Penelope Layland
Beloved
Recent Work Press, 2022
In 1778, Dorothy Wordsworth’s mother died, and the six-year-old Dorothy was sent to live with extended family. She never returned to the family home, and it was not until adolescence that Dorothy became reacquainted with her brother William. The two formed an intense and passionate emotional bond. By 1794 they were living together from that time would rarely be physically separated for more than a few weeks at a time, for the rest of their lives.
Written in the voice of Dorothy, Beloved traces the progression of their relationship, from the ecstatic infatuation of youth onwards, drawing upon Dorothy’s diaries and letters as well as the recollections of friends and family members and literary and biographical scholarship.
Shortlisted, 2023 ACT Notable Book Awards
Things I’ve Thought to Tell You Since I Saw You Last
Recent Work Press, 2018
This award-winning volume from Penelope Layland absorbingly quizzes memory, while questioning our apprehension of time and the importance of deep human connections. These poems explore mourning and loss in a way that is salutary, affirmative, meditative and uplifting, subtly refracting our common understandings and our claims on knowledge. In these works the ghosted quotidian, like a long filigree of light, reaches out to remind us of what we value and care for.
Winner - ACT Publishing and Writing Award for poetry, 2019
Shortlisted - NSW Premier’s Literary Awards - Kenneth Slessor Prize 2019
Shortlisted - ACT Book of the Year 2019
About the Author
Penelope Layland is an award-winning poet and a former journalist, speech-writer and communications professional. Her 2018 collection Things I've thought to tell you since I saw you last was shortlisted for both the NSW Premier’s Literary Awards - Kenneth Slessor Prize 2019 and the 2019 ACT Book of the Year, and won the ACT Publishing and Writing Award for poetry in 2019.
