1. How would you describe Wrestling with Bees?

Wrestling with Bees is, above all, a love letter to landscape – a clear-eyed love letter written by someone who knows that neither the object of her affection nor she herself is perfect.

If that sounds too serious, it’s also a very playful collection, playing with words, ideas and forms. It begins with a song about noisy friarbirds and ends with a series of haiku!

2. What drew you to write this poetry?

The poems in Wrestling with Bees reflect my obsessions with landscapes, with memories and with art – all of which are about interpretation and attention. I’ve always been interested in how we think about the world around us, especially in Australia, where so much of our history is written into the land, from the geometry imposed by fences to the scars left by bushfire. Introduced species – and how we view them – are a recurring theme in my work.

3. Tell us a bit about the experience of writing the book…

In 2020 I was fortunate enough to receive an Anne Edgeworth Fellowship, which allowed me to work with the wonderful Canberra poet Melinda Smith as my mentor and editor to develop a full-length manuscript. I also spent 10 glorious days at ‘Blue Bucket’, near Boorowa, on a Bush Retreat for Eco-Writers, reading journal articles, writing and revising—and watching birds. Some of the poems (or seeds of poems) had been percolating in my mind for years, and the combination of the residency and the opportunity to work with Melinda gave me the creative and motivational kick I needed to bring them together into a completed manuscript.

4. Who is this book for?

This book is for people who are fascinated by our amazing Australian landscapes in all their complexity.

It’s also for people who love birds. It wasn’t until I looked at the collection as a whole that I realised how often birds have fluttered into my poems, from the black swans whose feathers artist Rosalie Gascoigne collected (and which became a motif in ‘Assemblage’, a poem I set around Lake George) to the local currawongs, magpies and koels which feature in haiku.

5. When (or where) would be the perfect time (or place) to read this book?

Outside on a verandah, with pauses to listen to the birds.

6. What do you hope readers will take from this book?

To me, poetry is all about attention. In very few words, poets focus the reader’s attention on the things that they themselves have been paying attention to. I’d love people to come away from Wrestling with Bees asking themselves about what they pay attention to in our landscapes.

7. What prompted you to start writing poetry and when did you start? 

I started writing poems in earnest a few years ago, when I could no longer ignore my instinct to capture what I see and feel in words. Slowly I began assembling my scribbled half-thoughts into something more structured.

8. One thing you’ve learned the hard way when it comes to writing poetry?

What I proudly think is a final poem is usually only the first draft! It can take me months to land a poem in its final form.

9. Best investment you’ve ever made in your writing?

Time. While mentorship and other learning opportunities have been invaluable, the time I’ve put into preparing, writing, revising and stewing over poems has been my most important investment.

10. Favourite bookshop anywhere in the world?

An impossible question – we’re spoilt enough for choice here in Canberra! I always try to look in local bookshops when I travel. A few highlights include Librairie The Bookworm, which kept me stocked with books in English when I lived in Strasbourg, El Pendulo in Polanco (Mexico City) and Atlantis Books on Santorini, both of which look and feel beautiful, and the Aladdin’s caves of second-hand bookshops such as Berkelouw Book Barn and Goulburn’s Argyle Emporium (although the scale can be as overwhelming as it is exciting). Also any bookshop selling French picture books.

Wrestling with Bees will be available in bookstores across Australia and New Zealand from October 2022 or purchase now via our online store.