This particular group of friends included Heather Clarke, Steve Grimwade, Kathryn Hamman, Jennifer Harrison, Libby Hart, Kris Hemensley, Ray Liversidge. There were several apologies; in addition as many other people prefer to be in email contact. My report is going out to this variety of friends of Collected Works Bookshop. In addition it will be posted on the Collected Works Bookshop Facebook Page and my Poetry & Ideas blog. (Touch all bases!) Please feel free to send it on.
The non-exclusive nature of this group was reiterated. We consider you all good friends of Collected Works Bookshop. Long may this remain!
Lots of water under the bridge since the initial rallying to the cause in October, November, December '10.
For one thing, John Hunter's creation of the Collected Works Bookshop Facebook Page has proved an invaluable means of communication, especially for publicising the book launches & readings at the Shop. It's also a reflection of the Shop's tone & colour. Readers, writers interacting with the Shop around events, books & ideas.
And the huge success of the pre-Christmas shopping/raffle/auction/benefit (8th December, '10) is still resonating; e.g., although there wasnt & isnt a debt involved, the sum raised on that glorious night allowed us to begin the new year in a better financial position than for some while past.
The higher rent has now kicked in, so whilst the very necessary restocking of the shelves continues we are keeping an eye on the higher outgoings.
The 8th December event reminded us that in the '80s & '90s, Collected Works Bookshop used to hold a Christmas Party. In recent times we have served Xmas Cake (Sheila Anderson's to begin with, Clementa O'Brien's more recently) & Port in the last couple of weeks of December; but we feel an actual event should return to our calendar! This is an 'action' for which we're all enthusiastic & will now begin to plan it.
An idea fielded at the initial Friends meeting, at Jenny Harrison's house on the 21st November, '10, was that of a "Big Read". Philip Salom & Jenny were its proponents, endorsed by the rest of us. Since then, Ian McBryde has made the same suggestion. We well remember the event organized by Ian & Ken Smeaton, summer 2003, which celebrated the Shop's successful move from 256 Flinders Street to the Nicholas Building. (It was one of two important community initiatives : the other being the very deep hat Barry Hill sent around to colleagues which was to offset the Shop's removal costs. And how! Barry's original petition graces the Shop notice-board.) At the big read ('read a poem, buy a book') a multitude of poets, across the poetry community, read for their supper, everyone bought a book, & the Shop catered. It was a great event and might yet be a model again. (Photos of many of the contributors to the event are permanently on view in the Shop.)
The thinking behind holding such an event acknowledges the ever vulnerable economic reality of such an enterprise as Collected Works Bookshop. It also offers a very simple remedy. As Steve Grimwade reasoned, the $$ figures we're talking about are relatively small. We trust to the average cash-flow continuing, but the injection of a few thousand dollars (via one or two events a year) goes a long way to ensuring the Shop's viability. Naturally we're all aware of the Borders/A & R crash & its reverberations.
At yesterday's (19th March) meeting I was at pains to define & re-present our project. The point about Collected Works is that it isnt just another bookshop (although at a rude survival level it is)!
Collected Works Bookshop survives & thrives today as the expression of an idea articulated in the early 1980s, by a group of Melbourne writers, editors & small publishers, on behalf of & enrolling the support of the writing community, to establish a bookshop which would stock local Melbourne & Australian literature (especially poetry) in a context of world literature. Kathryn Hamman & Libby Hart's specific reference to the current bookshop as reflective of (the) community & important to it, is gratifyingly consonant with Collected Works' original impetus.
It has always been a writers & readers interjection into the mainstream book trade. The Shop, therefore, is the space where these particular interactions occur : writers with each other (for information & exchange), writers with readers, the small press with the commercial mainstream, local literature with the world.
Collected Works is a special place. Steve asked me what it was Collected Works sought from its organizational colleagues (as it were). Fair question : it's common knowledge now that we were graciously & generously invited to consider relocating to the Wheeler Centre, but declined. Independence is an issue for Collected Works notwithstanding the fact that all of the Wheeler Centre's residents are independent. For Collected Works, though, a geographical independence is necessary. As supportive as we are of the Centre for Books & Writing, & for that matter, of the City of Literature, Collected Works believes in locational & logistical diversity. Collected Works is its own eccentric self but also a friend, even a potential satellite of & for larger entities like the Victorian Writes Centre, Australian Poetry, Wheeler, MWF et al.
So what we seek is support for the continuing existence of the bookshop assuming the acknowledgment of our historical status & continuing value as a writers' & readers' space. Although it's a fact that Collected Works is mentioned in the UNESCO City of Literature document & referred to in accounts of the contemporary Australian poetry scene, history is often dismissed or forgotten. Believing we're still relevant in this day & age, we'll endeavour to keep Collected Works in mind & in view!
The Shop hasnt had as busy a calendar of launchings & readings for many years as now. Some of this is the result of presses & individuals identifying with the Shop in its hour of need, & some the serendipity of a normal year. There are three events to come in March, more in May, June, July... (In April I plan to visit family & friends in the UK for a couple of weeks; Retta will keep the Shop open.)
The meetings in future will be occur on a needs basis. Obviously, this can be triggered by the Shop or the community. However, email, telephone & personal contact is expected & invited.
Thank you to everyone for your support hitherto & ongoing commitment.
Love & best wishes, on behalf of Collected Works,
Kris Hemensley
Showing posts with label COLLECTED WORKS BOOKSHOP NEWS. Show all posts
Showing posts with label COLLECTED WORKS BOOKSHOP NEWS. Show all posts
Sunday, March 20, 2011
Friday, December 31, 2010
"...AND THE REST IS HISTORY..."
RECENT GOINGS ON AT COLLECTED WORKS BOOKSHOP
On the 31st October I posted the following email on the Overloadnation site:
"My Fellow Australians... We will fight them on the beaches... no, start again! Dear Overload friends, We've had to consider out future in light of the expected rent rise for our bookshop, to take effect 1st January 11... And, though it may be an extension of the same folly which had us open up in the first place, we will continue! The prospect of moving elsewhere was as awful as that of closing! But the price of the new 4 year lease will hurt, unless I can generate more sales and support. The point about the Shop is that though it is a little company, in the market place, it's never been profit oriented. Most of the receipts go into stock. The wages are minimal. Rent and stock are the major outgoings. The purpose of the Shop has always been to support writing, especially poetry, --Australian Poetry and literature within an international literary context. That's the rationale which makes the bookshop unique (certainly in Australia and New Zealand, possibly further afield). We obviously have sufficient support to be mentioned in the City of Literature document, but for all sorts of reasons support through the bead curtain is less than it might be. The recent rent hike squeezes us even more! The question remains, is there a place for an actual bookshop in this time of online purchasing, the ebook and other new technologies? A rhetorical question for me : the bookshop is a home for readers and writers of poetry and prose, a home for little presses, a venue for launches and readings, as it has been for 25 years or so. In a word, we're there for cultural as well as bookselling reasons. Our acceptance of the new lease will probably be sent this week! It will be a great encouragement to know if you support us! Perhaps a start might be making a new "friends of Collected Works" address list (email), for Melbourne and Australia generally. If you're interested please do write or phone or visit us! Cheers, Kris Hemensley"
The response was immediate & I can now say continuous. Invidious to recall some & not all but as a very partial index of the initial response, simply reading off the names of authors of emails, the list includes Michelle Leber, John Kinsella, Earl Livings, Patricia Sykes, Lyndon Walker, Melissa Watts, Leah Kaminsky, Josephine Rowe, Andrew Lindsay, Chris Grierson, Penny Gibson, Bron Thomasson, Kerryn Tredrea, Joan Kerr, Lyn Chatham, Anthony Lynch, Gregory Day, Ted Reilly, Paul Ashton, Caroline Williamson, Libby Hart, Ray Liversidge, Cyril Wong, Jennifer Harrison, Geelong Writers group, the VWC, Steve Grimwade, Mike Ladd, the APC, Paul Kane, Walter Struve...
Then we come to Facebook... The following is copied from the initial message :
"• Kris Hemensley • Time to grasp the nettle! Will we/wont we stay in business at present address as rent is considerably raised and receipts dwindle? After a week of deliberation & advice from friends we've just about decided to sign up for another 4 years! Any constructive thoughts are welcome! An exquisite moment : status of the book, the bookshop, the booktrade. All up for grabs! • October 29 at 10:35pm · LikeUnlike · Comment · Share
• • Jen Jewel Brown, Jennifer Compton, Nici Lindsay and 2 others like this.
• • Kris Hemensley I might need to sell a couple of valuable things to raise some security kitty! And wd love to know abt the on-line caper. Masterclasses gratefully received! • October 29 at 10:39pm · LikeUnlike
•
• Nicholas Pounder Kris, it is probably folly, but I would do the same if I had your reputation and record. And let's face it, a tradition to defend. • October 29 at 10:44pm · LikeUnlike · 1 personLoading...
• • Pamela Robertson-Pearce Kris I am with you in this. I was so inspired by your place/space that I opened up a bookshop/art gallery upon my return from OZ in the Northeast of the UK and it is not easy. I never thought it would be...however. I have planned more events, serve tea, regular sales...I knew a bookshop alone could not make it here and an art gallery alone could not either so I combined them. I will keep you updated AND I wish you all the best! Diversify is my two cents. • October 29 at 10:45pm · LikeUnlike
• • Kris Hemensley If you cld give me a clue abt the couple of books we discussed before wd be good Nick; and i DIDNT know Pamela abt your enterprise! What's it called ? Open All Hours? It was great having you & neil visit but wdnt have guessed i was sowing seeds! Thanks for morale boost! I guess ive sat on hands a little bit. Time to get up going again. Reinvest the 'business'... etc... • October 29 at 10:52pm · LikeUnlike
• • Pamela Robertson-Pearce Mine is called DJANG the art of life! Djang being an aboriginal word which you probably know already. Open all hours indeed!!! Ha ha almost impossible to do. No I bring work to do so I can use the time better at DJANG when it is slow. I am glad to hear you persevere! You are a beacon Kris! • October 29 at 11:15pm · LikeUnlike
• • John Fox Agree about the record and tradition, but feel v selfish about it; great for the rest of us to have Collected Works still there, but I hope it isn't at the cost of your approaching retirement in penury. • October 29 at 11:37pm · LikeUnlike · 2 peopleLoading...
• • Justin Clemens Yes best bookstore in Australia. • October 30 at 12:46am · LikeUnlike
• • Jennifer Compton i must visit more often and i must buy more often • October 30 at 1:11am · LikeUnlike
• • Cassie Lewis-Getman Thank you for keeping up the wonderful work, Kris, but do take care of yourself too! Online sales seem like a good way to go as a supplement, or even email sales- Ken Bolton sends out an email newsletter of books recently in at the EAF, something like this would be a cheap and immediate way to go. A facebook page talking about the history and purpose of the store is another idea that is low cost. For ideas you could look at the City Lights page see http://www.facebook.com/CityLightsBooks • October 30 at 1:15am · LikeUnlike · 1 personLoading...
• • Kris Hemensley hey justin! good luck for yr crack of dawn seminar tomorrow! Tina alerted me. And youll be pleased to know the college came good with their cheque yday! see you soon, K • October 30 at 1:36am · LikeUnlike
• • Catherine O'Brien • What to say Kris; take the risk and don't count the money each day....remember one time you had a fund raiser reading. Maybe that is a great idea to bring the situation to the attention of those who would support you but don't know. Online ...cannot work for you as you have no computer at the shop so you would be doubling your work by having to transcribe the books at the shop and then spend time at home on the computer. • Funny my 'hardly ever open" i:cat gallery in Vientianne has now more books than art and it is not really a bookshop...i feel like I am an out post of collected works..how to support you from here??????See More • October 30 at 2:30am · LikeUnlike
• • Judith Buckrich I am delighted that you've decided to stay and will make more of an effort to send people your way - maybe PEN can do something with you - I will ask at the next meeting • October 30 at 7:12am · LikeUnlike
• • Kris Hemensley • Thank you cathy and judith --'counting the money...", come on, that's not my style! I think it's the gradual switch to new technology, new cultural orientation etc --The city, the society more in flux now than when we started --But if i can... have a $$safety net then we can still be the meeting place, the news exchange, the infinite forum on poetry and ideas that is really our stock in trade --The equation of altruism & survival, the esoteric & the commercial --as ever! As i sd to Chrissie & Michael a year ago, after Dylan, you can be in our loop if i can be in your loop! So your thought, j, is pertinent... Now let's enjoy the races and the rain!!!See More • October 30 at 9:47am · LikeUnlike
• • Elizabeth Campbell Kris, I know you don't like gimmicks, but have you ever thought of a fundraiser/mailing list campaign like Salt did - buy one book to save the shop. I know so many people who would respond ps will be in today for two books! • October 30 at 9:57am · LikeUnlike · 1 personLoading...
