Indrani Perera

poet, publisher & mentor

Tag: books

Pride and Prejudice

So we have a family rule for movies where we don't watch a movie until we've read the book. In theory anyway. In reality we've seen Around the World in Eighty Days, Freaky Friday, Jumanji, Never Ending Story, Princess Bride, The House With A Clock in Its Walls and The Help – all without ever having read the book. In our defence, most of the time we didn't realise they were books first until after we'd seen the movie.

But there are some movies where I think you need to read the book first. No, strike that, you must read the book first. Which is getting kind of tricky as there aren't a lot of movies that aren't based on books that we can watch that will appeal to the very different tastes of a thirteen and a seventeen year old.

Jane Austen has written so many books that have been turned into movies and tv series and I really want to watch them but we haven't read the books. I have to confess, I haven't read Pride and Prejudice either. So I've decided to revive bed time stories and read a chapter every night. That way we can all get through the book and then we'll have the fun of trying to figure out which adaption to watch first!

May 27, 2023
The Cartographer Tries to Map a Way to Zion

Hearing Pádraig Ó Tuama reciting lines of poetry by heart at the Poetry Retreat I recently attended made me want to go home and learn to speak in verse. I have a growing collection of books written by poets I have met at gigs and launches as well as ones that I have bought from a shop. Most of the time they sit on the coffee table at home for a while before I put them on a shelf to look pretty and gather dust.

Over the last few years I have been hearing lots of poetry at events and on podcasts. BBC's The Verb and Poetry Unbound being two current favourites. You can also check out my podcast, Pocketry Presents, for Australian flavoured poetry. I have also been attending loads of poetry workshops (a whopping sixty-two in the last & year's!) where I have been introduced to many new poets. But reading? Reading poetry? Not so much.

But that's all changing. Fired with enthusiasm after the first day of the workshop I went home and started searching through my shelves for The Cartographer Tries to Map a Way to Zion by Kei Miller. At the retreat, Pádraig read out Always Under Your Breath by Kei Miller and said he was one of his favourite poets. Apparently Pádraig owns all of his works.

I met Kei Miller a few years back when I was in Canberra visiting my folks and attended the Poetry on the Move festival. He was an incredible performer and I immediately bought his book. I flicked through it and read a couple of poems and then… you know what happened, right? The book went on a shelf to gather dust. Until now that is.

I'm about half way through at the moment and really enjoying the cartographer and rastaman's accounts of Babylon and surrounding lands. Miller has an ear for language and captures the two distinct voices well. If you want to hear Kei Miller read some of his poetry, check out Oracabessa.

When I was young(er) books were sacred objects to be handled with care. Don't crease the spine! Don't dog-ear the pages! Keep it looking like new. But then a few years back much to the horror of my eldest daughter, I started writing notes in the non fiction books I was reading. Highlighting phrases, writing notes in the margins. Commenting on passages. That sort of thing. After reading the introduction to Poetry Unbound: 50 Poems to Open Your World by Pádraig Ó Tuama, I decided to do the same with my poetry books. A nice way to remember my favourite lines and a record of my thoughts and feelings at a certain time.

My original plan was to read a book of poetry a week but then life got in the way. Now the aim is for one a month. Twelve books read doesn't sounds as impressive as fifty two but it's a whole lot better than none! I've been wanting to have something to do in an idle moment. A few years ago I used to take craft projects with me wherever I went and they would keep me amused while waiting. But in spite of making a wrist brace recently I'm still not making things with my hands. Now I won't be bored with this new bookish project – to read and read and read poetry!

May 25, 2023
Pas De Deux Stockist

I am so excited to announce that James and the wonderful team at Dymocks, Knox City, are now stocking copies of my latest book of poetry, Pas De Deux, as well as my first collection, Defenestration!

I'm super excited to see my books on the shelves at a bookshop and on the shelf next to Sylvia Plath. I still can't quite believe it's true!

