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Culture Night at Charlie Byrne’s Bookshop Galway

17 Sep

Linda Adiar and I will be reading a few poems on Friday night (19 September) at Charlie Byrne’s bookshop in Galway as part of 2025 Culture night. We will be reading for 5 minutes each and this will be our last reading in Ireland before returning to Australia. I am particularly exited to be reading at one of my favourite bookshops in the world!

Culture Night / Oíche Chultúir in Ireland is a national moment, celebrating culture, creativity and the arts and seeks to actively promote the belief that this rich and varied culture is alive, treasured and nurtured in people’s lives, today and every day. It is delivered nationwide in cities, towns, villages and rural locations as well as online and through our media partners. For more information you can go to https://culturenight.ie/

You can find Charlie Byrne’s at The Cornstore, Middle Street, Galway, H91AH7A https://charliebyrne.ie/

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Mark Roberts – The poetry of place, history and memory – Guest editorial, Live Encounters

10 Sep

I was honoured to be asked to write the guest editorial for the September Issue of Live Encounters. In my editorial I talk about the importance of place in poetry, and in my recent work in particular. Beyond my editorial there is great work in the issue from a plethora of my favourite writers and poets, including: Linda Adair, Mark  Tredinnick, David Rigsbee, Jordan Smith, Brian Kirk, Jane Frank, Hugh McMillan, Terry McDonagh, Angela Costi, Richard W Halperin, Anton Floyd, Phil Lynch, Indran Amirthanayagam,
Lincoln Jaques, Edward Caruso, Justin Lowe, LaWanda Walters, Stephen House, Amy Barry, Ma Yongbo, Patricia Sykes, Daphne Wilson, Gita Chattopadhyay – translations by Paramita Banerjee & Carolyne Wright and Dr Salwa Gouda.

Many thanks to editor Mark Ulyseas for the opportunity to contribute my thoughts.

You can read my editorial on-line https://liveencounters.net/2025-le-pw/mark-roberts-the-poetry-of-place-history-and-memory-guest-editorial/. 

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Mark Roberts & Linda Adair to read at Poetry Plus, Carrick-on-Suir, Co. Tipperary

7 Sep

I’m excited to be reading work from my latest collection, The Office of Literary Endeavous (5 Islands Press 2025) and Concrete Flamingos (Island Press 2016) along with my wife and co-editor of Rochford Street Review, Linda Adair, in Ireland on Friday 12 September to kick-off a new of Poetry Plus at the Brewery Lane Theatre & Arts Centre, Carrick-on-Suir, Co. Tipperary. This will be a special reading for me as my great grandmother was born just up the road in Mullinahone.

If you are anywhere in the vicinity on Friday night it would be great to see you there. Seating is limited so you will need to book at https:// www.ticketsource.com/ booking/select/pqeayjldoxqn and admission is only €10.00.

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5 Islands Press Reading at Gleebooks: Mark Roberts & Kai Jensen

5 Aug

I am excited to be reading and discussing poetry with Kai Jensen at Gleebooks this coming Sunday afternoon!

5 Islands Press is excited to collaborate with Gleebooks in this event featuring Mark Roberts and Kai Jensen, the authors, respectively, of two of our most recent publications, The Office of Literary Endeavours and The Zebra Path of Tree Light. Readings from both of these books will be complemented and enlivened by conversation between the poets about, among other things, where the poems came from and how they came to find their final shape. The event will be introduced by 5 Islands Press Managing Editor, Mark Tredinnick. Why not join us for a drink, nibbles and an entertaining and instructive afternoon?

This is a free event but registration via Gleebooks events page is essential. Click here to register.

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‘Theory of flight for two voices’ longlisted for the 2025 Liquid Amber Poetry Prize

15 Jul

 

I’m excited to have a new poem ‘Theory of flight for two voices’ longlisted for the 2025 Liquid Amber Poetry Prize. It really is an honour to be listed among the other great poets on the list (https://liquidamberpress.com.au/2025/07/14/2025-poetry-prize-longlist/). My thanks to the judges Willo Drummond, Rose Lucas and Ali Whitelock. I’m really looking forward to reading the anthology which will include all the longlisted poems.

The violence of erasure: Les Wicks launches ‘The Office of Literary Endeavours’ by Mark Roberts

10 Jul

Les Wick’s launch speech for my latest collection, The Office of Literary Endeavours (5 Island Press), is now live on Rochford Street Review. If you couldn’t make it to the launch you can see what he had to say at https://rochfordstreetreview.com/2025/07/09/les-wicks-launches-the-office-of-literary-endeavours-by-mark-roberts/

“For me, I was struck by the constant violence explored in this collection. What is remarkable is the way Mark with a deft and gentle voice recreates that violence on the page. The way he presents it makes that violence even more tangible. Impossible to disregard. It is physical in the poems shadow birds, how many more are coming and the conscription vote 1916. Economic violence is explored throughout alongside extensively the violence of erasure”.