• • David Wheatley I'd support that. Remember Chris Hamilton-Emery's 'just one book' campaign (though why stop at just the one). PS Elizabeth -- I owe you a book! • October 30 at 9:59am · LikeUnlike
• • Susan Fealy Dear Kris • • Four more years of Collected Works would be four more years of soft sunshine for the soul. • • XSusan • October 30 at 10:09am · LikeUnlike
• • Viki Mealings that's terrible that they've hiked up the rent so much • October 30 at 11:23am · LikeUnlike
• • Kris Hemensley Oh dear, what hath thou unleashed upon thy head and those of thine... um... I think it's much more a matter of getting with it in terms of the on-line biz, events, and reminding institutions who're in need of let's say australian poetry (but hey! the world's our oyster) that we can supply! The rent is inevitable, the commercial reality when i look at it calmly... After yday's excellent discussion with Ellen i feel heartened & resolved! Thanks everybody! • October 30 at 11:35am · LikeUnlike
• • Susan Hawthorne The book business is a tricky one right now. Like you Kris we halve trembled on the edge several times. But we're still here and I have some optimism for the future. • October 30 at 12:40pm · LikeUnlike
• • Philip Salom Kris, I have to agree with Elizabeth. There are multitudes of us and if we want you to stay on (and we do) we should (yes, I'm happy with should) do something to contribute. One book each? Easy. Maybe even have annual subscriptions of some sort? Many of us would be in it. • October 30 at 12:44pm · LikeUnlike
• • Elizabeth Gertsakis Hard one Kris; you represent a special place, but also need to take care of yourself. I would support the idea of all supporters/readers coming in to buy a book. Will come in to see you soon. • October 30 at 3:11pm · LikeUnlike
• • Brendan Ryan Kris, • I'd be happy to buy a poetry book as well. Collected Works is a special place. • October 30 at 3:34pm · LikeUnlike
• • Catherine Bateson I really like Philip's idea of an annual subscription - like a poetry club. In knitting circles there are indie spinners and dyers offering three month/six month sock clubs - you sign up and receive fibre/yarn, a sock pattern and often a small treat....fair trade coffee beans, a stitch counter. Six random months of poetry books - sounds great! • October 30 at 4:21pm · LikeUnlike
• • Kris Hemensley Thank you everybody... As it happens, this half day session at the Shop was reasonable what with races and rain... Carol Jenkins was visiting and also people from Perth and the continental perspective/reach of the Shop was so apparent... Interested in Philip's & Batherine B's club suggestion. I can be quite dense abt things so do email me for tips on how this cd work! • October 30 at 6:46pm · LikeUnlike
• • Kris Hemensley Batherine B? who she? I mean catherine Bateson of course! • October 30 at 6:47pm · LikeUnlike • •
Philip Salom Some sub. your customers - call us fans! - are happy to pay out each year. Maybe some discount deal as Catherine suggested, and/or just some 'privilege' from the shop. It can guarantee a sum each year for your budget, but on top of our and everybody else's purchases. We are direct beneficiaries of CW and this shouldn't be at your expense. • October 30 at 7:55pm · LikeUnlike
• • Catherine Bateson • No, I didn't mean at Collected Works expense - you'd sign up for three months - a book a month - what would that be? Average it out at $30.00 a book + postage - say $100.00, or $200.00 for six months and then Kris would choose three or six ...books to send out to the lucky person. These might come with a special subscribers newsletter - maybe with a couple of poetry reviews. It's actually not a discount deal at all - the sock clubs are part of how indie dyers/spinners make an artisan living out of pursuing their craft. The point is really in the element of surprise - you don't know what yarn you'll receive. Ditto with the books. But CW would be guaranteed of how many sales for that period. Naturally, being greedy little consumers we'd want to feel special - hence the newsletter or whatever it was - maybe an exclusive invite to a poetry club party....obviously you'd need to do the figures - and equally obviously this would be evened out - a $20.00 book one month, a $35.00 the next...I have no idea if it would work for books, but I've joined sock clubs! (Oh, and the other thing that the sock clubs often do is work around a theme - which would be possible for poetry, too.See More • October 30 at 8:28pm · LikeUnlike
• • Leah Kaminsky Sign me up for a subscription Kris! I also like the idea of all us poets getting together for a fundraiser for Collected Works, which is truly a Melbourne icon... it could be a HUGE event!! • October 30 at 9:11pm · UnlikeLike · 2 peopleLoading...
• • Sam Byfield I'd be up for a subscription Kris and for attending/participating in a fundraising event- anything to help out. I also wouldn't mind getting occasional emails with updates- recent books, things that have caught your attention, events coming up at the bookstore and poems on the blog- all things i'm interested in (and other people) but don't always have the chance to be as engaged and up to date as i'd like to be. • October 30 at 9:24pm · UnlikeLike · 1 personLoading...
• • Philip Salom Sorry, Catherine, I wasn't suggesting you meant that. Just that _whatever_ scheme comes up should have the balance of expenses in mind. I would be quite happy to pay a sub (with no special return, or maybe just a piss-up and reading get-together!) just to know that CW was safe. • October 30 at 9:51pm · LikeUnlike
• • Tina Giannoukos Any way I can help with will do; the shop is a community: refuge; ideas centre; meeting place; singular in every way yet plural. • October 30 at 11:20pm · UnlikeLike · 1 personLoading...
• • Jen Jewel Brown • dear Kris, you and R run a precious and highly respected resource. Wonder if you could link onto/affiliate with APC so that they publicise every book launch going on at Collected Works with their website, and in rerturn you cross-promote th...eir books and events on your blog by providing links and blurbs about their writers/events from time to time. As the sole bookshop in Melbourne which specialises in and stocks large amounts of poetry, especially Australian poetry, it's vital for Australian poets that you can go on, and your presence benefits the APC by helping poetry remain on sale. I also support the idea of buy one book.See More • October 30 at 11:53pm · UnlikeLike · 1 personLoading...
• • Rosemary Nissen-Wade Now that I live elsewhere, I would love it if you had an online list of your stock to help me shop there! • October 31 at 1:41am · LikeUnlike
• • Christopher Barnett kris & retta • • wish you both & the bookshop only the best but we live in a age of great barbarism • • avec force et tendresse • October 31 at 10:27am · LikeUnlike
• • Jennifer Compton a fundraiser - great idea - with a raffle etc • October 31 at 11:50am · LikeUnlike
• • Jennifer Compton • can i suggest a (small) book crossing shelf I saw this at a bookshop in rome and was delighted! when peop[le come in to liberate their books into the wild and see if there is anything they want on the shelf - then because they have a free b...ook they look about me and think, well i have saved money, i will buy a book too • at least that is the way i think it could workSee More • October 31 at 12:55pm · LikeUnlike
• • Rosemary Nissen-Wade The 'buy one book' idea is a real winner, too. • October 31 at 8:13pm · LikeUnlike
• • Natalie Davey Just have to add my note of deep support for what ever you do!! Plan to be in more often to allow my lovely shelves to groan with the delight of your Collected Works amore amore books! • Natalie xx • November 1 at 11:10pm
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I dont think I'm exaggerating to describe this as an avalanche of support! John Hunter conjured up the Collected Works Facebook Page one day. "What you need..." he said. I'm eternally grateful. This page has become the prime distributor of bookshop information. Early November, the following message from Robyn Rowland appeared :
"Dear Book Lovers
As you can see from Kris Hemensley’s public letter below, this icon of Australian Literature is struggling a bit in this climate. Remember the Salt appeal a couple of years ago, when Salt decided to ask every supporter to buy a book? It saved the press ...for now. Please do all you can to support Kris and Retta to keep this wonderful and rich bookshop going. It is a cultural landmark and deserves our wholehearted loving kindness ... And cash!! Over the years we have all benefited from the books we can peruse there and buy, but also for the support K and R have given through conversations and knowledge. Just passing on this info which you can find also on overloadnation.
All the best
Robyn"
This also elicited many responses including a suggestion from Alan Loney for a meeting at earliest opportunity. On the 12th November, Jenny Harrison wrote the following letter on the Overload site:
"Dear Friends of Collected Works
We've recently (and belatedly) become aware that the most significant poetry bookshop in Australia needs our support. We are forming a Friends of Collected Works, and we invite you to the inaugural meeting to discuss collaborative plans to support the bookshop (whose current directors are Catherine O'Brien, Kris Hemensley and Retta Hemensley) in its iconic literary vision. Many of us have already offered our support and we are interested in planning a series of events into the future. We intend to meet several times until we're assured that Collected Works continues the sure footing the principals have maintained alone for twenty years in the stead of the inaugural group of 1985. I imagine that future meetings would best be sited at a central point such as at the APC or VWC, but you are all invited to join us at Jennifer Harrison's place at 36 Upton Road, Prahran, on Sunday 21st November from 2 pm to 4 pm, to begin planning.
Warm regards
Jennifer Harrison"
At the meeting, attended by Elaine Lewis & Judith Buckrich (in their own right & representing PEN), Libby Hart, Ray Liversidge, Heather Clarke, Jennifer Harrison, Bob Morrow & Philip Salom, various questions were discussed. I quote the Aims & Objectives (discussion of ideas) from the agenda : "Why do we need a Friends of Collected Works? What do we want to achieve? Wider perspective : what kind of arts scene do we want to see? Short term: what help does Collected Works need now? Long term: imagining Collected Works in 5 years/ 10 years. How will we know we have been successful? (NB we need to remain sensitive to the boundary between Collected Works business practice and the role of Friends of Collected Works)"
As it transpired it was agreed that a formally constituted body wasnt the way to go, after all Collected Works is anti-bureaucratic & informal in its nature & modus-operandi. However a 'reference group' was happily accepted.
In my report to the meeting I mentioned an important earlier meeting with Ellen Koshland who counseled against approaches to the well known trusts & agencies, encouraging us to promote the Shop as the service provider it has always been in respect of poetry in Melbourne &, indeed, Australia, --thus the relevance of subscriptions, mail-order & web-site, & more in-house literary activities...
I pointed to the spontaneous action of 'friends', endorsed by the Bookshop (e.g. the jig-sawing of Libby Hart's twilight shopping event + raffle with Heather Clarke's idea of a promoted pre-Xmas shopping week), as the natural way of proceeding.
At this stage initiatives & ideas were flowing from all directions! Collaborations mooted between Collected Works & organizations like Australian Poetry, the VWC, the MWF, the MPU, PEN et al were especially encouraging.
What it all represented was a reactivation of the community support the Shop enjoyed back in 1985. It felt like a rebirth (a second honeymoon?)!
I did also say to the group that of itself none of this remarkable response had changed the fragile commercial reality but it had changed my attitude to it.
The event of December 8th at the Shop was astonishing ("historic" as Alex Skovron suggested).
There must have been in the vicinity of 150 people over the space of 4 or so hours in & out of the Shop. Many stayed for the duration despite the sauna type conditions! This event contributed significantly to the Shop enjoying its best trading month ever in 25 years...
And the rest is history!
