Friend in Hand Hotel resident cockatoo

Friend in Hand Hotel resident cockatoo
watching over the Poets Union Poetry Party

Monday, June 21, 2010

Poets Union e-news for poets from June 22

Dear Poets Union Members and Friends,

5 Poetry Competitions have submissions due by 30th June :

1. Poets Union Poetry Prize – due by 30th June. The prestigious Poets Union Poetry Prize will be awarded at the Australian Poetry Festival in September.
Entry is open to all - members pay $10 per entry (non-members $15 per entry).
See the newsletter below and the Poets Union website for more details and download an entry form: www.poetsunion.com under Competitions and Prizes.
2. Science Made Marvellous – Poets Union joins National Science Week. Poets are invited to submit poems that take up science matters in fields of Engineering, Chemistry, Biology, Mathematics, Physics, scientific discoveries etc.
3. The Kitchen Table Poets ‘All Poetry’ competition – entries due by 30th June.
4. The Fatherhood Poetry Project –the Australian Poetry Centre (APC) and Relationships Australia invite submissions on fatherhood.
5. The Margaret Reid Poetry Contest - entries in ALL categories, except prose poems with traditional and humorous poems accepted.

For details of all the competitions and due dates see the newsletter (below) under Competitions, Prizes and Submissions and visit the Poets Union website www.poetsunion.com for more details on the left hand side of the Home Page, under Competitions and Prizes

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POETRY, EVENTS, FESTIVALS AND READINGS
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In Melbourne – Asianlink Winter Writing Series
Mascara Literary Review invites you to "Mascara and Peril Launch"
Patron: Neilma Sidney
Date: Tuesday, June 22
Time: at 6:00pm.

Mascara says, "this will be fun, if you're in melbourne, join us".
Event: Asialink Winter Writing Series: Peril Magazine vs Mascara Literary Review
Date: Tuesday, June 22
Time: at 6:00pm - 7.30 pm
Venue: Asialink Yasuko Myer Room, The University of Melbourne
Address: Level 1, Sidney Myer Asia Centre,
The University of Melbourne
Australia’s two new-generation magazines of Asian and Asian-Australian writing join forces for a genre-bending mashup of Asia-focused literary and pop culture: Tibetan activist communities in Dharamsala, belonging in a post-multicultural Australia, and Steve Irwin as you’ve never seen him before.
RSVP and Enquiries: Adam Hills, a.hills@asialink.unimelb.edu.au
Telephone: (03) 9035 4026
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In North Sydney - Live Poets @ Don Bank with guest poet, artist and experimental film-maker : Phyllis Perlstone

Date: Wednesday, June 23rd
Time: Doors open 7.30 pm.
Event: reading and performances at Live Poets
Guest poet: Phyllis Perlstone
Venue: @ Don Bank museum, North Sydney
Address: 6 Napier St North Sydney.
Entry: $7 entry includes hot supper and drinks.

SPECIAL GUEST: PHYLLIS PERLSTONE will read from her book The Edge of Everything which was shortlisted for the Kenneth Slessor Prize in the 2008 Premier's Awards, as well as new work. Perlstone won the 2009 Poetry Prize awarded by the Society of Women Writers, NSW. She will also talk about her work as an artist and an experimental film-maker.
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In the night's second half we will ask the question: Are song lyrics poetry? People are invited to bring along their favourites and 'say' them like poetry - or even sing them.
Prize for the best example.
As always there is an Open Section for anyone to recite, sing, tell a story or play an instrument.
Further info: Danny Gardner (Convenor) (02) 9896 6956 Mobile 0422 263 373 or via this email address.

