Spoken Word

Caroline Williamson has been living in Melbourne, Australia, since 1990. She was born in London and spent school holidays with her grandparents in Merthyr Tydfil as a child. Her debut collection, Time Machines (Vagabond Press,  2023), was Highly Commended in the 2023 5Islands Poetry Prize for a First Book of Poetry. Carboniferous (Rabbit, 2025) is her second collection. Carboniferous is available here: https://rabbitpoetry.com/shop/carboniferous-caroline-williamson Picture: Brendan BonsackProduced and Presented by Tina Giannoukos

‘I caressed my future todaybut its cheeks held no time’- from Interstellar by Sasha de Motte In this episode of 3CR's Spoken Word show which aired on Thursday 21st May 2026, you will hear poet Sasha de Motte talk about identity, authenticity and intuition. Sasha de Motte (they/she) is a writer and poet. As a queer person of colour and a spiritually inclined soul, they pride themselves on all parts of their identity. Yet, her work primarily shines a light on deep raw emotions beyond the labels. In 2025 they published their debut poetry collection, Autumn. Poems written and performed by Sasha de Motte in this episode:MineInterstellarWithering Away CreditsProduced, engineered and edited by Indrani Perera.Thank you to Sasha de Motte for sharing their poetry and to you for listening! NoteSpoken word and poetry come from the heart and touch on all the topics peculiar to the human condition. As such there may be content in this show that could cause distress. Please practice self-care when listening and seek help if you need it.

Maria Van Neerven's first full length collection, Two Tongues, is published by the University of Queensland Press. Described by Maxine Beneba Clarke as 'a stunning, masterful debut', Maria is a First Nations' poet and she reflects on the legacy of colonisation and racism and the aftermath of intergenerational harm. At the same time, she shines a light on the importance of family and culture, celebrating the Indigenous women filled with resilience and strength.

Maria Van Neerven's first full length collection, Two Tongues, is published by the University of Queensland Press. Described by Maxine Beneba Clarke as 'a stunning, masterful debut', Maria is a First Nations' poet and she reflects on the legacy of colonisation and racism and the aftermath of intergenerational harm. At the same time, she shines a light on the importance of family and culture, celebrating the Indigenous women filled with resilience and strength.

Grant talks about his book, The Soundless Sound.

Madeleine Dale is a poet and researcher from Brisbane/Meanjin. She holds first-class honours and a Masters degree in Creative Writing from the University of Queensland, where she is currently completing her PhD. Her work has been published in Westerly, Cordite, Meanjin, and Best of Australian Poetry, among others. Her first full-length collection, Portraits of Drowning, won the 2023 Thomas Shapcott Prize, the Five Islands Poetry Prize, and was commended for the Wesley Michel Wright Prize. She was a 2024 MacDowell Fellow.Portraits of Drowning is availabe for purchase here: https://www.uqp.com.au/books/portraits-of-drowning Produced and Presented by Tina Giannoukos

‘I give myself permission to go outside’from On the First Day of Autumn by Jason Allen-Paisant In this episode of 3CR's Spoken Word show which aired on Thursday 16th April 2026, you will hear UK poet, Deb Alma talk about The Poetry Pharmacy.The Poetry Pharmacy is a UK-based bookseller, with three physical bookshops, an online presence and a lively programme of events. It reimagines poetry as a form of medicine, offering carefully chosen poems and “prescriptions” to help people navigate the emotional terrain of everyday life. Poems read by Deb Alma in this episode:On the First Day of Autumn by Jason Alain PainBut You Thought You Knew What a Sign Looked Like by Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer CreditsProduced, engineered and edited by Indrani Perera.Thank you to Deb Alma for sharing her poetry prescriptions and to you for listening! NoteSpoken word and poetry come from the heart and touch on all the topics peculiar to the human condition. As such there may be content in this show that could cause distress. Please practice self-care when listening and seek help if you need it.

Eddy Burger and Joel O'Connor talk about the new book, Millennium Poets Two. This is a new anthology which revisits the poets writing at the turn of the millennium and presents their contemporary work.

Marion May Campbell's novels include Lines of Flight (1985), Not Being Miriam (1989), Prowler (1999), Shadow Thief (2006), and konkretion (2013).She has also published the cross-genre collection Fragments from a Paper Witch (Salt, 2008), an experimental memoir The Man on the Mantelpiece (UWA Publishing, 2018), the poetry collections third body (Whitmore Press 2018) and languish (Upswell 2022).Her novels Lines of Flight (1985) and Not Being Miriam (1989) were shortlisted andcommended for major Australian awards and twice for the Canada-Australia Literary Prize;Not being Miriam won WA Week Literary Awards for Prose Fiction (1989), the libretto DrMemory in the Dream Home shared the Patricia Hackett Prize (1992) and Fragments from aPaper Witch was a finalist for the Innovation Category of the South Australian Festival Literary Awards (2010).She has been recipient of nine writer’s and residency grants and won the Senses of Cinema Prize for the best essay in 2021 and the joanne burns micro-fiction prize for 2022. Produced and Presented by Tina Giannoukos

‘like acommercial mirage selling an over-lit dream’- from James Joyce’s Fart Fetish by Alex Creece. In this episode of 3CR's Spoken Word show which aired on Thursday 19th March 2026, you will hear poet Alex Creece talk about collage, reclamation and the profane. This episode has a warning for strong language and mature themes.  Alex Creece is a writer, editor, collage artist and average kook living on Wadawurrung land. Alex is the Managing Editor of Cordite Poetry Review and an Online Editor at Archer Magazine, and her writing has been widely published. Alex is the author of Potty Mouth, Potty Mouth (Cordite Books, 2024), which was highly commended in the Five Islands Poetry Prize. Poems written and performed by Alex Creece in this episode:God Wants You To ComeOn SpecialJames Joyce’s Fart Fetish CreditsRecorded, produced and edited by Indrani Perera.Thank you to Alex Creece for sharing her poetry and to you for listening!