π.O.

π.O. (Pi.O.) is a legendary figure in the Australian poetry scene. Born in Greece and brought up in Fitzroy, he is a chronicler of Melbourne and its culture and migrations, and a highly disciplined anarchist who has worked as a draughtsman for forty years to support his art. He is a publisher and editor, and the author of many collections, including Fitzroy Poems, Big Numbers: New and Selected Poems, and the epic works 24 Hours, Fitzroy: The Biography, and HEIDE. Published by Giramondo in 2019, HEIDE won the 2020 Judith Wright Calanthe Award and was shortlisted for the Prime Minister’s Award for Poetry. His latest book is The Tour (Giramondo 2023).

Titles

Poetry

192 pages
Paperback, 21 x 14.8 cm
Published August 2023
ISBN 9781922725769

The Tour stands as a chronicle of the difficulties and triumphs of performance poetry, of which Pi.O. was one of the pioneers, long before it became the popular form it is today.

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Poetry

560 pages
Paperback, 23.4 x 15.3 cm
Published October 2019
ISBN 9781925818208

An epic poem about history, painting, painters, patrons – from Louis Buvelot to Tom Roberts and Arthur Streeton to Vassilieff, Sidney Nolan, Albert Tucker, Joy Hester, the Boyds, Mirka Mora, and Albert Namatjira, with a particular focus on the artists gathered around Sunday and John Reed at Heide in Melbourne. Heide is about the Australian preoccupation with landscape, the dominance of a masculinist aesthetic, the sidelining and denigration of Indigenous art, the struggle of women artists to assert their influence and presence, and the impact of migration on Australian culture. It is a long poem made up of almost 300 poems, each bringing to life characters and incidents that are fleshed out in vivid detail and with a dramatic intensity unique in Australian poetry.

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Videos

A conversation between poet PiO, and Giramondo Publisher, Ivor Indyk, about PiO's Judith Wright Calanthe Award-winning book Heide. Hosted by Readings, 2020.