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In Melbourne – Peter Porter tribute 25th June
And other conversations heat up at the Wheeler Centre

Event: Peter Porter tribute
Time : The majority of events are free, held at the Wheeler Centre and start at 6:15 pm.
Venue: The Wheeler Centre,
Address: 176 Little Lonsdale Street, Melbourne
Entry: Free
Bookings: recommended – for details visit wheelercentre.com
For all media enquiries contact: Anna Lensky
t: +61 3 9094 7806 m: +61 425 766 780 e: anna.lensky@wheelercentre.com

ABOUT THE WHEELER CENTRE…
The conversation heats up at the Wheeler Centre - June to August programme
The Wheeler Centre’s second programme is overflowing with writers, thinkers and discussions to keep the City of Literature humming this winter. There are great international guests like Ayaan Hirsi Ali (29 July), Bret Easton Ellis (13 August) and Fatima Bhutto (3 August) plus fascinating Australians David Marr (16 June), Kate Jennings (20 July), John Birmingham (14 July) and many more…

There’ll be celebrations of all kinds; from a tribute to one of Australia’s finest poets Peter Porter (25 June) to a literary and theatrical salute of Chekhov (2 July) on the anniversary of his death, plus a week dedicated to literary Love and Lust (6-9 July).

Programme two also shines a light on Australia’s cultural industries with the inaugural State of the Arts Lecture (3 August) and Critical Failure (6-10 September), a week exploring arts criticism in all its forms – books, film, theatre and visual arts.

Wheeler Centre favourites Lunchbox/Soapbox, Debut Mondays, the Writer’s Mix Tape, Reading on Vocation and Ethically Speaking return with new faces, fresh voices and hot topics. Coming up:
• Former Supreme Court judge Ken Crispin;
• Age columnist Monica Dux;
• Acclaimed novelist Richard Flanagan;
• Comedian, performer and writer Tim Ferguson;
• First-time authors Vivienne Kelly, Joel Magarey, Dan Ducrou, Tess Evans and Jon Bauer;
• Plus the reading habits of captains of industry, scientists and filmmakers;
• And in-depth examinations of sporting and medical ethics.

Full programme available upon request or available at www.wheelercentre.com
The majority of events are free, held at the Wheeler Centre and start at 6:15 pm.
Bookings recommended for all events except Lunchbox/Soapbox and Debut Mondays.
For bookings, tickets and other details visit wheelercentre.com

Time : The majority of events are free, held at the Wheeler Centre and start at 6:15 pm.
Venue: The Wheeler Centre,
Address: 176 Little Lonsdale Street, Melbourne
Entry: The majority of events are free, held at the Wheeler Centre and start at 6:15 pm.
Bookings: recommended – for details visit wheelercentre.com
For all media enquiries contact: Anna Lensky
t: +61 3 9094 7806 m: +61 425 766 780 e: anna.lensky@wheelercentre.com

The Wheeler Centre - A Victorian Government initiative and the centrepiece of Melbourne's designation as a UNESCO City of Literature.

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25-27th June - MASTERCLASS with Mark Tredinnick
Second in a series of Writing Workshops in the Southern Highlands with Mark Tredinnick

Event: MASTERCLASS—an inspiring weekend intensive that allows writers to explore new techniques of imagination and composition, recharge their creativity and make some progress on a manuscript — poetry, non-fiction or fiction.
Date: 25-27 June, 2010
Places are limited so bookings are essential.
Inquiries and registrations: writingworkshops@bigpond.com

About Mark Tredinnick is an experienced and much-loved teacher; as ever, the workshops will blend inspiration, technical instruction, exercises and readings. He runs all the workshops from the cowshed, outside Bowral, where he writes.

And to follow…
3 July and 30 October, A LITTLE BIT OF GRAMMAR IS A DANGEROUS THING—a short course in grammar for writers who'd like to know more about the inner life of sentences. Based on Mark's The Little Green Grammar Book.
17 July–25 September, THE COWSHED CLASS—a long-haul writing workshop. We meet every second Saturday for three months (six day-long sessions). The classes cater for writers of every level, but especially those with some writing experience and a manuscript in progress or in waiting.
19–21 November, POETRY IN THE COWSHED—a gentle crash course in poetic forms and techniques for beginning poets and poets looking for inspiration.

