Poets Union e-news for poets from May 5

Dear Poets Union Members and Friends,

Breaking news: 50 members of the Poets Union have had their poems posted on the website as part of The Greenhouse - an e-anthology of environmental poems. Please see the website now www.poetsunion.com

All members of the Poets Union should have received their copy of the double issue Five Bells Vol.17 No 1&2. Please let me know if you have not. Membership for 2010 is now based on the calendar year and was due on 1st January 2010. We value your support – please join us now and receive your copies of Five Bells throughout the year.

Details of the Poets Union events at the Sydney Writers’ Festival are now up on the Poets Union website. Exciting stuff and please see those that need tickets – they are selling fast! www.poetsunion.com

Please don’t wait for this email anymore! The events and submission dates for poets are now posted and updated on the website each week – please press control and click www.poetsunion.com to visit the Poets Union website and collect your e-news for poets at a time to suit you!

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POETRY, EVENTS, FESTIVALS AND READINGS
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Perth Poetry Club: Sat.8th May – guest poet is Alan Hancock (www.freeflow.net.au)
2-4 pm at the Moon Café with guest poet this Saturday 8th May: ALAN HANCOCK
+ Plus open mike. Professional sound. Come listen and hang out with poetry lovers in the comfy back room of The Moon http://www.themoon.com.au/
Venue: The Moon Café,
Address: 323 William Street, Northbridge.
More info (yes, more!) : http://www.perthpoetryclub.com
Enquiries Email: perthpoetryclub@gmail.com
Phone: Janet 0406 624 578

COMING UP AT PERTH POETRY CLUB:
15 May: Mardi May + Scrutineer of Splodge, followed by Mardi's book launch at 4pm (The Scrutineer has been challenged to do no less than FOUR poems in ten minutes)
22 May: some seriously poetic blokes: Stewart Hunt + Raymond Grenfell
29 May: Molly Hall (from Margaret River)
5 June: ACR (any performance by this powerful woman is NOT TO BE MISSED)
12 June: philosophical lines: Jo Clarke + Jonothon Twist
19 June: SPECIAL DOUBLE FEATURE: Mad hatters from Melbourne: Randall Stephens & Steve Smart
26 June: Kevin Gillam (the much-loved cello-playing poet himself)

Also coming up:
• Voicebox, Thu 6 May, 7pm at La Tropicana, 177 High Street, Freo
• Ron Okely's book launch, Sun 16 May, Hazel McDougall House, Como. RSVP by 7 May, 9459 2342, rokely@argo.net.au
Have you seen our Perth Poetry Links ? Readings, groups, poets, journals, publishers... WA poetry. Perth Poetry club lineups until 12 June are now online at
http://perthpoetryslam.com/perthpoetryclub/node/71

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In Sydney on-line People’s Choice award nominations - due 10 May
The shortlist for the 2010 NSW Premier’s Literary Awards has been announced. The winners will be announced at the NSW Premier’s Literary Awards dinner in Sydney on May 17 during the 2010 Sydney Writers’ Festival.

Please note that the People’s Choice Award will continue in 2010. Established last year to mark the 30th anniversary of the awards, the People’s Choice Award is an opportunity for NSW readers to nominate their favourite book from the six titles shortlisted for the Christina Stead Prize for fiction.
To cast a vote visit the Premier’s Literary Awards website (http://www.pla.nsw.gov.au/) and read extracts of the shortlisted works as well as subscribe to an e-newsletter staying informed of the latest news. Voting is open until midnight on the 10 May and the winner is announced on the 17 May.

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Poetry at The Gods: guest poets Andy Kissane (Sydney) and Paul Cliff (Canberra)
In Canberra - Tues 11 May - Poetry at The Gods is the monthly reading at the Gods Café/ Bar and Restaurant at the Australian National University (ANU) in Canberra.
The guest poets on Tues 11 May 2010 will be Andy Kissane and Paul Cliff.
Event : Poetry at The Gods
Venue: The Gods Café/Bar
Address: ANU Arts Centre (across the quadrangle from the Student Union near Sullivans Creek).
Date: Tues 11 May
Time: Patrons intending to eat please arrive by 6.30 to ensure that the readings can begin at 8pm.
Poetry: reading from 8.00 pm. Entry fee: $5.

Dinner: Light meals are available from 6pm.
Bookings: Please book directly by phoning the Gods Café/Bar Tel.6248 5538
Seating: is limited to 80 people.
To be sure of hearing a particular poet it is advisable to eat at the venue beforehand but ‘listening only’ 'non-eating' seats can also be booked.
Organiser Geoff Page - email Geoff if you want to join one of his tables at gpage40@bigpond.net.au

Andy Kissane's latest collection of poetry is Out to Lunch (Puncher & Wattmann, 2009). He won the inaugural Publishers' Cup Cricket Poetry Award in 2009. He is currently working on a book of short stories and a fourth book of poetry. He also teaches creative writing and will be doing a couple of workshops for the ACT Writers Centre while he's in town.
Paul Cliff has published three collections, most recently The Impatient World (Five Islands Press, 2002). He has won the Two Fires Festival poetry prize and has been a runner up in the Rosemary Dobson Poetry prize. He also works as an editor at the National Gallery of Australia.

