Spoken Word

In this show we are hearing from poets and performers from the Festival of Surrealisms, which will be on 14th and 15th March at Temperance Hall in South Melbourne, midday to 8.30pm of each day. Discover Melbourne’s most pioneering independent poets, theatre makers, comics, puppeteers, filmmakers and experimental artists as they uniquely celebrate the absurdities of life at this year’s Festival of Surrealisms.  You can find out more or buy tickets at the website linktr.ee/FestivalOfSurrealisms  1. Sean O Callaghan - Sunshine Dreamtime2. Jonathan Griffiths - Lollypop man & breaking news3. Bill Marshall as Captain Fish - I don’t get it4. Helchild erforming  as Senator Pauline Shitson / President Donald Dump in a single shitshow called One Ablution5. DW Phoenix - Swipe Left6. Steve Smart - Bear Remembers7. Pauline Sherlock as Paulie-ann Marie - sex therapist - Falling in Love

Rodney Williams is a tanka poet from Gippsland. Tanka is a five line form of Japanese poetry that predates the haiku. Rodney talks about what makes a tanka and looks at old and new poems, including some of his own. He is a contributing editor of the poetry journal Catchment, Poetry of Place, which is published within the website of the Baw Baw Arts Alliance. https://www.bawbawartsalliance.org.au/bcms/catchment-editions/

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

‘one blind spot is all forgetting takes’- from One Last Thing by Amanda Collins. In this episode of 3CR's Spoken Word show which aired on Thursday 19th February 2026, you will hear poet Amanda Collins talk about art, music, life and death.Amanda Collins is a poet, death doula, author and songwriter who currently lives in the hills of Taungurung Country. She is a fierce advocate for humanity and human creativity, and can often be found teaching poetry or music. Amanda is the 2026 poetry judge of the Mulga Bill writing prize, and is part of the creative impetus behind the Heartcote Ukulele Festival. Her favourite words continue to be Whimsy, Steadfast and Hopeful. Poems written and performed by Amanda Collins in this episode:The RulesOne Last ThingThe MeetingLiberty / Untitled CreditsRecorded, produced and edited by Indrani Perera.Thank you to Amanda Collins for sharing her 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.

Di Cousens talks to Peter Friedlander about his new book, Pearls of Light. This is a translation of the Sufi-Sant songs of the seventeenth century Indian mystic, Yari Sahib. Translated with Harry Eveling and published by Manohar publications.

‘a round of silencewhere the voice of our oceansshore into one song’- from Please my dear neighbourby Benjamin Theolonius Sanders (IQ). In this episode of 3CR's Spoken Word show which aired on Thursday 18th Decmber 2025, you will hear poet Benjamin Theolonius Sanders (IQ) talk about sport, music, lineages and the voice as an instrument. Benjamin Theolonius Sanders (IQ) is a native Memphis griot, professional teaching artist, intergenerational educator, intercontinental slam champion, dj photographer  and father. The former MC of the Memphis Music & Heritage Festival, an 8X Memphis Slam Champion & 2x Melbourne slam Champion, IQ is a haiku lover and typewriter devotee. In 2009 He was one of twelve guest artists at Womadelaide, where his poetry was translated into Indigenous language in collaboration with visual artists from the APY lands. IQ is the author of 11 chapbooks, 3 albums, 2 audio anthologies, and has been anthologised in various academic and commercial publications for the past 30+ years.  Normally referred to as Memphis Poet Laureate, IQ loves music, coffee, scrabble, teaching about poetry of all kinds, tennis, Memphis and Geelong. Presently the Poet Laureate of the Centre for Southern Folklore, IQ is a hypen-aided American, as well as Poet Laureate of legendary Memphis Jam band Freeworld. When his feet are not walking in M’town, IQ lives on Wadawurrung /Wathaurong country. Find IQ at www.poetiq.com Poems written and performed by Benjamin Theolonius Sanders (IQ) in this episode:Small latte and jamMaturityConversation PeacePlease my dear neighbour (haiku train)For What It’s Worth CreditsRecorded, produced and edited by Indrani Perera.Thank you to Benjamin Theolonius Sanders for sharing his poetry and to you for listening!

On a lovely Tuesday evening on the 2nd of December, upstairs of the Alderman pub in Brunswick, Melbourne poets Dominique Hecq, Eugen Bacon, and visiting from York, Oz Hardwick collaborated on a special performance of their poetry. Today you will be listening to a partial recording from that evening.

This is part 2 of a conversation with Grant Caldwell about his new book of haiku, The Soundless Sound, and about haiku in general.

Jennifer Mackenzie lives in Naarm/Melbourne, and is a poet and occasional editor and reviewer. The Wallace Line: A Poem follows her previoius collections, Borobudur and Navigable Ink, in a series of what has become the home of her Imagination, Indonesia. She has appeared at a number of conferences and festivals across Asia, and has launched The Wallace Line: A Poem at the 2025 Ubud Writers & Readers Festival (UWRF), where she also appeared on a panel celebrating the festival’s lifetime achievement award to the Indonesian poet, Taufiq Ismail.The Wallace Line: A Poem is available here: https://transitlounge.com.au/shop/the-wallace-line-a-poem/ Produced & Presented by Tina Giannoukos

‘I found myself inside myself’- from Cluster B, to AuADHD by Sarah St James. In this episode of 3CR's Spoken Word show which aired on Thursday 20th November 2025, you will hear poet Sarah St James talk about performance, transitioning and representation.Content Warning: This episdoe contains references to mental health, drug use and suicide. Sarah St James- or ‘Sadie’- is a trans woman and spoken word poet. Originally born and raised in Meanjin, she has been based in Naarm since 2018. Her writing explores themes of identity, accountability and survival through the lenses of gender, sexuality and familial dysfunction. With a background in theatre, Sarah’s work lends itself best to live performance. She has been speaking her poems aloud since participating in ‘Ruckus’ poetry slams and ‘Roving Conspiracies’ open mic events in 2014.  Sarah’s writing has been published in the anthology In-Flux, trans and gender diverse reflections and imaginings. As well as Chaotic Musings Volume 3. Her first solo publishing venture was the hand bound anthology “The Brown Paper Diaries” soon to be available in print.Poems written and performed by Sarah St James in this episode:Cluster B, to AuADHDSitting With It Kalliope X FundraiserSunday 30th November 2025 in Thornbury.Featuring MANISHA ANJALI, ELENA GOMEZ and TONY BIRCH.Plus music from the THE BLACK SEA ENSEMBLE.Tickets available at https://events.humanitix.com/kalliopex-speaks. CreditsRecorded, produced and edited by Indrani Perera.Thank you to Sarah St James for sharing her poetry and to you for listening!