Coral Carter asked me to launch her new book of poetry in Port Augusta. The first launch was in Melbourne and the third in Perth. Coral spent her early years in Port Augusta and I first met her when we both worked at the Remote and Isolated Children's Exercise.
It was a bit daunting writing a speech for an audience of mostly writers ......
Decended from Theives
Here it is.... after much patient waiting by
many of us.. Coral Carter's first BOOK of her written works
!! Yay!!
Coral has had work published on line and in
journals. But this is the first of her books.
A little gem .... And I have the
honour of launching it here in Port Augusta..... Thank you For asking me Coral.
I First met Coral As a work mate back in the
days when we worked for RICE -The Remote and Isolated Children's Exercise. They
were surreal days, larger than life, Full of interesting experiences .....
Coral contributing to many of them...... There are enough ex RICE ies here this evening to recreate the old RICE BUSH BAND.... remember the days when we travelled to Kingoonya by train singing all the way.
Back in those days Coral made a statement with
her 80s fashion flair....and the hair
doos ... ;-)) Red and purple with shaved zig zags.
It was evident even then that Coral had a view
of the world that was intense, probing, and often confronting but laced with
humour ...
Coral now lives in Kalgoorlie but the Port Augusta connection is … she is the daughter of Pat and Tom Carter
and spent quite a few years in this town
before she headed off into the world.
Pat has kept us informed about most of Coral's
adventures over the years..
AND...
According to Pat ... Coral has always
been a writer. It runs in the family...... Along with thieves and suffragettes.
For years she has kept notes
...... descriptions, conversations, expressions, the things we think
are mundane are potentially subject matter for her work.
As you read Decended from Thieves you will
chuckle to yourself, or well up with tears or cringe with anticipation as you
hear familiar turns of phrase from the parallel lives we all lead.
Coral engages in groups and forums
surrounding herself with others of like interest and surfs the world of
poetry. She practices her craft constantly, fine tuning it, building her
repertoire and her skills.
And here we are today with this little gem.
Decended from Thieves.
Here you will meet Coral and her friends and
family; acquaintances; people observed from a distance and
intimately.....
You will probably recognise yourself somewhere
among the pages.
People ...... in Places that seem
familiar.... snippets of life... and death.... crafted
expertly ...... leaving indelible images .... each verse
begging to be read ..... just once more.
Thanks for bringing your work to your old home
town Coral…….lets launch it and get on with the conversations….
