Winner of the Pat Lowther Award

In 1999 and 2000, two Victoria teenagers were convicted of the murder of their schoolfellow, fourteen-year-old Reena Virk. Of the more than 500 drawings she prepared as courtroom artist for the trials, Heather Spears has selected some 50 to accompany the poems that record her experience of the process. As poet and as artist, Spears bears witness throughout her work to the plight of young people under stress.