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Fay Zwicky

Fay Zwicky has published eight books of poetry, the most recent of which is Picnic (Giramondo, 2006). She has also edited several anthologies of Australian poetry, published a book of short stories, Hostages (FACP, 1983) and a collection of critical essays, The Lyre in the Pawnshop (UWAP, 1986). Her awards include the NSW Premier's Award, the WA Premier's Award, the Patrick White Award and the Christopher Brennan Award.

Crawling Across Tram Tracks: Extracts from Volumes 5 & 6 of Fay Zwicky’s Journal

Posted on June 1, 2014 by Fay Zwicky

Fay Zwicky tells the story that in the early weeks of 2005, in the aftermath of the Indian Ocean tsunami, she was invited as one of WA’s ‘Living Treasures’ to write a public poem about the disaster, and to read it at the opening of the Perth International Arts Festival. She declined. It was too soon, she thought. This was ‘not a time for poems’ – was it? But already the politicians had weighed in with their ‘fine abstractions’ and preachers were parading their concern. Perhaps it was important, after all, to come out and speak with the words of the tribe about ‘true guilt’ that is ‘tongueless’.

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