AustLit

It is Christmas and the poets are celebrating. In three weeks I have attended the launch of Westerly Journal No 53 where emerging poet Meredi Ortega was highlighted, the debut of the new publisher Tactile Books where Roland Leach launched the first poetry collection of Maree Dawes, the farewell of Ray Coffey from Fremantle Press which has appointed Georgia Richter to select its poetry publications, I attended three out of the five monthly poetry readings that happen around Perth, the Wheatbelt Cultural Festival and the Christmas party for Out of the Asylum Writers' group which birthed indigo- the journal of creative writing solely devoted to the work of emerging WA writers. What follows is a diary in reverse, short notes on some of those events, to give a flavour of the vibrant world of WA poetry. (The Author)