Poets for the rest of 2010:
Tues Jun 8 L.K. Holt (Melbourne) 90th Birthday Tribute to Rosemary Dobson (Canberra)
Tues Jul 13 Dennis Wild (Adelaide), Mark O'Connor (Canberra), Adrian Caesar (Canberra)
Tues Jul 27 Dead Poets’ Dinner
Tues Aug 10 Andrew Lansdown (Perth), Michele Cahill (Sydney)
Tues Sep 14 Alan Wearne (Wollongong), Kate Llewellyn (Adelaide)
Tues Oct 12 Elizabeth Lawson (Canberra), Leon Trainor (Canberra), Jeremy Nelson (Braidwood)
Tues Nov 9 Andy Jackson (Melbourne), Harry Laing (Braidwood)
Tues Dec 14 joanne burns (Sydney), Robyn Rowland (Torquay, Victoria)

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Wordstorm: The Festival of Australasian Writing May 12-16

WORDSTORM -
THE FESTIVAL OF AUSTRALASIAN WRITING
How can the nations of this region address climate change? Is Australia still ‘the lucky country’? Can an intervention be benign? Is there a place for feminism in Islam? How can the world’s displaced find a place of refuge?
Plans are on the boil for WordStorm, the Festival of Australasian Writing, that will be held in Darwin, May 13-16 2010, where these issues - and many more - will be considered, discussed and debated.
WORDSTORM
Wordstorm has a unique place in Australia’s writers’ festival scene, with its strong focus on Indigenous and South East Asian writers. It’s a festival that talks to, and about, the region it inhabits. It is well away from the larger east coast writers festivals in major capital cities, and it has an intimacy and rare cultural mix that has writers and readers raving about it. Located in the storytelling wellspring that is the Northern Territory, the mythical heart and soul of the country, you cannot experience this festival and not be moved in some very personal way.
South East Asian guests include the hip, the controversial, the lyrical and the award-winning. Hear about feminism and Islam with Dina Zaman and Lily Yulianti Farid, see the film that’s been viewed by almost every Indonesian, ‘Laskar Pelangi’ written by Andrea Hirata, encounter a violent and sexual Singapore you’ve never seen before with O Thiam Chin, become familiar with the first novels to be published in Tetum by Teodosia Batista Ximenes and read the book that features a clone of ‘The Prophet’ by Isa Kamari.
Wordstorm 2010 also features Australian writers who delve into Australian-Asian relations, such as Alice Pung and Patrick Allington. We’ll be reviewing the Balibo story with NT writer Jill Jolliffe and Tony Maniaty, and confronting the climate change issue with Australian legend Tim Flannery. Australian literary icons Arnold Zable, Nicolas Rothwell and Robert Adamson will take you on journeys into the heart of what matters.
Indigenous writers will be packing a punch this year with the likes of Professor Marcia Langton, Archie ‘Day of the Dog’ Weller, the legendary Alexis Wright, comedian Mary G, soprano Deborah Cheetham, poet Ali Cobby Eckermann and David Unaipon Award winner Marie Munkara to name a few. An Indigenous Writers & Educators Conference will run 12-13 May, and speakers include the above, as well as Wesley Enoch, John Maynard, Mark Bin Bakar, Melissa Lucashenko, Dizzy Doolan and more.
However, the festival won’t all be serious, with Cold Chisel’s Don Walker, the hilarious Wendy Harmer, Indigenous soprano Deborah Cheetham will make your heart soar, and slap your thighs with tears and laughter alongside Mary G. A Comedy Debate, a Poetry Slam, and other Special Events will show off the cream of the guest list in unique Darwin settings.
Tickets are available online

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In Sydney 17th May - NSW Premier’s Literary Awards dinner

The shortlist for the 2010 NSW Premier’s Literary Awards has been announced. The winners will be announced at the NSW Premier’s Literary Awards dinner in Sydney on May 17 during the 2010 Sydney Writers’ Festival.

Visit the Premier’s Literary Awards website (http://www.pla.nsw.gov.au/) and read extracts of the shortlisted works as well as subscribe to an e-newsletter staying informed of the latest news.
NSW Premier’s Literary Awards are open to all Australian writers. Past winners
include Nam Le, Peter Carey, Joan London, Ursula Dubosarsky and David Malouf.
This year’s Script Writing Award includes a remarkable list of world-recognised talent
such as Oscar winners Jane Campion and Adam Elliot, and Cannes Film Festival winner
Warwick Thornton.
Debut novelist Kathy Charles is the only author to be shortlisted in two categories for her
novel Hollywood Ending.
Emma Jones’s poetry collection The Striped World, shortlisted for the Kenneth Slessor
Prize, is the first Australian debut poetry collection published by prestigious UK
publishing house Faber and Faber.
For more details and for the full shortlist visit http://www.pla.nsw.gov.au.

Background facts:
In addition to the Premier’s Literary Awards the State Government has provided more
than $1.4 million this year to support writers across NSW.
This includes $280,000 for the Sydney Writers’ Festival and more than $376,000 for the
network of writers’ centres across the State.
We have also provided funding to a range of organisations including PlayWriting
Australia ($105,000), the Australian Script Centre Inc ($15,000), the Poets’ Union Inc
($49,000) and the Australian Writers’ Guild Ltd ($32,000).

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In Wollongong on 20th May launch of Kate Llewellyn’s ‘Selected Verse’
Event: Reading and Booklaunch - Kate Llewellyn’s Selected Verse
Date: Thursday 20 May 2010
When: 4pm
Venue: UniCentre Bookshop, University of Wollongong,
Address: Northferlds Avenue, Gwyneville
Free event, all welcome

University of Wollongong Press are pleased to announce the launch of Kate Llewellyn's selected verse, edited by Paul Sharrad. The collection includes essays on her poetry by David Gilbey, Susan Sheridan and Anne Collett. The launch will feature a reading by Kate Llewellyn.
_____________________________
Ali Smith – Director : South Coast Writers Centre
Professional development, networks and resources for writers and readers on the South Coast of New South Wales. Supported by Arts NSW and Wollongong City Council.
PO Box 32 Wollongong East NSW 2520
Tel/Fax: 02 4228 0151
Email: scwc@1earth.net
Web: http://www.1earth.net/~scwc
Blog: http://www.southcoastwriters.wordpress.com

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Poets Union monthly reading at Brett Whiteley Studio
Sunday 23 May 2 pm – guest poet + open mic.
Date: Sunday 23 May 2010
Guest poet:
Venue: Brett Whiteley Studio
Address: 2 Raper Street,
Surry Hills (off Devonshire Street,
via Esther Street and Esther Lane)
Time: 2.00 -3.30 pm (4th Sunday of every month)
Free entry. Open Mic included.