Places are limited so bookings are essential.
Inquiries and registrations: writingworkshops@bigpond.com

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Perth Poetry Club: guest poet 26th June – Kevin Gillam
2-4 pm at the Moon Café
Guest poet this Sat. 26th June : Kevin Gillam
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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

26 June: Kevin Gillam (the much-loved cello-playing poet himself) - poet and cellist, has had two books of poems published by Sunline Press, ‘Other Gravities’ (2003) and ‘Permitted to Fall’ (2007), two chapbooks published by Picaro Press, ‘shouting drowning’ (2006) and ‘closer to now’ (2010), and a shared anthology ‘the forest waits’ with Lucy Dougan and Andrew Taylor. He has appeared as a guest at the Queensland, Overload (Melbourne) and Tasmanian Poetry Festivals, and in May 2010 was part of Wordstorm, the Darwin Writing Festival.

COMING UP AT PERTH POETRY CLUB:
24 July: Kate Wilson
14 August: Andy Jackson
21 August: ANITPOET

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 Brisbane - a series of Creative Writing/ Intergenre Funshops
Message from Agnieszka Niemira
Creative Writing/Intergenre Funshops:

Date: starting Saturday 26th June
Time: 2.30pm-4pm
Place: Red Hill, Brisbane
For the address email me at niemira.agnieszka@yahoo.com
Fee: $20 per hour paid up front.
For more information email Agnieszka Niemira niemira.agnieszka@yahoo.com

To the first funshop, please bring:
- Your favourite poem or another piece of creative writing e.g. short story, description, paragraph from a novel, intergenre piece, anything experimental, your own piece of writing that you like or want to share.
- An object that holds a special meaning to you e.g. a photograph, an item of baby clothing, a letter, etc.
- And last, but not least, your creativity, willingness to experiment and experience, to share, and to laugh and cry.

About Agnieszka Niemira :
Agnieszka Niemira is a poet, haijin, writer and learning facilitator. Her collections “making the invisible transparent” (2008) and "waves whisper the shoreline to life" (2010) were released through Post Pressed. Her poems have also appeared in Southerly, The Australian (Weekend Review), Social Alternatives, the poetry anthology “Up From Below” (Redress Press), Paper Wasp, Blue Giraffe, Stylus, the Mozzie, Haiku Dreaming Australia, Scope, SpeedPoets, Empowerment4Women, Radar, Slowo Powszechne, and on BRISSC (Brisbane Rape & Incest Survivors Support Centre) website as well as on Stachuriada.
She has performed her poetry at various events in Poland and Australia and read her work on radio. She won two awards (First Prize and Distinction) during a prestigious Polish Poetry Competition, Lódz’s Spring of Poets, 1985, and an Encouragement Award from the Fellowship of Australian Writers (Queensland) in April 1989. In 2008, she was one of the finalists of the Paper Wasp Jack Stamm Haiku Competition and a runner-up in the Brisbane Heat of Poetry Slam. Agnieszka has also published articles on learning and human rights, and presented talks on learning and creativity.
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Poets Union monthly poetry reading at Brett Whiteley Studio – guest poets Chafic Ataya + ‘Ghost boy’ Stavanger Sun. 27th June

The Poets Union monthly poetry reading is held on the fourth Sunday of the month, 27th June at the Brett Whiteley Studio in Sydney.
Date: Sunday 27 June
Guest poets: Chafic Ataya and 'Ghost boy' Stavanger
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
Free entry. Open Mic included.
Guest poets for Sunday 27 June 2010 - Chafic Ataya and Ghostboy

