Maria Vamvakinou (Calwell, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

On Wednesday, 15 March I hosted a bilingual poetry reading event in my electorate for the book This Intimate War: Gallipoli/Canakkale 1915. It is the only contemporary Australian-Turkish bilingual book of poems on the Gallipoli-Canakkale war to date.

The event was held at Ilim College, and I want to take the opportunity to thank the school for making their venue available as well as for helping to organise the event. In particular, I want to thank Executive Principal Mrs Aynur Simsirel for her support and organisation.

This Intimate War: Gallipoli/ Canakkale 1915 is a collection of poems written by Dr Robyn Rowland and translated by Dr Mehmet Ali Celikel. Its publication in Australia and in Turkey is sponsored by the municipality of Canakkale. The poems recount the Battle of Canakkale. They convey the rawness and the cruelty of war, its hand-to-hand killing, the physical closeness of its soldiers and it unmasks the deep personalisation of the propaganda of war.

This book that defines our nationhood was shocking in its violence and in its loss. These beautiful yet brutal poems reflect the experiences of Australian, Irish and Turkish men and women during the Canakkale and Gallipoli campaigns.

The collection is a moving and intimate portrait of two countries at war while being embedded in a vivid and accurate historical context. Dr Robyn Rowland's award-winning poetry is characteristically known for its honesty of feeling and its emotional impact.