The Poets Union thanks the Brett Whiteley Studio staff and the Art Gallery of NSW for their support and we thank Rosnay wines for their wonderful wine and sponsorship.
Convenor: Angela Stretch for Poets Union Inc.
Enquiries for 2010 : 0438 898 578

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26th May ‘Live Poets @ Don Bank’
with guest poets Jess Cook and Fadel Khayat + open mic.
Wednesday, May 26th Live Poets @ Don Bank 6 Napier St North Sydney

SPECIAL GUESTS: JESS COOK will perform in her unique style and talk about her current projects. FADEL KHAYAT will read his poems and discuss his journey to Iraq to document the return of the Marsh Arabs to their homelands.
As usual there is an Open Section where anyone is welcome to recite, sing, tell a story or play an instrument.
Doors open 7.30. $7 entry includes supper and drinks.
Further info: (02) 9896 6956 or Mobile 0422 263 373 or via
dannylivepoets@yahoo.com.au

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Melbourne Emerging Writers’ Festival
and presentation of the Overland Judith Wright Poetry Prize for New and Emerging Poets –
Date: 29th May.
A national prize held in honour of Australian poet Judith Wright has been awarded to Charles Sturt University (CSU) postgraduate student, Mr Derek Motion. The 2010 Overland Judith Wright Poetry Prize for New and Emerging Poets, valued at $3 000, has been won by the poet and PhD student for his work, ‘forest hill’.
The successful poets will feature at a presentation event at the Melbourne Emerging Writers’ Festival on Saturday 29 May, alongside Keri Glastonbury and Gig Ryan (poetry editors of Overland and The Age respectively).
In addition to the prize money, Mr Motion’s poem will be published in the next issue of Overland, a quarterly e-bulletin about events, politics and literature. He will be presented the poetry award at the 2010 Emerging Writers’ Festival in the Melbourne Town Hall on Saturday 29 May.

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PLAN TO BE PUBLISHED: poetry workshops with Les Wicks
In Sydney at NSW Writers’ Centre
Date(s): Saturdays 5 & 12 June
Workshop: PLAN TO BE PUBLISHED with Les Wicks
Venue: at the NSW Writers’ Centre,
Address: Callan Park (off Balmain/Lilyfield Road), Rozelle NSW 2039
Time: 10am – 4pm

More details: http://www.nswwriterscentre.org.au/html/s02_article/article_view.asp?keyword=june2010
or ring Tel. (02) 9555 9757

One of the best known poetry workshop templates in Australia will be on offer in Sydney.
Be inspired! Be published!
“Exceptional, supporting yet challenging, showing (and earning) respect, a privilege to
attend this leader’s workshop”; “serendipity but fabulous”; “contributed very generously-¬ great value for money”; “I got more from two days with Les’ workshop than I did over a postgraduate year at university”


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COMPETITIONS AND SUBMISSION DEADLINES
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2010 Poets Union Members’ Anthology
Members: $25 per page.
Due date NOW EXTENDED to 21st May. Members, previously published poems accepted.
Poets Union Anthology 2010
Call for submission of poems
1 Members of the Poets Union are invited to submit a poem for publication in this year’s Anthology, which is due to be launched at the 2010 Australian Poetry Festival in September. For years now, a popular member activity has been to be published in the Anthology. Recent ones have been Prismatics (2008), Sun and Sleet (2006), Ask the Rain (2004), From the Annabranch (2002) and No River is Safe (2000).

2 To be in the new collection, send us a hard copy of your poem and payment of $25 per page of single-space Times New Roman 12-point typing in PC Microsoft Word 2003 (not 2007. If necessary, when using 2007 save the file into 2003) or Microsoft Word 2004 for Apple. Do not send it in pdf. You may submit more than one poem , but payment needs to be made at $25 per page. Make your cheque or money order out to Poets Union Inc.

3 In addition to hard copy, please send your poem if possible as an Attachment in an email with Subject: Poets Union 2010 Anthology. Please also provide a mail address and a phone number so we can check details where necessary. Send your email to info@poetsunion.com

4 Please supply a four-line biography, concentrating on your life in poetry, to be published in the Anthology.
5 Your poem may be a new one, never before published, or it may be prepublished.
6 If your poem has previously been published, you need to provide us with an acknowledgement, including reference details of where it was published, year, volume number, and page numbers.

7 Type your name on the poem sheet, the poem title, and the poem in single column format.
8 Please name electronic files with your surname and one key word of the poem title.

9 Please mark your envelope Anthology, Poets Union, PO Box 755, Potts Point NSW 1335 and make your cheque or money order out to Poets Union Inc. at $25 per page or pay by credit card (download form from the website please)
All poets featured in the Anthology will be entitled to a copy.

10 Closing date to submit your poem is 21 April 2010. Members, please download the entry/payment form from the website www.poetsunion.com under ‘Competitions and Prizes’ on the left hand side of the home page.

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2010 BUSH LANTERN AWARD
– submissions for bush verse due 21 May
Fancy yourself as the reincarnation of Henry Lawson or Banjo Patterson? Bush verse to 100 lines showing good rhyme and rhythm, and Australian theme.
First prize $200. Entry $8. This year the club has also decided to run a written competition for Primary & Secondary school children.
Entry forms for both competitions from NTWC or email the competition contact (see below):
E: lees@fastel.com.au

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Shoalhaven Literary Award (2010 for poetry)
submissions due 28 May.The Shoalhaven Literary Award for 2010 is now open.
Judge: This year it is for poetry and our judge will be Kate Llewellyn.
Prizes: The first prize is $1000 plus a two-week residency at Bundanon, Arthur Boyd’s gift to the nation on the beautiful Shoalhaven River,
+ four second prizes of $200 and highly commended and commended as nominated by the judge.
The closing date is 28th May 2010 and winners will be contacted after 25th September 2010.
Members please get any information you require from www.fawnswshoalhaven.org.au and download an entry form from http://www.fawnswshoalhaven.org.au/Our_Competitions/our_competitions.html

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2010 PRESSPRESS CHAPBOOK AWARD (POETRY) due 31 May

The PressPress Chapbook Award is for an original manuscript of poetry between 20-40pp. The winning manuscript will receive $600 and chapbook publication with PressPress. The Award will be announced in July 2010 on the PressPress site.
The manuscript must be unpublished and not on offer to another publisher in Australia or elsewhere (except that individual poems can be already taken or on offer to journals, sites or anthologies where you keep the copyright).
Have a look at the website to see what sort of thing we've done in the past and what the judges said last year.
Entry conditions and form from the website.
W: http://members.ozemail.com.au/~writerslink/PressPress/PressPress_Award_conditions.html

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2010 Blake Poetry Prize
Submissions invited and due 11 June .
The 2010 Blake Poetry Prize presented by the NSW Writers’ Centre and Blake Society is now open for entries. This national award, generously supported by Leichhardt Council, offers a cash prize of $5,000 for a new poem that best explores the religious or spiritual.

