bond between father and son.
Winner,
IP Picks 2007, Best Fiction. Sylvia Petter’s collection flings the reader across the globe in its bold exploration of love, death, passion, relationship, and family. Echoing her own life experience, Sylvia Petter’s award-winning stories explore universal themes through lenses of distance and separation.
'Secret
Writing, Michael O'Sullivan's third novel, achieves
something quite rare in Australian fiction. It ventures into Patrick White's
territory, into that
strange, visionary 'country of the mind' that White made his own - and survives.' — John
Clanchy
The
third CD from the star of the Tamworth Music Festival’s annual Sex,
Lies and Bush Poetry event. “Whoever
it was who coined the term ‘A Knockabout Bloke’ may well have
had Jack Drake in mind.” — Bruce Simpson
A
Buddhist monk, Sera goes on a political and philosophical journey of discovery
that moves us beyond inertia and impotence to a state in which we can act
to make our neighbourhood and the world a better place.
Bronco Harry’s Last Ride,
Jack Drake, IPS, 2005. Audio CD: ISBN 0957847750, $25. iTunes Store samples
Commended,
Best Poetry, IP Picks 2003. Jenni Nixon’s
book is a journey of salvage through some hard lessons and difficult times,
told in a way that is atmospheric and immediate, often with a wry twist.
— Jill
Jones
A
murder mystery in multimedia! David P Reiter’s second work of literary
multimedia begins as a short novel set in Far North Queensland, but your
imagination takes you far beyond the immediate page, with links to other
works and surprising places.
Sharpened Knife, David
P Reiter, IPD, 2002. Interactive (Win/Mac) CD-ROM: ISBN
1876819553 $27.50.
“These are poems that engage the senses, challenge the intellect, and
fire the imagination. They explore the mystery of what we are and our perpetual
quest for communion.”
— Alex Skovron
Winner,
IP Picks 2004, Best Poetry.
“With
great sensitivity and compassion Nora Krouk faces and speaks of the
personal demons of her
Russian-Jewish background.” — Peter
Boyle
A
skillful blend of Celtic harp, guitar, bass, mandolin, tenor harp, banjo and
vocals by Alan S. Ferguson, who breathed Celtic air and music from his youth
in Scotland, who now plays in bands in Western Australia, where the meeting
of cultural traditions continues.
Commended,
IP Picks 2007, Best Poetry.
Judge takes the reader through a whirlwind of contradictions and chaos, and then suddenly slows to embrace life’s quieter moments. The effect is powerful, chilling and unforgettable.
“A
wild ride of angels, monsters, slapstick and pop. In this not so divine comedy
actress Isabella Rosselini becomes Leggett’s post-modern Beatrice. A
book that begins and ends with angels and recalls the spirit of Yeats’ Crazy
Jane.”
– Craig Powell.
Highly Commended,
IP Picks 2007, Best Poetry. Kathy Kituai’s tanka journal steers the reader through joyful and sorrowful meditations on her life between two winters.The journal that emerges is drenched in a deep love of nature, and imbued with a searching, insightful sense of the human condition.
Winner,
IP Picks 2005, Best Poetry.
'Deane combines his storytelling skills with a
natural instinct for the rhythms, rhymes and finely tunred lines of poetry.
The poetry is natural, fluid and accessible but there is emotional complexity
and a beating heart.' — IP Picks 2005 Judges' report.
A long-awaited collection from the much-admired editor of the FourW anthologies, Death and the Motorway traverses intimate and intellectual ground here and abroad with surety and insight.
David Gilbey's poetry mines a rich seam of wit—something increasingly rare in Australian verse.
Two steamy collections from Queensland’s tropical
coast: Louise Waller’s Slipway and Kristin Hannaford’s Inhale.
“Their poetry shares a similar celebration of love and family, as
well as in detailed description and the joys of being immersed in nature.”
— Gig
Ryan.
Dinkum
performance verse from a country Queensland legend. “Whoever
it was who coined the term ‘A Knockabout Bloke’ may well have
had Jack Drake in mind.” — Bruce Simpson
Dinkum Poetry, Jack Drake,
IPS, 2002. Audio CD:
ISBN 0957847726, $25
Jocelyn
is a poet’s poet – a true singer steeped in mysticism and literature.
In creative abandonment she lives in the language that grows in silence
and she also knows the Dark Night.
— Margaret Diesendorf
The
story of a seminal conflict between the forest industry and the conservation
movement. “Terania Creek: Rainforest Wars strikes a brilliant balance between artful
story telling and objectively woven historical fact.”
— Lauren
Daniels
In Easter at Tobruk Christianity and
war collide in an Australian context. An enticing work peppered with a
glistening sense of magic realism, O’Sullivan’s novel paints
lush, dimensional scenes with literary brushstrokes.
A non-stop
collection of “fiction
schmiction” from Tasmania. “She
brings together wittily observed reality and her own brand of magic to
deliver some revelatory accounts of life beyond the comfort zone.”
— Margaret
Scott
Winner of the 2002 IP Picks Award
for Best Fiction.