------------------
[finished! New Year's Eve, 2010]
On the 31st October I posted the following email on the Overloadnation site:
"My Fellow Australians... We will fight them on the beaches... no, start again! Dear Overload friends, We've had to consider out future in light of the expected rent rise for our bookshop, to take effect 1st January 11... And, though it may be an extension of the same folly which had us open up in the first place, we will continue! The prospect of moving elsewhere was as awful as that of closing! But the price of the new 4 year lease will hurt, unless I can generate more sales and support. The point about the Shop is that though it is a little company, in the market place, it's never been profit oriented. Most of the receipts go into stock. The wages are minimal. Rent and stock are the major outgoings. The purpose of the Shop has always been to support writing, especially poetry, --Australian Poetry and literature within an international literary context. That's the rationale which makes the bookshop unique (certainly in Australia and New Zealand, possibly further afield). We obviously have sufficient support to be mentioned in the City of Literature document, but for all sorts of reasons support through the bead curtain is less than it might be. The recent rent hike squeezes us even more! The question remains, is there a place for an actual bookshop in this time of online purchasing, the ebook and other new technologies? A rhetorical question for me : the bookshop is a home for readers and writers of poetry and prose, a home for little presses, a venue for launches and readings, as it has been for 25 years or so. In a word, we're there for cultural as well as bookselling reasons. Our acceptance of the new lease will probably be sent this week! It will be a great encouragement to know if you support us! Perhaps a start might be making a new "friends of Collected Works" address list (email), for Melbourne and Australia generally. If you're interested please do write or phone or visit us! Cheers, Kris Hemensley"
The response was immediate & I can now say continuous. Invidious to recall some & not all but as a very partial index of the initial response, simply reading off the names of authors of emails, the list includes Michelle Leber, John Kinsella, Earl Livings, Patricia Sykes, Lyndon Walker, Melissa Watts, Leah Kaminsky, Josephine Rowe, Andrew Lindsay, Chris Grierson, Penny Gibson, Bron Thomasson, Kerryn Tredrea, Joan Kerr, Lyn Chatham, Anthony Lynch, Gregory Day, Ted Reilly, Paul Ashton, Caroline Williamson, Libby Hart, Ray Liversidge, Cyril Wong, Jennifer Harrison, Geelong Writers group, the VWC, Steve Grimwade, Mike Ladd, the APC, Paul Kane, Walter Struve...
Then we come to Facebook... The following is copied from the initial message :
"• Kris Hemensley • Time to grasp the nettle! Will we/wont we stay in business at present address as rent is considerably raised and receipts dwindle? After a week of deliberation & advice from friends we've just about decided to sign up for another 4 years! Any constructive thoughts are welcome! An exquisite moment : status of the book, the bookshop, the booktrade. All up for grabs! • October 29 at 10:35pm · LikeUnlike · Comment · Share
• • Jen Jewel Brown, Jennifer Compton, Nici Lindsay and 2 others like this.
• • Kris Hemensley I might need to sell a couple of valuable things to raise some security kitty! And wd love to know abt the on-line caper. Masterclasses gratefully received! • October 29 at 10:39pm · LikeUnlike
•
• Nicholas Pounder Kris, it is probably folly, but I would do the same if I had your reputation and record. And let's face it, a tradition to defend. • October 29 at 10:44pm · LikeUnlike · 1 personLoading...
• • Pamela Robertson-Pearce Kris I am with you in this. I was so inspired by your place/space that I opened up a bookshop/art gallery upon my return from OZ in the Northeast of the UK and it is not easy. I never thought it would be...however. I have planned more events, serve tea, regular sales...I knew a bookshop alone could not make it here and an art gallery alone could not either so I combined them. I will keep you updated AND I wish you all the best! Diversify is my two cents. • October 29 at 10:45pm · LikeUnlike
• • Kris Hemensley If you cld give me a clue abt the couple of books we discussed before wd be good Nick; and i DIDNT know Pamela abt your enterprise! What's it called ? Open All Hours? It was great having you & neil visit but wdnt have guessed i was sowing seeds! Thanks for morale boost! I guess ive sat on hands a little bit. Time to get up going again. Reinvest the 'business'... etc... • October 29 at 10:52pm · LikeUnlike
• • Pamela Robertson-Pearce Mine is called DJANG the art of life! Djang being an aboriginal word which you probably know already. Open all hours indeed!!! Ha ha almost impossible to do. No I bring work to do so I can use the time better at DJANG when it is slow. I am glad to hear you persevere! You are a beacon Kris! • October 29 at 11:15pm · LikeUnlike
• • John Fox Agree about the record and tradition, but feel v selfish about it; great for the rest of us to have Collected Works still there, but I hope it isn't at the cost of your approaching retirement in penury. • October 29 at 11:37pm · LikeUnlike · 2 peopleLoading...
• • Justin Clemens Yes best bookstore in Australia. • October 30 at 12:46am · LikeUnlike
• • Jennifer Compton i must visit more often and i must buy more often • October 30 at 1:11am · LikeUnlike
• • Cassie Lewis-Getman Thank you for keeping up the wonderful work, Kris, but do take care of yourself too! Online sales seem like a good way to go as a supplement, or even email sales- Ken Bolton sends out an email newsletter of books recently in at the EAF, something like this would be a cheap and immediate way to go. A facebook page talking about the history and purpose of the store is another idea that is low cost. For ideas you could look at the City Lights page see http://www.facebook.com/CityLightsBooks • October 30 at 1:15am · LikeUnlike · 1 personLoading...
• • Kris Hemensley hey justin! good luck for yr crack of dawn seminar tomorrow! Tina alerted me. And youll be pleased to know the college came good with their cheque yday! see you soon, K • October 30 at 1:36am · LikeUnlike
• • Catherine O'Brien • What to say Kris; take the risk and don't count the money each day....remember one time you had a fund raiser reading. Maybe that is a great idea to bring the situation to the attention of those who would support you but don't know. Online ...cannot work for you as you have no computer at the shop so you would be doubling your work by having to transcribe the books at the shop and then spend time at home on the computer. • Funny my 'hardly ever open" i:cat gallery in Vientianne has now more books than art and it is not really a bookshop...i feel like I am an out post of collected works..how to support you from here??????See More • October 30 at 2:30am · LikeUnlike
• • Judith Buckrich I am delighted that you've decided to stay and will make more of an effort to send people your way - maybe PEN can do something with you - I will ask at the next meeting • October 30 at 7:12am · LikeUnlike
• • Kris Hemensley • Thank you cathy and judith --'counting the money...", come on, that's not my style! I think it's the gradual switch to new technology, new cultural orientation etc --The city, the society more in flux now than when we started --But if i can... have a $$safety net then we can still be the meeting place, the news exchange, the infinite forum on poetry and ideas that is really our stock in trade --The equation of altruism & survival, the esoteric & the commercial --as ever! As i sd to Chrissie & Michael a year ago, after Dylan, you can be in our loop if i can be in your loop! So your thought, j, is pertinent... Now let's enjoy the races and the rain!!!See More • October 30 at 9:47am · LikeUnlike
• • Elizabeth Campbell Kris, I know you don't like gimmicks, but have you ever thought of a fundraiser/mailing list campaign like Salt did - buy one book to save the shop. I know so many people who would respond ps will be in today for two books! • October 30 at 9:57am · LikeUnlike · 1 personLoading...
• • David Wheatley I'd support that. Remember Chris Hamilton-Emery's 'just one book' campaign (though why stop at just the one). PS Elizabeth -- I owe you a book! • October 30 at 9:59am · LikeUnlike
• • Susan Fealy Dear Kris • • Four more years of Collected Works would be four more years of soft sunshine for the soul. • • XSusan • October 30 at 10:09am · LikeUnlike
• • Viki Mealings that's terrible that they've hiked up the rent so much • October 30 at 11:23am · LikeUnlike
• • Kris Hemensley Oh dear, what hath thou unleashed upon thy head and those of thine... um... I think it's much more a matter of getting with it in terms of the on-line biz, events, and reminding institutions who're in need of let's say australian poetry (but hey! the world's our oyster) that we can supply! The rent is inevitable, the commercial reality when i look at it calmly... After yday's excellent discussion with Ellen i feel heartened & resolved! Thanks everybody! • October 30 at 11:35am · LikeUnlike
• • Susan Hawthorne The book business is a tricky one right now. Like you Kris we halve trembled on the edge several times. But we're still here and I have some optimism for the future. • October 30 at 12:40pm · LikeUnlike
• • Philip Salom Kris, I have to agree with Elizabeth. There are multitudes of us and if we want you to stay on (and we do) we should (yes, I'm happy with should) do something to contribute. One book each? Easy. Maybe even have annual subscriptions of some sort? Many of us would be in it. • October 30 at 12:44pm · LikeUnlike
• • Elizabeth Gertsakis Hard one Kris; you represent a special place, but also need to take care of yourself. I would support the idea of all supporters/readers coming in to buy a book. Will come in to see you soon. • October 30 at 3:11pm · LikeUnlike
• • Brendan Ryan Kris, • I'd be happy to buy a poetry book as well. Collected Works is a special place. • October 30 at 3:34pm · LikeUnlike
• • Catherine Bateson I really like Philip's idea of an annual subscription - like a poetry club. In knitting circles there are indie spinners and dyers offering three month/six month sock clubs - you sign up and receive fibre/yarn, a sock pattern and often a small treat....fair trade coffee beans, a stitch counter. Six random months of poetry books - sounds great! • October 30 at 4:21pm · LikeUnlike
• • Kris Hemensley Thank you everybody... As it happens, this half day session at the Shop was reasonable what with races and rain... Carol Jenkins was visiting and also people from Perth and the continental perspective/reach of the Shop was so apparent... Interested in Philip's & Batherine B's club suggestion. I can be quite dense abt things so do email me for tips on how this cd work! • October 30 at 6:46pm · LikeUnlike
• • Kris Hemensley Batherine B? who she? I mean catherine Bateson of course! • October 30 at 6:47pm · LikeUnlike • •
Philip Salom Some sub. your customers - call us fans! - are happy to pay out each year. Maybe some discount deal as Catherine suggested, and/or just some 'privilege' from the shop. It can guarantee a sum each year for your budget, but on top of our and everybody else's purchases. We are direct beneficiaries of CW and this shouldn't be at your expense. • October 30 at 7:55pm · LikeUnlike
• • Catherine Bateson • No, I didn't mean at Collected Works expense - you'd sign up for three months - a book a month - what would that be? Average it out at $30.00 a book + postage - say $100.00, or $200.00 for six months and then Kris would choose three or six ...books to send out to the lucky person. These might come with a special subscribers newsletter - maybe with a couple of poetry reviews. It's actually not a discount deal at all - the sock clubs are part of how indie dyers/spinners make an artisan living out of pursuing their craft. The point is really in the element of surprise - you don't know what yarn you'll receive. Ditto with the books. But CW would be guaranteed of how many sales for that period. Naturally, being greedy little consumers we'd want to feel special - hence the newsletter or whatever it was - maybe an exclusive invite to a poetry club party....obviously you'd need to do the figures - and equally obviously this would be evened out - a $20.00 book one month, a $35.00 the next...I have no idea if it would work for books, but I've joined sock clubs! (Oh, and the other thing that the sock clubs often do is work around a theme - which would be possible for poetry, too.See More • October 30 at 8:28pm · LikeUnlike
• • Leah Kaminsky Sign me up for a subscription Kris! I also like the idea of all us poets getting together for a fundraiser for Collected Works, which is truly a Melbourne icon... it could be a HUGE event!! • October 30 at 9:11pm · UnlikeLike · 2 peopleLoading...
• • Sam Byfield I'd be up for a subscription Kris and for attending/participating in a fundraising event- anything to help out. I also wouldn't mind getting occasional emails with updates- recent books, things that have caught your attention, events coming up at the bookstore and poems on the blog- all things i'm interested in (and other people) but don't always have the chance to be as engaged and up to date as i'd like to be. • October 30 at 9:24pm · UnlikeLike · 1 personLoading...
• • Philip Salom Sorry, Catherine, I wasn't suggesting you meant that. Just that _whatever_ scheme comes up should have the balance of expenses in mind. I would be quite happy to pay a sub (with no special return, or maybe just a piss-up and reading get-together!) just to know that CW was safe. • October 30 at 9:51pm · LikeUnlike
• • Tina Giannoukos Any way I can help with will do; the shop is a community: refuge; ideas centre; meeting place; singular in every way yet plural. • October 30 at 11:20pm · UnlikeLike · 1 personLoading...
