Thanks to everyone who came along to Collected Works last night

We heard a diverse range of poetry from many poets Five Islands Press have published over the years, including; Lisa Jacobson, Anne Elvey, Grant Caldwell, Libby Hart, Susan Bradley Smith, and Michelle Leber. Lyn Hatherly, one of our editors, also read from Ouyang Yu's Breaking New Sky. Many of our poets, including Lisa Jacobson and Susan Bradley Smith, had fond stories to share about our founder Ron Pretty and his service to poetry. Susan spoke of how he convinced her to go overseas in the space of 5 words, and Lisa of his resemblance to Father Christmas. Perhaps it was best summed up by Kevin Brophy: that Ron published over 230 books of poetry, and "nobody knows how he did it". Recounting his legacy was a fitting way to launch the inaugural Ron Pretty Prize 2014 and our new subscriptions initiative.We also displayed our arty promotional short-film for the prize, which was adapted from Richard James Allen's poem 'Twins'. Many thanks to everyone involved last night, both physically and digitally!