Glebe launch of fourW twenty-nine

David Gilbey

The Sydney launch of fourW twenty-nine was held at Gleebooks, Glebe on Saturday 24th November. 

We thank all the contributors, family, and friends who attended the launch as well as the staff at Gleebooks for contributing to the success of the event and look forward to 2019 with the publication of the thirtieth edition of fourW. 




The winners of the 2018 Booranga Literary Prizes

Poetry: Andy Kissane - Sacrifice 

Prose: Dorothy Simmons - Opposable Thumbs

fourW twenty-nine was launched by Joan Phillip, retired academic, poet, and short story writer.

Joan Phillip and granddaughter Katrina

(excerpt from Joan's launch speech)

"I need a breath — to do justice to the achievements, the place of, our fourW journal in its creative landscape is challenging. I shall begin by with homage to David, who has nurtured, supported its development over these 29 years. As David always acknowledges he has stalwart support from the executive committees, editorial committees, Sandra Treble who administers Booranga with such competence, and now Kathryn Halliwell, who soothed me when David was away and I was regretting a double booking for this afternoon. But David is the abiding energy in the achievement of the Journal, which had its beginning in his commitment to community writing and art...

As I have re-read, skimmed, our collecting issues I know I cannot mention everyone, but names repeat, echo, play like arpeggios in a suite – such a wealth of voices, voices which appear across the scope of our literary journals and competitions. Where could I start, perhaps with Dorothy Simmons – I vividly remember her reading “Dumping”– I did not need to re-read it — There is Virely Dunning, Derek Motion, who leaves me in awe; Mark O’Flynn, whose writings I have presented to my classes, as I have Andy Kissane’s. Andy’s interview for Spineless Wonders is a great introduction to study of the short story. Students loved the idea of a good short story being a “kick in the guts”. It is also a joy to find contributions from two past students, Robyn Young, during her CSU undergraduate days and Sally Denshire who became a colleague but was once my student at North Sydney Girls when I was in my first years of teaching.

Sally’s writings segue to fourW twenty-nine, her meditation, “Reading the Moths” is so light, with intensive visualizations of the beauty of the moths in “the eucalypt air”, epitomizing the power of words to show us a world anew, to make us pause.

Of course, I cannot introduce this outstanding issue, which delves and deciphers so many critical issues of our times, without acknowledging that its fine achievements are in spite of straitened circumstances, the withdrawal of CSU support, not just from fourW, but from Arts in general. There is such blindness to the value of imagination, or artistic endeavours, it is heartbreaking in its blindness. All those who have worked for this journal over the years are to be congratulated for sustaining writers in these gloomy times. 

Thank goodness for David’s introducing the issue with Dickens’ famous words...it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness ...it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair ...The qualities of the writings in this journal have always belonged with wisdom and hope, with light, never more so than now."

Andy Kissane reading his Booranga Prize winning poem 'Sacrifice'

Tracie Miller, Bev Smith, David Gilbey, Steve Sharman

Bev Smith and Kathryn Halliwell