The prize is non-sectarian and encourages Australian poets to write a new work of up to 100 lines displaying a critical awareness of issues relating to the religious or spiritual. Poems sympathetic to those concepts are also equally welcome.

Entries must be received by 5.00pm, Friday 11 June 2010 and the winner will be announced on Thursday 2 September 2010. Entry forms and more information are available at www.nswwriterscentre.org.au

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Poets Union 2010 Poetry Prize
– entries open to all and due 30th June. Please download the entry forms from the Poets Union website www.poetsunion.com
The Poets Union Poetry Prize 2010 - First Prize: $3000
Plus
Up to Five Short-Listed Poems @ $100 Each.
Winner to be announced at the Australian Poetry Festival 5 September 2010.

Conditions of Entry
• The prize will be awarded for a single poem of no more than 100 lines.
• Entries must be typed on single-sided A4 paper. Manuscripts will not be returned. Faxed or emailed entries will not be accepted.
• Previously published or prize-winning poems are ineligible. Entries should not be on offer to other publications.
• 3 copies of the poem must be submitted. The title of the poem should appear on each page but the poets name must NOT appear anywhere on the manuscript.
• Multiple entries may be submitted but each entry must be accompanied by a separate entry form. Additional entry forms are available on the Poets Union website: www.poetsunion.com or by sending a stamped, self-addressed envelope to the Poets Union.
• Each entry must be accompanied by an entry fee of $15 ($10 for financial members of the Poets Union).
• Cheques should be made payable to The Poets Union Inc and posted to The Poets Union, PO Box 755, Potts Point, NSW 1335. Clearly mark the envelope ‘Poetry Prize’. Alternatively, credit card details can be supplied on the entry form.
• The closing date for entries is 30 June 2010. Late entries will not be accepted.
• Entrants must reside in Australia or be Australian citizens living overseas.
• Committee members or staff of the Poets Union are not eligible to enter.
• The judges’ decision is final and no correspondence will be entered into.
• Results, the winning poem, and short-listed poems will be posted on the Poets Union website after 5 September 2010 and appear in the journal Five Bells. Should you require a hard copy of the results and/or a receipt please include a stamped, self-addressed envelope, clearly marked ‘Receipt and/or Results’.
Presented in collaboration with the Australian Poetry Centre

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Poets Union 2010 Youth Fellowships
- applications due 29 June
The Poets Union, in conjunction with the Australian Poetry Centre, is pleased to announce the return of these outstanding Fellowships, offering one Young Poets Fellowship in 2010 for a poet between the ages of 19 and 30.

The Fellows will receive:
1. A mentorship with an experienced poet – the choice to be made
in consultation with the incoming Fellow.
2. The publication and launch of a chapbook.
3. Publication on the Poetry Australia website.
4. The opportunity to present work at a Poetry Australia reading.

Some money may be available for assistance with travel costs, where necessary.
In return, fellows are asked to write one review-article on the work of a poet of their choice for publication in a Poetry Australia outlet, as a way of encouraging poets to contribute towards the critical discourse in Australian verse.

The purpose of the Fellowship is to enable an outstanding young poet to further develop his or her skills with input from an experienced mentor, and to provide opportunities for publication at the beginning of their careers. It is designed for young poets who have already made significant progress in the development of their writing, but who have yet to make the final steps towards full publication.

Closing Date for applications is 29th June, 2010. The Fellow will be notified in August, and the announcement made public at the Australian Poetry Festival (Sep 3/4/5). In most cases, mentorships will continue into 2011. See the Poets Union website for more details and an entry form

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The Kitchen Table Poets ‘All Poetry’ competition
The Kitchen Table Poets 'ALL POETRY' Competition - OPEN NOW
- Closing date June 30 2010,
No entry form required
A competition for all genres of original, unpublished poetry, 14- 40 lines.
Written in English.
And not to have won a cash prize in any other competition.
Send two copies of each poem.
First Prize:$150. Second Prize:$80 Third prize $50.
Entry Fee $6 per poem. Cheques or money orders made out to All Poetry.
No names on the manuscript. Instead please use a cover sheet showing name of author, poem, address, phone, (e-mail.)
Feedback comments will be forwarded to thirty or more entrants - Include ssae for this and/or results: (optional)
Entrants must be 18yrs or over.
Entries to
: All Poetry PO Box 3268 North Nowra 2541
Each winner to receive a copy of Tangents a collection of poetry written by The Kitchen Table Poets, cover drawing by Robert Dickerson.
Conducted and judged by members of The Kitchen Table Poets, Shoalhaven.
More information: Irene 02 4421 8267 , e-mail iwilkie@shoal.net.au
See ArtsRush Magazine Shoalhaven www.artsrush.com.au (Poetry News)

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THE REASON-BRISBANE POETRY PRIZE
submissions due 2 July
Reason-Brisbane Poetry Prize – open to budding and established writers across Australia.
Closing date: 2 July (for Words in Winter, Daylesford, 14 August)
This is the competition's seventh year.
Open theme.
Prizes: 1st $1500, 2nd $500, 3rd $300.
Judge: Ross Gillett, multi-award winning poet, will judge the entries
Winner: winners will be announced at the morning poetry event of Words in Winter, Daylesford on 14 August.