April 28, 2021
Sing Along

Last year during lockdown I compiled a collection of songs that I learnt to sing at Firekeepers' events in and around Melbourne. Some of the songs were even learnt in online sessions when I hosted song circles with my ten year old daughter. I had a lot of fun tracking down the origins of the songs, finding their creators and the original lyrics. I also included links to audio recording where I could so anyone who reads the songbook can learn any of the songs that appeal to them. I can't read music so being able to hear a song is the way I learn it.

I printed out a copy of the songbook and bound it using some brown coloured cardboard I bought. That songbook was left with a good friend when I went to visit her so I needed to make a new copy. And being me, I decided to make a few (five actually) while I was at it. I love making more than one of something. I wanted to use some gorgeous paper for the covers and I had the brainwave of eco-dying the paper. I really don't know why I hadn't thought of it earlier.

So all that happened last year and the books have been sitting on my desk ever since. I did bind one back in February to give to a friend's daughter for her birthday but the rest have been waiting for me to get around to them. This being the impromptu weekend of craft, I finally made them into books.

I can't wait to take one away with me next week when we go camping again with the Firekeepers' community. It's been 15 month since the last camp and we're all hanging out to be back in the bush, running wild.

April 4, 2021
Books, It’s All About Books

This year for Christmas I asked for books. I went mad for books. I got a stack of books. There were lots of books.

I often ask for and receive books as presents. There's a whole world waiting for you in a book. And the best thing is, you can revisit that world whenever you want. It's always waiting for you. Oh and I just thought of another thing – you can take it with you wherever you go and it never runs out of batteries!

Mostly I ask for fiction and devour it in days. There's nothing like a good story to lift the spirits. This year, however, I mostly went for non-fiction. There's just so much I want to learn! Now what usually happens when I buy non-fiction is it sits around in the lounge for a bit, I look at the cover and read the blurb, flick through a page or two and then I put it on the shelf and never look at it again. This is terrible. All that knowledge trapped between the pages with no-one to set it free.

I decided that this year was going to be different so I've left the books on my desk in a most inconvenient place and I'm not allowed to tidy them away until I've read them. And it's worked. So far I've read Bindi by Kirli Saunders, Just My Type by Simon Garfield, and Songlines by Margo Neale and Lynne Kelly. I've started Shady Characters by Keith Houston and I've been dipping into Guwaya- For All Times: A Collection of First Nations Poems from Red Room Poetry. I'm working my way through the excellent How to Grow your Own Poem by Kate Clanchy. Of course, HollowPox: The Hunt for Morrigan Crow by Jessica Townsend and The Stolen Prince of Cloudburst: A Kingdom and Empires Book by Jaclyn Moriarty were finished long ago. They're ripping yarns, that's why!

Once I've got through all those I'll still have Arelhekenhe Angkentye Women's Talk: Poems of Lyapirtneme from Arrente Women in Central Australia, Welcome To Country by Marcia Langton, Loving Country by Bruce Pascoe and Vicky Shukuroglou and Yornadaiyn Woolagoodja to read.

As well as Book Cover Designs by Matthew Goodman, The Illustrated Dust Jacket by Martin Salisbury and The Book: A Cover-to-Cover Exploration of the Most Powerful Object of Our Time by Keith Houston and for a little light reading Selected Poems from T.S. Ellliot's. I'm a sucker for good design and this series of hardcover poetry books by famous poets is simply gorgeous.

What do you devour? Fiction or non-fiction?

January 13, 2021
Strung Together

It's a tradition in this house for my girls to make presents for their relatives. They've been making cards and Christmas presents for grandparents and aunts and uncles since they were tiny. I guess it isn't surprising given how much handmade craft happens around them although I have to say with poetry consuming so much of my time and attention lately, there's been a lot less time for craft. Although I do manage to sneak in a bit here and there.

We've been through a big phase of fabric gifts embellished with artwork – bookmarks, calico shopping bags, tea towels, aprons and t-shirts. This year my oldest girl who is becoming quite an accomplished artist is doing paintings for everyone. She works in watercolours and acrylics, drawing all sorts of things – landscapes, people and still lives.

