AustLit

'Kate Jennings (1948-2021) turned her hand to virtually every form of writing, from speeches and journalism to poems, novels, short stories and non-fiction. For many, her value is located beyond the literary world, and she is credited with inaugurating second-wave feminism in Australia with her 1970 speech at the Vietnam moratorium rally on the lawns of Sydney University (Moore 2021: np). As a writer, she took a while longer to make a mark. Her first poetry collection, 'Come to Me My Melancholy Baby', is far from her best work, and it was followed by fifteen years of virtual silence, during which time she developed what Erik Jensen (2017) characterises as her ruthless precision. Her only other poetry collection 'Cats, Dogs and Pitchforks' (1993), gave Jennings a national reputation as a poet; 'Snake' (1996) - a marvel of economy - might be the best work of contemporary Australian fiction not to be shortlisted for a national award but her second novel 'Moral Hazard' (2002), won a number of honours, including the Australian Literature Society Gold Medal. In this brief essay, however, I would like to focus, not on these many achievements, but on Jennings's importance as an anthologist.' (Publication abstract)