AustLit

'In this fascinating podcast, poet and academic Bron Bateman interviews fellow poets Caitlin Maling and Reneé Pettitt-Schipp about the unexpected parallels between their recent collections, which are both tied to their fathers and to the ocean.

'Reneé’s debut collection, The Sky Runs Right Through Us, won the WA Premier's Book Award for an Emerging Writer, and recalls her turbulent time spent on the Cocos Islands during her work with asylum seekers. She talks about how being surrounded by the constant flow of the tide created an environment where she felt stuck in a state of flux – and resented the violent space that the ocean became.

'In contrast, Caitlin talks about how the ocean is a place of comfort for her, as her childhood was spent either surfing with her dad, or fishing with her stepdad. In her writing, and in particular in her collection Fish Song, the ocean underscores the stories she tells as a stable constant in her life.

'The poets discuss how, although each has a different way of articulating their experience, their stories of humanity, of love and loss, are the crucial secret to having their poetry universally understood.' (Production summary)