Vagabondage

In this playful verse memoir about a year spent living in a camper van, Australian author Beth Spencer takes us on a journey into the pleasures and challenges of being in service to freedom.

A poignant, sharp and funny meditation on belonging -- circling back and forth between family, relationships, memory and desire – her story tracks the often fine line between solitude and loneliness, the conflicting pull of what we possess and what possesses us, and the elusive idea of home.

‘I’d like to nominate Vagabondage as my best read for 2014… I love this book... It’s beautiful, it’s funny, it’s sad, and it speaks to all of us who aim to age disgracefully.‘ — Suzanne Donisthorpe, Books & Arts Daily, ABC-RN

‘Vagabondage is a short work that leaves you feeling you’ve read a much longer one... Plenty of story, and incident, as well as interiority and introspection... It’s a marvellous blend.’ — Angelo Loukakis, Author & Executive Director of the Australian Society of Authors

‘So much fun to read. Warm, witty and profound.’ – Claudia Taranto, ABC Radio National

‘Beth Spencer has a great eye and ear for detail, for small things with larger implications... A book to read and re-read, and re-inhabit.‘ — Philippa Hawker, Arts and Film writer for The Age

‘An unexpected gem…a memoir of moving spiritually and geographically, told in verse! Utterly unique, so Australian and such a beautiful work of art.’ — Walter Mason, My Favourite Books of 2014

‘[A] memoir told in glimpses and moments…It seems a miracle, a revelation, that out of moments of disparate experience, emerges a whole tale.' – C S Hughes, Nerdalicious

'This lovely collection of poems is at times hilarious and poignant.' — Library & Computing News

‘My latest favourite read. Thank you...for delighting me, making me sad, making me think, and making me laugh...I’ll be dipping in and out for years to come.’ – Dianne Touchell, author

'“Warm, witty and profound,” as Claudia Taranto has noted... ‘ – Geoff Page, The Age & The Sydney Morning Herald

‘Yesterday I sat under some tea trees at Kennett River reading Vagabondage and weeping. I love this book so much.' – Sian Prior (broadcaster, columnist and author)

‘..there is a humour that underlies the journey that turns its reading into an adventure’ – Angela Gardner, Cordite Poetry Review

‘This is why we read poetry... Good poetry is intimate and profound. By the end of it...you have shared experiences and you have thought about yourself in new light. Beth’s collection does all of this and is a great pleasure to read.’ — Nick Falkner, This is Not Art This is Typing

‘Aiming to explore... The Big Questions: love, family, the whole catastrophe… this slim volume displays Spencer’s talent for catching moments in time and transforming them.’ – Susan Johnson, The Sunday Territorian

‘Nine gold stars and an elephant stamp. My only criticism is that it’s five hundred pages too short, but I will remedy that by re-reading and gleaning.’ — Frank Veldze (Scupltor)