In her award-winning debut, Sally Finn is concerned
with the big picture beyond the constructs of plot and character. “Raw,
vital
and
refreshingly
unsentimental.
Welcome to a fiercely independent voice on the literary scene.”
— Robert
Drewe
Winner,
IP Picks 2006, Best First Book. “Elegant
meditations on freedom and entrapment, desire and restriction. They canvass
a broad geographical, intellectual and emotional range, and are memorable
for their resonant combinations of words.”— Michael Sharkey
This
is writing that celebrates the art in science and the science in art. Frankenstein's
bathtub will give you 'at last a word / for the thing [you] could
never name.’ “[Her] poems show us new ways of seeing ourselves
and the world.”
— Deb Westbury
Winner
of the Queensland Premier's Poetry Award. “Reiter's
line is smoothly flowing... [his] attitude is of confident external observation...[his]
voice is youthful and excited about the world.” — Ken Goodwin,
Australian Book Review.
The Cave After Saltwater Tide,
David P Reiter. Penguin, 1994. Sold out, but a sizeable selection is now
available in Kiss and
Tell.
Winner, Anne Elder Award; and Somerset Poetry Prize; Highly Commended, IP Picks Best Poetry, 2006. Resonant
and delicate, this
is a collection that investigates the human experience, parting the veil
of the mundane to reveal passion, beauty, myth and mystery.
Performance poetry with a bite from
the Bush Poet of the Year 2001! His
love of words and verse started when his father gave him a copy of Banjo
Patterson’s verses when he was 10 years old.
In the sequel to The Greenhouse Effect, Tiger the Cat heads off to the coast with his friend Wanda the Blue-tongue and the frog Tark (who is really an extraterrestrial from the Planet Griffon) to spread the word about how to save the Earth.
An
in-depth exposé of the Ultra Right in Australia during World War
II, and how their nationalism degenerated into support for German fascism
and Japan as well as rabid anti-Semitism. “A valuable reference to anyone
working on the Australian Right in the 1930s and 1940s and on issues
relating to detention and internment today.” — Dr Andrew Bonnell, Univ of Qld
Harmonic brings together the strengths of Oliver’s poetic; clarity of thought, compressed, highly original imagery, and rhythmic expression.
In this book, Oliver displays a depth of thought, and a range of perception rarely found in contemporary Australasian poetry.
Highly Commended,
IP Picks 2007, Best Fiction. Buggerum is the sort of country town everyone drives past without seeing, and that’s exactly how the locals like it. This is a subtle and compelling satiric novel that looks closely into the heart of all Australian towns.
Harmonic, Stephen Oliver, IP, 2008.PB:ISBN 9781876819743 $24.
Shortlisted, Adelaide Festival Literary Awards. “The poems stitch you into a tapestry...with loose threads left hanging
just to trip you up if you become complacent.” — Bev Braune, Australian
Book Review.
This
lively collection of historical, modern and fantasy stories is a cross
between Henry Lawson, Ben Elton and Fay Weldon, taking the reader to
unexpected places.
Hemingway in Spain: poems and images,
David P Reiter, IP, 2nd edition, 2007. ISBN 9781876819828 124pp,
$25.
In his first DVD, multi-award winning
author David P Reiter makes a time traveller of the legend. Hemingway’s
on a quest for his arch-enemy Franco, during the Spanish Civil War, but he
also meets up with famous people
from the past and future who have shocking things to say about war, love
and art.
“With
settings ranging from wartime to a women's prison to feral pig territory,
coupled with solid, memorable characters of true depth and desire, these
stories reach out to a wide audience with the grace, wit and wisdom of
an introspective storyteller.” — Lauren Danels, for the judges,
IP Picks 2005
Hemingway in Spain, David P Reiter, IPD, 2006. DVD-R, 125 minutes. ISBN 9781876819866 Available in PAL or NTSC versions (please specify), $40.
Winner,
IP Picks 2006, Best Fiction. “"The
characters of House of Given reveal a story of family as we all
know it to one extent or another, and of life, the fragile kind in which we all,
sooner or later, find ourselves."
— Lauren
Daniels
Mansell
is lively and very much her own poet, at her best when her observations
are sharpest, emotionally
frank and pungent enough to surprise. And that is often. — Philip Salom
House of Given,
Bill Collopy, IP, 2006. PB:ISBN 9781876819378
292 pp., $30.
The
author uncovers the reasons why her great-grandfather survived the Holocaust
when so many in his family perished. “She has provided a rich tapestry — through
narrative, visual images and sound — of Jewish life in that period.
— Suzanne
Rutland
Reiter
completed this work while in residence at the prestigious Banff Centre
for the Arts. An adaptation of his poetry collection, Letters
We Never Sent, it's
a ground-breaking work of interactive, literary multimedia that will
shed new light on the possibilities for poetry.
If These Walls Could Talk... Genevieve Cumming-Jaffé, IPD. Interactive (Win/Mac) CD-ROM:ISBN
1876819626 $27.50.
