Spoken Word

Spoken Word has uncovered a wonderful new talent on the poetry scene, 18 year old Chalise Van Wyngaardt. Chalise moved to Melbourne this year specifically for its poetry scene and is a writing student of the revered Ania Walwicz at RMIT. Her delivery is forceful and passionate, her writing is highly informed and aware of long literary traditions, yet her spontaneous personality shines through at all times.

http://nathancurnow.weebly.com/Nathan Curnow : poetAfter gaining qualifications in Community Development I worked in Drug and Alcohol and Crisis Housing for many years in Melbourne, where I quickly became numb and exhausted. I had been pursuing writing for a couple of years and so decided to commit further by quitting my job and enrolling in Creative Writing at Swinburne Tafe.  Following that I entered the University of Melbourne, which for me was like a kind of hothouse, one that fast-tracked my development. Studying under Kevin Brophy and Philip Salom, among others, I completed a Post Grad Dip in Creative Writing and moved to Portland on the far south west coast of Victoria.Some might think of me as a Melbourne poet, but the majority of my writing has occurred in the regional wilds of Victoria. The irony is that as soon as I moved out of the city, the small opportunities and breakthroughs began to come my way, which meant some serious travel! I spent the next six years crashing on friends couches, in hotel rooms or in my car on the side of the road, all to perform, read, write and generally make a go of it.In 2007 things got even crazier when I set off to write about my stays at ten haunted sites around the country.  The adventure was featured widely in print and radio, and sparked the interest of a number of festivals where I was invited to appear. In 2010 I co-edited, along with Lisa Greenaway and Ella Holcombe, Going Down Swinging No. 30, the iconic and much loved literary journal that has given myself and so many emerging writers a great kickstart.    I have also had the opportunity to collaborate with a range of gifted people over the years, including artist Dr Carmel Wallace, composer Anthony Lyons, musicians Wulfbyrne Brown, Joel Roberts and Michael Wallace, plus film students (Raphaela Lee, Clare O'Donnell and Laura James) from RMIT. Nathan Curnow

Australian poet, Judith Rodriguez, has been teaching poetry at universities internationally and at the Council of Adult Education for fifty years. She brings to this program a global knowledge of poetic forms and history. This is Part 3 of a three part series. Rodriguez taught English at La Trobe University from 1969 until 1985. In 1986 she was  writer-in-residence at Rollins College, Florida, an experience commemorated in her ninth collection Floridian Poems (1986). In 1989 she took up a lectureship in writing at Victoria College, which in 1993 became part of Deakin University, where she continued to teach until her retirement in 2003. Rodriguez's first poetry collection was published in 1962 as part of Four Poets, the others being fellow Brisbane poets David Malouf, Rodney Hall and Don Maynard. The title poem of her first solo collection, Nu-Plastik Fanfare Red: and other poems (1973), has remained an anthology favourite; it demonstrates her highly effective use of direct and forthright language and striking imagery.Water Life (1976) won the inaugural South Australian Biennial Literature Prize in 1978, while one of Rodriguez's most highly-regarded collections, Mudcrab at Gambaro's (1980) received both the Sydney PEN Golden Jubilee Award for Poetry and the Artlook/Shell Literary Award in 1981. The title sequence of poems celebrates life and sensuality through the eating of Queensland mud crab. Rodriguez is also known for her poems about women's experiences; the title poem of Witch Heart (1982), published by the feminist press Sisters, records a visit to Robyn Archer's play about the often disastrous lives of famous women performers, A Star is Torn.

Legendary spoken word artist from Fitzroy, Pi O, is featured in two longer pieces, one about a famous old Fitzroy musician, and the other about TV celebrity of yesteryear Graham Kennedy.

Anna Forsyth is a New-Zealand born writer and musician. For her day job, she writes and edits educational text books. Her first collection of poetry, A Tender Moment Between Strangers, was released in 2013 and her poems have appeared in several journals, including Landfall, FourW and n-Scribe. In 2012, she started Girls on Key, a bi-monthly music and poetry gig for women performers, raising funds for refugee girls to learn music. In her spare time, she performs music under the name Grace Pageant and has released an EP, Little Bonfire which we will be hearing some of today. When she grows up, she would like to be a wandering philosopher in Paris.

Special thanks to all listeners that helped our Spoken Word 3CR show exceed its target !!!

