By Rebecca JessenPoetryUniversity of Queensland Press
Ask Me About the Future
Full of zest and flair, Jessen's poems map constellations of desire, loss and longing. Riffing on the future (which isn't what it used to be), dating apps, despair, Bonnie Tyler, Taylor Swift and the lesbian Bachelorette, they are set in interstellar queer utopias, maternity wards and single beds.These are poems of sly surprises, radical vulnerability, dark-edged humour and vast originality. Following Jessen's award-winning verse novel, Gap,this collection confirms Jessen as one of the most engaging and talented writers of her generation.
Rebecca Jessen
Rebecca Jessen is the award-winning author of the verse novel Gap (UQP, 2014). She is the recipient of the Queensland Premier’s Young Publishers and Writers Award, the Queensland Literary Award for Best Emerging Author, the State Library of Queensland Young Writers Award, and an AMP Tomorrow Maker grant. She has also been shortlisted for the Arts Queensland Val Vallis Award and the Sisters in Crime Davitt Award for Best Debut Book.
Judges’ report
Ask Me About the Future is an acutely intimate and forthright journey through the many manifestations and difficulties of love. Jessen expertly weaves together lived experience and the social-political dimensions of gender and sexuality through a broad array of poetic forms. Invigorating in its unpredictable accumulation of themes and textures, the collection encompasses online dating, familial love and vulnerability, queer utopias, reality TV, biting satire on the marriage equality debate, and richly sorrowful lyrics of anxiety and trauma. These captivating poems are affirmations, both devastating and joyful.
Extract
An extract from Ask Me About the Future is available here.
The Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards shortlist
