Confessions of a Minor Poet - Book

Confessions of a Minor Poet by Phil Brown

ISBN: 978-1-923023-41-3 - Rights: World
Format: Trade PB (234 x 153mm) 272pp

Non-Fiction

Transitlounge - $32.99

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Confessions of a Minor Poet by Phil Brown - Buy Now

Hilarious, heartfelt and revealing.

Phil Brown tells all (well almost all) in this rollicking account of his career in literature and journalism from The Morning Bulletin in Rockhampton to Melbourne's Sunday Age and back to The Courier-Mail in Brisbane. He shares his challenges as a young surfer foolishly yearning to be a poet and his personal struggles on the road to becoming a writer with a fluctuating passion for poetry and a top drawer full of rejection slips. There are the seminal friendships with poets Bruce Dawe and Les Murray and a cavalcade of characters from the world of arts and letters Barry Humphries, Willem Dafoe, Daniel Craig, Alain de Botton, Richard E. Grant and characters he meets (and interviews) along the way, for better and occasionally, worse.

Confessions of a Minor Poet is a hugely entertaining memoir that shows us all how the life of a writer can be frustrating, even enraging but ultimately life-enriching. This is a vital, wild and affectionate ride across Queensland, New South Wales, and Victoria, from the seventies to now.

'What a life. What a book. When it's not making your ribs rattle with laughter, it's making your heart ache with all the pathos and poetry. A memory box of jewels from a true Brisbane treasure.'

Trent Dalton

Author Interview:

Joy in Books at PaperbarkWords blog

You are well known in literary circles, perhaps particularly through your arts journalism and editorships of major arts publications. Where are you based now and what are you doing?

I am based in Brisbane's relatively inner north. I left The Courier-Mail two years ago where I was the Arts Editor. I am now the editor of the independent arts website InReview Queensland which is part of InDaily Queensland. So I basically cover the arts in Queensland. - Read more

Published by joylawn Book advocate. Joy Lawn is a freelance book reviewer and book judge specialising in literary fiction.

Posted by Kitty Goodall - Arts Reporter
I'm here to encourage you to indulge in the pleasure of curling up with a good book. If you're looking for your next great read, you can't go wrong with Confessions of a Minor Poet by Phil Brown. I was lucky enough to attend the book launch at the Brisbane Writers Festival, where Phil charmed the crowd with stories from his youth and the early days of his writing life. He laughed as he recalled his first foray into 'publication' ... Read more

Queensland Reviewers Collective

Reviewed by Rod McLary
It would take a certain amount of courage and perhaps chutzpah to write not just one memoir but four as Phil Brown has done. But while the first quality is certainly present in his latest very honest and revealing volume, the second is far less likely as what may mistakenly be identified as chutzpah is leavened by a self-deprecating sense of humour.

Beginning 'Confessions' from 1972 when the author and his family moved to the Gold Coast, he chronicles his journey towards a career in literature and journalism - but only after he becomes a nave teenage Gold Coast surfie. Even then, he is an emerging poet with an early effort glassed into his surfboard's undercarriage. As he asks rhetorically and then answers, "how the hell does a teenage surfie on the Gold Coast come to be writing poetry anyway? Well, it all started ... with a girl" ... Read more

It is indeed a fine memoir. Phil Brown is a journalist, poet, author and editor of InReview Queensland. He is the author of two books of verse, a book of humorous travel stories Travels with my Angst [with apologies to Graham Greene], and three books in his memoir series. Confessions of a Minor Poet is the fourth in the series.

Les, Kings Cross, and me Memories of an encounter with the great Les Murray and other, far less accommodating poets.
By PHIL BROWN

We shook hands and he then led me into a small couch and I perched in a chair opposite, on the other side of a coffee table, making small talk and thanking him profusely for agreeing to publish my poem. Valerie brought in a cheese platter with a baguette and a plunger full of coffee. Les Murray sliced pieces off the baguette and carved out chunks of cheese, then reclined somewhat. I was reminded of the actor Charles Laughton, who had played the occasional Roman Emperor in his long film career. Les was certainly emperor-like and a tad Romanesque. Read the whole article

Edited extract from Confessions of a Minor Poet, by Phil Brown, published by Transit Lounge, $32.99

BRISBANE WRITERS FESTIVAL - Brisbane Powerhouse - October 2025

Phil Brown in conversation with Sean Sennett

ABOUT THE SHOW One of Australia's most esteemed arts journalists and BWF's favourite raconteur Phil Brown launches his delightful memoir Confessions of a Minor Poet, which showcases his trademark blend of pithy insight and wit.

Sean Sennett is a Brisbane based popular culture writer and songwriter. He has interviewed over 3000 artists from Paul McCartney and David Bowie to unsigned artists.

L-R - Sean Sennett - Minister for Education and the Arts, the Honourable John-Paul Langbroek - Phil Brown

Phil is introduced by the Minister for Education and the Arts, the Honourable John-Paul Langbroek

Phil Brown

INreview

Major moments for a minor poet - Phil Brown reveals all

Screenwriter and playwright Stephen Vagg talks to InReview Queensland editor Phil Brown about his upcoming memoir, Confessions of a Minor Poet.

Tell us a little bit about Phil Brown, for those who don't know him, and how would you describe yourself and your new book, Confessions of a Minor Poet?