AustLit

'In Infernal Topographies, Graeme Miles traverses mythology, landscape and notions of selfhood to reveal moments of approachability and tenderness that are rare in Australian poetry. The poems are not so self-referential, nor overtly ambitious. Miles wants to get lost in the musicality of the moment, or the surrender of a second, and so his poems tend to read like reflections on an event that would have otherwise been lost to the everyday eye. Such is the charm of his words. When one reads Infernal Topographies, one reads them not to witness an act of innovation, or sound and image taken to completely new directions, but to meditate on one singular Tasmanian’s relationship to selfhood and tradition.' (Introduction)

'This memoir begins in a somewhat shriveled corner of the world—Kolkata and a little boy, young Chris Raja, who is learning the meaning of his surname. The reason Rajatnaram has been shortened to Raja is simple enough. It was a hard name for the people at the convent to pronounce, and so Chris's grandfather changed it to make it easier on them. It is not Chris's parents who are telling the seven-year-old boy the origins of his surname. Rather, an auntie, who is in the middle of spilling a bunch of other family secrets, feels like telling this one as well. Chris's father only comes out in the middle of the scene, to interrupt: "What are you saying?" he asked. "Some things are best left alone" (5).'  (Introduction)

'While it was a mainstay of early 20^th century writing, the styles, tendencies, and structures of social realist literature went out of vogue fairly quickly. Perhaps it is because of the proselytising nature of such texts, or because works of only one particular vision or message tend to lose freshness on multiple reads. Nonetheless, we live in a time where plenty has gone awry, and the world needs stronger voices yet. From the pages of Towards the End, it is clear that Ali Alizadeh aspires to be one such voice. He is eager to observe the hypocrisies and toxicities of an Australia connected to the global economy, and he aspires to use poetry as a space to right his country’s wrongs.' (Introduction)