• • Jen Jewel Brown • dear Kris, you and R run a precious and highly respected resource. Wonder if you could link onto/affiliate with APC so that they publicise every book launch going on at Collected Works with their website, and in rerturn you cross-promote th...eir books and events on your blog by providing links and blurbs about their writers/events from time to time. As the sole bookshop in Melbourne which specialises in and stocks large amounts of poetry, especially Australian poetry, it's vital for Australian poets that you can go on, and your presence benefits the APC by helping poetry remain on sale. I also support the idea of buy one book.See More • October 30 at 11:53pm · UnlikeLike · 1 personLoading...
• • Rosemary Nissen-Wade Now that I live elsewhere, I would love it if you had an online list of your stock to help me shop there! • October 31 at 1:41am · LikeUnlike
• • Christopher Barnett kris & retta • • wish you both & the bookshop only the best but we live in a age of great barbarism • • avec force et tendresse • October 31 at 10:27am · LikeUnlike
• • Jennifer Compton a fundraiser - great idea - with a raffle etc • October 31 at 11:50am · LikeUnlike
• • Jennifer Compton • can i suggest a (small) book crossing shelf I saw this at a bookshop in rome and was delighted! when peop[le come in to liberate their books into the wild and see if there is anything they want on the shelf - then because they have a free b...ook they look about me and think, well i have saved money, i will buy a book too • at least that is the way i think it could workSee More • October 31 at 12:55pm · LikeUnlike
• • Rosemary Nissen-Wade The 'buy one book' idea is a real winner, too. • October 31 at 8:13pm · LikeUnlike
• • Natalie Davey Just have to add my note of deep support for what ever you do!! Plan to be in more often to allow my lovely shelves to groan with the delight of your Collected Works amore amore books! • Natalie xx • November 1 at 11:10pm
-----------------------------------------
I dont think I'm exaggerating to describe this as an avalanche of support! John Hunter conjured up the Collected Works Facebook Page one day. "What you need..." he said. I'm eternally grateful. This page has become the prime distributor of bookshop information. Early November, the following message from Robyn Rowland appeared :
"Dear Book Lovers
As you can see from Kris Hemensley’s public letter below, this icon of Australian Literature is struggling a bit in this climate. Remember the Salt appeal a couple of years ago, when Salt decided to ask every supporter to buy a book? It saved the press ...for now. Please do all you can to support Kris and Retta to keep this wonderful and rich bookshop going. It is a cultural landmark and deserves our wholehearted loving kindness ... And cash!! Over the years we have all benefited from the books we can peruse there and buy, but also for the support K and R have given through conversations and knowledge. Just passing on this info which you can find also on overloadnation.
All the best
Robyn"
This also elicited many responses including a suggestion from Alan Loney for a meeting at earliest opportunity. On the 12th November, Jenny Harrison wrote the following letter on the Overload site:
"Dear Friends of Collected Works
We've recently (and belatedly) become aware that the most significant poetry bookshop in Australia needs our support. We are forming a Friends of Collected Works, and we invite you to the inaugural meeting to discuss collaborative plans to support the bookshop (whose current directors are Catherine O'Brien, Kris Hemensley and Retta Hemensley) in its iconic literary vision. Many of us have already offered our support and we are interested in planning a series of events into the future. We intend to meet several times until we're assured that Collected Works continues the sure footing the principals have maintained alone for twenty years in the stead of the inaugural group of 1985. I imagine that future meetings would best be sited at a central point such as at the APC or VWC, but you are all invited to join us at Jennifer Harrison's place at 36 Upton Road, Prahran, on Sunday 21st November from 2 pm to 4 pm, to begin planning.
Warm regards
Jennifer Harrison"
At the meeting, attended by Elaine Lewis & Judith Buckrich (in their own right & representing PEN), Libby Hart, Ray Liversidge, Heather Clarke, Jennifer Harrison, Bob Morrow & Philip Salom, various questions were discussed. I quote the Aims & Objectives (discussion of ideas) from the agenda : "Why do we need a Friends of Collected Works? What do we want to achieve? Wider perspective : what kind of arts scene do we want to see? Short term: what help does Collected Works need now? Long term: imagining Collected Works in 5 years/ 10 years. How will we know we have been successful? (NB we need to remain sensitive to the boundary between Collected Works business practice and the role of Friends of Collected Works)"
As it transpired it was agreed that a formally constituted body wasnt the way to go, after all Collected Works is anti-bureaucratic & informal in its nature & modus-operandi. However a 'reference group' was happily accepted.
In my report to the meeting I mentioned an important earlier meeting with Ellen Koshland who counseled against approaches to the well known trusts & agencies, encouraging us to promote the Shop as the service provider it has always been in respect of poetry in Melbourne &, indeed, Australia, --thus the relevance of subscriptions, mail-order & web-site, & more in-house literary activities...
I pointed to the spontaneous action of 'friends', endorsed by the Bookshop (e.g. the jig-sawing of Libby Hart's twilight shopping event + raffle with Heather Clarke's idea of a promoted pre-Xmas shopping week), as the natural way of proceeding.
At this stage initiatives & ideas were flowing from all directions! Collaborations mooted between Collected Works & organizations like Australian Poetry, the VWC, the MWF, the MPU, PEN et al were especially encouraging.
What it all represented was a reactivation of the community support the Shop enjoyed back in 1985. It felt like a rebirth (a second honeymoon?)!
I did also say to the group that of itself none of this remarkable response had changed the fragile commercial reality but it had changed my attitude to it.
The event of December 8th at the Shop was astonishing ("historic" as Alex Skovron suggested).
There must have been in the vicinity of 150 people over the space of 4 or so hours in & out of the Shop. Many stayed for the duration despite the sauna type conditions! This event contributed significantly to the Shop enjoying its best trading month ever in 25 years...
And the rest is history!
------------------
[finished! New Year's Eve, 2010]
Sunday, September 20, 2009
POETS' PORTRAITS
Should you come up to the Shop today you'll be in for a big surprise... and for certain because : charcoals by Raffaella Torresan on the high windows at the far end of the room, portraits of seven Melbourne worthies, drawn at different times in the Nineties, four of whom, sad to say, have died. The upper 4 & lower 3 sequence I've arranged in the window frames features Adrian Rawlins, Shelton Lea, Geoffrey Eggleston & Myron Lysenko, followed by Ted Lord, Colin Talbot & Patrick McCauley. Legends is a better description. Incidentally, I wonder who has drawn the women poets over the years --which isnt to join the "it's all blokes" chorus, since one's a poet ahead or despite of gender (& 'because of' would surely now apply equally)... And, another thought, is it usually women making portraits of men?
The first portrait we acquired was Nancy Buller's water-colour of Peter Bakowksi, mid-'90s. He'd sat for a St Kilda elderly women's art group I seem to recall. A chance purchase --there it was one Sunday, in a church hall or a temporary gallery at the Bowling Club --perhaps it was a St Kilda arts festival. Retta thinks she, Catherine & myself all saw it together. I bought it & someone from their group delivered it to the Shop... Next in the collection was Ashley Higgs' silk-screen of Pi O, which I saw at a Council of Adult Education exhibition in Flinders Street --more a glimpse than a study but the profile's unmistakable in its white on yellow cartoon. Its success depends upon the speed of one's look! Then, Javant Biarujia's hand-coloured photo-montage, Frank Hardy (Brushing Up On A Fallen Hero In An Era of Abstraction And Angst), featuring the laureate of Carringbush & his glowering dog in gentling yellow & sepia. It might be a surprise to many that once upon a time --this work is from 1982, acquired a couple of years ago --Javant was as serious about art-photography as writing. About the same time I bought Grant MacCracken's fiercely funny oil of the busking poet (himself as Sham Cabaret, all black shades & leathers) outside of Paul Elliott's Polyester Books & Music in Brunswick Street, Fitzroy. It was in the window of the Smith Street, Collingwood picture-framers during an exhibition of his signature moonlit grey & white narratives a few years ago. Next, two pen & inks, drawn from photographs I believe, Judy Johnson by Erin Hunting, & John Tranter by Tim Bruce, both from a 2007 Victorian Writers' Centre exhibition of prize-winning authors, curated by Pam Davison. I'm constantly amused when people mistake the Tranter portrait for me! Of course it's not me, I exclaim --it's obviously Tranter! But I do confess the jolly, full cheeks' expression, could be me in a certain frame of mind (probably full of wine)!
There's a suggestion of the curled lip & raised eyebrow in Raffaella's Adrian Rawlins (1990), a touch of Frank Thring or as David Pepperell called him, Dr Nosh --perhaps thinking of the cheese-platter reward after the artist has finished! Shelton Lea (1998) combines street-wise & imperious but vulnerable too. A difficult face to capture because so well known. Geoffrey Eggleston (1994) she entitles 'Geo Egg' ("Come on the Egg!" one of his old mates yelled across the slope at Montsalvat as son, Nathaniel, buried the casket of ashes, reminding me that was the nickname we'd learned from Mike Dugan in the '60s). Flamboyant in cravat, he also wears that wonderfully stoned expression one recalls over the decades, beady-eyed, mirthful yet serene. Myron Lysenko (1995) is boyish, & there's a kind of blur as though the spectacles are necessary to clarify things. Ted Lord (1998), 'Teddy', seems to float out of a long history; he swims in mortal tenderness. Colin Talbot (1995) has a youthful, handsome athlete's face with a hint of smile he's stringing out like a kite. Patrick McCauley (1998), rugged, windblown, the patina left by a harder life, shared in the visages of Shelton & Ted.
Raffaella Torresan literally sees the best in her sitters, the best & not the beast. Her charcoal portraits are affectionate. The affection attracts & communicates life as well as likeness. It's a truism that drawings are more like living things than any photograph can be, and I swear another species of life is enacted here.
__________________
--Kris Hemensley
fin, 20th September,'09--
The first portrait we acquired was Nancy Buller's water-colour of Peter Bakowksi, mid-'90s. He'd sat for a St Kilda elderly women's art group I seem to recall. A chance purchase --there it was one Sunday, in a church hall or a temporary gallery at the Bowling Club --perhaps it was a St Kilda arts festival. Retta thinks she, Catherine & myself all saw it together. I bought it & someone from their group delivered it to the Shop... Next in the collection was Ashley Higgs' silk-screen of Pi O, which I saw at a Council of Adult Education exhibition in Flinders Street --more a glimpse than a study but the profile's unmistakable in its white on yellow cartoon. Its success depends upon the speed of one's look! Then, Javant Biarujia's hand-coloured photo-montage, Frank Hardy (Brushing Up On A Fallen Hero In An Era of Abstraction And Angst), featuring the laureate of Carringbush & his glowering dog in gentling yellow & sepia. It might be a surprise to many that once upon a time --this work is from 1982, acquired a couple of years ago --Javant was as serious about art-photography as writing. About the same time I bought Grant MacCracken's fiercely funny oil of the busking poet (himself as Sham Cabaret, all black shades & leathers) outside of Paul Elliott's Polyester Books & Music in Brunswick Street, Fitzroy. It was in the window of the Smith Street, Collingwood picture-framers during an exhibition of his signature moonlit grey & white narratives a few years ago. Next, two pen & inks, drawn from photographs I believe, Judy Johnson by Erin Hunting, & John Tranter by Tim Bruce, both from a 2007 Victorian Writers' Centre exhibition of prize-winning authors, curated by Pam Davison. I'm constantly amused when people mistake the Tranter portrait for me! Of course it's not me, I exclaim --it's obviously Tranter! But I do confess the jolly, full cheeks' expression, could be me in a certain frame of mind (probably full of wine)!
There's a suggestion of the curled lip & raised eyebrow in Raffaella's Adrian Rawlins (1990), a touch of Frank Thring or as David Pepperell called him, Dr Nosh --perhaps thinking of the cheese-platter reward after the artist has finished! Shelton Lea (1998) combines street-wise & imperious but vulnerable too. A difficult face to capture because so well known. Geoffrey Eggleston (1994) she entitles 'Geo Egg' ("Come on the Egg!" one of his old mates yelled across the slope at Montsalvat as son, Nathaniel, buried the casket of ashes, reminding me that was the nickname we'd learned from Mike Dugan in the '60s). Flamboyant in cravat, he also wears that wonderfully stoned expression one recalls over the decades, beady-eyed, mirthful yet serene. Myron Lysenko (1995) is boyish, & there's a kind of blur as though the spectacles are necessary to clarify things. Ted Lord (1998), 'Teddy', seems to float out of a long history; he swims in mortal tenderness. Colin Talbot (1995) has a youthful, handsome athlete's face with a hint of smile he's stringing out like a kite. Patrick McCauley (1998), rugged, windblown, the patina left by a harder life, shared in the visages of Shelton & Ted.
