Vandemonian is a detailed, impassioned poetic history of Van Dieman's land, Tasmania. Poems in a variety of voices lay out the island's early story, exploring the truths of colonisation. Forshaw blends historical fact, imagined events and contemporary reflection with religion, geography and the great unknown to produce a portrait of discovery, disenfranchisement and extinction.
“An imagination like no other, transforming the world you thought you knew”
Jon Stallworthy
“These are poems captained by a large intelligence and abundant lexical vigour, poems of voyage, exertion and discovery.”
Carol Rumens on Wake
Cliff Forshaw now teaches at Hull University. A former winner of the Welsh Academi John Tripp Award, and Blue Nose Poet of the Year, his pamphlet Wake was joint-winner of the Flarestack Pamphlet Competition in 2009. His latest chapbook, Tiger (Happenstance, 2011), about the Tasmanian Tiger, came out of his term as International Writer-in-Residence at Hobart.
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