Press Release

Melbourne Subjective: An Anthology of Contemporary Melbourne Writing will be launched at the Melbourne Athenaeum Library at 5.30 pm on Thursday August 14th.

Kevin Brophy will read his stream-of-consciousness prose poem ‘Memory, Nausea, Sydney Road’

and Antoni Jach will present his innovative mixed genre fiction, ‘Film Stills from “Luminescence”: a Moving Picture.’

When the Cartridge Family, a group of emerging writers, received a grant from the City of Melbourne to publish an anthology showcasing their own writing and that of some of the best established Melbourne writers as well as other emerging writers, they were thrilled.

‘We felt the concept of collective writing about Melbourne was a good one,’ said Patricia Poppenbeek, leader of the group. ‘Melbourne is a City of Literature, after all, and there are very few anthologies of Melbourne stories. The city of Melbourne is often invisible in our literature. Plus, Melburnians are passionate about their city. And we thought the idea of having a mix of writers was a good one. But we were still stunned when we got the grant!’

Between them, the Cartridges have won prizes in several competitions and have been published in the Herald Sun, ABR, Overland, Griffith Review, Island, Australasian Science, Tirra Lirra, the Romance Writers of Australia anthology, Little Gems—and in a tram. Collectively, they won the Fellowship of Australia’s 2008 award for an anthology. However, they felt frustrated. ‘It’s difficult to get anything short published unless you’re Cate Kennedy or a famous genre writer,’ said Patricia.

‘We invited several well-known writers to contribute, and to our amazement they all accepted. So we’ve got original work from Kevin Brophy, who sent a prose poem about Sydney Road; Antoni Jach, who I think has created a whole new sub-genre in his story about a lost film; a new narrative poem by multi-award winning poet Alan Wearne; a lyrical essay by Age journalist Helen Elliott about Paris and Melbourne; a subtle piece by Chris Wheat about performance artist Leigh Bowery which is both poignant and hilarious; and an essay about how Melbourne can become a permanently livable city by the eminent futurist, Peter Ellyard, which we’re hoping every Councilor will read!’

Somewhat embarrassingly, several of the ‘emerging’ writers whose submissions were accepted turned out to be extremely ‘emerged’. These included Age journalist Jane Sullivan with a gothic piece set in the Marvellous Melbourne era titled ‘Jonas Scott get his head read’; novelist Nick Gadd with his non-fiction story about a Melbourne ‘ghost sign’; plus poets Peter Bakowski, Chris Ringrose, Gayelene Carbis and Cassandra Atherton. However, there are also plenty of pieces by genuinely emerging writers.

The result is Melbourne Subjective: an anthology of contemporary Melbourne writing. The Melbourne emerging from the pages of this quirky anthology is a not the smooth, airbrushed presentation of the city offered to the tourist; rather, it is a series of individual responses, experiences and visions of writers who live, or used to live, here.

It is the Melbourne of our dreams, of past and present, the Melbourne of gritty, everyday reality and occasionally the city of our nightmares. Through fiction, poetry, and essays the city and its suburbs are re-imagined through the prism of individual experience, memory and imagination.

For more information on ‘Melbourne Subjective’:
Patricia Poppenbeek
0409026009
beacon01@optusnet.com.au

For information on the launch:
Geoffrey Dobbs
0407272925
gdobbs@optusnet.com.au