Raffaella Torresan literally sees the best in her sitters, the best & not the beast. Her charcoal portraits are affectionate. The affection attracts & communicates life as well as likeness. It's a truism that drawings are more like living things than any photograph can be, and I swear another species of life is enacted here.
__________________
--Kris Hemensley
fin, 20th September,'09--
Sunday, February 1, 2009
BUKOWSKI & CO EXPECTED SOON IN COLLECTED WORKS BOOKSHOP RESTOCKING!
Dear Friends, as you would expect, after such a happy Christmas, holes had appeared all around the shelves at Collected Works bookshop. However, the new stocks are expected s o o n!
Some of the authors & titles include :
MARY OLIVER, e.g., the two volumes in pb of her New & Selected Poems, and the new collection, God of Dirt;
several volumes of classical as well as contemporary HAIKU;
KEROUAC, of course, including Wake Up and Mexico City Blues;
some SHARON OLDS;
most of BUKOWSKI;
SAM HAMILL, still exciting interest after his recent visit to Australia c/o the Australian Poetry Centre's inaugural poetry festival in Castlemaine (Victoria);
some DENISE LEVERTOV, including esays;
American editions of some Irish poets including MICHAEL LONGLEY, LOUIS MACNEICE, THOMAS KINSELLA;
some BELLOW, UPDIKE, MAILER, HEMINGWAY and CAPOTE classics...
Overall the stock is good, but can & always will be replenished & augmented...
ENQUIRIES welcome by phone on 03 9654 8873 or by email
www.collectedworks.mailcity.com
Happy New Year!
Kris & co at Collected Works Bookshop,
1st floor, Nicholas Building, 37 Swanston Street, Melbourne, 3000
Some of the authors & titles include :
MARY OLIVER, e.g., the two volumes in pb of her New & Selected Poems, and the new collection, God of Dirt;
several volumes of classical as well as contemporary HAIKU;
KEROUAC, of course, including Wake Up and Mexico City Blues;
some SHARON OLDS;
most of BUKOWSKI;
SAM HAMILL, still exciting interest after his recent visit to Australia c/o the Australian Poetry Centre's inaugural poetry festival in Castlemaine (Victoria);
some DENISE LEVERTOV, including esays;
American editions of some Irish poets including MICHAEL LONGLEY, LOUIS MACNEICE, THOMAS KINSELLA;
some BELLOW, UPDIKE, MAILER, HEMINGWAY and CAPOTE classics...
Overall the stock is good, but can & always will be replenished & augmented...
ENQUIRIES welcome by phone on 03 9654 8873 or by email
www.collectedworks.mailcity.com
Happy New Year!
Kris & co at Collected Works Bookshop,
1st floor, Nicholas Building, 37 Swanston Street, Melbourne, 3000
Sunday, September 9, 2007
SHOP FRONT : COLLECTED WORKS BOOKSHOP, NEW TITLES LISTINGS, SEPTEMBER 9th,2007
MIXED BAG
NO MAN IS AN ISLAND; Thomas Merton (Shambhala, '05), hb, $35-95
COLD WAR LETTERS; Merton (Orbis, '06), [111 letters written between 1961 & 2, around the time of the Cuban Missile Crisis] $26-95
John Geiger, NOTHING IS TRUE : EVERYTHING IS PERMITTED : THE LIFE OF BRION GYSIN (Disinformation,'05), hb, $49-95
DYLAN REMEMBERED, volume 1, 1914-1934 (interviews by Colin Edwards; ed by David N. Thomas), (Seren,'03), $45
DYLAN REMEMBERED, volume 2, 1935-1953 (Edwards/Thomas), (Seren,04), $45[Dylan Thomas of course, not Bob!]
KENNETH TYNAN : THEATRE WRITINGS (sel & ed D Shellard; fwd by Tom Stoppard); (Nick Hern Books, '07), hb, $65
KENNETH TYNAN : PROFILES (sel & ed by Kathleen Tynan & E Eban; fwd by Simon Callow); (Nick Hern Books, '07), $49-95
POETS AGAINST THE WAR, ed Sam Hamill with Sally Anderson et al; (Thunders Mouth Press, '03); [selection of the best of the 13,000 poems submitted by 11,000 poets to protest the Iraq war, from Virginia Adair, Julia Alvarez, the Roberts Bly & Creeley to Chaise Twichell, AnneWaldman, CK WIlliams] $24-95
T.S.ELIOT; Craig Raine (Oxford University Press,'06), hb, $55 [in OUP's Lives & Legacies series]
HOWL ON TRIAL : THE BATTLE FOR FREE EXPRESSION, ed Bill Morgan & Nancy J Peters;(City Lights,'06), $32-95 [contains transcript of the court case, the poem Howl, & correspondence surrounding it]
*
THE AAAAAAVALANCHE : RECENTLY RECEIVED AUSTRALIAN POETRY
Kevin Gillam, PERMITTED TO FALL (Sunline Press, '07), hb, $30
M T C Cronin, NOTEBOOK OF SIGNS (Shearsman, 07), $24-95
M T C Cronin, OUR LIFE IS A BOX / PRAYERS WITHOUT A GOD (Soi 3,'07), $23-95
Barry Hill, NECESSITY, POEMS 1996-2006 (Soi 3, '07), $25-95
David Prater, WE WILL DISAPPEAR (Soi 3, '07), $21-95
Paul Hardacre, LOVE IN THE PLACE OF RATS (Transit Lounge, '07), $22-95
Ali Alizadeh, EYES IN TIMES OF WAR (Salt,'07), $29-95
FIFTY POEMS OF ATTAR, trsl & analysis by K Avery & Ali Alizadeh (re.press,'07), $25
Justin Clemens / Helen Johnson, BLACK RIVER (re.press,'07), $19-95
Caroline Caddy, ESPERANCE : NEW & SELECTED POEMS (FACP,'07), $24-95
Mike Ladd, TRANSIT (+ CD) (Five Islands Press,'07), $21-95
Kathryn Lomer, TWO KINDS OF SILENCE (UQP,'07), $21-95
Alan Loney, NOWHERE TO GO & OTHER POEMS (Five Islands Press,'07), $21-95
Peter Skrzynecki, OLD / NEW WORLD : NEW & SELECTED POEMS (UQP, '07), $26-95
++++RELISTING+++
Lyn Boughton, TINDERBOX (SkecText Press,'04), $10
John Forbes, COLLECTED POEMS (Brandl & Schlesinger,'04), $24-95
John Kinsella, FAST, LOOSE BEGINNINGS : A MEMOIR OF INTOXICATIONS (Melbourne University Press, '06), $27-95 [prose-memoir]
NO MAN IS AN ISLAND; Thomas Merton (Shambhala, '05), hb, $35-95
COLD WAR LETTERS; Merton (Orbis, '06), [111 letters written between 1961 & 2, around the time of the Cuban Missile Crisis] $26-95
John Geiger, NOTHING IS TRUE : EVERYTHING IS PERMITTED : THE LIFE OF BRION GYSIN (Disinformation,'05), hb, $49-95
DYLAN REMEMBERED, volume 1, 1914-1934 (interviews by Colin Edwards; ed by David N. Thomas), (Seren,'03), $45
DYLAN REMEMBERED, volume 2, 1935-1953 (Edwards/Thomas), (Seren,04), $45[Dylan Thomas of course, not Bob!]
KENNETH TYNAN : THEATRE WRITINGS (sel & ed D Shellard; fwd by Tom Stoppard); (Nick Hern Books, '07), hb, $65
KENNETH TYNAN : PROFILES (sel & ed by Kathleen Tynan & E Eban; fwd by Simon Callow); (Nick Hern Books, '07), $49-95
POETS AGAINST THE WAR, ed Sam Hamill with Sally Anderson et al; (Thunders Mouth Press, '03); [selection of the best of the 13,000 poems submitted by 11,000 poets to protest the Iraq war, from Virginia Adair, Julia Alvarez, the Roberts Bly & Creeley to Chaise Twichell, AnneWaldman, CK WIlliams] $24-95
T.S.ELIOT; Craig Raine (Oxford University Press,'06), hb, $55 [in OUP's Lives & Legacies series]
HOWL ON TRIAL : THE BATTLE FOR FREE EXPRESSION, ed Bill Morgan & Nancy J Peters;(City Lights,'06), $32-95 [contains transcript of the court case, the poem Howl, & correspondence surrounding it]
*
THE AAAAAAVALANCHE : RECENTLY RECEIVED AUSTRALIAN POETRY
Kevin Gillam, PERMITTED TO FALL (Sunline Press, '07), hb, $30
M T C Cronin, NOTEBOOK OF SIGNS (Shearsman, 07), $24-95
M T C Cronin, OUR LIFE IS A BOX / PRAYERS WITHOUT A GOD (Soi 3,'07), $23-95
Barry Hill, NECESSITY, POEMS 1996-2006 (Soi 3, '07), $25-95
David Prater, WE WILL DISAPPEAR (Soi 3, '07), $21-95
Paul Hardacre, LOVE IN THE PLACE OF RATS (Transit Lounge, '07), $22-95
Ali Alizadeh, EYES IN TIMES OF WAR (Salt,'07), $29-95
FIFTY POEMS OF ATTAR, trsl & analysis by K Avery & Ali Alizadeh (re.press,'07), $25
Justin Clemens / Helen Johnson, BLACK RIVER (re.press,'07), $19-95
Caroline Caddy, ESPERANCE : NEW & SELECTED POEMS (FACP,'07), $24-95
Mike Ladd, TRANSIT (+ CD) (Five Islands Press,'07), $21-95
Kathryn Lomer, TWO KINDS OF SILENCE (UQP,'07), $21-95
Alan Loney, NOWHERE TO GO & OTHER POEMS (Five Islands Press,'07), $21-95
Peter Skrzynecki, OLD / NEW WORLD : NEW & SELECTED POEMS (UQP, '07), $26-95
++++RELISTING+++
Lyn Boughton, TINDERBOX (SkecText Press,'04), $10
John Forbes, COLLECTED POEMS (Brandl & Schlesinger,'04), $24-95
John Kinsella, FAST, LOOSE BEGINNINGS : A MEMOIR OF INTOXICATIONS (Melbourne University Press, '06), $27-95 [prose-memoir]
Sunday, May 13, 2007
SHOPFRONT : NEW TITLES, May 12th, 2007
THE AVALANCHE : aka New Australian Poetry
[Melbourne/Victorian writers indicated by *]
Eighty Great Poems : From Chaucer to Now, ed Geoff Page (UNSW Press),'06; $34-95
Groundwork, ed Brian Edwards [A collection of writings from members & associates of Deakin Literary Society, inclu Connie Barber, Carol Bradburn, Justin Clemens, Ross Gillett, Anthony Lynch, David McCooey,Alan Murphy, AG Paradissis, Rhonda Poholke, Ted Reilly, Maria Tokalander, Marguerite Varday & many others]; (Deakin Literary Soc.).'06; $29-95
*
Jennifer Allen, The Cut Worm (Precious Press),'06; $15-95 *
Suzanne Edgar, The Painted Lady (Indigo / Ginninderra Press),'06; $22-95
Sue Stanford,Opal (Flat Chat Press),'06; $20 *
Greg Murphy, The Emperor Sonata : Byzantium Revisited (Interactive Press), '07; $24-95
John Egan, Not the Rain, The Wind (Poets Union), '07; $7-50
*
Jordie Albiston, Vertigo : A Cantata (John Leonard Press),'07; $23-95*
Louise Crisp, Uplands (Five Islands Press),'07; $21-95*
Julian Croft, Ocean Island (John Leonard Press),'06; $23-95
Brian Edwards, The Escape Sonnets (Papyrus Press),'06; $19-80*
Basil Eliades, 3rd "i" (Interactive Publications),'06; $24-95
Warwick McFadyen, The Life & Times of Mr Agio (Half Moon Press),'06; $15*
Peter Gebhardt, Another Place (Helicon Press),'06; $24-95*
Denis Haskell, All The Time in The World (Salt),'06; $33-95
Dominique Hecq, Couchgrass (Papyrus Press), '06; $18-70*
Anita Heiss, I'm Not a Racist, But... (Salt), '07; $27-95
Paul Hetherington, It Feels Like Disbelief (Salt),'07; $24-95
Barry Hill, The War Sonnets (Picaro Press), '06; $6*
Judy Johnson, Jack (Pandanus Poetry),'06; $24-95
Aileen Kelly, The Passion Paintings : Poems 1983-2006 (John Leonard Press), '06; $24-95*
Peter Fitzpatrick, Westering (Puncher & Wattman),'06; $24
Dorothy Porter, El Dorado (Picador),'07; $32-95*
Kerry Scuffins, Litmus (Five Islands Press), '06; $18-95*
Tom Shapcott, The City of Empty Rooms (Salt), '06; $34-95*
Michael Sharkey, The Sweeping Plain (Five Islands Press), '07; $21-95
Nicolette Stasko, Glass Cathedrals : New & Selected Poems (Salt), '06; $39-95
Tim Thorne, A Letter to Egon Kisch (Cornford Press), '07; $19-95
Dimitris Tsaloumas, Helen of Troy & Other Poems (UQP),'07; $23-95*
John Watson, Montale : A Biographical Anthology (Puncher & Wattman),'06; $24-95
Amanda Wilson, Cities of Liquid Night (Papyrus Press), '06; $19-80*
Petra White, The Incoming Tide (John Leonard Press), '07; $23-95*
Eddie Burger, Funny & Strange (Poets Union), '07; $7-50*
Charles D'Anastasi, The Unreliable Harbour (Poets Union), '07; $7-50*
Limited stock! Hurry, hurry , hurry!
