Caroline Reid Writes

 The Poetry Book Awards is an annual, international book award given to the best poetry book awards produced by indie writers, self published authors or books published by small, truly independent presses. I received news last week that SIARAD has been long listed for this year's award. The Poetry Book Award - long list SIARAD is published by ES-Press , an imprint of Spineless Wonders Publishing,  which truly is a small, independent press. The advantage of being published by small presses like SWP is that authors get to work closely with the publishing team. I worked alongside graphic designer BKAD (Betttina Kaiser) , and had input in all the decision making including style of book, (I love square books!) front cover, graphics and font type, as well as working closely with editor Matilda Gould. The process was invigorating and exciting, a real artistic pleasure. I didn't write and publish this book to win awards. As a team we made the book we wanted to make, a book that gave ...

 In February 2021, I was awarded second place in the Tom Collins Poetry Prize with my poem 'DEVOUR'. The Prize is presented by the Fellowship of Australian Writers (WA) and was judged by Caitlin Malin.   I wrote the poem in response to the Australia's catastrophic bushfires in 2019-2020. I spent a week in January 2021 in Cape Jervis with a view of Kangaroo Island but some days the smoke from fires was so thick it obscured the island. It was a weird, fretful time, and our Prime Minister's response did not ease the country's anxiety. my dog and I looking toward Kangaroo Island, which is on fire     I challenged myself to write DEVOUR like a collage, a form I'm experimenting with more and more. I used multiple motifs, weaving together references to literary heavyweight Patrick White, sanitary napkins, peri-menopause, Australia's Prime Minister and blue cheese. I love working this way. It's intuitive, which means you have to be led by the poem, trusting tha...