JLP Poets Win Major Awards
All four books published by JLP in 2010 were acknowledged by major literary awards. The Press congratulates each of the poets, and thanks the organisations who provide these important tributes to Australian poets and poetry.
The annual Grace Leven Prize for Poetry for 2011 was awarded jointly to three books all of them published by JLP. In the Prize’s distinguished sixty-four-year history, this is the first time that three books have been honoured together:
LK Holt for Patience, Mutiny
Petra White for The Simplified World
David Musgrave for Phantom Limb
Also, Peter Steele was awarded the 2011 Christopher Brennan Award for Lifetime Achievement in Poetry upon the publication ofThe Gossip and the Wine (JLP 2010).
Father Peter Steele SJ
With great sadness, we record that Peter Steele died on June 27, 2012. He was an outstanding presence throughout his live as a priest, a university teacher, a writer of criticism and a poet. John Leonard Press published three of his last volumes: White Knight with Beebox: New and Selected Poems; The Gossip and the Winepoems; and Braiding the Voices: Essays in Poetry. This last was published two weeks before Peter died. He was able to read it through and enjoy it.
A number of Peter’s poems from the two poetry books are reproduced on this website.
His life and work are celebrated by Morag Fraser in The beauty that was Peter Steele's mind, Eureka Street; and Brendan Byrne in The eloquence of God, Eureka Street.
Awards and Shortlistings for JLP Books 2006-2011
The following list includes national book prizes awarded to five titles: LK Holt's Patience, Mutiny, Petra White's The Simplified World, David Musgrave's Phantom Limb, Jordie Albiston's the sonnet according to 'm' and LK Holt's Man Wolf Man. Petra White's The Simplified World was shortlisted for the 2011 Judith Wright Prize in the A.C.T Awards; and was shortlisted also for the John Bray Prize in the 2011 Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature. David Musgrave's, Phantom Limb was shortlisted for the 2011 Western Australian Premier's Poetry Book Award; and was shortlisted also for the John Bray Prize in the 2011 Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature. L K Holt's Patience, Mutiny was shortlisted for the 2011 Judith Wright Poetry Prize in the A.C.T Awards.The 2011 Grace Leven Prize was awarded equally to each of LK Holt's Patience, Mutiny, Petra White's The Simplified World and David Musgrave's Phantom Limb.
Aileen Kelly
We note with great sadness the death of Aileen Kelly in October 2011. She was an extraordinary poet, and an extraordinary teacher, and a friend to the best standards in poetry. JLP published The Passion Paintings: Poems 1986-2006 in 2006. This was nearly a full collection of her work to that point. She left a sheaf of further work as yet unpublished. A number of Aileen's poems from The Passion Paintings are reproduced on this website. An obituary by Cathrine Bateson, and three favourite Kelly poems chosen by Petra White, can be read at solongbulletin.tumblr.com (So Long Bulletin).