Magdalena Ball

Cathedral – Gums at twilight by Brian Purcell

I’m delighted that my new poetry collection, Exotic Matter, will be published in Feb 2027 by Liquid Amber Press.  Liquid Amber press is rapidly becoming one of the most exciting poetry publishers in Australia with an excellent design and editorial team and a terrific list of poets. I’m so pleased to be working with them and joining this high-calibre group. I’ve just had the cover reveal and I’m very excited about it – not sure I can post it up here just yet (soon…soon), but like the image to the right, it features a stunning Brian Purcell image.

One of the many nice things about poetry is that it tends not to have a use-by date for publishers. It stays out there and you never know who will pick it up or when (often with fiction you have a limited window to be ‘new’ and then it’s rarely sent out or even read unless it’s a classic or you win a prize and your back catalogue gets promoted).  Flying Islands, of which I am Vice President, has a brilliant subscription model and for a very reasonable price ($100 a year) you get all new (8) books in the series plus 2 from the back catalogue. The lovely Jonathan Shaw, himself a poet and reviewer of small poetry presses received my 2018 book High Wire Step in the last batch he got as one of the back catalogue items and has graciously reviewed it here:

Magdalena Ball’s High Wire Step

My fellow writer and interviewer extraordinaire Ed McManis invited me to participate in his fun project Sugar Frosted Koans. Koans are meditations from Zen Buddhism that transcend rational thinking. Along with a dozen or so other poets, we were invited to contribute 2-5 Sugar Frosted Koans in McManis’ invented form of three stanzas with a repeating introductory line: “In Heaven…” with a volta or some twist or turn (I had Laurel Near’s very strange song from Eraserhead stuck in my head the whole time I worked on this project).  The book is now out on Amazon here and I’m pleased to be a part of it (I believe I’m the “Maggie Pops” on the cover):  Sugar Frosted Koans