Spoken Word

On this program we play excerpts from a live performance by poet and teacher, Helen Bradwell, from this month’s Girls on Key, which was held at Open studio on the 7th July 2021. Helen’s writing has won the Ada Cambridge prizes for poetry and biographical fiction, and the Nillumbik Poetry Ekphrasis award. In 2020 her poetry was shortlisted for competitions including the MPU and the ACU prizes. She has had poems published in ‘Rabbit’ journal, some Red Room publications and in a number of award anthologies.Follow Girls on Key on social media, or go to girlsonkey.com to find out more about this great grassroots effort creating opportunities for women and gender diverse poets to create and connect.We also hear a piece by Wahibe Moussa, one of the feature poets at the Feminist Climate Justice Poetry Night, details of which are below.Feminist Climate Justice Poetry NightLeinster Grove Community Hall99 Leinster Grove Thornbury29 July 20217:30 pm – 10:30 pm AESTTickets and further info: https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/feminist-climate-justice-poetry-night-tickets-151907777251

Poet Tony Birch talks about and reads from his new book, Whisper Songs. Interviewed by Di Cousens. Photo by Savanna Kruger.See: https://www.uqp.com.au/books/whisper-songs

Angela Costi talks about her new book of poetry, An Embroidery of Old Maps and New, with Di Cousens. Photo by Di Cousens.

On this week's show, Palestinian writer and editor, Lujayn Hourani, shares some of their new work, reflecting on the resistance and resilience of the Palestinian people through generations of colonial violence and oppression.Lujayn is a recipient of The Wheeler Centre's Next Chapter Scheme, and has been published in Meanjin, Overland, Australian Poetry, Going Down Swinging and The Lifted Brow, to name a few.Lujayn is Associate Producer at Next Wave and Online Editor at Voiceworks.This episode features music from Jowan Safadi, Nour Harkati, and Muqata'a.

Today's show features a recording from a live performance by Kathryn Ross at Girls On Key, in March 2021.Girls on Key hosts a monthly spoken word event at Open Studio in Northcote, which aims to foster opportunities for women and gender diverse poets to connect and share their work.Kathryn Ross is a word tinkerer, beach drifter, chronic over-thinker, shapeshifter (mild mannered nurse manager by day, florid microphone-hogging, rhyme-reciting poet by night).Her first love has always been the positioning of letters into words, into iambs, into lines, into poesy. She’s had the occasional word dabble preserved for posterity, but really her interest lies in just quietly writing stuff down, and reading it for others, out loud.Kathryn Ross lives in a small coastal town in Victoria, where she divides her time between writing poetry, and working in aged care. Her poetry has been included in anthologies and online journals, and she has been commissioned to write and read poetry as part of local festivals. She has co-authored a collection of long-distance collaborative poetry, At the Edge of Forget, written with fellow poets from Melbourne, Michigan and California.You can find out more about Girls on Key on their Facebook page, or www.girlsonkey.com.

Eileen Chong discusses her new poetry collection, One Thousand Crimson Blooms, with Di Cousens. Photo by Charlene Winfred.

In this week's show, we present a continuous stream of performances from poets, Charlotte Sareño Raymond, Eleanor Jackson, Allara, Saint Jorge, Ivana Dash, Alice Night, Trixi Rosa and Marita Dyson, set to the music of Helen Mountfort, Bonnie Mercer, and The Letter String Quartet.

Dropbear is Evelyn Araluen's first full length collection of poetry. She talks here to Di Cousens about poetry, family and country.

Santo Cazzati presents revolutionary socialist poetry.

Dave Munro talks about his recently released first book of poetry, Wearing My Father's Hat, published by the Melbourne Poets Union. Interviewed by Di Cousens.