AustLit

'This lousy year, while the world has been ravaged, Australia’s remoteness has rendered our experience utterly singular. Fire Flood Plague, brainchild of the Copyright Agency, begins with a bleak time line that gives us ample opportunity to digest the pummelling we’ve been meted: “January 14: With fires raging across NSW and temperatures reaching 49ºC, Premier Gladys Berejiklian declares a state of emergency. Air quality in Melbourne is the worst in the world.” For this anthology, Sophie Cunningham curates a coterie of writers who help to shift the political discourse and emphasise just how rapidly it needs to advance.' (Introduction)

'It’s typical of Clive James to leave us an anthology of poems he knows by heart that is eccentric and compelling in equal measure, with an introduction that will charm you, even if you’re dumbfounded by his selections.' (Introduction)