Chafic Ataya was born in Mount Lebanon in 1939. Despite struggle through continual wars and poverty he has compiled four books of poetry published in English, The Earth Woman, Blades of Time, Tears in Wine and Empty Shell. He is a poet whose basic belief confirms the living organic aspect of the Universe and that Man himself is no less than an ever-living being.
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‘Ghost boy’ Stavanger [QLD]
Ghostboy won the Nimbin Performance Poetry World Cup (2005), establishing him as one of Australia’s most innovative performance poets. He has been QLD’s “slammaster” since 2005 including coordinating the QLD leg of the Australian Poetry Slam (2006-2009) and creating the WordFood slam/spoken word showcase held at the Woodford Folk Festival. A live hybrid of performance poetry, spoken weird theatre, & surrealist soundscapes Ghostboy has been a feature at many major festivals. He has been published in The Courier Mail, fourWtwenty, Going Down Swinging, Famous Reporter and The Spoken Word Revolution: Redux (USA, 2nd Ed) as well as performing live on ABC & Triple J radio. His first book & CD Station to Station was released in 2006. The lastest book And the Ringmaster Said... was released through Small Change Press (2008), the independent South-East QLD imprint he co-started in 2006.
www.myspace.com/holyghostboy
www.myspace.com/ghostboywithgoldenvirtues
www.ghostboy.net

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

Who's on next at Brett Whiteley?
Guest poet for 25 July will be Anna Kerdijk Nicholson:
Anna Kerdijk Nicholson was born in Yorkshire and lives in Sydney where she practises law. Possession, her most recent collection of poetry, is about Captain Cook’s Endeavour voyage and colonial appropriation. From 2000 to 2004, she was managing editor of Five Bells, the quarterly poetry journal of The Poets Union Inc. She has won prizes in the Val Vallis and Australian Women Writers’ Poetry Competitions. Her first book of poetry, The Bundanon Cantos, was a ‘Sydney Morning Herald’ Best Book of 2003.

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RhiZomic Poetry Party – guest poet Peter Boyle + open mic. 30 June
Poetry Party + open-mic
Featuring: guest poet Peter Boyle and open mic.
Date: Wednesday June 30,
Time: 7-9 PM
RhiZomiC Poetry is held on the last Wednesday of every month
Venue: Kerrie Lowe Gallery
Address: 49 King Street, Newtown

About Peter Boyle:
Peter Boyle (b. 1951) lives in Sydney. His first collection of poetry Coming home from the world (1994) received the National Book Council Award and the New South Wales Premier’s Award. Other collections include The Blue Cloud of Crying (1997) What the painter saw in our faces (2001) and Museum of Space (2004).

His most recent book Apocrypha (2009) is an extensive collection of poems and other texts by a range of imaginary authors. Boyle is also a translator of French and Spanish poetry. Salt published his selected translations of Venezuelan poet Eugenio Montejo, The Trees (2004). Peter has read his poetry at several International poetry festivals including the Medellín Poetry Festival, International Poetry week in Caracas and the Poetry Festival at Struga (2009).

RhiZomic is held on the last Wednesday of the month – sometimes the 4th and this time the 5th Wednesday of the month – 30th June)

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In Sydney – 30th June Rainer Maria Rilke: a poet for these times - RSVP for this free event email writing@uws.edu.au

Rainer Maria Rilke: a poet for these times - hosted by the Writing & Society Research Group
in cooperation with the Goethe-Institut Australien
30 June 2010 6.00 for 6.30-8.30pm
90 Ocean St, Woollahra

Event: Rainer Maria Rilke: a poet for these times
Date: 30 June 2010
Time: 6.00 for 6.30-8.30pm
Refreshments: will be served from 6.00pm.
Venue: the Goethe-Institut Australien
Address: 90 Ocean St, Woollahra
Entry: free writing@uws.edu.au
RSVP: Bookings essential for this free event: email writing@uws.edu.au
The talks will be given in English.

Speakers: Professor Mark S. Burrows & Rev Dr Stephanie Dowrick
Moderator: Professor Jane Goodall

The power of poetry to transform the way we see the world has rarely been better shown than in the work of Rainer Maria Rilke, a giant of 20th-century European writing and increasingly a visionary voice for our own time, captivating contemporary readers with his fearlessness about the 'deepest things'. Mark Burrows and Stephanie Dowrick will reflect on Rilke's most sublime work and particularly how he illuminates contemporary spiritual experience as well as our understanding of creativity and inspiration.

