Puncher Wattmann: 7 books

will benefit it is attentive and brilliant readers, of whom John Leonard is without doubt one of its finest. - Martin Harrison Australian poetry from a 21st century perspective, with a selection from a wide range of living poets as well as familiar voices from the past. There is an emphasis on social...

Follow the adventures of Mr Farmhand as he negotiates a rural existence in New Jersey, staving off the attentions of Mavis Eggwhistle, staying one step ahead of Frank Winkler and steering clear of Farmer Bart Brassica's pitchfork. His is a world full of unexpected dangers, from the odd satirical skirmish...

Waiting is a story of two odd couples in prose as marvellously idiosyncratic as its characters. Big is a hefty cross-dresser and Little is little. Both are long used to the routines of boarding house life in the inner suburbs of Melbourne, but Little, with the prospect of an inheritance, is...

Don't be deceived by this tardis of a book, its three small monologues contain multitudes. Through the gently detailed lives of its subjects whole civilisations emerge: the fifteenth-century India of the dying and illiterate poet, Kabir; the Stalinist Russia of Chekhov's younger sister, Maria; and...

When I listen to Bach, I seem to turn into a fish'. - Bach (Pau) in Love. 'We forget because we want to live. We forget because we live in hope for a better life. It's this wretched hope that demands that we forget the unforgettable'. - The Last Smile of Graf Tolstoy. These stories explore...

The quality of Australian poetry has never been higher, nor the number of distinctive voices greater. A landmark publication, this collection presents the astonishing achievements of Australian poetry during the last quarter of a century. Over ten years in preparation, gathering over 200 poets and...

Monasteries and gaols: David Foster reflects that during the course of his life the monasteries have emptied while the gaols are doing nicely. Set in Goulburn and its surrounds, where Foster resides, The Contemptuary is a lament for a dying faith, a commentary on prison life and, perhaps unexpectedly...