James Gering, diarist, short story writer and poet, was born in Johannesburg, South Africa. He has lived in Australia for many decades. James was the Australian Society of Authors Emerging Poet of the Year, 2018, and his writing has been published in journals around the world. He teaches at The University of Sydney and lives in the pristine Blue Mountains. There he climbs the cliffs and explores the river canyons in search of Rilke’s solitude, Chekhov’s humility, and dreamscapes in general. James welcomes visitors at jamesgering.com

Staying Whole While Falling Apart is a playful yet serious exploration of loss and grief, of trying to find balance and stability amidst a giddying welter of experiences. You’ll laugh and cry with Aaron Auslander, a kind of everyman, as he tries to make sense of the flux and tumble of his life. The poetry is sharp and it cuts right to the bone, exposing the vulnerabilities and the precarious provisos under which we all can live. This is a potent book animated by courage and finely-honed craft. – Judith Beveridge, Australian Poet

In Staying Whole While Falling Apart, a cycle of poems documenting the “finest failures” of one Aaron Auslander (foodie, divorcee, outdoorsman, self-analysing, self-medicating, dysfunctional dreamer), Gering has orchestrated a wry, deadpan fanfare for the common man. The result is by turns ruthlessly unsentimental and grimly funny, and as a whole, oddly moving. In searching for a comparison, the best I could come up with is Ted Hughes’ Crow. But where “Crow” is bleak and dismal, Gering’s anti-hero poems reach quixotically for the glowing heights of redemption. – Peter Selgin, author of The Inventors and Duplicity