My youngest girl had the brilliant idea of making hand bound books for everyone. Of course she wanted to make the fanciest (ie most time consuming) type. So we've been madly cutting, folding, burnishing, sewing, gluing and pressing for the last few days. I know Christmas is still a while off but I wanted to get them made nice and early. And luckily I did because when I took them into the post office yesterday to send on their merry way, the lady said it was pretty much the last day to send a package by ordinary post to get to Canberra in time.

It's quite a process and when you're making ten books in one go it can become quite tedious. My girl was starting to flag so I did a fair bit of the heavy lifting so to speak but she did take part in every step. We had some chats about why we were making things because halfway through she was wanting to quit and just go out and buy presents instead.

I've always maintained that her family spend so much time and money doing nice things for her that it's only right she should spend some of her time making things for them. Of course there's the added bonus of being able to give the people you love something beautiful you have made with your own two hands – in my opinion no store bought thing will ever have all the love you put into handmade gifts.

And really, who doesn't love handmade gifts? The wonkier the better of course!

December 12, 2020
A Cunning Plan

Well, we are still in lockdown. It's much harder the second time round. The first time I really got into the groove of creating and slowing down. It was wonderful to spend time at home, pottering around the kitchen making yummy food. Now, I'd much rather be at the beach, or in the bush. Someplace other than inside these four walls.

Part of the problem I think is that I had run out of things to do. I (mostly) cleared my desk of projects and then felt like I had nothing to do or look forward to. There's a sweet spot with creativity. Too many projects and I get overwhelmed and don't do anything. Not enough projects and I don't feel inspired and don't do anything either. Just enough projects and I happily bounce from one to the other as the mood strikes me.

Of course the much larger problem is I am missing all the connections with my friends and family and the collaborations that occur. There's not much I can do to fill that void of actually being able to see the people I love and give them a hug hug. The best I can do right now is get back into letter writing and connecting via phone.

I was feeling flat last week and so were my girls so we went and visited a book shop. I'm grateful they are considered an essential service and are still open. They are so good for the soul. We spent a happy couple of hours browsing and then I blew my book budget completely and bought all these beauties. How could I resist? Now we use these with our new art supplies!

How are you coping? What are you doing to stay sane?

July 27, 2020
Still: Books

This book contains the poem, Still: Books, that inspired my process zine, Some Thoughts About Writing A Poem For A Journal. The zine details my creative process for writing this particular poem. There's an art to writing a poem for publication. It's an art I am struggling to learn. But I keep on trying and keep piling up the rejection letters. In the meantime, I'm making books and making art with my 'failures'.

I always felt Some Thoughts About Writing A Poem For A Journal was the first volume of a two volume set of books. Volume 2 of course, would contain the poem referred to in Some Thoughts About Writing A Poem For A Journal.

After making notebooks with eco-dyed paper covers I was itching to make one containing my poetry. And here it is. If you're interested in buying one, you'll find copies of Still: Books and Some Thoughts About Writing A Poem For A Journal in my shop.

June 23, 2020
Noted

After the success of my first notebook with an eco-dyed cover I just had to make some more. Being me, I got rather carried away and used a whole pad of A3 watercolour paper to make eight A6 sized notebooks.

I feel like I'll be making more of these in future and can't believe it took me so long to get around to eco-dyeing paper and turning it into books!

June 11, 2020
A Sketchfolio

This is the first book I made from Tangle Journey: Exploring the Far Reaches if Tangle Drawing, From Simple Strokes to Colour and Mixed Media by Beckah Krahula. She calls it a sketch folio. It has nifty little pockets in which you can store paper as well as a notebook sewn into the main compartment at the back. It's such an ingenious design.

Unfortunately I didn't have any Lotka paper and the biggest size I had was A3 watercolour so my sketch folios are super small. But they're also super cute. I had so much fun making them that I ended up making three! One each for myself and my two girls.

After making them I went to sleep dreaming up variations and wondering if I could make one big enough to hold the 9x9cm zen tangle drawings I wanted to create. The answer was yes! The width of one A3 sheet of paper was enough to make a sketch folio with two pockets at the front and two on the inside.

I can't wait to fill these little folios with drawings.

May 19, 2020