Launch of Reaching Light by Robert Adamson with guest poets

Following the success of the release of renowned Australian poet Robert Adamson's latest collection, Reaching Light, Flood Edition (2020), comes the launch of the book.

Returning for a special poetry event at the Brett Whiteley Studio, AGNSW, four diverse poets come from four different geographic landscapes to read new work from their recent collections in celebration of Adamson's latest work.

Readings from Robert Adamson, Devin Johnston (USA), poet, editor and publisher of Flood Editions, Sarah Holland-Batt, poet, editor and critic, and Michele Seminara, writer, poet and editor.

An in-conversation with Adamson and Devin Johnston is programmed. Wendy Whiteley will provide a welcoming address, and a host introduction by Beatrice Gralton, Senior Curator of the Brett Whiteley Studio, AGNSW. The afternoon will be facilitated by Angela Stretch, Director, Poetry Sydney.

Reaching Light, Selected Poems by Robert Adamson, is published by Flood Editions and signed copies will be available at the Studio. Attendance has a restricted capacity and is by registration only.

The poetry event is presented by Poetry Sydney, Flood Editions in association with the Brett Whiteley Studio, AGNSW. Free admission is made possible by J.P.Morgan.

Featured poets:

Born in 1943, Robert Adamson lives with his partner, photographer Juno Gemes, on the Hawkesbury River to the north of Sydney. Over the past five decades, he has produced twenty-one books of poetry and three books of prose. He has been awarded the Christopher Brennan Prize for lifetime achievement, the Patrick White Award, and The Age Book of the Year Award for The Goldfinches of Baghdad (Flood Editions, 2006). His most recent book is Reaching Light: Selected Poems (Flood Editions, 2020).

Sarah Holland-Batt is a poet, editor and critic, and Professor of Creative Writing at QUT. Her most recent books are Fishing for Lightning (UQP, 2021), a collection of her poetry columns for The Australian newspaper, and The Jaguar (UQP, 2022). Among other honours, she is the recipient of the Prime Minister’s Literary Award for Poetry. She is presently the Judy Harris Writer in Residence at the University of Sydney’s Charles Perkins Centre.

Devin Johnston is the author of seven books of poetry, including Mosses and Lichens (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2019). His first book, Telepathy, was published by Paper Bark Press in Australia in 2001. He has published two books of prose, Creaturely and Other Essays (Turtle Point Press, 2009) and Precipitations (Wesleyan University Press, 2002). He lives in St. Louis, Missouri, where he works for Flood Editions, an independent publisher, and teaches at Saint Louis University.

Michele Seminara is a writer, poet and editor. She has published four books, her most recent being Suburban Fantasy (UWA Publishing, 2021), and has appeared as a panellist, performer and facilitator at numerous literary events and festivals Australia-wide. Michele has been the managing editor of online creative arts journal Verity La since 2014 and is the media and communications manager for Canberra Writers Festival.