For guidelines, see
or send a SSAE to Rules, PO Box 545, Daylesford, VIC 3460. Sheila Hollingworth, Competition Organiser.

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‘The Nib’: CAL Waverley Library Award for Literature
Nominations due by 9 July – fiction and non-fiction.
The 2010 'The Nib': CAL Waverley Library Award for Literature which recognises excellence in research. The Award's major sponsor, Copyright Agency Limited's Cultural Fund , provides a winner's prize of $20,000 + trophy and all shortlisted authors receive the Alex Buzo Shortlist Prize.
All genres of writing including fiction and non fiction, published between 1 July 2009 and 30 June 2010, are eligible. The closing date for nominations is 9 July 2010.
If you would like additional information about the Award, please have a look at the website www.waverley.nsw.gov.au/library/award or contact Denis Moore , Project Officer,
'The Nib': CAL Waverley Library Award for Literature Waverley Library
32-48 Denison Street, Bondi Junction NSW 2022
Telephone (02) 9386 7709 ( usually Mon & Thur )

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QLD Poetry Festival
to be run from 27-29 August 2010
The Queensland Poetry Festival invites proposals from poets and other performers and artists interested in being part of the 14th annual festival in 2010. QPF 2010 runs from 27-29 August and will be held at the Judith Wright Centre of Contemporary Arts in Brisbane.
QPF would like to hear from both individuals and groups for performances at the festival and for other projects in association with the festival. While all projects should have a relationship to poetic language, we encourage applications from artists wishing to explore the relationship between poetry and other art forms. An expression of interest form is now available for download from www.queenslandpoetryfestival.com.
For further information please email info@queenslandpoetryfestival.com
Graham Nunn - Chair, QLD Poetry Festival

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Sentences Annual Literary Competition 2010
The Bridge Foundation is a charity based in Sale and advocates for prisoners, and their families on release.
SENTENCES ANNUAL LITERARY COMPETITION 2010 - entries are invited in the following sections:
SECTION 1 OPEN SHORT STORY Limit 2,500 words
SECTION 2 OPEN POETRY Limit 40 lines

All entries to be previously unpublished work.
PRIZES : lst - $100 2nd - $75 3rd - $50
Entry fees $5 for one entry $12 for three entries
No entry form necessary. Separate cover sheet with name and address please.
Winners notified by mail. Results published on our website www.bridgefoundation.net.au
Entries to : The Bridge Foundation, P O Box 9279, Sale, Victoria 3850
Closing date : August 31st, 2010

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The Nature Conservancy Australia - NATURE WRITING PRIZE
A Biennial national prize of $5000
NATURE WRITING PRIZE –entries close 30 September
Inaugural winner published in indigo journal
Judges: literary journalist, Sally Blakeney and poet and nature writer, Mark Tredinnick.
Entries Close: 30 September 2010
The prize will be awarded for an essay between 3000 and 5000 words set within an Australia landscape and exploring the author's sense of 'place'.

Founded in 1951, and with more than 1 million members worldwide, The Nature Conservancy is the leading conservation organization working around the world to protect ecologically important lands and water for nature and people. Working in partnership with Australian conservation organizations, Indigenous landholders and government, TNC Australia programs include the biodiversity rich Gondwana Link in WA, Central Australian deserts and Northern Australian grasslands.

indigo journal is dedicated to promoting Western Australian writers and their writing.
Find out more by visiting www.indigojournal.org.au

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Islet on-line magazine
call for submissions to a new on-line magazine www.islet.com.au from Island...
Are you an emerging writer or visual artist?
Island magazine is very pleased to call for submissions to lslet, its new online publishing space.
Islet publishes a free, quarterly collection of small works by emerging writers and visual artists.
For pay rates, maximum word lengths, and detailed submission guidelines, please visit the website: www.islet.com.au
Check out the current issue www.islet.com.au and pop in to our Conversation page while you’re there!

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2010 Mary Gilmore Poetry Prize
Entries are invited for the 2010 Mary Gilmore Poetry Prize.
The Prize is awarded every two years by the Association for the Study of Australian Literature (ASAL) for the best first book of poetry published by an Australian in the preceding two years – in this case the calendar years 2008 and 2009.
This is a prestigious poetry prize which has helped the careers of many now well-known poets, including Jan Owen, Judith Beveridge, Alison Croggon, Lucy Dougan, and David McCooey; the prize also draws attention to their publishers. ASAL will meet the cost of the winning poet attending and providing a reading of his or her work at its conference to be held in early July 2010.
Eligible publishers or poets are asked to submit three copies of each eligible book to:
Dennis Haskell, English & Cultural Studies (M202), University of Western Australia
35 Stirling Highway, CRAWLEY WA 6009
Any queries about the prize can be sent to Dennis Haskell at the above address or dhaskell@cyllene.uwa.edu.au

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Mascara Literary Review (Mascara Poetry has expanded! )
Submissions invited to Mascara Literary Review
Mascara Poetry has recently expanded into Mascara Literary Review and is now accepting submissions of short fiction and essays (as well as poetry).
We also have a new website: www.mascarareview.com
Mascara Literary Review is an online literary journal particularly interested in the work of contemporary Asian (as well as Australian and Indigenous) writers.
We are able to pay: $75 for two or more poems, $50 for reviews and essays.
For full submission details visit: www.mascarareview.com/submissions.html

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Cordite Poetry Review
Submissions now open for Cordite Poetry Review. Writing haikus, snryus or other ultra-short poems?
Submissions are now open for the 31st issue of Cordite – EPIC.
Details available at www.cordite.org.au

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The Margaret Reid Poetry Contest
- re-opened on November 15! Call for submissions to Margaret Reid Poetry Contest.

