New 2023 Australian collection Ghosts of Paradise published

November 17th, 2023

Stephen Edgar’s new collection Ghosts of Paradise is now out. The book is available from the publisher, Pitt Street Poetry. Five sample poems from this new collection (three as text and two as audio readings by the author) are available here on this site, along with external links to two video readings.

New collection coming soon

July 3rd, 2023

Stephen Edgar’s new collection Ghosts of Paradise will be out later this year from Pitt Street Poetry, Sydney, and will be announced here once it is available.

The Strangest Place wins Prime Minister’s Award

December 15th, 2021

Stephen Edgar’s collection The Strangest Place has won the Poetry category of the 2021 Prime Minister’s Literary Awards: https://www.pm.gov.au/media/prime-ministers-literary-awards-winners-2021. The book is available from the publisher, Black Pepper. Sample new poems from this collection can be read here and at the publisher’s site.

New 2020 Australian collection The Strangest Place published

December 20th, 2020

Stephen Edgar’s newest collection, The Strangest Place, is now out. It is available from the publisher, Black Pepper. Sample new poems from this collection can be read here and at the publisher’s site.

Transparencies shortlisted for Prime Minister’s Awards

December, 2018

Transparencies was shortlisted for the 2018 Prime Minister’s Literary Awards: https://www.arts.gov.au/pm-literary-awards/current-awards. Sample poems from the book can be read here and at the publisher’s site.

New 2017 Australian collection Transparencies published

April 12th, 2017

Stephen Edgar’s latest collection, Transparencies, is now out. It is available from the publisher, Black Pepper. Sample poems from this new collection can be read here and at the publisher’s site.

Exhibits of the Sun shortlisted for Prime Minister’s Awards

December 12th, 2015

Exhibits of the Sun has been shortlisted for the 2015 Prime Minister’s Literary Awards: https://www.arts.gov.au/pm-literary-awards/current-awards. Sample poems from Exhibits of the Sun can be read here and at the Black Pepper site.

This website now archived by the Australian National Library

December 7th, 2015

The Australian National Library's Pandora web archive now includes this site, at http://nla.gov.au/nla.arc-155710. A new “snapshot” of the site will be saved to the archives periodically.

Eldershaw shortlisted for Prime Minister’s Awards

October 20th, 2014

Eldershaw has been shortlisted for the 2014 Prime Minister’s Literary Awards: https://www.arts.gov.au/pm-literary-awards/current-awards. Sample poems from Eldershaw can be read here and at the Black Pepper site.

Stephen Edgar’s Eldershaw is Joint Winner of the FALS Colin Roderick Award

October 16th, 2014

The Foundation for Australian Literary Studies (FALS) has awarded the Colin Roderick Prize for best Australian book of 2013 to Eldershaw (jointly with Ashley Hay’s novel The Railwayman’s Wife). Sample poems from Eldershaw can be read here and at the Black Pepper site.

New 2014 Australian collection published

July 8th, 2014

Stephen Edgar’s latest collection, Exhibits of the Sun, is now out. It is available from the publisher, Black Pepper. Sample poems from this new collection can be read here and at the publisher’s site.

Stephen Edgar wins inaugural ACU Competition

August 31st, 2013

Stephen Edgar has won the inaugural ACU Prize for Literature (established by the Australian Catholic University) for his poem “The Dancer”. Read the poem here.

Eldershaw shortlisted for QLD award

August 31st, 2013

Stephen Edgar’s 2013 collection, Eldershaw, has been shortlisted for this year’s Queensland Literary Awards.

New Australian collection published

December 22nd, 2012

Stephen Edgar’s latest collection, Eldershaw, is now out (publication date 2013). It is available from the publisher, Black Pepper. Sample poems from this new collection can be read here and at the publisher’s site.

First American-published collection

May 11th, 2012

Stephen Edgar’s latest collection, The Red Sea  (New and Selected Poems), is published this month and can be ordered online from the publisher, Baskerville Publishers (USA). Sample poems from this new collection can be read here.

2011 Dorothy Porter Poetry Prize

October 22nd, 2011

Stephen Edgar’s poem “All Eyes” is joint winner (with Fiona Britton’s “Fairy”) of the Dorothy Porter Poetry Prize for 2011. The prize is awarded annually by Meanjin for the poem judged the best published in that journal over the preceding twelve months. This year’s judges were Andrea Goldsmith and Kristin Henry. 

The page linked above includes the text of the poem, an essay on its composition, and the author’s recorded reading.

History of the Day wins Prize

March 24th, 2010

History of the Day has won the William Baylebridge Memorial Prize for 2009.

Sydney Morning Herald on “Murray Dreaming” in The Best Australian Poems 2009

January 13th, 2010

“...the form and content are in concert; they act together to produce their effects.”
— Richard King, whose essay in the Sydney Morning Herald of 9 January discusses two recent “best of” Australian anthologies, quoting from one (The Best Australian Poems 2009, Ed. Robert Adamson) a stanza of Stephen Edgar's “Murray Dreaming”. The poem was first published in Poetry (Chicago) in November 2008 and can be read here.

History of the Day reviewed in Poetry

January 12th, 2010

“... Edgar must be on the short list of the best living practitioners of verse, rhymed or blank. His remarkable poems have been a highly rewarding discovery for me.”
— Joshua Mehigan in his review of History of the Day in Poetry (Chicago), January 2010.

New collection published

May 7th, 2009

Stephen Edgar’s latest collection, History of the Day, is now out. It is available from the publisher, Black Pepper. Sample poems from this new collection can be read here and at the publisher’s site.

Stephen Edgar at The Poetry Archive

March 13th, 2009

Stephen Edgar has been added (March 2009) to The Poetry Archive, a selection of poets and poems from the UK, USA and other countries, with sound files of readings by the authors. (The sound files require a player capable of playing Real Audio formats.)

The Chimaera spotlight feature

March 13th, 2009

Online journal The Chimaera Issue 5 (February 2009) features Stephen Edgar as Spotlight Poet, with numerous poems, a comprehensive interview with editor Paul Stevens, and appreciations from fellow poets and critics. Read the feature here.

Clive James on “Man on the Moon”

March 13th, 2009

In January 2009, Stephen Edgar’s prizewinning poem “Man on the Moon” was the subject of an analysis by Clive James in Poetry (Chicago) titled An Almost Perfect Break-up Poem.... The text of “Man on the Moon” is here, where you can also listen to the author’s recorded reading of the poem.