Riverside comprises Ray Liversidge’s work over the last 21 years. It includes selections from three books of poetry, a collection of poems and flash fiction, a verse novel, a chapbook, Issue One of Triptych Poets, plus 28 new poems and flash fictions. From his first collection, Obeying the Call, Liversidge’s writing was recognised as “of a high order, reminding us of poetry’s origins in ceremony and its ability to name and locate experience” (Island Magazine, 2003).

Since then, Liversidge has experimented with various genres in a verse novel described by Jordie Albiston as a “true postmodern epic”. Using a version of the Spenserian stanza he celebrates the lives of 29 poets. In a bilingual book, he lamented the massacre of 642 people in France by the Nazis in WW2. His marriage breakdown is eloquently chronicled in a suite of poems.

Of late, he has embraced flash fiction after finding a volume by Alex Epstein at a book sale. Riverside offers the reader the opportunity to connect with or rediscover previous work and encounter new writing in this formidable addition to the Australian literary canon.

Check out Ray’s performance at the Brisbane launch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tMt7eb5U9-0