The Wheeler Centre

Fire Front is a new anthology of First Nations poetry, edited by Gomeroi poet, essayist and legal academic Alison Whittaker. Featuring both established and emerging poets, it showcases the breadth of First Nations poetic voices, alongside essays from leading Aboriginal writers and thinkers who offer their own reflections on the power of the form. In this special showcase of Fire Front contributors, hosted by Whittaker, you’ll hear a Welcome to Country from Parbin-Ata Carolyn Briggs, followed by readings from Tony Birch, Charmaine Papertalk Green, Ali Cobby Eckermann, Meleika Gesa-Fatafehi, Jeanine Leane, Natalie Harkin, Lorna Munro, Raelee Lancaster, Luke Patterson and Evelyn Araluen. Then, Araluen will speak with Whittaker about how this landmark collection came together.

Fire Front is a new anthology of First Nations poetry, edited by Gomeroi poet, essayist and legal academic Alison Whittaker. Featuring both established and emerging poets, it showcases the breadth of First Nations poetic voices, alongside essays from leading Aboriginal writers and thinkers who offer their own reflections on the power of the form.

Charmaine Papertalk Green, in a still image from this event, performing a reading on Country

In this special showcase of Fire Front contributors, hosted by Whittaker, you’ll hear a Welcome to Country from Parbin-Ata Carolyn Briggs, followed by readings from Tony Birch, Charmaine Papertalk Green, Ali Cobby Eckermann, Meleika Gesa-Fatafehi, Jeanine Leane, Natalie Harkin, Lorna Munro, Raelee Lancaster, Luke Patterson and Evelyn Araluen. Then, Araluen will speak with Whittaker about how this landmark collection came together.

Alison Whittaker and Evelyn Araluen in conversation

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In conversation with Ronnie Scott for our 2019 Mayhem series, Max Porter (Grief is the Thing with Feathers; Lanny) discusses fiction, fabulism, literary heroes and literary risks.

Ronnie Scott, left, with Max Porter — Photo: Jon Tjhia

Max Porter's first book, Grief Is the Thing with Feathers, was an astonishing work about despair, love, memory ... and Ted Hughes.

A strange and beautiful novel of poetry and prose, it told the story of a widower and his two small boys who are visited in their grief by Crow, a self-described 'sentimental bird', and a trickster presence in the household. It won the 2016 International Dylan Thomas Prize, the 2017 Europese Literatuurprijs and was adapted for the stage in a production starring Cillian Murphy. Critics praised the book for its ambition, sensitivity and originality.

Porter's new book, Lanny follows up in the same experimental vein, again imbuing domestic dramas with magical elements and looming mythical, malevolent figures. It's a novel about childhood and creativity, filled with suspense, dread and hope.

In conversation with Ronnie Scott for our 2019 Mayhem series, Porter discusses fiction, fabulism, literary heroes and literary risks.

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Speaking from their respective homes during the COVID-19 restrictions of May 2020, two poetic powerhouses – Ellen van Neerven and Maxine Beneba Clarke – discuss their shared passion for the form, and consider ways in which poetry can help us process what’s happening in the world today.

not in Aus, mate

bad things don’t happen here

our beaches are open

they are not places where bloodied mattresses burn

Ellen van Neerven writes fiction, poetry, plays and non-fiction. An award-winning Mununjali Yugambeh writer and editor, their highly celebrated books include the experimental fiction collection, Heat and Light, and a book of poems, Comfort Food. This month, they released their second poetry collection, Throat, which explores love, language and land, and interrogates the colonial impulse.

Maxine Beneba Clarke, left, and Ellen van Neerven

Maxine Beneba Clarke is also a critically acclaimed writer and poet, whose work – including her award-winning 2016 poetry collection, Carrying the World – is known for its intensity and inventiveness, and for speaking truth to power.

Both writers bring humour and heart to critical questions of who we are, where we come from and the burden of Australia’s unreconciled history.

Speaking from their respective homes during the COVID-19 restrictions of May 2020, these two poetic powerhouses discuss their shared passion for the form, and consider ways in which poetry can help us process what’s happening in the world today. Introduced with a Welcome to Country from Parbin-Ata Carolyn Briggs.

Presented in partnership with Australian Poetry with the support of the Copyright Agency Cultural Fund.

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Rebecca Traister is an American journalist, polemicist and New York Times bestselling author who writes at the intersection of feminism, politics and culture. Her latest book, Good and Mad: The Revolutionary Power of Women’s Anger, investigates the potential and complexity of women’s anger as a political and social tool – both historically, and in the reinvigorated contemporary women’s movement in the West. How have women’s expressions of emotion been framed to delegitimise or condemn them? How can conflict and tension within and between factions of the women’s movement make the broader collective stronger? Traister speaks with Clare Wright at Melbourne's Athenaeum Theatre.

Clare Wright, left, and Rebecca Traister, at the Athenaeum Theatre in Melbourne — Photo: Emily Harms

‘The stories aren’t simple. They’re nuanced. And it’s our job to insist on that nuance – and not let everything get turned into a t-shirt.’

Rebecca Traister

Rebecca Traister is an American journalist, polemicist and New York Times-bestselling author who writes at the intersection of feminism, politics and culture. Her latest book, Good and Mad: The Revolutionary Power of Women’s Anger, investigates the potential and complexity of women’s anger as a political and social tool – both historically, and in the reinvigorated contemporary women’s movement in the West. How have women’s expressions of emotion been framed to delegitimise or condemn them? How can conflict and tension within and between factions of the women’s movement make the broader collective stronger?

Traister tracks the transformative force of female fury (and its suppression) through abolition, suffrage, temperance; through the labour and civil rights movements, and from now into the future. Are our perspectives on women’s anger changing? How can women use their dissatisfaction to progress their rights?

In April of 2019, Traister joined Clare Wright in conversation at the Athenaeum Theatre.

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What, exactly, is an ‘emerging’ writer? At what point do you come out of the chrysalis? The 2019 Emerging Writers’ Festival launched with a night of readings from Kat Clarke, Vidya Rajan, Sumudu Samarawickrama and Ahmed Yussuf – who each told us about the first time they considered themselves a writer. Hosted by the 2019 artistic director of the Emerging Writers' Festival, Izzy Roberts-Orr and program coordinator Aïsha Trambas.

What, exactly, is an ‘emerging’ writer? At what point do you come out of the chrysalis?

The 2019 Emerging Writers’ Festival launched with a night of readings from Kat Clarke, Vidya Rajan, Sumudu Samarawickrama and Ahmed Yussuf – who each told us about the first time they considered themselves a writer. Hosted by the 2019 artistic director of the Emerging Writers' Festival, Izzy Roberts-Orr and program coordinator Aïsha Trambas.

We're joining forces for the 2020 Emerging Writers' Festival launch – celebrating their all-digital programme – on Tuesday 2 June. Find out more (and sign up for a streaming reminder) here.

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See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.