AustLit

'Fiction is fantasy – or, at least, popular fiction is preoccupied with the fantastical. Wish fulfilment. A life less ordinary. Some sort of magic to free us from the prison of the mundane. A shape-shifting wizard/cat with markings mimicking her spectacles. The announcement of a new and exciting identity for the first-person hero – I, me, myself – a being somehow cognate with the reader who experiences life vicariously through the authorial magic trick of vivifying a fictitious character. Hey, presto: “You’re a wizard, Harry!”' (Introduction)

'Fiction is fantasy – or, at least, popular fiction is preoccupied with the fantastical. Wish fulfilment. A life less ordinary. Some sort of magic to free us from the prison of the mundane. A shape-shifting wizard/cat with markings mimicking her spectacles. The announcement of a new and exciting identity for the first-person hero – I, me, myself – a being somehow cognate with the reader who experiences life vicariously through the authorial magic trick of vivifying a fictitious character. Hey, presto: “You’re a wizard, Harry!”'  (Introduction)

'Since 2015, Recent Work Press has published a consistently high standard of poets with years of accomplished adventure including Paul Hetherington, Peter Bakowski, Anne Casey, Damen O’Brien, Phillip Hall, Anne Elvey, Jennifer Compton, Rico Craig, Heather Taylor-Johnson, Cassandra Atherton, Jen Webb, Adrian Caesar, and so many others. Initially, it was Canberra-oriented but has extended its author base to include national and international poets. Also, it considers the work of newer poets such as the following with forthcoming debut collections: Ally Chua, Es Foong, and Thabani Tshuma. Shane Strange, the founder of the press, explains the impetus in an interview with Rosanna Licari of StylusLit (Issue 11) as:,,,' (Introduction)