Mark S. Burrows is Professor of the History of Christianity at Andover Newton Theological School. He is a recent recipient of a Henry Luce Fellowship in Theology and the author and editor of numerous books and articles published in the United States and Germany. Also a very fine poet, Mark Burrows has published translations of Rilke's poems. Many of his most recent translations appear for the first time in Stephanie Dowrick's In the Company of Rilke.

Stephanie Dowrick, PhD, is the author of In The Company of Rilke, the first book-length study in English of the transcendental aspects of Rilke's work. Founder of The Women's Press, she is author of internationally successful books including Intimacy & Solitude, Forgiveness & Other Acts of Love, Choosing Happiness and The Universal Heart, is 'Inner Life' columnist for Good Weekend and an Adjunct Fellow of the Writing and Society Research Group.

Jane Goodall is the author of several books on literature and the performing arts, the most recent of which, Stage Presence (Routledge, 2008) was shortlisted for the 2009 Theatre Book prize in London. Her novels The Walker, The Visitor and The Calling (all published by Hachette) have sold widely in Australia and been translated into German, Russian and Spanish. Last year she was joint winner of the Calibre Essay Prize.

The talks will be given in English.
Bookings essential for this free event: email writing@uws.edu.au.
Refreshments will be served from 6.00pm.

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In Melbourne launch of Grant Caldwell’s glass clouds 2nd July
Message from Kevin Brophy at Five Islands Press...

Event: Launch of Grant Caldwell's 'glass clouds' (Five Islands Press)
To be launched by Pi O
Venue: The Wheeler Centre,
Address: 176 Little Lonsdale Street, Melbourne
Date: Friday 2 July
Time: 7.30 pm
Entry – free
Everyone welcome

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South Coast Writers’ Centre - a workshop with Judith Beveridge
In Thirroul, poetry workshop with Judith Beveridge
South Coast Writers Centre presents Poetry Masterclass with Judith Beveridge 3-4 July 2010

Event: A two day masterclass with one of Australia's finest poets, who is also one of our most experienced teachers of poetry.
Participation: If you would like to participate in this Masterclass, please submit a one page CV (focusing on your poetry and creative writing experience) and up to 10 pages of poetry to scwc@1earth.net by Friday 4 June 2010.

Date: 3rd and 4th July 2010
Time: 9.30am -4.00pm,
Venue: Black Diamond Room, Thirroul Library and Community Centre,
Address: Lawrence Hargrave Drive, Thirroul
Cost: $250 non-members, $150 Poets Union and APC members, $125 SCWC members
_____________________________
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.
South Coast Writers’ Centre: 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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In Sydney – Ron Pretty’s collection ‘Postcards from the Centre’ will be launched by Brook Emery

Event: the launch of Ron Pretty’s seventh book of poetry, ‘Postcards from the Centre’
Launch: will be launched by Brook Emery
Venue: at the ‘Friend in Hand Hotel’,
Address: 58 Cowper Street, Glebe
Date: Sunday, July 25.
Time: 2.30pm for 3.00pm.
Entry: Free entry. All welcome.

“Here is a poet who knows about boxing, drinking cheap reds, the way music works on us, that it’s our doubts that bring us alive, and how hair might fall on a pillow. Ron Pretty is one of Australian poetry’s most admired figures and his generous new book reminds us of all the reasons for this.” – Kevin Brophy

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Byron Bay Writers Festival 6th- 8th August
Admission to the Festival on a weekend pass covering Friday 6 August to Sunday 8 August.

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COMPETITIONS, PRIZES and SUBMISSIONS
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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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Science Made Marvellous
– submissions invited and due 30 June
the Poets Union joins National Science Week

The Poets Union invites submissions of poems to Science Made Marvellous, a collaborative national poetry and science project involving State, Territory and regional poetry and writing organizations for National Science Week in 2010.
Poets are asked to submit poems that take up science matters in the fields of Engineering, Chemistry, Biology, Mathematics, Physics, scientific discoveries, scientists or any other scientific thing you can think of.