[Melbourne/Victorian writers indicated by *]
Eighty Great Poems : From Chaucer to Now, ed Geoff Page (UNSW Press),'06; $34-95
Groundwork, ed Brian Edwards [A collection of writings from members & associates of Deakin Literary Society, inclu Connie Barber, Carol Bradburn, Justin Clemens, Ross Gillett, Anthony Lynch, David McCooey,Alan Murphy, AG Paradissis, Rhonda Poholke, Ted Reilly, Maria Tokalander, Marguerite Varday & many others]; (Deakin Literary Soc.).'06; $29-95
*
Jennifer Allen, The Cut Worm (Precious Press),'06; $15-95 *
Suzanne Edgar, The Painted Lady (Indigo / Ginninderra Press),'06; $22-95
Sue Stanford,Opal (Flat Chat Press),'06; $20 *
Greg Murphy, The Emperor Sonata : Byzantium Revisited (Interactive Press), '07; $24-95
John Egan, Not the Rain, The Wind (Poets Union), '07; $7-50
*
Jordie Albiston, Vertigo : A Cantata (John Leonard Press),'07; $23-95*
Louise Crisp, Uplands (Five Islands Press),'07; $21-95*
Julian Croft, Ocean Island (John Leonard Press),'06; $23-95
Brian Edwards, The Escape Sonnets (Papyrus Press),'06; $19-80*
Basil Eliades, 3rd "i" (Interactive Publications),'06; $24-95
Warwick McFadyen, The Life & Times of Mr Agio (Half Moon Press),'06; $15*
Peter Gebhardt, Another Place (Helicon Press),'06; $24-95*
Denis Haskell, All The Time in The World (Salt),'06; $33-95
Dominique Hecq, Couchgrass (Papyrus Press), '06; $18-70*
Anita Heiss, I'm Not a Racist, But... (Salt), '07; $27-95
Paul Hetherington, It Feels Like Disbelief (Salt),'07; $24-95
Barry Hill, The War Sonnets (Picaro Press), '06; $6*
Judy Johnson, Jack (Pandanus Poetry),'06; $24-95
Aileen Kelly, The Passion Paintings : Poems 1983-2006 (John Leonard Press), '06; $24-95*
Peter Fitzpatrick, Westering (Puncher & Wattman),'06; $24
Dorothy Porter, El Dorado (Picador),'07; $32-95*
Kerry Scuffins, Litmus (Five Islands Press), '06; $18-95*
Tom Shapcott, The City of Empty Rooms (Salt), '06; $34-95*
Michael Sharkey, The Sweeping Plain (Five Islands Press), '07; $21-95
Nicolette Stasko, Glass Cathedrals : New & Selected Poems (Salt), '06; $39-95
Tim Thorne, A Letter to Egon Kisch (Cornford Press), '07; $19-95
Dimitris Tsaloumas, Helen of Troy & Other Poems (UQP),'07; $23-95*
John Watson, Montale : A Biographical Anthology (Puncher & Wattman),'06; $24-95
Amanda Wilson, Cities of Liquid Night (Papyrus Press), '06; $19-80*
Petra White, The Incoming Tide (John Leonard Press), '07; $23-95*
Eddie Burger, Funny & Strange (Poets Union), '07; $7-50*
Charles D'Anastasi, The Unreliable Harbour (Poets Union), '07; $7-50*
Limited stock! Hurry, hurry , hurry!
Wednesday, May 9, 2007
SHOPFRONT : NEW TITLES , May 9th, 2007
SELECTION OF EUROPEAN POETRY & PROSE
Artaud, Watchfiends & Rack Screams : Works from the Final Period[trsl Eshleman w. B Bador],(Exact Change), $35-95
Haim Nachman Bialik, Random Harvest & Other Novellas (Toby Press/UK), $32-95. Fiction by writer "considered the greatest modern Hebrew poet(...)belongs to the Golden age of E European Hebrew & Yiddish literature."
Alexander Bogdanov, Red Star : The First Bolshevik Utopia (Indiana),$39-95. Prescient sci-fi by one of the founders of the Bolsheviks; apparently historically prophetic...
Jean Cassou, 33 Sonnets of the Resistance, inclu orig, introd. by Aragon; [trsl T Ades & A Elliot] (Arc Press/UK), $29-95. The collection of poems, written while imprisoned by the Vichy government, wch brought him to prominence.
The Selected Writings of Juan Ramon Jimenez [trsl H.R.Hays] (FSG),$42-95; poetry, prose-pieces, selections from Platero & I, essays.
Primo Levi (with L de Benedetti),Auschwitz Report (Verso),hb,$32-95. The report, never before publ in English, prepared for the Russians on the concentration-camp conditions in 1944. Could be considered a prototype for his later writing.
Mallarme, Divagations [trsl B Johnson], (Harvard),hb,$59-95; "a salmagundi of prose-poems,prose-poetic musings, criticism & reflections..."
Jacques Reda, Treading Lightly : Selected Poems, 1961-75 [trsl J Feldman],(Anvil Press/UK), $29-95. His first English translation. "A formative influence on the 'new lyricism' that was to change the direction of French poetry in the 1980s."
Tomaz Salaman, Row : Poems[ trsl Beckman & Salaman]. (Arc Press/UK), $32-95. "Perhaps the most popular, prolific & cosmopolitan poet in C. Europe today."
Conductors of the Pit : Poetry written in extremis in translation [ed & trsl Clayton Eshleman], (Soft Skull Press), $32-95. Includes Artuad, Holan, Cesaire, Vallejo,Breton,Neruda,Radnoti,Rimbaud & others. These are the poets Eshleman considers "uncontaminated by what might be called 'official verse culture'. All practice a language that lives out on the dragon's tongue."
Limited stock. Hurry hurry hurry!
Artaud, Watchfiends & Rack Screams : Works from the Final Period[trsl Eshleman w. B Bador],(Exact Change), $35-95
Haim Nachman Bialik, Random Harvest & Other Novellas (Toby Press/UK), $32-95. Fiction by writer "considered the greatest modern Hebrew poet(...)belongs to the Golden age of E European Hebrew & Yiddish literature."
Alexander Bogdanov, Red Star : The First Bolshevik Utopia (Indiana),$39-95. Prescient sci-fi by one of the founders of the Bolsheviks; apparently historically prophetic...
Jean Cassou, 33 Sonnets of the Resistance, inclu orig, introd. by Aragon; [trsl T Ades & A Elliot] (Arc Press/UK), $29-95. The collection of poems, written while imprisoned by the Vichy government, wch brought him to prominence.
The Selected Writings of Juan Ramon Jimenez [trsl H.R.Hays] (FSG),$42-95; poetry, prose-pieces, selections from Platero & I, essays.
Primo Levi (with L de Benedetti),Auschwitz Report (Verso),hb,$32-95. The report, never before publ in English, prepared for the Russians on the concentration-camp conditions in 1944. Could be considered a prototype for his later writing.
Mallarme, Divagations [trsl B Johnson], (Harvard),hb,$59-95; "a salmagundi of prose-poems,prose-poetic musings, criticism & reflections..."
Jacques Reda, Treading Lightly : Selected Poems, 1961-75 [trsl J Feldman],(Anvil Press/UK), $29-95. His first English translation. "A formative influence on the 'new lyricism' that was to change the direction of French poetry in the 1980s."
Tomaz Salaman, Row : Poems[ trsl Beckman & Salaman]. (Arc Press/UK), $32-95. "Perhaps the most popular, prolific & cosmopolitan poet in C. Europe today."
Conductors of the Pit : Poetry written in extremis in translation [ed & trsl Clayton Eshleman], (Soft Skull Press), $32-95. Includes Artuad, Holan, Cesaire, Vallejo,Breton,Neruda,Radnoti,Rimbaud & others. These are the poets Eshleman considers "uncontaminated by what might be called 'official verse culture'. All practice a language that lives out on the dragon's tongue."
Limited stock. Hurry hurry hurry!
Saturday, April 21, 2007
SHOPFRONT : NEW BOOKS : April 21st,2007
New books..."new" books? Part of this project is constantly restoring key authors & titles ('contemporary classics' as they say) to the shelves. Presently Collected Works Bookshop is waiting on Shakespeare's Complete Works from Palgrave Macmillan (in association with the RSC). Another Shakespeare? Yes, but...edited by Jonathon Bate (acclaimed biographer of John Claire, in stock) & Eric Rasmussen (associated with the Arden Shakespeares, in stock), based on the 1623 First Folio. Includes the poetry, the thought- to- be doubtful & marginal works, extensive appendices, glossaries, summaries. At $95, hb, ready to go head to head with the Oxford!
Jump three centuries : We have Randall Jarrell back on the shelf. The Complete Poems (FSG), $42-95; No Other Book : Selected Essays (Perennial),$31-95; Poetry & The Age (FSG), $45; Randall Jarrell's Book of Stories (NYRB), $27-95 (great anthology, the introduction alone worth reading). While we're in the jays there's The Selected Poetry of Robinson Jeffers (Stanford), $65, in Tim Hunt's definitive edition containing long narratives & shorter poems.
Delighted to find Louise Bogan's The Blue Estuaries : Poems 1923-68 (FSG), $27-95, still available. And it's an occasion of that once-or-twice-a-year that the Complete Poems of e.e.cummings, 1904-62 (Liveright), hb, $95 is in stock. (Selecteds & others, ditto.)
The hb T.S. Eliot Complete Poems & Plays, $85, sometimes seems unavailable but is currently in stock. Coincides with the slim series Cambridge Introduction to T.S. Eliot, $29-95. (Other volumes so far include Yeats, Joyce, Beckett.) Speaking of Eliot, we have a new & elegant hb edition of The Private Devotions of Lancelot Andrewes (trsl by Cardinal Newman), $60. Whilst in that neck of the woods there's John Donne : Man of Flesh & Spirit, $29-95; and in the English Monarchs series from National Archives press, James I, The Masque of Monarchy by Travers, $39-95; James II, the Triumph & the Tragedy by Callow,$39-95.
