Anamnesis

Denise O'Hagan

Poetry collection

Recent Work Press, October 2022
Paperback, 76 pp, 229 x 152 mm
ISBN 978-0-6451808-8-6
RRP AUD$19.95

About this book

Finalist in the Eric Hoffer Book Award (USA) 2023
Finalist in the Eyelands Book Awards (Greece) 2023
Shortlisted in the International Rubery Book Award (UK) 2023
Highly Commended in The Society of Women Writers NSW Inc. Book Awards (Australia) 2024

True to its title, the poems in O’Hagan’s second poetry collection, Anamnesis, allude to a world hovering at the edges of our minds, one that can be sensed and yet lies, teasingly, just beyond conscious reach. The arc of poems through time and distance represents a summoning up of, and immersion in, small moments which reveal themselves to be quietly momentous; a distillation of personal experience from which we feel there is something to be collectively gleaned. The recovery of memory in its various facets is explored, and the poetry that emerges is both poignant and lyrical.

‘Through the excavation of personal memories, O’Hagan shows how our inner worlds are kept alive and made coherent, turning keys of recall to unlock a deeper awareness of who we are, and why. Her finely nuanced and delicately wrought poems are eloquent testimony to the functioning of memory and its implications for creativity, reminding the reader how another’s exacting work of remembrance can illuminate our own.’
Jena Woodhouse

‘In a world of pretenders, O’Hagan’s is an authentic and powerful voice. Anamnesis engages the senses as entirely and effortlessly as if the poet herself had grasped your hand and softly whispered, ‘Come, see the world through my eyes.’’
Dave Kavanagh

‘O’Hagan’s poetic voice is a complex, subtle, and authentic one that captures moods and behaviours with an intense and elegant analysis, and a searing insight into the stories we tell ourselves, what our memories conjure, and what lies beneath the force of forgetting.’
Linda Adair

About the author

Denise was born in Rome and lives in Sydney. She has a background in commercial book publishing in the UK and Australia and works as an editor assisting independent authors through her own imprint, Black Quill Press.

Her poetry is published widely in Australia and internationally. Recipient of the Dalkey Poetry Prize, she has been shortlisted in various awards including the Australian Catholic University Poetry Prize, the Robert Graves Poetry Prize (UK), the Plough Writing Prize (UK) and the Proverse International Poetry Prize (Hong Kong). She was Poetry Editor for Australia/New Zealand for Irish literary journal The Blue Nib until 2020.

Her poetry collections include The Beating Heart (Ginninderra Press 2020), shortlisted for the Society of Women Writers NSW Book Awards 2022, and Anamnesis (Recent Work Press 2022), finalist in the Eric Hoffer Book Award (2023) and shortlisted in the Rubery Book Award (2023).

Available now from:

Recent Work Press, Amazon, Booktopia, Fishpond, Barnes & Noble

Praise for Anamnesis

‘These poems … are subtle and philosophical, metaphysical and emotional.’

'Carefully and thoughtfully written … many of the poems are emotionally powerful.'

‘O'Hagan's penetrating vision is such that she sees subtexts that the rest of us miss, and this makes for an exquisite collection that deserves its place on the shortlist.’

‘Both inviting and rewarding, with perhaps a challenge or two. I strongly recommend it…’

‘Across generations, continents, cultures and time, the undertow of migration and migratory journeys is steadfast…’

‘Anamnesis … permeates (O’Hagan’s) actions in recollecting words, gathering scenes, retrieving memories in order to work the unforgettable into poetry.’

‘This is a book about the power of language and the way words can conjure and connect, transcending the moment. There is a meta-poetic quality which explores the nature of language and its ability to stimulate resurrection and transformation.'

‘In a world of pretenders, O’Hagan’s is an authentic and powerful voice.’

‘O’Hagan’s writing … has the quality of murmurous meditations on seemingly small incidents.’

‘O’Hagan’s poetic voice is a complex, subtle, and authentic one that captures moods and behaviours with an intense and elegant analysis.’

'An explorative, thought-provoking collection...'

‘O’Hagan has a knack of creating immediacy, delving into memories and experience with cinematic precision.’

'Her finely nuanced and delicately wrought poems are eloquent testimony to the functioning of memory.'

‘Here is the union of opposites; the reconciling of binary oppositions. We must pay attention to the finer details … this is the message of O’Hagan’s magnificent Anamnesis.’