Submit up to five poems, as either text or as audio
for consideration for an anthology of four chap books and an audio program.

Selection: The poems selected will be available both as a book and as downloadable PDF and audio file from the Poets Union, APC and partners websites. Successful submissions will be notified in mid July.
Launch: The selected poems will be launched at a series of events coordinated in each state and territory in National Science Week, 14-22 August, 2010.
Deadline: The deadlines for submission is 30 June 2010.

Guidelines for Submission:
1. Pre-published poems accepted - poems may be previously published.
2. Up to five poems submitted as text should be emailed as a single word document attachment to their email.
3. Email the poems - the emails should have the subject heading : Science Made Marvellous submission + Your Name
4. In the body of the email: Contact details, the title of the poems, acknowledgements from previous publication where relevant and a 25 word biographical note should be included in the body of the email. Where a poem is available as an audio recording please indicate this in the covering email.
5. Send by email: Submissions should be emailed to: ScienceMadeMarvellous@gmail.com
6. Or send by mail : Submissions + (on a separate sheet) your contact details, the title of the poems, acknowledgements from previous publication where relevant and a 25 word biographical note should be included. Address to ‘Science Made Marvellous Submission’ , Poets Union Inc, PO Box 755, Potts Point, NSW, 1335.
7. Successful submissions will be notified in mid July, 2010.
8. The ‘Science Made Marvellous’ project will be launched at National Science Week, 14-22 August, 2010
Now entering its thirteenth year, National Science Week has well and truly cemented itself as Australia’s largest festival, with last year’s calendar offering over 1,000 events throughout Australia, reaching an audience of over a million people.

In 2010, National Science Week events are expected to be held right throughout Australia from Dubbo, Davenport, Darwin and everywhere in between, offering an array of activities with everything from science festivals, music and comedy shows, interactive hands-on displays, open days and online activities.

The festival is proudly supported by the Australian Government, as well as partners CSIRO, Australian Science Teachers Association and the ABC.

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The Margaret Reid Poetry contest
The Margaret Reid Poetry Contest due 30th June

Contest: The annual $5,550 Margaret Reid Poetry Contest (The Margaret Reid Prize for Traditional Verse)
Prize: This year, as you know, the prize pool for our poetry contests has been increased to $5,550 (including a First Prize of $3,000). There are ten cash prizes in all, but the judges do reserve the right to award extra cash prizes if they so desire.
Entry fees have not been raised. The entry fee remains at $7 for each 25 lines (or part thereof).
Categories: seeking entries in ALL categories, except prose poems. What is a prose poem? A prose poem is a poem that has the same format as this Newsletter. If the lines are indented, if the poem LOOKS like poetry, it will be accepted.

Both the Margaret Reid and Tom Howard contests will accept humorous poems. We have awarded cash prizes for humorous and comic poems in the past. To date for the current contest, however, we have received very few entries in this category.
No limit on size or number of entries: Unlike almost all other poetry contests, we impose no limits on the number of lines or number of poems you may submit (simply $7 for each 25 lines ).
Submissions due: on June 30, 2010
What does this mean? It means that all electronic entries must be lodged by midnight, June 30, Pacific Time. Entries sent by regular post must bear a postmark or date of July 1 or earlier and must reach us by July 21. Note: Entries received after this date will be kept for the NEXT contest opening November 1, 2010.

