Island 130 launch. Gwen Harwood Poetry Prize

Island

Island launch Issue 130:TASMANIA NOW & announcement of the Gwen Harwood Poetry Prize

Ethos Eat Drink, Sunday, September 30, 4.30, free event

Tasmania is the most vibrant, interesting and observed state in the country right now and in upcoming issue of Island you’ll find a considered, controversial and entertaining overview about the metaphorically hottest state in Australia right now.

Join the Island crew for an afternoon of fine tucker, tipple and revelry Tasmania-style at 4.30 at Ethos on Sunday, September 30 to celebrate the launch of issue 130: TASMANIA NOW.

Judy Tierney, ABC radio and TV journalist will be in conversation with author of Pedder Dreaming and director of the Inglis Clark Centre for Civil Society, Natasha Cica. and Gig Ryan, poetry editor for The Age and one of the judges for the 2012 Gwen Harwood poetry prize will be present for the announcement by of the 2012 winner by sponsor, Hobart Bookshop.

In this issue you’ll find the MONA backlash and Tasmania’s cultural cringe torn apart by subversive culture columnist Rebecca Fitzgibbon; inaugural recipient of the Sydney Myer Creative Fellowship and director of the Inglis Clark Centre for Civil Society at UTAS Nastasha Cica examines Tasmania’s place in the world; and Tasmanian Times editor James Dryburgh asks why the Pontville Immigration Detention Centre was closed, despite widespread support.

New fiction from one of Australia’s best novelists Danielle Wood touches the gentle and irreverent response that Tasmanians sometimes experience as our lands are recolonised.

Emerging writer Ben Walter’s work The Angels is a strange and dark tale of the island being eroded from inside out, and new poetry from Jennifer Maiden, Nate Mackey and Richard Tipping is sure to rock the international poetry boat.

The magazine will be available at the launch and in stores from October 10.

The launch is free but reserve your place island.magazine@utas.edu.au