We've recently scooped something resembling 'the Charles Williams collection' and will follow suit with his fellow Inkling, Owen Barfield, soon. The Inklings (the group, their sources from Norse & Old English to the Golden Dawn) lorded over by Tolkein & Lewis, is an endlessly intriguing section of the Shop. Our restored Charles Williams include The Descent of the Dove (A Short History of the Holy Spirit in the Church) (Regent College)$44-95; Outlines of Romantic Theology (Apocryphile Press), $45; The Place of the Lion (Regent), novel, $38-95; Collected Plays [intro. by the late John Heath-Stubbs](Regent),$49-95. A good introduction to "the mentor of Eliot, Lewis & Sayers"[D. Steere] is Mary Mcdermot Shideler's The Theology of Romantic Love : A Study in the Writings of Charles Williams (Wipf&Stock),$49-95. The same publisher gives us Barbara Reynolds' The Passionate Intellect : Dorothy L. Sayers' Encounter with Dante, $55. From Harper is Sayers' The Complete Stories, nearly 800 pp, $33-95. Two ancestors of the Inklings, certainly of Tolkein & Lewis, are George MacDonald & William Morris. We're happy to have The George MacDonald Treasury, ed & publ by Glenn Kahley, a 650 page whopper, $49-95; and two from Aegypan Press by Morris, The Wood Beyond the World, $21-95, & The Roots of the Mountains, $34-95.
*
THE AVALANCHE [a.k.a. New Australian Poetry]
Suzanne Edgar, The Painted Lady (the latest from Ginninderra's INDIGO imprint), arrives with blurbs from L Murray & J. Owen, $21-95.
Three from the astonishing ginormous SALT : Dennis Haskell's All the Time in the World, $33-95; Paul Hetherington's It Feels Like Disbelief, $24-95; Nicolette Stasko's Glass Cathedrals : New & Selected Poems, $39-95.
Geoff Page, hot on the heels of Agnostic Skies (FIP),$18-95, presents Lawrie & Shirley : The Final Cadenza : A Movie in Verse (Pandanus),$19-95.
Two of the last titles Ron Pretty will see through to press are Michael Sharkey's The Sweeping Plain (FIP),$21-95 (which follows History : Selected Poems, 1978-2002, with FIP) and Louise Crisp's Uplands (FIP),$21-95, her first larger collection since Ruby Camp ten years ago.
Judy Johnson's verse novel Jack, enthusiastically blurbed by Dorothy Porter, who should know about such things, $24-95 from Pandanus.
Kerry Scuffins, Litmus (FIP), her 6th, $18-95, more often heard (like winning the Dorothy Leadbetter Poetry Cup for instance) than seen.
Claire Gaskin's A Bud, one of the new John Leonard Press series, $21-95, continues its splash on the local scene.
Of recent self-produced books Alan Murphy's Somnambulent in Wetlands, $15, collecting published & unpublished poems, a song, some autobiographical material including Raffaella Torresin's splendid portrait from Melbourne poets' exhibition, is recommended.
The Best Australian Poems for 2006, ed. Dorothy Porter (Black Inc) has become a popular anthology, and John Leonard's New Music : An anthology of Contemporary Australian Poetry (FIP), $29-95, five years on is a showcase good as any (everyone from Elizabeth Campbell, b.1980 to Rosemary Dobson, b.1920)...
--April 21st,2007
Jump three centuries : We have Randall Jarrell back on the shelf. The Complete Poems (FSG), $42-95; No Other Book : Selected Essays (Perennial),$31-95; Poetry & The Age (FSG), $45; Randall Jarrell's Book of Stories (NYRB), $27-95 (great anthology, the introduction alone worth reading). While we're in the jays there's The Selected Poetry of Robinson Jeffers (Stanford), $65, in Tim Hunt's definitive edition containing long narratives & shorter poems.
Delighted to find Louise Bogan's The Blue Estuaries : Poems 1923-68 (FSG), $27-95, still available. And it's an occasion of that once-or-twice-a-year that the Complete Poems of e.e.cummings, 1904-62 (Liveright), hb, $95 is in stock. (Selecteds & others, ditto.)
The hb T.S. Eliot Complete Poems & Plays, $85, sometimes seems unavailable but is currently in stock. Coincides with the slim series Cambridge Introduction to T.S. Eliot, $29-95. (Other volumes so far include Yeats, Joyce, Beckett.) Speaking of Eliot, we have a new & elegant hb edition of The Private Devotions of Lancelot Andrewes (trsl by Cardinal Newman), $60. Whilst in that neck of the woods there's John Donne : Man of Flesh & Spirit, $29-95; and in the English Monarchs series from National Archives press, James I, The Masque of Monarchy by Travers, $39-95; James II, the Triumph & the Tragedy by Callow,$39-95.
We've recently scooped something resembling 'the Charles Williams collection' and will follow suit with his fellow Inkling, Owen Barfield, soon. The Inklings (the group, their sources from Norse & Old English to the Golden Dawn) lorded over by Tolkein & Lewis, is an endlessly intriguing section of the Shop. Our restored Charles Williams include The Descent of the Dove (A Short History of the Holy Spirit in the Church) (Regent College)$44-95; Outlines of Romantic Theology (Apocryphile Press), $45; The Place of the Lion (Regent), novel, $38-95; Collected Plays [intro. by the late John Heath-Stubbs](Regent),$49-95. A good introduction to "the mentor of Eliot, Lewis & Sayers"[D. Steere] is Mary Mcdermot Shideler's The Theology of Romantic Love : A Study in the Writings of Charles Williams (Wipf&Stock),$49-95. The same publisher gives us Barbara Reynolds' The Passionate Intellect : Dorothy L. Sayers' Encounter with Dante, $55. From Harper is Sayers' The Complete Stories, nearly 800 pp, $33-95. Two ancestors of the Inklings, certainly of Tolkein & Lewis, are George MacDonald & William Morris. We're happy to have The George MacDonald Treasury, ed & publ by Glenn Kahley, a 650 page whopper, $49-95; and two from Aegypan Press by Morris, The Wood Beyond the World, $21-95, & The Roots of the Mountains, $34-95.
*
THE AVALANCHE [a.k.a. New Australian Poetry]
Suzanne Edgar, The Painted Lady (the latest from Ginninderra's INDIGO imprint), arrives with blurbs from L Murray & J. Owen, $21-95.
Three from the astonishing ginormous SALT : Dennis Haskell's All the Time in the World, $33-95; Paul Hetherington's It Feels Like Disbelief, $24-95; Nicolette Stasko's Glass Cathedrals : New & Selected Poems, $39-95.
Geoff Page, hot on the heels of Agnostic Skies (FIP),$18-95, presents Lawrie & Shirley : The Final Cadenza : A Movie in Verse (Pandanus),$19-95.
Two of the last titles Ron Pretty will see through to press are Michael Sharkey's The Sweeping Plain (FIP),$21-95 (which follows History : Selected Poems, 1978-2002, with FIP) and Louise Crisp's Uplands (FIP),$21-95, her first larger collection since Ruby Camp ten years ago.
Judy Johnson's verse novel Jack, enthusiastically blurbed by Dorothy Porter, who should know about such things, $24-95 from Pandanus.
Kerry Scuffins, Litmus (FIP), her 6th, $18-95, more often heard (like winning the Dorothy Leadbetter Poetry Cup for instance) than seen.
Claire Gaskin's A Bud, one of the new John Leonard Press series, $21-95, continues its splash on the local scene.
Of recent self-produced books Alan Murphy's Somnambulent in Wetlands, $15, collecting published & unpublished poems, a song, some autobiographical material including Raffaella Torresin's splendid portrait from Melbourne poets' exhibition, is recommended.
The Best Australian Poems for 2006, ed. Dorothy Porter (Black Inc) has become a popular anthology, and John Leonard's New Music : An anthology of Contemporary Australian Poetry (FIP), $29-95, five years on is a showcase good as any (everyone from Elizabeth Campbell, b.1980 to Rosemary Dobson, b.1920)...
--April 21st,2007
Sunday, April 8, 2007
COLLECTED WORKS BOOKSHOP TOUR
Through the bead curtains (unobtainable nowadays it seems) and up to the desk (that is, the counter). A small table display of recently received books. A small cabinet of magazines, pamphlets, chapbooks. The flat top usually features the latest Australian Book Review, Blue Dog, & some mini books. Small revolving stand holding back numbers of Rob Riel & Judy Johnson's WAGTAIL series of poetry tasters featuring contemporary Australian poets. They're up to number 60 or so now; recent poets include Chris Wallace-Crabbe & Robyn Rowland. $3 a pop. Along the wall to the left of the desk if you're sitting at it or to the right if you're facing it is the American section. Closest to the desk is BEATS & CO, four packed small shelves including a New York School section. Final two shelves is the African-American selection. Next section is called EMILY & CO, that is classical American literature (Dickinson, Emerson, Thoreau, Poe, Melville) followed by a chronological series of 20C authors. Different species of Modernism; 30s Realism; Objectivism; Pound, Eliot et al. Two shelves called AMERICAN CRITICISM (a title political types find amusing for some reason). From then on along the wall is the alphabetical sequence of American poets, Ammons, Ashbery, Auster & so on all the way to the Wrights (CD, Charles, James) & Zukofsky. Running along the top shelf of the entire section is an American Fiction selection.
On the small wall at the end of the room, if one was looking from the bead curtain, below picture board on which a signed James Dickey poster is pinned in a collage of photos & handbills, there's a small Canadian section & a Native American selection. Adjacent three tall shelves house a Professional section (dictionaries, how-to-dos), English-language poetry & prose Anthologies, Australian poetry & prose Anthologies. Around one goes past a cabinet of
special liitle books, collectibles etc and onto the far wall dominated by the AUSTRALIAN POETRY section. To its left is a tall ASIA-PACIFIC set of shelves (poetry, fiction, political & literary studies). The alphabetical Australian poetry sequence is followed in quick succession by Australian lit crit, biographies, history & society, the INDIGENOUS Australian literature, then Australian Fiction selection, Australian Classics, and a small but not insignificant NEW ZEALAND section. To its right a set of shelves devoted to Post-Colonial literary studies and various shelves of poetry & prose from the CARRIBEAN, AFRICA, the MIDDLE EAST, SOUTH AFRICA.
On the other side of the room if one were standing with one's back to the American section is the wall of EUROPEAN literature. Beginning with anthologies & literary & political studies from various European countries, one proceeds to the alphabetical sequence of European Poetry & Prose. It's more of a selection than the kind of comprehensivity of the American & Australian sections. From Akhmatova to Jelinek, from Junger to Zweig. Next is the IRISH section, prose & poetry combined. And then the British section divided into Scottish, Welsh & English divisions. Sharing thesecond English shelving is the BRITISH CLASSICS section, chronologically arranged, Chaucer to Hardy via the King James, Blake & the Lakes poets. Alongside is a section including BLOOMSBURY writers, THE POWYS FAMILY, LAWRENCE(DH) & CO, and some British Modernism. One could carry on around into the PHILOSOPHY section but before that one could turn at right angles into the main room for the THEATRE section and various small holdings of ROCK N ROLL, POLITICS, ART, FILM, MUSIC. On the other & blind side of these shelves are various subsets of Philosophy & History of Ideas. Off-centre in the room is a double-sided cabinet containing on the Theatre & etc facing side, FANTASY literature & its subsets, for example THE INKLINGS and their sources from the Norse & Arthurian Mythos to various histories & esoterica; DECADENT literature, a SCI-FI selection. On the other side of the double cabinet are the SOUTH AMERICAN section and the CHINESE, JAPANESE, KOREAN section (with a selection of Buddhist literature, Haiku & etc).
Here & there are other cabinets & shelves featuring NATURE, the kind of British selection the name SHIRE might evoke (from Noel Coward's lyrics to Chesterton, Belloc, Williamson & co), a FIRST WORLD WAR selection, and ever changing NEW TITLES selection.
By now one should be ready to perch on a stool or relax in a chair and take it all in!
MOBILE PHONES ARE DISCOURAGED AS IS THE DRINKING OR EATING OF STICKY FOOD. Not trying to emulate Borders bookshops we are not in favour of lying on the floor to read or to read books cover to cover. It is, after all, a bookshop in the old fashioned way.
April 8th, 2006
On the small wall at the end of the room, if one was looking from the bead curtain, below picture board on which a signed James Dickey poster is pinned in a collage of photos & handbills, there's a small Canadian section & a Native American selection. Adjacent three tall shelves house a Professional section (dictionaries, how-to-dos), English-language poetry & prose Anthologies, Australian poetry & prose Anthologies. Around one goes past a cabinet of
special liitle books, collectibles etc and onto the far wall dominated by the AUSTRALIAN POETRY section. To its left is a tall ASIA-PACIFIC set of shelves (poetry, fiction, political & literary studies). The alphabetical Australian poetry sequence is followed in quick succession by Australian lit crit, biographies, history & society, the INDIGENOUS Australian literature, then Australian Fiction selection, Australian Classics, and a small but not insignificant NEW ZEALAND section. To its right a set of shelves devoted to Post-Colonial literary studies and various shelves of poetry & prose from the CARRIBEAN, AFRICA, the MIDDLE EAST, SOUTH AFRICA.