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Jazz and Poetry section of annotated discography on jazz and literature
- Submissions invited
From PU member Peter JF Newton :
I am nearing completion of the jazz & poetry section of a three-part annotated discography on jazz & literature which I expect to publish next year. The scope of this section includes recitation accompanied by jazz in any of its many varieties, poems converted to jazz vocal performances and instrumental compositions inspired by the work of individual poets. The emphasis here is on poetry with jazz and improv music as I know them; I have no wish to stray into the world of rock, rap, hip-hop and so on because they are well beyond my domain of competence.
I have adequate access to the world literature for this type of work and am in touch with a number of major overseas jazz poets working in this field, so I am looking specifically for Australian and New Zealand information which sadly seems to escape the literature.
The details sought are as follows: Band or artist name, recording dates and locations, identification of poets and composers, accompanying musicians and their instruments (including the voice), poem or song titles, type of recording medium together with recording company names, catalogue numbers, and album titles. A reference point for accessibility to these products would be a useful addition.
The recording medium can be any type of modality and of commercial, private or archival provenance.
Details should be sent to me (Peter Newton) as Chair, NSW Jazz Archive Inc., 30 Boorea St, Blaxland, NSW 2774.
E-mail jpnewton@tpg.com.au Tel: (02) 4739-1715.
All advice received will be acknowledged in the book when it appears.
Best regards, Peter J.F. Newton.


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e-zines and e-anthologies for poets
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ABC radio at the Sydney Writers’ Festival – digital radio
ABC Sydney Writers on Digital Radio

ABC Sydney Writers is the next special event broadcast offered on digital radio by the ABC.

For the first time, ABC Radio is able to take the Sydney Writers’ Festival across Australia. ABC Sydney Writers will broadcast from 20 – 23 May on digital radio in Adelaide, Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney. Audiences outside of these cities can tune in to ABC Sydney Writers as audio on demand at abc.net.au/sydneywriters

During the Festival, the broadcast will comprise Festival sessions, highlights, interviews and behind-the-scenes glimpses of what’s happening in around Sydney for the Festival. 702 ABC Sydney (Conversations with Richard Fidler) and ABC Radio National (The Book Show with Ramona Koval) will also present live broadcasts from the Sydney Writers’ Festival that will be available on analogue and digital radio.

“ABC Sydney Writers is our most ambitious project using the digital extra channel and it will be a treat for Australian lovers of books and writing,” said Kate Dundas, Director ABC
Radio.

“Our small production team, on-site at the Sydney Wharf precinct over the four biggest days of the event, will create radio that captures the excitement and wealth of diverse conversation that the Festival encourages.”

ABC special event digital radio has already revisited the historic Apollo 11 moon landing mission; taken listeners on a musical trip back to Woodstock; brought together the excitement of the 2009 Melbourne International Arts Festival; marked the 10th Anniversary of East Timor’s independence referendum; celebrated Australian music month by highlighting triple j’s Unearthed artists; given listeners the perfect Christmas holiday soundtrack with Classic Season; commemorated the break-up of the Beatles and celebrated new music at the ISCM World New Music Days Festival. ABC Sydney Writers is yet another example of the unique content and specialised programming that can be offered by the ABC through digital radio.

Audiences with a digital radio should look for ABCSydneyWriters on their radio’s screen. ABC Sydney Writers is also available as an audio stream at abc.net.au/sydneywriters
For more information please contact:
Nicola Fern, Marketing Manager, ABC Radio National on 0418 494 252 or fern.nicola@abc.net.au

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POETICA – ABC Radio National. Saturdays and Thursdays in MAY:
Australia-wide Poetry program- Saturdays at 3.05 pm and repeated Thursdays at 3.05 pm
May program:
1st The Writing on the Wall – a suite of poems by Anne M. Carson about the freeing of slaves in Ancient Greece.
8th Robert Gray – Robert Gray talks about his life and work and we hear a selection of his poetry.
15th Scar Tissue – the writing of American poet, Charles Wright.
22nd Australian Haiku 1 – an anthology exploring this popular miniature form in Australia.
29th Australian Haiku 2 – the haiku and the senryu in contemporary Australian poetry.

POETICA is presented by BRENT CLOUGH and MIKE LADD - For further details please contact the producers of Poetica: Mike Ladd (08) 8343 4928 Krystyna Kubiak (08) 8343 4271
Or visit the Poetica website at www.abc.net.au/rn/arts/poetica/

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FROM THIS BROKEN HILL http://brokenhill.tripod.com/BrokenHill.htm
Meuse Press has released an e-anthology titled “From This Broken Hill” – a unique combination of writing from some of the country’s top writers (past & present) combined with a dazzling array of photography. A place of near mythic proportions, this city deep in the outback. A mine that put the money into Melbourne. Arts hub while simultaneously isolated by distance.
But in some ways Broken Hill was the experiment that became multicultural Australia – it had the country’s first mosque, many communities continue to thrive within its boundaries. The rough heart of Unionism still stands strong. People escape to this city, others escape a childhood there. It has its horrors and highlights, once there you’ll never forget.
Read an excerpt from a Napoleon Bonaparte set in the city, read the view back from leading poet Rae Desmond Jones who grew up there and wonder at the mining waste turned into a thing of beauty surrounded by red soil. Edited by Barbara De Franceschi, Marvis Sofield and Les Wicks.
Supported by Broken Hill Regional Writers’ Centre, Broken Hill City Council, Countrylink & ArtsNSW Available at http://brokenhill.tripod.com/BrokenHill.htm

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Islet Magazine - online publishing www.islet.com.au
Are you an emerging writer or visual artist?
Island magazine is very pleased to call for submissions to lslet, its new online publishing space.
Islet publishes a free, quarterly collection of small works by emerging writers and visual artists.

For pay rates, maximum word lengths, and detailed submission guidelines, please visit the website: www.islet.com.au .
Check out the current issue and pop in to our Conversation page while you’re there!

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Guide to Sydney Beaches - http://sydneybeaches.tripod.com/guide.htm
Guide to Sydney Beaches – a driftwood concept
A new web anthology saunters the sand with some of Australia’s leading poets.
Guide to Sydney Beaches - http://sydneybeaches.tripod.com/guide.htm - is aimed at an audience that may not normally access this artform.
This is a driftwood concept – people seeking information about a certain beach stumble across this collection & discover fine Aust poetry. 20 great beaches, 30 superb poets. Hit numbers indicate it is already a huge success. This will increase as we move into Spring. The anthology is from Meuse Press, edited by PU member Les Wicks.

