KARDOORAIR PRESS

Kardoorair Press was established in 1979, primarily as an outlet for poets based on the Northern Tablelands, New England Region of New South Wales or writers with an affiliation with the region. The Press was to be the publishing arm of the already established (1975) Kardoorair Poetry Society: set up by a group of far flung external students of literature at the University of New England. For the first few years the Society maintained contact through a roneoed newsletter. By 1979 founding member, Anthony Bennett, had a regular community radio show and ran a monthly series of readings at the Wicklow Hotel in Armidale. In 2000 Kardoorair was formalised as a trust with Anthony Bennett, Stephen Reading, Anne Gilbert and Tom Maxwell as directors.

Kardoorair's first publication Loose Federation was released in January 1980 and featured the work of Michael Sharkey and Julian Croft. Croft subsequently was a Commonwealth Poetry Prize winner and Sharkey a much published poet and respected literary critic. Kardoorair now has over 60 publications and in 2005 has or will publish the following titles: Mortifications and Lies (poems Chris Mansell), the fascination of what's simple (poems of Bill Tibben), Write Across New England (poetry and short prose of young writers), Emerging Voices 2005 (poems of emerging writers), Never Whistle in the Dressing Room (a history of the Armidale Playhouse and theatre productions by Judith Lamb), The Last Word (200 years of Australian Epitaphs by Lionel Gilbert), Legitimation and The State (essays on the critical condition of freedoms under the Government's anti-terrorism measures edited by Graham Young). Kardoorair has or will also reprint two titles: The Easy Writer (a grammar and essay writing text for university students by Winifred Belmont and Michael Sharkey) and, The Context of Teaching ( a text for student teachers edited by Peter Ninnes and Tom Maxwell).

2006 will see the publication of several books of diverse nature. Wooli Reflections by first time writer Jean Ensbey is a biograhical recount.