On the other side of the room if one were standing with one's back to the American section is the wall of EUROPEAN literature. Beginning with anthologies & literary & political studies from various European countries, one proceeds to the alphabetical sequence of European Poetry & Prose. It's more of a selection than the kind of comprehensivity of the American & Australian sections. From Akhmatova to Jelinek, from Junger to Zweig. Next is the IRISH section, prose & poetry combined. And then the British section divided into Scottish, Welsh & English divisions. Sharing thesecond English shelving is the BRITISH CLASSICS section, chronologically arranged, Chaucer to Hardy via the King James, Blake & the Lakes poets. Alongside is a section including BLOOMSBURY writers, THE POWYS FAMILY, LAWRENCE(DH) & CO, and some British Modernism. One could carry on around into the PHILOSOPHY section but before that one could turn at right angles into the main room for the THEATRE section and various small holdings of ROCK N ROLL, POLITICS, ART, FILM, MUSIC. On the other & blind side of these shelves are various subsets of Philosophy & History of Ideas. Off-centre in the room is a double-sided cabinet containing on the Theatre & etc facing side, FANTASY literature & its subsets, for example THE INKLINGS and their sources from the Norse & Arthurian Mythos to various histories & esoterica; DECADENT literature, a SCI-FI selection. On the other side of the double cabinet are the SOUTH AMERICAN section and the CHINESE, JAPANESE, KOREAN section (with a selection of Buddhist literature, Haiku & etc).
Here & there are other cabinets & shelves featuring NATURE, the kind of British selection the name SHIRE might evoke (from Noel Coward's lyrics to Chesterton, Belloc, Williamson & co), a FIRST WORLD WAR selection, and ever changing NEW TITLES selection.
By now one should be ready to perch on a stool or relax in a chair and take it all in!
MOBILE PHONES ARE DISCOURAGED AS IS THE DRINKING OR EATING OF STICKY FOOD. Not trying to emulate Borders bookshops we are not in favour of lying on the floor to read or to read books cover to cover. It is, after all, a bookshop in the old fashioned way.
April 8th, 2006
Wednesday, April 4, 2007
BEST LITTLE POETRY BOOKSHOP ON THE PRAIRIE
...so they say. Maybe this life I'll still get to visit the States and check out the San Francisco, New York, Boston, LA, and I dont know where else, bookstores. And that goes for Europe too. This life I certainly visit some of the British bookshops (though Charring Cross Road that was is now only part of London lore)... But, Collected Works, the bookshop of Poetry & Ideas, tries to be first cousin of the great poetry/ the great literary bookshops of the world. Rephrase that, because this is the age of the mega bookstore and we're never going to compete with those : we're first cousin of the great LITTLE bookshops of the world, the little specialists. And I'm thinking English speaking world : must be fabulous bookstores in Europe, Latin America and other parts of the world....
Half of the stock of our bookshop is a book of poetry or a book directly related to poetry. The rest of the shop consists of literary fiction, some biography & criticism, a professional section (how to do/s, guides, dictionaries) from Americans like Mary Kinzie, Kenneth Koch, Nathalie Goldberg & Harold Bloom to Aussies like Kate Grenville, Kevin Brophy, Ron Pretty, Kevin Hart (now," is he an Aussie, is he? was he?" who sang that?) and such British as Paul Hyland, Chris Emery, Terry Eagleton & Stephen Fry.... Then there is a philosophy section (ancient & modern), a bit of psyche ("Mind's Matter"), some old & new speerituality; there's a Nature section, theatre, art, music, film...But in no way a general bookstore. Thus, POETRY & IDEAS, poetry & its affinities... Wow, what a range! I delight myself. (I remember Bill Matthews of the excellent secondhander, City Basement Books on Elizabeth St Melbourne, advising me 20 years ago? that I mustnt stock my shop according to my own taste; that would cause me the booktrade equivalent of the sickness unto death (that's my paraphrase)...But I knew no better, and anyway wanted to play and wanted the world to come in , in their ones & twos, and play with me (so to speak)... And so they have! We survive! 1984 to 2007! Astonishing for amateurs, enthusiasts, dilletantes!
And who are the ubiquitous "we" (some of whom can spell better than others)? There's me, Kris Hemensley, who manages the Shop, coordinates its literary activities & etc, in the Shop every day except my rostered Wednesday off (home to write sir, at the double!); Retta
Hemensley, who moonlights as a kindergarten assistant when not at the Shop, creative in every way ; and Cathy O'Brien,day job teacher/ night job artist & writer, who came on board around 86 and was my deputy when I ran away three months at a time in those days to England, but these recent years lives & works in Laos.
And what of the Bookshop's past heroes & heroines (all of whom had some vital connection to local Melbourne writing to qualify as group members)? Well, important indeed to mention Robert Kenny, whose idea it was to have a shop which might house the fruits of the labours of the government assisted employment project (the Small Publishers Collective) back in 1984; he's an academic historian nowadays, a poet & prosewriter once upon a time, editor & publisher... Just prior to dissolution the group included Jurate Sasnaitis (now Greville Street Bookshop), Des Cowley (at the SLV), Nan McNab (freelance writer, editor), Pete Spence (poet, collagist, mail-art/ist extraordinaire), Rob Finlayson (a literature officer in W.A. in recent years), Michael Loosli (in the Sydney booktrade now)... But, oh, many, many men & women, worthies all...
Someone should write a history....
--Kris Hemensley, April 2007
Half of the stock of our bookshop is a book of poetry or a book directly related to poetry. The rest of the shop consists of literary fiction, some biography & criticism, a professional section (how to do/s, guides, dictionaries) from Americans like Mary Kinzie, Kenneth Koch, Nathalie Goldberg & Harold Bloom to Aussies like Kate Grenville, Kevin Brophy, Ron Pretty, Kevin Hart (now," is he an Aussie, is he? was he?" who sang that?) and such British as Paul Hyland, Chris Emery, Terry Eagleton & Stephen Fry.... Then there is a philosophy section (ancient & modern), a bit of psyche ("Mind's Matter"), some old & new speerituality; there's a Nature section, theatre, art, music, film...But in no way a general bookstore. Thus, POETRY & IDEAS, poetry & its affinities... Wow, what a range! I delight myself. (I remember Bill Matthews of the excellent secondhander, City Basement Books on Elizabeth St Melbourne, advising me 20 years ago? that I mustnt stock my shop according to my own taste; that would cause me the booktrade equivalent of the sickness unto death (that's my paraphrase)...But I knew no better, and anyway wanted to play and wanted the world to come in , in their ones & twos, and play with me (so to speak)... And so they have! We survive! 1984 to 2007! Astonishing for amateurs, enthusiasts, dilletantes!
And who are the ubiquitous "we" (some of whom can spell better than others)? There's me, Kris Hemensley, who manages the Shop, coordinates its literary activities & etc, in the Shop every day except my rostered Wednesday off (home to write sir, at the double!); Retta
Hemensley, who moonlights as a kindergarten assistant when not at the Shop, creative in every way ; and Cathy O'Brien,day job teacher/ night job artist & writer, who came on board around 86 and was my deputy when I ran away three months at a time in those days to England, but these recent years lives & works in Laos.
And what of the Bookshop's past heroes & heroines (all of whom had some vital connection to local Melbourne writing to qualify as group members)? Well, important indeed to mention Robert Kenny, whose idea it was to have a shop which might house the fruits of the labours of the government assisted employment project (the Small Publishers Collective) back in 1984; he's an academic historian nowadays, a poet & prosewriter once upon a time, editor & publisher... Just prior to dissolution the group included Jurate Sasnaitis (now Greville Street Bookshop), Des Cowley (at the SLV), Nan McNab (freelance writer, editor), Pete Spence (poet, collagist, mail-art/ist extraordinaire), Rob Finlayson (a literature officer in W.A. in recent years), Michael Loosli (in the Sydney booktrade now)... But, oh, many, many men & women, worthies all...
Someone should write a history....
--Kris Hemensley, April 2007
Monday, April 2, 2007
SHORT HISTORY OF COLLECTED WORKS BOOKSHOP
Here we are in our 24th year! The major change since inception, when we were located in Smith Street, firstly on the Collingwood side of the street, next to the Last Laugh Restaurant, and then on the Fitzroy side, near to the Birmingham pub on the corner, has been the dissolution of the collective with which the Shop began. I should say, the last of the Collective since from the beginning there were always members dropping out. We were in Smith Street from '84 to end of '86 when we removed to the interim address of the maison Hemensley in Urquhart Street, Westgarth. The Shop's founder, Rob Kenny, had just vacated the loft at the bottom of the small suburban property and this allowed young Tim Hemensley to take it over and for the Shop to install its shelves in his little bedroom! I wonder what the post office thought as they delivered boxes & sacks of books from local & overseas suppliers! Viewings were on Tuesdays when yours truly was always home. Happily in 1987 the Hemensleys' acquaintance from New Theatre days of the late 1960s, Mark Edmonds of Book Affair, suggested the shop rent a space along the corridor of the 1st Floor at Flinders Way Arcade where his second-hand bookshop was situated. He'd also interested Arthur Hyland to set up the latest incarnation of Hyland's Military & Transport Bookshop on the corridor. Very soon there were three bookshops in the Arcade, later joined, tho for varying lengths of time, by Sainsbury's Secondhand, Santo's Sports Books, and briefly stores run by Paul Perry (ex- City Basement) & David Williams (whose Alchemical Vision bookshop stocked Jungian literature). Ah, those were the days! (Though, who ever realizes at the time?)
We enjoyed 12 years at Flinders Way Arcade before the property developers moved us on. Hylands & Collected Works moved to one of the Council of Adult Education's basements, at 256 Flinders Street, opposite Flinders Street Station, and were there in the damp & gloom (only joking!) from 1999 to the end of 2002. Another gang of developers moved us on again, this time to our present home on the 1st floor of the Nicholas Building at 37 Swanston Street on the corner of Swanston & Flinders Lane. You could say that since we moved to the City in 1987, we've managed to stay on the block of Flinders Lane & Flinders Street. And though we're officially at 37 Swanston, I feel we're back home in the Lane again!
I'll add to this COLLECTED WORKS BOOKSHOP HISTORY from time to time. Enough at this point to welcome visitors to the blog and also invite visitors to the bookshop in the famous Nicholas Building. One quick story though : the late, lamented Vali Myers told us ,when we were in the Basement at 256 Flinders, that we should get out of there ("darling") and come up to her building, the Nicholas. We had no idea that this would ever happen but circumstances led us there! An enormous shame then that Vali died before she could visit us on the first floor.
C'est la vie.
--Kris Hemensley, April 2nd, 2007
We enjoyed 12 years at Flinders Way Arcade before the property developers moved us on. Hylands & Collected Works moved to one of the Council of Adult Education's basements, at 256 Flinders Street, opposite Flinders Street Station, and were there in the damp & gloom (only joking!) from 1999 to the end of 2002. Another gang of developers moved us on again, this time to our present home on the 1st floor of the Nicholas Building at 37 Swanston Street on the corner of Swanston & Flinders Lane. You could say that since we moved to the City in 1987, we've managed to stay on the block of Flinders Lane & Flinders Street. And though we're officially at 37 Swanston, I feel we're back home in the Lane again!
I'll add to this COLLECTED WORKS BOOKSHOP HISTORY from time to time. Enough at this point to welcome visitors to the blog and also invite visitors to the bookshop in the famous Nicholas Building. One quick story though : the late, lamented Vali Myers told us ,when we were in the Basement at 256 Flinders, that we should get out of there ("darling") and come up to her building, the Nicholas. We had no idea that this would ever happen but circumstances led us there! An enormous shame then that Vali died before she could visit us on the first floor.
C'est la vie.
--Kris Hemensley, April 2nd, 2007
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