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Melaleuca – monthly e-zine of Australian poetry
MELALEUCA is a free e-zine of Australian poetry, delivered monthly
through your email in-box. For submissions and subscriptions, contact
the editor, Phillip A. Ellis, at phillip.a.ellis@gmail.com

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Jacket Magazine – Number 39
now available http://jacketmagazine.com/39/index.shtml

Visit our 900-page current issue: [»»] Jacket 39 at http://jacketmagazine.com/39/index.shtml
Feature: Ron Silliman
Feature: Nathaniel Tarn
Feature: Bob Perelman
Feature: Douglas Barbour
Sister Sites: Vincent Katz on «Vanitas» magazine
Interview: James Sherry
Interview and poems: Bob Arnold
Mark Silverberg: The New York School Poets and the Neo-avant-garde: Introduction: “A Lot of Guys Who Know All About Bricks”
Feature: Rewriting Canonical Australian Poems
Poems: Bob Arnold, Aaron Belz, Vincent Katz, Robert VanderMolen Reviews of books by Rae Armantrout, Eric Baus, Miles Champion, Kevin Davies, Carla Harryman, Larry Price, Susan Howe and Simon Pettet stoat portraits…

And for news about Jacket's exciting future, see the homepage at http://jacketmagazine.com/00/home.shtml
Editors: John Tranter, Pam Brown

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Folk Odyssey – The Magazine http://www.folkclub.com/folkodyssey/
As you browse Folk Odyssey – the Magazine, you will discover that several sections offer an invitation for you to contribute your work to this enterprise. You may do this in the form of:
-a Letter to the Editor, -an article for Features,
-information for Event Horizon,
-photographs for FolkShot Gallery,
-poetry
-autobiography for Poet in Profile
-a story for StoryBoard.

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Longlines e-anthology
Now up on the Poets Union website www.poetsunion.com : the 2008 Longlines e-anthology (from the 2008 Australian Poetry Festival is now up on the Poets Union website. The 2008 Longlines Fellows were:
Ali Cobby-Eckermann, Helen Hagemann, Kimberley Mann and Andrew Slattery.
What is Longlines? In 2008, the Australian Poetry Centre, together with the Varuna Writers’ Centre, devised a fellowship for poets who lived more than 100 kilometres outside Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane or Canberra. Four Fellows were invited to spend a week at Varuna workshopping their poetry with Ron Pretty. The manuscripts were then published in a series which effectively became a continuation of the Five Islands New Poets collections.
The New Poets Series 2009, comprises:
- little bit long time by Ali Cobby Eckermann
- Evangelyne & other poems by Helen Hagemann
- Awake During Anaesthetic by Kimberley Mann
- Canyon by Andrew Slattery

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PIFF - Poetry in Film Festival www.poetryinfilmfestival.com.au
launched – INVITATION TO JOIN THEIR MAILING LIST
PIFF (Poetry in Film Festival) is officially launched. Invitation from the APC (Australian Poetry Centre in Melbourne) to join their mailing list for the Poetry in Film Festival. Click here to subscribe to their mailing list www.poetryinfilmfestival.com.au

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Poetry Lab by email with poet Julie Chevalier

POETRY LAB BY EMAIL With Julie Chevalier (10CHEV4)
Course dates: Thurs. 29 April – Thurs. 9 September
Full price: $450
Venue: on-line course
Enquiries: NSW Writers’ Centre Phone (02) 9555 9757
Email: workshops@nswwriterscentre.org.au

Want to write poetry but can’t make it to a course or workshop? Need individual feedback on your work without leaving the house? Join widely published poet and teacher Julie Chevalier for an online, interactive poetry writing course.
This course is suitable for someone who is interested in writing contemporary poetry and has reliable email. It fills the gap between working through exercises in a book (although books are recommended) and working with a mentor. It enables people who are unable to access courses and workshops because of isolation, time or distance to receive personal feedback to improve their poems. Students are offered the opportunity to contact each other. HSC students are welcome.

Enquiries: NSW Writers’ Centre
Phone (02) 9555 9757 Fax (02) 9818 1327
Email: workshops@nswwriterscentre.org.au
Website: www.nswwriterscentre.org.au

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Knopf’s National Poetry Month http://poem-a-day.knopfdoubleday.com/
Poems still up on their website and well worth a visit...beautiful broadsides, audio clips, and signed books.

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OTHER NEWS FOR POETS
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Derek Motion - winner of the Overland Judith Wright Poetry Prize for New and Emerging Poets for his work “forest hill”
07 Apr 2010 : A national prize held in honour of Australian poet Judith Wright has been awarded to Charles Sturt University (CSU) postgraduate student, Mr Derek Motion. The 2010 Overland Judith Wright Poetry Prize for New and Emerging Poets, valued at $3 000, has been won by the poet and PhD student for his work, ‘forest hill’.
The successful poets will feature at a presentation event at the Melbourne Emerging Writers’ Festival on Saturday 29 May, alongside Keri Glastonbury and Gig Ryan (poetry editors of Overland and The Age respectively).
In addition to the prize money, Mr Motion’s poem will be published in the next issue of Overland, a quarterly e-bulletin about events, politics and literature. He will be presented the poetry award at the 2010 Emerging Writers’ Festival in the Melbourne Town Hall on Saturday 29 May.

Commenting on the winning entries including Mr Motion’s work, judge Dr Keri Glastonbury found, “…this loose-knit community is where a lot of the energy and action in Australian poetry is, and I look forward to seeing these poets release first books”.
Mr David Gilbey, Senior Lecturer in English at the School of Humanities and Social Sciences at CSU in Wagga Wagga said, “I'm delighted at Derek's continuing success in the lists of Australian letters. Derek's poetry is concentrated, allusive, multi-faceted, drawing on literary traditions and contemporary cultural and technological practices. It is also finely human and wittily self-facing - a pleasure to read.
“Like Judith Wright's poetry, Derek combines metaphysical, personal and social concerns. He richly deserves this award and it's a mark of the modernity and integrity of the judging that his poetry has been recognised.”

