Poco book wins Express Media award February 10 2012

Our quirky book with contributions by ten young Tasmanian writers and ten young Tasmanian craft artists has won an award from Express Media, the peak organisation for young Australian writers.

I Sleep in Haysheds and Corners, edited by writer Ben Walter and myself, was named the best new project or work by young people in Tasmania.

In an unusual collaboration, short stories were paired with craft artists. We advertised a short story competition and received nearly 80 stories, from primary students to people in their late 20s. We could only chose ten, which was a difficult task.

We then gave each artist a story to which they responded with their craft – including a knitted book, jewellery with memory tokens, a leather suit and delicate letterpress designs (title pic for this blog post).

Then the talented photographic team, Kim Eijdenberg and Paul Yonna, shot the pieces and I designed the book.

Themes ranged from hallucinogenic encounters with a great white shark in an island pub to quiet reflections on formative experiences in a country hayshed.

The book, which also received a Gold Print Industry Craftsmanship Design Award, has sold most of its limited edition run. But you can probably still pick up one up from the Inscrutable Press website.

Here’s me with Ben Walter at Fullers Bookshop: