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Anthony Lynch

Anthony Lynch

Anthony Lynch lives on the Bellarine Peninsula, Victoria, where he writes poetry, fiction, and reviews. His work has appeared in The Age, The Best Australian Poems, Island, and Southerly. His short story collection Redfin (2007) was shortlisted for the Queensland Premier’s Literary Awards. His poetry collection Night Train was published in late 2011 by Clouds of Magellan. He is publisher at the independent publishing house Whitmore Press and an editor at Deakin University.

Anthony Lynch reviews ‘Mishearing’ by David Musgrave and ‘AfterLife’ by Kathryn Lomer

March 2024, no. 462 22 February 2024
Mishearing, David Musgrave’s latest, most experimental poetry collection, arose from deliberately generated ‘mishearings’ of poems he read into Microsoft Word’s 2003 in-built speech recognition software. The software was by default ‘trained’ to a North American accent. Musgrave didn’t reprogram to an Australian accent, held the microphone at changing distances from his mouth, occasio ... (read more)

Anthony Lynch reviews ‘America Or Glow: A poem’ by John Kinsella

August 2006, no. 283 01 August 2006
Peter Porter, in his introduction to John Kinsella’s new collection, notes that ‘we are all familiar with the surface details of American life. Kinsella does not have to footnote his poem: we recognise his instances immediately … We all speak American.’ Given that Kinsella now lives and works in the United States, Porter also identifies ‘the disillusion at seeing a great exemplar close u ... (read more)

Anthony Lynch reviews 'Jack' by Judy Johnson and 'Navigation' by Judy Johnson

April 2008, no. 300 01 April 2008
Narrative, historical narrative in particular, figures strongly in these recent books from Judy Johnson – one a new collection of poems, the other a welcome reissue of her verse novel. Jack was first published in 2006 by Pandanus, shortly before that imprint’s demise. It won the 2007 Victorian Premier’s Award for Poetry, and is republished now by Picador. With its lonely, embittered, one-eye ... (read more)

Anthony Lynch reviews 'Westerly Vol. 53' edited by Delys Bird and Dennis Haskell

April 2009, no. 310 01 April 2009
In their introduction, editors Delys Bird and Dennis Haskell explain that in 2009 their annual journal will become a twice-yearly publication (a move first announced in 2007, but delayed due to funding shortfalls). A new, mid-year issue will be devoted to ‘creative work’, so Westerly’s format for end-of-year reviews – surveys of fiction, non-fiction and poetry – may remain; but all three ... (read more)

Anthony Lynch reviews 'Indigo Vol. 3' edited by Sarah French, Richard Rossiter and Deborah Hunn

April 2009, no. 310 01 April 2009
As Donna Ward indicates in her editorial, the latest issue of Indigo (Vol 3., Tactile Books $27.75 pb, 200 pp) is dedicated partly to the generalist category of creative non-fiction. Ward’s editorial, structured around an anecdote concerning Helen Garner, flirts with this ‘new’ genre, employing techniques of fiction to convey factual events. But her assertion that in reading Garner we a ... (read more)

Anthony Lynch reviews 'Griffith Review 23: Essentially Creative' edited by Julianne Schultz

April 2009, no. 310 01 April 2009
One year after Kevin Rudd’s 2020 Summit, Griffith Review 23 features comment from selected summiteers in the ‘Towards a Creative Australia’ group, and others. Editor Julianne Schultz’s introduction provides a short history of support for writers and artists beginning 250 years ago when Lord Bute, the prime minister, granting Samuel Johnson a government-funded pension for life, warned again ... (read more)

Anthony Lynch reviews ‘Cultural Studies Review Vol. 15, No. 1’ by John Frow and Katrina Schlunke

September 2009, no. 314 01 September 2009
As John Frow and Katrina Schlunke state in their editorial, the diverse writing in this issue of Cultural Studies Review (Vol. 15, No. 1, Melbourne University Publishing, $29.95 pb, 220 pp) collected under the theme of ‘Homefronts’, includes essays dealing with nationhood, family, the manufacture of crisis and celebrity, neo-liberalism and homelessness. Given the space to explore complexity, m ... (read more)

Anthony Lynch reviews 'The Unhaunting' by Andrew Taylor

December 2009–January 2010, no. 317 01 December 2009
Andrew Taylor’s latest book reprises themes common to many of his earlier poetry collections – movement between the antipodes and Europe; the natural landscape; affinities with music – but also, as the title suggests, themes of haunting and unhaunting, visitation and absence. Taylor was ill with cancer in 2003, and his confrontation with death has strongly informed The Unhaunting. The book i ... (read more)

Anthony Lynch reviews 'The Best Australian Poetry 2008' by David Brooks and 'The Best Australian Poems 2008' by Peter Rose

December 2008–January 2009, no. 307 01 December 2008
A poet friend, getting wind that I was reviewing the two latest ‘Bests’ and wishing to satirise the reviewing platitudes that sometimes greet the arrival of such anthologies, offered the following advice: ‘Remember to say that both collections are a welcome addition to the literary landscape and that both editors have included some welcome new voices in Australian poetry.’ Peter Rose ... (read more)

Anthony Lynch reviews 'Frank' by Jordie Albiston

May 2023, no. 453 26 April 2023
The Australian photographer Frank Hurley, who accompanied Antarctic expeditions led by Douglas Mawson and Ernest Shackleton, proved to be an able diarist as well as a skilful and adventurous photographer. While Hurley participated in a number of expeditions – as well as serving as an official war photographer in both world wars – the late and much missed poet Jordie Albiston has drawn on Hurle ... (read more)
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