'The Year My Hair Fell Out' a factional account of that very first year working and living abroad. The book is set in Chuncheon and reveals the different and varied experiences one has when exposed to a foreign culture they know very little about.  http://www.amazon.com/The-Year-Hair-Fell-Out/dp/0992557704 When Australian Don Laridis turns 37 he realises that it's time for a 'real' change. He chooses to relocate to South Korea, a country he knows very little about. Unbeknownst to him, the plight of the English academy that he's been recruited for is on the brink of financial collapse. Instead of running he opts to stay, reveling and losing himself in this uncertain situation. Laridis teaches English to farm kids, university students, corporate types and housewives - people immersed in a sometimes obsessive pursuit of a second language, even to the brink of murder. This factional story reveals his exposure to the idiosyncracies of a foreign culture, not just in the curious dynamics of private education, but also in the diverse characters he meets on the hoof. Bob Blunt peeks into the moral fabric of unfamiliar culture that's dealing with Confucian traditions and new found modernity. He narrates, prods, pricks, and observes while keeping us tight in step with the central character.

This is the second in a series of three programs on 20th century poetry in English.Rodriguez was born Judith Catherine Green in Perth and grew up in Brisbane. She was educated at Brisbane Girls Grammar School, and graduated from the University of Queensland with a Bachelor of Arts. She then travelled to England, where she received a Master of Arts from Cambridge University in 1965, where she met her first husband, Colombian Fabio Rodriguez.[1]She has published numerous volumes of poetry, some illustrated by her own woodcuts, edited an anthology and the collected poems of Jennifer Rankin. From 1979 to 1982, she was poetry editor for the literary journal Meanjin, and from 1988 to 1997 she was a poetry editor with the publisher Penguin Australia. The play Poor Johanna, co-written with Robyn Archer, was produced in 1994 and her libretto for Moya Henderson's opera Lindy, about the Azaria Chamberlain disappearance, was performed at the Sydney Opera House in 2002.[2] She is a recipient of the Christopher Brennan Award and taught at La Trobe University (1969–1985) and Deakin University (1998–2003).

A live recording from Open Studio with the poetry night, Girls on KeyBronwen Manger is a poet and spoken word artist, located in Box Hill. Bronwen performs her work at readings and events around Melbourne (often accompanied by her identical twin Emily Polites), and her poems have been published in various journals and magazines, including Best Australian Poems 2012, The Age, Going Down Swinging, Triptych Poets 2, and page seventeen. Bronwen has performed her poetry live on radio (Triple J, 3CR and Phoenix FM), and she has appeared on Channel 31’s Red Lobster TV program. Bronwen’s poetry varies widely, from rambunctious rhymes to contemplative lines, and she aims to tempt the audience into an opulent web of passion and puzzlement, strung between wildflowers and grenades, paradise and apocalypse, decadence and deprivation.Fleassy Malay is an Internationally renowned, evocative and powerful spoken word artist from the UK. Now based in Melbourne, Australia, she runs one of Melbourne’s most successful Spoken Word events, Mother Tongue. Her quirky, theatrical and emotive performance style captivates audiences leaving them both laughing and crying, occasionally both at the same time. Fleassy incorporates both her Theatre background with her love of hip hop and poetry to create stories and poems that ooze rhythm, melody and personality. She also teaches 6 week Spoken Word courses looking at the power of vulnerability and honesty both on and off the stage.Anne M Carson. has been published in the USA, Ireland, France and widely in Australia. Her first collection, Removing the Kimono, was published by Hybrid Publishers in 2013. She has a particular interest in collaboration and has worked with a dancer, pianist, keyboard player and harpist. She has won and been commended in various literary competitions most recently in 2015 she was shortlisted for the Ron Pretty Poetry Prize.Gemma Mahadeo is a Melbourne-based writer who came to Australia in 1987. Prior to that, she lived in her country of birth, England, and also spent time in her mother’s, the Philippines. Her poetry has appeared both online and in print at Famous Reporter, Islet, Poetrix, Cordite, antiTHESIS, and Going Down Swinging, with more recent work appearing or forthcoming in Writ Poetry Review, Tincture Journal, and Tenderness Journal later in 2015.

Anna Fern is a remarkable sound poet who stretches the physical possibilities of the human voice. In this programme she talks about some of the history of experimental sound poetry, with ample demonstrations of her own, and also talks about how such work is received by audiences. Anna refers to some of the improvisation groups she has performed with. And just to reveal her versatility, she even does some 'straight' poetry.http://www.queenslandpoetryfestival.com/site/anna-fern-sound-poet/ https://annafern.wordpress.com/