Mr Motion named his poem ‘forest hill' after the area on the outskirts of Wagga Wagga where he spent some of his early years and where went to primary school.
“In particular I think I was concerned with locating imagery surrounding the time when you start to become who you are; a kind of site of individuation and thinking about what this means for the adult me,” Mr Motion said.

It is not the first time the CSU postgraduate student has had his work honoured at the national level.
In October 2009, Mr Motion received an Australia Council 2010 Emerging Writers’ and Illustrators’ Initiative Grant, valued at $15 000. Read more here.

Mr Motion is doing his PhD through the School of Humanities and Social Sciences at CSU in Wagga Wagga. His research focuses on his own poetry in the context of Australian poets, Christopher Brennan (1870-1932) and Michael Dransfield (1948-1973).
Living in Wagga Wagga with his young family, Mr Motion is also Director of the Booranga Writers’ Centre at CSU.

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Jean Kent WINNER of The Dorothy Porter Poetry Prize
Congratulations to PU member Jean Kent. Meanjin is delighted to announce that the inaugural winner of the Dorothy Porter Poetry Prize for 2009 is Jean Kent, for her poem ‘The Polish Guitarist’s First Paris Concert’ (Vol 68/4).
The prize was run this year as a tribute to much-loved Australian poet, Dorothy Porter, and her legacy of work, and is co-sponsored by Porter’s agent, Jenny Darling & Associates. Kent’s poem was chosen by judges Andrea Goldsmith and Kristin Henry out of all the poems accepted for publication in Meanjin throughout 2009. She was presented with a $1,000 cash prize at an awards ceremony to be held at Gleebooks in Sydney on Saturday 14 November at 4pm. The event featured readings from Porter’s most recent collection, The Bee Hut, which was published by Black Inc. in September 2009. ‘The Polish Guitarist’s First Paris Concert’ will also be published in the forthcoming December edition of Meanjin. Jean Kent has released three books of poetry, including Verandahs, which was recently republished by Picaro Press in its Art Box Series. Her fourth collection, Travelling with the Wrong Phrase Books, was highly commended for the 2008 Alec Bolton Prize. She lives at Lake Macquarie in NSW. Meanjin is pleased to announce that the Dorothy Porter Prize will run again in 2010

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Christine Paice WINNER of The Josephine Ulrick Poetry Prize 2009
Congratulations to Christine Paice poet and long term member of the Poets Union who was the winner of the 2009 Josephine Ulrick Poetry prize with her poem The Ministry Of Going In. Sorry we are so late in acknowledging it Christine – it’s wonderful news! A copy of the poem is on the Poets Union Website under Festivals and Competitions and has been published with permission in the latest issue of Five Bells (Vol 17 No 1&2)

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Lucy Holt WINNER of the 2009 Kenneth Slessor Prize for Poetry
Congratulations to Lucy Holt - The 2009 NSW Premiers Literary Awards were announced at the Sydney Writers Festival.
Congratulations to Lucy Holt on her receipt of the Kenneth Slessor Prize for Poetry for her collection ‘Man Wolf Man’. Lucy was a 2004 Poets Union ‘Australian Young Poets Fellowship’ holder and was mentored by the Poets Union. In 2005 the Poets Union published a chapbook of Lucy’s poems ‘Stories of A Bird’. The Poets Union is committed to raising funds to develop our mentoring, Poetry Fellowships, Poetry Scholarships, Residencies and Prizes. The full list of winners of The NSW Premier’s Literary Awards and more information about the awards can be found here: http://www.pla.nsw.gov.au/

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Emma Jones WINNER Best First Collection, FORWARD PRIZE for her collection ‘The Striped World’
Congratulations to Australian poet, Emma Jones. Emma Jones's The Striped World, inspired by her home country of Australia, was named winner of the £5,000 best first collection prize. Hart called her "an ambitious and intriguing new voice" whose poems "are both elliptical and visionary – inhabiting a parallel world of strange disjointed images within which we nevertheless find echoes of familiar experience".
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and congratulations to Forward Prize Winner: Don Paterson Scottish poet Don Paterson has triumphed over one of the strongest poetry shortlists in years to take the Forward prize for best collection with Rain. Paterson, 45, beat a line-up of acclaimed poets including Peter Porter, Sharon Olds and Glyn Maxwell to win the £10,000 award for Rain, a continuation of his personal and philosophical exploration of the world around him.

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Congratulations to Jean Valentine - recipient of the 2009 Wallace Stevens Award from the Academy of American Poets.
The $100,000 prize recognizes outstanding and proven mastery in the art of poetry.
and to Harryette Mullen Harryette Mullen has been selected as the recipient of the 2009 Academy Fellowship. The Fellowship is awarded to a poet for distinguished poetic achievement and provides a stipend of $25,000. The Academy’s Board of Chancellors, a body of sixteen eminent poets, selects the Wallace Stevens Award and Academy Fellowship recipients. Who says poetry isn’t profitable? Full story is here: http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/21013

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VOICEWORKS MAGAZINE
TURNED 21 - The Words We Found: the best writing from 21 years of Voiceworks magazine.
Edited by Lisa Dempster, The Words We Found: the best writing from 21 years of Voiceworks magazine is Express Media’s coming-of-age anthology and, like all good 21st celebrations, it’s a fierce, flirtatious and furious record of our life so far.

The Words We Found available through all good bookshops and online at www.expressmedia.org.au http://www.expressmedia.org.au/ Extract rights are also available. For all media enquiries, please contact Bel Schenk, Artistic Director on 0431 054 190 artisticdirector@expressmedia.org.au

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Best wishes,
Cathy Bray
for Brook Emery and the Poets Union committee,
Poets Union Inc,
PO Box 755,
POTTS POINT NSW 1335

Tel. (02) 9357 6602 (Tuesdays & Wednesdays)
Email: info@poetsunion.com
Please visit the Poets Union website: www.poetsunion.com and our new blog: www.poetsunioninc.blogspot.com