Spoken Word

A special Mother's Day edition of Spoken Word, featuring poetry on the theme of motherhood, from:Rania AhmedArielle CottinghamZaynab FarahGabriela GeorgesRhiann IsaacsTariro MavondoKrish Prasad** This program contains themes of family violence, self-harm, racial abuse and miscarriage. It also contains course language. Listener discretion is advised. **

This is a reading of poetry at a protest in Castlemaine. The poetry is by refugee poets in Australia's offshore detention centres working with Writing Through Fences and Janet Galbraith.Recorded in December 2017.

George O'Hara presents a live recording of Jocelyn Deane at The Night Heron, Footscray.Jocelyn was born in London and now lives in Melbourne. They have been published in Voiceworks, Australian Poetry, Seizure, and were shortlisted for the 2015 Marsden and Hachette prize for poetry.

Tim Evans in conversation with Carmen MainTim Evans is recovering from being English and, since 2015, has been working through this by performing his poems at strangers. His hobbies include anxiety, depression, jokes, and trying to do all of them at the same time. He’s been published in the audio journal Audacious Vol. 4, in Australian Poetry Journal and in the upcoming anthology Solid Air from University of Queensland Press. Tim has featured at numerous poetry events across Melbourne and Victoria, and was awarded an honourable mention at the 2017 Melbourne Spoken Word Prize. In 2018 he reached the final round of the Slamalamadingdong! Grand Slam and became a member of the only Australian team to compete at the National Poetry Slam in Chicago. The NPS festival organisers invited him to share his work on the finals stage at the UIC Forum. He also performed in New York at the Bowery Poetry Club and the Newyorican Poets Cafe.Several people have said nice things about his poetry but have refused to go on the record. He likes using self-depreciation but he isn’t very good at it.

A cup of tea and chat with acclaimed artist, Amy Bodossian.Love, sex and meditation.What it means to be vulnerable in the eyes of a crowd.And the importance of water.If ever wonder about these and many other things, don't worry, Amy has it covered.www.AmyBodossian.com** This program contains some course language **

Chris Wallace-Crabbe talks about his life in poetry and reads from his new book, Rondo.

David Stavanger phone Interview

John Englezos is a freelance photographer, a spoken word poet and Melbourne’s 2015 Poetry Slam Champion. He was part of the first Australian team representing at the National Poetry Slam Finals in Denver Colorado, 2017.His first book "If The World Were Upside Down" centres around notions of Hope, Identity and Wonder.He has mentored and run workshops for creative people in the fields of live performance and visual arts; is a speaker coach for Tedx St Kilda; is an uncle to four and a brother to many.Find John's work @johnepoetryInstagram / Facebook / WordpressZaynab is a Melbourne-based Spoken word artist. Driven to support and give back to her community; her pieces explore intricate personal experiences and topics that she’s very passionate about. Zaynab has performed on various platforms, which include both community and local events.

Rhiann Isaacs is an Afro-Guyanese poet whose pieces centre around identity, Pan-African issues and mental health. Rhiann joined us in the studio ahead of her appearance at the Feminist Climate Justice Poetry Night at Open Studio on 14th March, an event held in solidarity with the March 15th Golbal Climate Action strike and to celebrate feminism and climate justice. Rhiann shares some of her powerful and vulnerable work, and perspectives on violence and mental health, her love of words and performing, mother-daughter love, and young people's fight against climate injustice. Also in the show, we present a recording of Zaynab G Farah performing her new poem, Black Woman, at GriffinSpeak in March 2019.  * Note: This program contains some course language and themes of self-harm.

Anne M Carson reads from her new book, Two Green Parrots. To be launched in April. Interview by Di Cousens.