The Office of Literary Eneavours by Mark Roberts is available from:

 

 

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Mark Roberts to read at the first Katoomba Winter Poetry Reading this coming Thursday at the Little Lost Bookshop

18 Jun

I‘m excited to be involved in setting up a new poetry reading in Katoomba at The Little Lost Bookshop (Hapenny Lane, 181 Katoomba St, Katoomba NSW 2780). I will be kicking off by reading, along with fellow Blue Mountains poet Justin Lowe, at the first Katoomba Winter Poetry Reading at 6.30pm on Thursday 19th June. There will also be an open reading.

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Both Justin and Mark will be reading from their recently published collections, San Luis, Puncher & Wattmann (Justin) and The Office of Literary Endeavours, Five Islands Press (Mark). Both books will be available to buy on the night.

Justin Lowe

Justin Lowe has been writing and publishing poetry for more than thirty years. This, his ninth collection and first with Puncher & Wattmann, is in part inspired by his formative years spent on the Spanish island of Menorca with his artist mother and younger sister. Justin was until recently editor of international poetry blog Bluepepper.

“Justin Lowe’s San Luis is a collection of veils, partly lifted or shifting in the breeze, providing glimpses of things perhaps not fully apprehended, of questions not answered. In poems that are wistful, nostalgic, remembrances, heartaches, Lowe probes a lifetime of the uncertainties of ‘this crooked little boy / with his warped view of time, / of belonging, / that never got truly mended.” – David Ades

“Such wide-ranging, strange narratives told with an ear for varied subject matter and formal structures. Tightly controlled, evocative and nuanced. An original and distinctive voice. Powerful and moving. In a word – brilliant.” – Mark O’Flynn

“Enter Justin Lowe’s San Luis, a lyric psychogeography embodying philosopher Gaston Bachelard’s observation that “inhabited space transcends geometrical space”. From a childhood spent in Spain to a life lived within the vast Australian landscape, Lowe’s poems inhabit temporal, spatial and imaginative realms with a keen, compassionate, finely crafted consciousness. These deeply human poems will find their home in you.” – Michele Seminara

Mark Roberts

For much of the last four decades, Mark Roberts has been involved in writing, criticism and publishing. In 1982, he established P76 magazine in with Adam Aitken and has been involved in small press publishing ever since. In 2011 he set up the on-line journal Rochford Street Review with Linda Adair, which has recently published its 41st issue.

The Office of Literary Endeavours is Mark’s third book, after Stepping out of Line (Rochford Street Press 1986) and Concrete Flamingos, (Island Press 2016).

“This is a book evidencing a life spent in appreciation of poetry, deep observation and participation in ecologies of many kinds. Discomfort is constant but there is succour and reprieve in kin and creative expression. The Office of Literary Endeavours is a wise and reverential book by a gentle and accomplished poet at a high point of their writing life”. –AMANDA JOY

“The poetry is carefully crafted and elegant. The subject matter wide ranging and richly brought to life within the forms Roberts has chosen. Reading through this collection has been a privilege and a delight”. –LES WICKS

“The Office of Literary Endeavours is a witty and insightful collection characterised by its lucidity. The strength of these poems lies in their interrogation of migration and colonisation through poignant familial memories that are never sentimental but always elegiac, with their critique of colonisation and account of Irish dispossession.  A feature  of the collection is  the way  it deftly navigates different moods, so that alongside the poems of migration and colonisation there are also poems about the landscape, the passion of lovers, old friendships, and favourite films. A sharply observant eye unites these poems into a cohesive manuscript of layered emotions and experiences.” –TINA GIANNOUKOS

“Roberts lends his deft touch to subjects and places both new and old, and specifically to what must always resonate as essential to the human condition–continuously, from pram to old age. In his shared memories, real and invented, ancient and modern, a jam jar or two might be shot for target practice, deadly snakes slung over wire fences, trains might be caught or missed.  Here is subject matter to engage seasoned poetry readers, as well as keen students of Australian literature and cultural history: a lively content able to both re-trace and advance, often simultaneously”. –JOHN JENKINS

“The Office of Literary Endeavours is an excellent collection of poetry that demonstrates the poet’s range, skill, talent, experience and wisdom, along with his willingness to experiment with form (including lines, stanza structures and the shape of the poem) and to engage with crucial contemporary issues (such as Indigenous and non-Indigenous relationships to country) as well as European culture and history (as demonstrated through the sequence of poems inspired by films). The book is engaging, accessible, insightful, entertaining, witty and, at times, playful”. –NATHANAEL O’REILLY

If you can’t make it to the reading you can order both books directly from The Little Lost Bookshop.