Winner,
IP Picks 2003, Best Poetry. “Rich
with a sensuality and love of language that invests both myth and the modern
day with vibrancy and beauty.” — Peter McFarlane
When
Tiger the cat moves to Canberra with his owner, he befriends a local,
Wanda the blue-tongued lizard,
who is suspicious of introduced species. A delightful children's novel
with an environmental conscience!
Winner,
IP Picks 2006, Best Poetry.“Whether addressing issues
such as racism, homophobia and terrorism, or turning a wickedly
scathing eye on the failings of writers and other misfits, Paul
Dawson’s poems are angry and unforgettable.” — from
the Judges’ Report,
IP Picks 2006
The definitive guide to creating a safe, healthy and environmentally friendly home. The Healthy House shows that you can put a stop to pollution in your own surroundings, whether you are building a new house, renovating an existing building, or renting.
The Healthy House, Sydney and Joan Baggs, IPD, 2nd edition, 2005. DVD, ISBN 9781876819811 $49.50.
A
stunning biography set on the Great Barrier Reef. “Veron
reveals the heart and soul of a person whose profound love of Nature touched
all
who
knew her.” — Isobel Bennett, author of The
Great Barrier Reef
An
intriguing true story of the role Australia and its intelligence agencies
played during the Pacific campaign
of World War II. With endnotes, bibliography and index.
Highly Commended in the IP Picks Awards for Best Creative Non-fiction, this is an intimate portrait of an individual and a family that recreates the experience of so many people who grapple with a new culture and language, never quite escaping their urge to return to “where they belong”.
Brings together two peculiar people, an absurd
situation and a harsh examination of romantic love. Throw it all in the
interactive blender and the result is a multilinear, hypertext romance.
Choose your own path through the story to the final decision point, which
will have you re-examining your own choices in life and love.
Mitchell
uses his formidable reading skills so that the listener is thirsting for
what comes next. Buttler employs music styles at times so familiar to us
they act as another image in the poem. — Garth
Madsen
Commended,
IP Picks 2006, Best Poetry. “This
is a world wonderfully changed by Huisman’s
fine observation, playful intelligence and true feeling. Her poetry gives
us what we need: it helps us recognise ourselves even as it constantly
surprises us. A pleasure to read—and read again.” — Noel Rowe
Jumbuktu, Paul Mitchell and
Bill Buttler, IPS, 2005. Spoken Word / Music CD: ISBN 9781876819873 $25. iTunes Store samples
Stephen Oliver’s voice resonates with strength and passion. With the highly original music of Matt Ottley this CD transports us across soundscapes of harmony and disharmony, life and death, peace and violence.
The Umbilical Word is a contemporary novel about chasing dreams, confronting loss and discovering what’s important in life. A mustread for every parent and parent-to-be.
A fresh story full of warmth and humour, The Umbilical Word
will charm its way into your heart.
– Rebecca Sparrow
King Hit,Stephen Oliver (words), Matt Ottley (music), IPD, 2007.Audio + textCD-ROM/CD:ISBN 9781876819705 $25.Music Is Here samples
Much
awaited Selected and New from one of Australia’s most exciting and
innovative authors. His imagination resists
cultural razor wire by composing without a passport, accepting no subject
as off-limits. And this multi-award winning author more often sets the
trends these days rather than following them.
“These are poems that go beyond the limits
of words. By wrestling with the poems in 3rd i, by engaging with them,
the world is more intensely lived. This guy is offering us everything.
This is heroic poetry.”
— John Marsden
A
satiric novel from multi-award winner David P Reiter. “We
have women afraid to be women, and men afraid to be men. In the midst
of all this, children happen, and the noose tightens. The only way to
stay sane is to learn to laugh at the absurdity of trying to make sense
of it all.”
First
Runner-up, 2000 Steele Rudd Award. These are
stories of our time: the loves we dream of as opposed to the relationships
that define us. Exploring passion in its many twists and turns, Reiter shows
a gift for satire that is rare in an age that takes itself too seriously.
“In this novel about the shadow cast by unrecognised creativity and
frustrated sexuality, Margaret Metz offers riveting insights into what drives
individuals to violence and drink.” — Sue
Booker
Winner,
IP Picks 2007, Best Poetry. O’Flynn’s poems wander between the urban and the rural, childhood and adulthood, the mundane and the bizarre, holding up shards of memory to the light for inspection. Intelligent, searching, poignant, and frank, these poems make for compelling reading.
The
fourth collection by one of Queensland’s most respected poets. “There is real pleasure
here — these poems enjoy life but are astute to
its play of meanings. The poems grow on you...in their
surprising textual metaphysics.” — Philip
Salom
Winner,
IP Picks 2007, Best First Book. The act of painting takes on metaphorical significance as Dean navigates themes of creation and documentation of life through art. What emerges is a sensuously layered and intriguing meditation on the past that offers a sense of connectedness and hope for the future.
Winner,
IP Picks 2003, Best Poetry. “If poems
were nails I would want Paul Mitchell to build my house. His poems are straight,
simple in design, gleaming with insight — and they’re sharp.” — Kevin
Brophy
