Author Bios

Janice M. Bostok is an award winning poet who mostly writes in the Japanese forms. However, she also writes other verse and short stories. She edits for Paper Wasp and the e-zine Stylus and judges for Yellow Moon Magazine.

E-mail: janbos@dodo.com.au
http://members.dodo.com.au/janbos/
Amongst The Graffiti, Collected haiku & senryu, with a foreword by William J. Higginson
available from PostPressed: @ www.postpressed.com.au

Rowan Donovan, second born of five sons, was orphaned at an early age, when birth separated him from his mother. Now after fifty celestial orbits of the sun, he finds himself living in parallel worlds of co-existence that redefine schizophrenia. Torn between his fervent acceptance of all things preached by masters Po and Kan and his addictive drive to make money to pay bills, Rowan has developed numerous unsightly skin complaints of the literary psoriasis kind. His need to scratch the itch of having to write every hour of the day does not satisfactorily explain his long periods of writer’s block that sees him do both badly. Rowan lives in a self-imposed state of reclusivity, surrounded by Sheena’s Gold, that insulates him from the big, bad world. By day he earns filthy lucre, teaching generations of prepubescent school children to speak a language once described by Jesuit priests as, “the devil’s tongue.” He is still to realize his dream of committing financial suicide by winning lotto big time!
Rowan is a Speedpoet and a member of the Synaptic Graffiti Collective.

Kim Downs is a writer, musician, technician, and sculptor. Originally from the USA, he emigrated to Australia in 1980. His poetry features in many small press magazines both in the USA and Australia. He has been the featured reader at over 100 festivals and readings including Writers at the Rails, Stand-Up Poets, Maleny-Woodford Folk Festival, Montsalvat National Poetry Festival, The Brisbane Poetry Festival, the Brisbane Writer's Festival and the Austin International Poetry Festival. Kim's first published novel, Jippi, was launched at the 2000 Brisbane Writers' Festival. Another novel, The Brazen Heavens is currently being marketed.

Liam Guilar claims to be the only lute playing, kayaking medievalist to have been smuggled across the Kazak border in an apple truck and arrested and deported from Samarkand. All this occurred in 1993 during the first Australian kayaking expedition to enter what was then Soviet Central Asia. In somewhat calmer waters, his poems have appeared in various places and his first book, The Poet’s Confession, was published by Ginninderra press in 2000. His second collection, I’ll Howl Before You Bury Me has recently been published by Interactive Press.

Liz Hall-Downs has been reading and performing her writing in public since 1983. She has been a featured poet at countless venues across Australia, has toured in the USA, and has had work published and broadcast on TV and radio in both countries. Her newest poetry collection, Girl With Green Hair, was published in October, 2000.
She holds a BA from Deakin University (Victoria) with major studies in Professional Writing & Literature. In August 2001, she was a recipient of a month-long Writers' Fellowship at Charles Sturt University to work on a new collection of poetry, My Arthritic Heart. She recently completed an MA in Creative Writing from the University of Queensland and is working on a realist novel, The Death of Jimi Hendrix.

Rin Healy lives in Kelvin Grove, Brisbane. She considers herself an ordinary anybody you see wandering the streets of that city. Her radio show "Earwigs and Airdoos" airs on radio 4ZZZ102.1FM on Tuesdays between 9am and Midday.

Sarah M. considers herself a "survivor of the psychiatric system". She writes poetry reflecting her inner world and is inspired by the philosophies of Buddhism and Taoism. Her featured selection in Primary Condition reflects her experiences as a mental health consumer and challenges the chemical focus of psychiatry.