There will also be an open mic section at the reading. Spaces will be limited so if you want to read please pre-register by completing the on-line form

Reading at AVANT GAGA #74: Poetry Night at Sappho Tuesday 10 June

6 Jun

I’m looking forward to reading from The Office of Literary Endeavours this coming Tuesday night from 7pm at Sappho Books Cafe & Wine Bar, 51 Glebe Point Rd, Glebe NSW.

I’ll be reading along with Cornflake Sunset (Luke Beesley), Suneeta Peres da Costa, and Moya Costello, along with the usual open mike. Books will be on sale, but if you can’t make it and want to by a copy of The Office of Literary Endeavours you can order it directly from Rochford Cottage Bookshop by clicking here.

Further details, along with bios of all the readers, can be found Facebook event page.

The Office of Literary Endeavours – Sydney Book Launch

16 May

5 Island Press invites you to the launch of this stunning new poetry collection from Mark Roberts, co-editor of Rochford Street Review and the occasional poetry journal P76.

The Office of Literary Endeavours with be launched by Les Wicks; Angela Stretch will be your MC.
Time & Location: 25 May 2025, 3:00 pm – 4:30 pm. Benledi House, 186 Glebe Point Rd, Glebe NSW 2037, Australia.
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This is a free event but please register to assist with planning and catering  https://www. 5islandspress .com/…/ book-launch-the…/form
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If you can’t make the launch you can buy the book from https://www.5islandspress.com/…/the-office-of-literary…
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About The Office of Literary Endeavours
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“This is a book evidencing a life spent in appreciation of poetry, deep observation and participation in ecologies of many kinds. Discomfort is constant but there is succour and reprieve in kin and creative expression. The Office of Literary Endeavours is a wise and reverential book by a gentle and accomplished poet at a high point of their writing life”.
………………………………………………………………–AMANDA JOY
.
“The poetry is carefully crafted and elegant. The subject matter wide ranging and richly brought to life within the forms Roberts has chosen. Reading through this collection has been a privilege and a delight”.
………………………………………………………………–LES WICKS
.
“The Office of Literary Endeavours is a witty and insightful collection characterised by its lucidity. The strength of these poems lies in their interrogation of migration and colonisation through poignant familial memories that are never sentimental but always elegiac, with their critique of colonisation and account of Irish dispossession. A feature of the collection is the way it deftly navigates different moods, so that alongside the poems of migration and colonisation there are also poems about the landscape, the passion of lovers, old friendships, and favourite films. A sharply observant eye unites these poems into a cohesive manuscript of layered emotions and experiences”.
………………………………………………………………–TINA GIANNOUKOS
.
“Roberts lends his deft touch to subjects and places both new and old, and specifically to what must always resonate as essential to the human condition–continuously, from pram to old age. In his shared memories, real and invented, ancient and modern, a jam jar or two might be shot for target practice, deadly snakes slung over wire fences, trains might be caught or missed. Here is subject matter to engage seasoned poetry readers, as well as keen students of Australian literature and cultural history: a lively content able to both re-trace and advance, often simultaneously”.
…………………………………………………………………..–JOHN JENKINS
.
“The Office of Literary Endeavours is an excellent collection of poetry that demonstrates the poet’s range, skill, talent, experience and wisdom, along with his willingness to experiment with form (including lines, stanza structures and the shape of the poem) and to engage with crucial contemporary issues (such as Indigenous and non-Indigenous relationships to country) as well as European culture and history (as demonstrated through the sequence of poems inspired by films). The book is engaging, accessible, insightful, entertaining, witty and, at times, playful”.
………………………………………………………………–NATHANAEL O’REILLY

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Redundancy

9 May

‘By Five o’clock’ by Kevin Higgins from The Boy With No Face, Salmon Poetry 2005

 

Yes. I have been made redundant and today is my last day at a company at which I have spent the last 17 years. They say one door closes and another door opens. As Kevin Higgins once wrote:

“A universe of time for nothing but writing!”

Leaving the office this afternoon I will think of Kevin’s poem ‘By Five o’clock’, from his 2005 collection The Boy With No Face (see above). While I suspect I will end up in a better place than Kevin’s character (note: Please contact me for paid writing gigs – reviews, articles commissions etc), Higgins poem is a reminder of the viciousness which lies at the heart of capitalism.

Anyway – I’m looking forward to reading Kevin’s final collection Life Itself available from Salmon Poetry

Tomorrow, perhaps, I will share my own redundancy poem…..

 

 

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