I am deeply sad to acknowledge the loss of Melbourne-based poet Jordie Albiston, who died suddenly at the age of 60 on 28 February, 2022.

Jordie achieved an enormous amount in her writing career, publishing over 17 books. Her notable awards include the Mary Gilmore Award for her first poetry collection Nervous Arcs (Spinifex, 1991), the Kenneth Slessor Prize in 2010, and the Patrick White Award in 2019 for her contribution to Australian literature. She was a finalist for the Melbourne Prize for Literature in 2021. At the memorial event held by the Melbourne poetry community at the Wheeler Centre on 18 May, it was evident that she had touched the lives of many writers through teaching and ongoing mentorship. She was mother to Caleb and Jess and a proud grandmother of two grandchildren.

Jordie Albiston. Photograph © Nicholas Walton-Healey

Following my setting of Helen Grützner’s poetry collection A Circle In the World as a song cycle in 1994, I was looking for contemporary texts to set to music, for a longer performance format. Helen informed me that she was leaving artistic pursuits to study law, but strongly recommended the...