The Special (UQP Poetry Series) - Softcover

Stavanger, David

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0702253197 ISBN 13: 9780702253195

Publisher: University of Queensland Press, 2014

Synopsis

Both fun and playful, Stavanger's poems display wit and beguiling originality. They shift from the oddball to the vulnerable and from the zany to the deeply meditative. Stavanger's collection embodies a spirit of the post-postmodern in both intellect and spark, while playing off cool disjunctions against electrifying erudition. There is a strong trace of the performative and dramatic in these poems—Stavanger’s flair for performance poetry gives this award-winning collection a distinct and likeable flavor.

About this title

About the Author

David Stavanger is a poet who was commissioned as Queensland’s sole writer in residence in 2012 as part of the National Year of Reading. He was also Australia’s inaugural reader-in-residence based at Brisbane Square Library. As his alter ego, Ghostboy, he is a spoken word artist, who has won the Performance Poetry World Cup. He established the thriving Queensland poetry slam scene and has performed on stages around the world.

Review

“Wry, original and startling—you can find yourself in a dark mad place at 4am and it’s nice to know that Stavanger will be there to keep you company.”  —Anna Krien bestselling author, Night Games: Sex, Power and Sport and Into the Woods: The Battle for Tasmania's Forests

“The Special is really special. Haunted by lost time, lost love and lost minds, this book is like a wonderful distortion device: a whole life’s gone into it and what roars back out from the poems is manic tenderness, crazy wisdom, and a kind of surreal sincerity, all cranked up to eleven. I laughed out loud as often as I stopped to gasp at the instructions in fearlessness and devotion that Stavanger was slipping me, almost without me noticing, and certainly without him noticing, which is just the sort of unworldliness you want in a real life 21st-century sage.”  —Jacob Polley, author, The Brink, Little Gods, and The Havocs

“Perhaps the most striking feature of this collection is its capacity to surprise. Then, beyond that first sharp shock, a rippling outwards of a more reflective tenor. This brand of drama, freshness and originality make The Special a unique collection.”  —Thomas Shapcott Award judges’ comments

About this edition

• Publisher: University of Queensland Press
• Publication date: 2014
• ISBN 10: 0702253197
• ISBN 13: 9780702253195
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 96