Graham Nunn is a Brisbane based writer and founding member of local performance group speedpoets www.speedpoets.zap.to Currently he edits and produces the monthly speedpoets zine. His work has been featured in ezines such as Get Underground, Retort Magazine, Vibewire, Slamming The Sonnet, Ink Magazine and Stylus Poetry Journal; print zines/papers Run Panic Bight, The Westender, Tsunami and speedpoets and in the anthologies Text Messages, From the Anabranch, Small Packages and Love and Fear. He has appeared at: Queensland Poetry Festivals (2001, 2002, 2003); Straight Out Of Brisbane Festival (2002 and 2003); Triple Z’s - Joint Effort (2003); the Brisbane Writer’s Festival (2003); New and Selected (2001-2) and Orphic (2003). His words have been described as caustic and surreal. Graham has also recently joined the Synaptic Graffiti Collective

Kathleen Romana is an author, poet and illustrator who currently resides in Austin, Texas. Her poetry has appeared in numerous anthologies including, Austin Poets for Peace 2003. She is the author and illustrator of two published volumes of art and poetry: Dreamscapes and Other Wanderings and Thy Kingdom Come. A fine exhibition of Kathleen’s work can be viewed online at:

100 books published-new one-THE RIGHT TO GIVE!(Dec 2003)
15 Cds
2 CD books-PEACE4YOU and ICONS OF CONSCIOUSNESS
35 tapes of improvised poetry and music collaborations.
Thom is a troubadour at large in your world.
He is available for positive poetic perambulations for an exorbitant fee!

Matthew Cooper

Matthew is an unpublished writer and also a computing professional in his thirties. He aspires to one day be recognised for writing quality works of fiction. Matthew is usually seen around Brisbane with a novel in his hand.

Peter Macrow

Peter Macrow was born and lives in Hobart, Tasmania, Australia. His published work includes haiku and longer poems, book reviews and fiction. There is a selection of his poetry in the Tasmanian Poetry Showcase
at The Write Stuff (www.the-write-stuff.com.au)

Bridh Hancock

Bridh Hancock is a creative writer and science aficionado. He is a musician and poet with interests in Natural Science and Astronomy. Since the early 1970s, he has been writing continuously and self-critically lyrics for his music, which became poetry for the enjoyment of all. Rhythm and rhyme are important to him, because they are part of the music than can be in language and should be in poetry, but there is more to poetry than consonance. Subjects for his poetry come from life, reading, poetry, thought, his Christian faith, and from the world and universe within and about him.

Jen Thompson

Jen Thompson writes poetry, prose and scripts. She will probably write anything except corporate newsletters and political speeches. Her home in Oura Village, on the banks of the Murrumbidgee, is a well kept secret.

Stefanie Petrik

Stefanie Petrik performs regularly with the Speedpoets (speedpoets.zap.to)she is currently making a film (with fellow speedpoet Fakie Wilde), on the subject of poets and poetry in Brisbane. Her work appears regularly in the Speedpoets zine and will feature in their forthcoming anthology.

Duncan Richardson

Duncan has published poetry and short stories in magazines and broadcast them on radio since 1982.
He has published two poetry books and one literary guide to Brisbane. He has also served on committees of Qld Poets, QWC and Fellowship of Australian Writers including two years as FAW President. His editorial work covers poetry, fiction and non-fiction and he conducts workshops in poetry and fiction. He's currently performing a verse play for kids called Damien Tyrannosaur in a prehistoric swamp near you. A Children&Mac226;s adventure story book is due for release in 2004.

Pym Schaare

Pym Schaare was born in Smargendorf, Berlin, and migrated to Australia as a young child. Pym's early interest in the dramatic arts led to writing and performing poetry. Her Master's degree in Applied Linguistics led to an exploration of the dynamics of language.
Her first poetry collection "since then" was published in 1997 by postpressed. two moon was taken from her recent work, Mutual Orgasm, coauthored with Judy Rose and released in March 2004 by postpressed.

Francoise la France

Francoise la France is an intense, committed poet, in her late 20s. Francoise says: "Let my selection of words work for you. Punctuation is overrated, so I minimize it. Let the mind of the reader do all the work of making a poem of my selection. Let the reward be theirs. For me, 'Vapor' is about drinking hot tea, and 'Islands' is about Australian immigration. Francoise' poems can also be found on Whistling Pig Music and The Writers Hood.