Welcome to Recent Work Press
Founded in 2015, Recent Work Press is a small press imprint based in the ACT, Australia. We publish mainly poetry and other short-form textual work. We proudly publish a diverse range of authors from Australia and internationally, aiming to make all our work available in attractive, paperback editions.
Editorial Board
From 2020, Recent Work Press instituted an editorial board allowing us to streamline our manuscript assessment processes.
Penelope Layland
Penelope Layland is a Canberra poet. She is a former Associate Editor of The Canberra Times and a former member of the Editorial Board of Pandanus Press (ANU). She has been a member of the Literature Peer Review Committee for ArtsACT and has been Poetry Reader for Canberra Times.
Martin Dolan
Martin Dolan is a poet and recovering public servant. He serves as a board member of Australian Poetry as well as being involved in several poetry-related organisations across Australia. He is a PhD candidate in creative writing at the University of Canberra where he is researching how the processes of memory are reflected in techniques of lyric poetry. His second collection of poems, Peripheral Vision (RWP), was published in 2018. His third collection, Sleeping Dogs, was published in 2020.
Lisa Brockwell
Lisa Brockwell lives on a rural property near Byron Bay. Her poems have been published in The Spectator, The Canberra Times, The Weekend Australian, Meanjin and Best Australian Poems. She was runner-up in the University of Canberra Vice-Chancellor’s International Poetry Prize in 2015 and highly commended in the Bridport Prize in the UK. Earth Girls was published by Pitt Street Poetry in 2016 and commended in the Anne Elder Award. www.lisabrockwell.com
Es Foong
Es Foong is astounded to be a poet, flash fictionista and spoken word performer living in Melbourne (Naarm). Their poetry has been included in Australian Poetry Journal, Cold Mountain Review and Audacious 4, Melbourne Spoken Word’s audio journal. On-stage, they are the poetic analogue of heavy-metal karaoke. Off-stage, they eat identity labels for breakfast. They live online at waffleirongirl.com and instagram @waffleirongirl.
Anita Patel
Anita Patel’s collection of poetry, A Common Garment (Recent Work Press), was published in 2019. She has had work published in The Canberra Times, in Conversations (Pandanus Press, ANU), in Block 9, Burley Journal, Cha: An Asian Literary Journal, Demos Journal, Mascara Literary Review, Not Very Quiet Journal, Cordite Poetry Review, Backstory Journal, Other Terrain Journal, Pink Cover Zine, FemAsia Magazine, Plumwood Mountain Journal, Eucalypt: a tanka journal, The Blue Nib Literary Magazine(Print Issue 42), in Australian Poetry Anthology Vol. 8 and in the anthology, What We Carry, (Recent Work Press).
Her poem “Women’s Talk” won the ACT Writers Centre Poetry Prize in 2004 and her poetry was selected for and published in Australian Book Review’s States of Poetry ACT, 2018.
She has performed her work at the Canberra Multicultural Festival, Poetry on the Move Festival, Noted Festival, Floriade Fringe Festival, In Other Words Festival, Queensland Poetry Festival, at Smith’s Alternative and at Word in Hand, Glebe.
Phillip Hall
Between 1987 & 2014, Phillip worked as a teacher of sport & camps throughout regional NSW, Far North Queensland & the Northern Territory. He designed sport & Outdoor/Environmental Education programs designed to teach emotional resiliency, cooperative group learning, safe decision-making & respect for Country. In late 2014 some unresolved mental health issues reached a crisis, & he suffered a breakdown which resulted in a period of hospitalisation & the end of his career. In late 2015 he retreated to Melbourne’s Sunshine where he could concentrate on his recovery while ‘working’ as a writer. Phillip has completed (via external/part-time studies) a Doctor of Creative Arts at Wollongong University where he researched Australian poetry, contemporary place theory, ecocriticism & postcolonialism. For many years Phillip has published his poetry, reviews & essays in such spaces as: Antipodes, Best Australian Poetry, The Blue Nib, Cordite Poetry Review, Meanjin, Meniscus, Plumwood Mountain, Overland, Southerly, Verity La & Westerly. His books include: Sweetened in Coals (Ginninderra), Borroloola Class (IPSI), Fume (UWAP), Cactus (Recent Work Press) & (as editor) Diwurruwurru: Poetry from the Gulf of Carpentaria (Blank Rune Press). Phillip is a passionate member of the Western Bulldogs Football Club (& a foundation member of Bulldogs Pride). And in his spare time, he publishes the poetry e-journal, Burrow: https://oldwaterratpublishing.com
Shane Strange
Shane Strange’s writing has appeared in various print and online journals in Australia and internationally. He is the author of two chapbooks Notes to the Reader and Dark Corner. His first collection of poetry All Suspicions Have Been Confirmed was released in late 2020. He was festival director of the Poetry on the Move poetry festival from 2018-2020. He is publisher at Recent Work Press and artistic director of Queensland Poetry.