Anthology: A Wow of Sunflowers (Paperback or Softback). This item is unavailable.Anthology: A Wow of Sunflowers (Paperback or Softback)

At 3.00 a.m. on 18th July, 2014, Mal Garrett and his wife Liz were awakened in Paris by a phone call with the sort of news no one ever wishes to receive: Liz’s sister Jill and Jill’s husband Roger, from whom they had parted only two days before after a delightful river cruise from Budapest to Amsterdam, had been on their way home to Australia on flight MH17, when it was blasted out of the skies over Ukraine.

In the days, months, and years ahead, Mal found solace in expressing his pain in poetry. As a former English teacher and author of English textbooks, this was a natural medium for him.

Having found his poetic voice, Mal has continued to write poems, both in response to loss but also to capture joy and to reflect on current issues. A particular joy has been that of being a grandparent.

Mal is dedicating any income made from the sales of this anthology to assisting the people of Ukraine.

Malcolm Garrett is a retired English and History teacher who spent the last twenty-nine years of his career as Head of English at Brisbane State High School. In that role, he keenly promoted Australian literature—especially Australian poetry.

Malcolm has written a number of English textbooks, the most recent, English Toolkit Ed 2: The Nuts and Bolts of English Grammar, being a section winner in the 2016 Australian Educational Publishing Awards. During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, he worked with his daughter to program an interactive version of that grammar text, which can be found at https://englishtoolkit.xyz/.

The downing of MH17 on 17 July 2014 was a life-changing event for Malcolm and Liz, with the loss of Liz's sister Jill and brother-in-law Roger. The two couples had just finished a river cruise from Budapest to Amsterdam followed by two delightful days in Bruges, when they went separate ways—Malcolm and Liz to Paris and Jill and Roger to board the ill-fated flight home from Amsterdam. In wrestling with their loss, Malcolm found solace in writing poetry. In the years that followed, he also turned to poetry to express his joy at being a grandfather and to reflect on current issues.

Malcolm and Liz now live on the Sunshine Coast, near their son and his family.