Spoken Word

Born and bred in the inner-city suburbs of South Africa, Poet and performer Chalise lives and breathes for the power of words to rouse a crowd and change minds. Currently a writing student at RMIT, Chalise recently featured in House of Bricks. Her controversial, fiery, preach-style poetry has silenced crowds since her debut performance. When she’s not writing, you can find Chalise behind a glass of wine and a mic, behind a megaphone at protests, or behind a 7/11 coffee machine with her ever-final dollar.

Join presenter Ela Fornalska and her guest Amanda Anastasi on this episode to learn more about Anastasi's writing process, what inspires her, who she reads, what her writing aspirations for the future are and the experience of writing collaboratively. You will also be treated to a selection of her exquisite poetry.

Jill and Peter present poetry inspired by the West Papuan freedom movement.

Abe Nouk is a Melbourne based poet who originally came to Australia as a refugee from Somalia. A few years ago he discovered Melbourne's spoken word scene and found his niche. He has twice won the Victorian Poetry Slam at the State Library of Victoria and has competed at the Opera House for the national championship twice. In this episode he shares his poetry and his life story. Show produced by Di Cousens. Photo by Di Cousens.

John McKelvie was born in Scotland just over 66 years ago and has been writing poems songs and stories for the more than 50 years. This talent was recognised by his English teacher at school and when he was naughty, which he often was, instead of getting one hundred lines, he was made to write one hundred words as a poem and read it to the class. He developed his story- telling making up absurd adventure tales for his nieces and nephews and later his own children. On graduating he moved to London to work as a dustman where he also became involved with poetry and theatre before moving to Melbourne in 1987. He was delighted to find Melbourne had even more poetry venues than London and obtained a job in superannuation. His work has been published in a number of anthologies including, Best Australian Poems. At the urging of his friend Tom Kent he produced a volume, Hopscotch, which Tom edited and published. He has been a featured reader and singer at a number of poetry venues and considers the Dan to be his Saturday afternoon home. His work can be humorous, satirical, social, environmental, political or romantic and he is still sometimes naughty.

Join Ela and the first six guests she had in the Spoken Word studios. Each guest shares a favourite poem (or poems) written by a poet who has influenced them over the years. Discover why these poems are special to guests: Chalise van Wyngaardt, Rachael Guy, Myron Lysenko, Sandy Jeffs, Jeltje and Lish Škec.

As a part of the Sampari art exhibition and sale the FRWP Women's Office is hosted a spoken word afternoon, showcasing some of Melbourne's finest spoken word artists amidst the amazing art of the Sampari exhibition. The theme of the event was linked to West Papua's struggle for independance. performers were asked to focus on social justice.Indegenous people and local Melbourne performers wrote about asylum seekers and social justice and the struggles of minority peoples. The Free West Papua Campaign exists to alert the world to the ongoing tragedy in West Papua, which is under brutal Indonesian military occupation.MissionWe are a peaceful, public campaign, whose aim is very simple: to give the people of West Papua the freedom to choose their own destiny - a freedom they have always been denied. We work with politicians of all parties, and also with other NGOs and campaign groups, both national and international, towards this aim. We have no religious, party-political or corporate affliations, and we are determinedly non-violent. Our funding comes from donations, the sale of merchandise, public fundraising events and occasional small grants from charitable foundations. We are entirely independent, and nobody at the campaign is paid for their work.Friday, 11 December, 6 - 8pm - West Papua Flotilla Films Saturday, 12 December, 2 - 4pm - Mt. Carstensz (Namangkawi) Forum Sunday, 13 December, 2 - 4pm - West Papua Rent Collective Christmas Party To stay up to date with the latest on the Sampari exhibition, like previewing the art of some of our fabulous exhibiting artists visit the Sampari exhibition Facebook page.Free West Papua Campaign Australia

Anne Elvey talks about her new poetry book, This flesh that you know,  and reads many of the poems. With the themes of memory, family and ecology, this is a warm and insightful anthology. Photo by Di Cousens.

Loran Steinberg's poetry can be observational, personal and is often written as a sort of interior monologue, sometimes dialogue. She has been writing on and off for most her life. Focusing primarily on poetry for the last three years. The fascinating thing that is poetry and the poetry community has kept her interest ever since. She printed off a short zine in 2013 called Stuff I Wrote and has featured at poetry readings in Melbourne and Adelaide, where she grew up. A new zine should be coming out any month now.Her Poem “Moodswings” was published in 2014 in Page17 Issue 11, coming second in the poetry competition and earning exciting actual money. She collects odd facts and long words that are rarely ever useful and is learning to play cello. She loves living in Melbourne, particularly Footscray and was easier to recognise when she still had blue hair.Randall and Smarty are at it again. In fact they've never really stopped being at it. Attempting to arrest your attention with words. Poetry for people to enjoy. It's a concept they believe in with some vigour. Damned for being entertaining seems like a strange concept in a society that is prepared to be entertained by damn near anything. Perhaps if they were sitting in a room with a camera whining that their souffles didn't set the way they hoped or that some faceless minion hadn't restocked their free beer fridge... So they're gonna take their frustrations out on the microphone and stick it where it fits - right in your ear! Their shows have been described as dynamic and hilarious, full of movement and colourful language (swearing). See what the fuss has been about from Perth to Preston and several other places that don't begin with 'P'.

Join Ela and the first six guests she had in the Spoken Word studios. Each guest shares a favourite poem (or poems) written by a poet who has influenced them over the years. Discover why these poems are special to guests: Chalise van Wyngaardt, Rachael Guy, Myron Lysenko, Sandy Jeffs, Jeltje and Lish Škec.