Follow-up books, albums and sporting premierships are traditionally known to be daunting. Having said that, we think we’ve outdone ourselves with Issue Two of Kalliope X.

Indigenous Australian fathers have copped it bad lately. To balance a wrong, author Thomas Mayor edited Dear Son, a book of letters by First Nations men addressed to their sons. It is an important contribution to the conversation about fatherhood and race. Tyree Barnette’s personal meditation takes pride of place in our second outing.

Meaningful writing builds empathic sensitivity in readers. This is precisely what Sara M. Saleh and Effie Carr achieve in our Fiction section with excerpts from their respective forthcoming novels. Amra Pajalic presents a powerful memoir about a beloved stepfather and mental illness.

Tasos Denegris, the ‘Greek Beat poet’, is our feature bard. Continuing the journal’s polyglot aims, we dive into further poetic realms with Helen Jia’s Mandarin translation of Nikos Nomikos, also presented in Greek and English. Jia also contributes her own poetry. Myron Lysenko’s poems about Chornobyl resonate with Russia’s invasion of the Ukraine. (Lysenko’s new collection is contemplated in Reviews.) Bringing up the lyric rearguard are Benjamin Theolonious Sanders (IQ), Nathanael O’Reilly and Irina Frolova.

Our co-editor Angela Costi recently published the essay ‘Among the Chaos’ in The Victorian Writer (March – May 2022 issue). It’s about writing spaces she has had over the years. We continue the journey with other writers as a regular column, also entitled Among the Chaos.

And don’t forget we are open for submission. Click here for details.

See you in six months.
Kalliope X