At the age of seventeen, Mike Ladd began reading his poetry at Adelaide's renowned Friendly Street and his poems started appearing in local and national publications. His first book The Crack in the Crib was published in 1984 followed by eight collections of poetry and prose. Mike was the editor of ABC Radio National's highly respected Poetica, which ran for eighteen years. He currently works for Radio National's features and documentary unit, and he and his partner Cathy Brooks have been running projects that put poems on street signs as public art. Mike is a poetry mentor, judge, and also a reviewer for the Sydney Morning Herald. Over the past two decades he has given poetry workshops and masterclasses in every state and territory of Australia. Mike Ladd lives in Adelaide.
Cathy Brooks is a South Australian artist working across the fields of graphics, painting, photography and mixed media installation. She is actively involved in community and urban arts projects often using recycled materials and collaborative processes.
She graduated from the South Australian School of Art in 1980 with a BA in photography and sculpture and completed a Master of Visual Art and Design in painting in 2007 at UniSA.
Since the 1980s Cathy has had multiple solo and group exhibitions. Her work is held by the Art Gallery of New South Wales, the Mortlock Library and in private collections.
admineversion
'I loved this book for its many facets and for the beauty of its poetry and poetic prose. I give it a five star recommendation.' - Ian Lipke, M/C Reviews
admineversion
'A richly detailed story of one man's walk through an area we all know about, but do not really know.' - Fran Knight, ReadPlus
admineversion
'His love of poetry shines out on every page … This is a gentle, leisurely book … a social and natural history of the river, as well as a collection of personal observations along the way … A gem of a book.' - Robert Willson, Canberra Times
admineversion
'Wakefield Press, and particularly Mark Thomas, should be congratulated for the quality of the book's design and production. Its paper stock presents Cathy Brooks' numerous photographs well, which is sadly not always true when images are included in books. While that can be an understandable budget decision, the pictures are critical to the book, as Ladd's words converse with them so directly, and they are served well. On every non-photo spread, each with generous margins, there is a graphic image of a watercourse snaking across one side. The overall effect is of a pleasant unity of purpose.' - InDaily