Swimming in Words: New and Selected Poems

WINNER, EYELANDS BOOK AWARDS PRIZE, 2025

FINALIST, WISHING SHELF BOOK AWARDS, 2025

Luke Icarus Simon's groundbreaking work was first published in the 1980s and he has since become one of the quiet achievers of Australian Literature. This collection explores how we relate to family and partners and the shaping of our identity through the shifting currents of love, friendship and illness. Simon's aim is to make sense of why we're all here, masterfully navigating and negotiating the realities of our existential aloneness.

Luke Icarus Simon's experience as an actor and playwright informs each poem, propelling the reader into a sensual, visceral and passionate world. With settings as diverse as the Great Ocean Road, Santiago, Athens and the Greek Islands, Simon draws readers into the intimacies of his life.

SWIMMING IN WORDS brings together seventy of Simon's poems, many previously published in journals, others revised for this collections as well as completely new works such as the 4,000-word eponymous prose poem.