It is now October, and it is always the month in which I take stock of the year. I try to plan my work life 3 to 6 months ahead, and so in my mind, I am already done with 2018. It has been a very busy 16 months or so. I feel like I haven’t stopped. 2018 has been a huge year for me.

Mostly, I am grateful for the work I have been given the opportunity to do over 2017-2018. I am not an academic, and I don’t often write prose, or criticism. I have worried that I take from the poetry community, without being able to give back in meaningful ways.

But over the past year, I have judged several poetry competitions on a national and international level, and I have also concluded editing for Issue 26 of Rabbit poetry journal, my first ever poetry editorial. It was immensely rewarding for me to be entrusted with such a task, and I am looking forward to seeing all the fine poems in print soon.

On the publishing front, I have had a chapbook of poems, Dark Matter, of 20 new poems, published in September by Recent Work Press. It was launched alongside several other chapbooks, by Moira Egan, Keijiro Suga, Oz Hardwick, and Sholeh Wolpe at the University of Canberra’s International Poetry Studies Institute’s Poetry on the Move Festival 2018.

This brings my book family count to eight. Eight beautiful books, from Pitt Street Poetry, George Braziller, Recent Work Press, and for Map-Making, Potts Point Press.

I have tried hard, despite my judging and editing commitments, to keep at writing and publishing new poems. It is my life’s work. Some journals I have published in this year include:

‘Dog Meals’: Voice and Verse Poetry Magazine, Issue 41 (print only)

‘Windows, Singapore’: Cha Journal, Writing Singapore Issue

‘Guts’ and ‘Coins’: Ricepaper Magazine

‘Rainbow’: The Margins, by Asian American Writers’ Workshop

‘Woman, Crying’ and ‘My Mother, Painting’: The Lifted Brow, Issue 38

‘Compass’, Australian Book Review, Peter Porter Poetry Prize 2018 shortlist

‘Paper Boats’: Stilts, Issue 2

‘A Thousand Blooms’ and ‘Seeking Heaven’: Peril, Edition 33

‘Measure’, Verity La

‘My Mother Talks in Numbers’: Meanjin, Spring 2018

That’s my mum in the photo, checking my sums in my poem about her with her trusty calculator…

Something I am particularly grateful for was the opportunity to engage in a poetic dialogue with Zeina Hashem Beck at The Lifted Brow in Issue 38. It is something I will always treasure.

Also, one of the best things to happen to me this year was getting Painting Red Orchids and Rainforest reviewed by Boey Kim Cheng in the Sydney Review of Books. Kim Cheng is a mentor and friend of mine, and he has reviewed all of my full-length collections to date. His latest review of my work is expansive, generous, and incisive, and a real object lesson in the fine art of reviewing.

2019 is the first year that my book Burning Rice will be studied as part of the New South Wales’ Higher School Certificate syllabus for English (Advanced). I am looking forward to school visits to read and discuss my work with students over the next few years. Teaching will always be my first love, and I am so happy I get to interact with bright young minds, with poetry as the vehicle.

(If you are a teacher who is interested in having me at your school, please get in touch! I love school visits! I trained as a high school teacher, so I know what I’m doing in the classroom.)

I have several new poems forthcoming in various journals and magazines soon. To keep up to date with my work, you can follow me on my author Facebook page, or my Twitter account. My Instagram account is full of food photos, so if you prefer that, I will see you there!