See the latest Margaret Reid poetry anthology Love & City Dreaming:Poems by Margaret Havill Reid . Margaret's range and versatility in this book provide an excellent guide to the verse we are seeking for the Margaret Reid Prize. You'll also find plenty of rousing titles and attention-getting poems in our previous anthologies of winning entries such as SAILING IN THE MIST OF TIME: Award-Winning Poems in which 108 award-winning and commended poems are gathered together in a large-format, 196-page book! (Don't take any notice of the Amazon sub-title, "Fifty" poems! There are actually 108 poems in the book Amazon is selling).
To enter your poems in our current poetry contests, you will find full information at http://margaretreid.exactpages.com OR http://poetrycontests.exactpages.com
For full details, you can also visit the home page of http://www.winningwriters.com and click on the contests at the top of the screen.
MORE INFORMATION FROM JOHN
on entering poetry competitions…
Here are some quick last-minute suggestions:
1. Revise your MS carefully for spelling and grammatical errors. Use Spellcheck or some similar program.
2. Present your work attractively. True, we don't have any formatting guidelines for our contests. We rely upon you to make the judges' work a pleasure rather than a task. If you are unsure what size font to use, make it too big, rather than too small.
3. Use simple .doc attachments. (Don't use wps, or doc.x formats if you can use alternatives. True, we will accept wps and doc.x, but such entries have to be uploaded to Zamzar for conversion.)
4. I repeat, there is NO MINIMUM OR MAXIMUM wordage and also NO RESTRICTION ON THE NUMBER OF ENTRIES you may submit. From a statistical point of view, cash prizes for the Margaret Reid Contest are much less difficult to win, as we usually receive only a third the number of entries the Tom Howard Contest attracts. One reason for this, of course, is that the Tom Howard Contest is open for a longer period of time.
5. Finally, I'd recommend my own Write Ways to WIN WRITING CONTESTS: How To Join the Winners' Circle for Prose and Poetry Awards, NEW EXPANDED EDITION. If you've been wasting your time and money sending out great stories and magnificent poems to Contests that immediately place them in the reject basket, here's an essential book to help you select the RIGHT CONTESTS. http://www.winningwriters.com
For example, there are a number of prestigious Poetry Contests that NEVER award prizes to traditional 19th century verse, even though they imply in their rules that such forms are acceptable. And there are very few prose or poetry contests that will award prizes to humorous entries, even though this restriction is not so much as hinted at in their rules.
Both the Margaret Reid and Tom Howard contests will accept humorous poems. We have awarded cash prizes for humorous and comic poems in the past. To date for the current contest, however, we have received very few entries in this category.
So how to separate a suitable contest for your work from one in which you'll just waste your time and money? One of the key recommendations in Write Ways to WIN WRITING CONTESTS is that you
6. take a look at some of the entries that have won prizes in previous years. If you usually print the personal pronoun, "I" as "i", for example (as in "Yes, i love to go swimming, but i really prefer baseball"), you are ruining your chances in the Margaret Reid Contest. You will find no such usage among previous prizewinners.
Wishing you every success!
John

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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 sae for this and/or results: (optional)
Entrants must be 18yrs or over.
Entries to : All Poetry, PO Box 3268, NORTH NOWRA NSW 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 Arts Rush Magazine Shoalhaven www.artsrush.com.au (Poetry News)

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The Fatherhood Poetry Project
– submissions due 30th June
APC and Relationships Australia: Fatherhood Poetry Project
Submissions due 30th June
Relationships Australia, the Australian Poetry Centre and designers/publishers Gracia and Louise are joining forces to produce a book on Dads and what being a dad or fatherhood means to Australians.
Sons, daughters, mothers, fathers, grandmothers and grandfathers …
What does having a father, or being a father, mean to you?

Competition: poems about DADS or being a father
Project: a very special limited collection about DADS or being a father, to be launched in time for Father’s Day.
Judges: A committee comprising established poets and APC and Relationships Australia representatives will select fifteen (15) poems about DADS or being a father
Entry: Free - and you can submit as many times as you like
Conditions: Poems should be funny, touching, stirring, inspiring or insightful but must be succinct (no more than about 15 lines).
Submissions: include your contact details with your submissions.
Published to coincide with Father’s Day 2010 - This is an opportunity for poets to be published in a high quality widely distributed publication. Due to Father’s Day being just around the corner, the turn around time for selecting the poetry is fast.
Due date: The deadline for your poems is 5pm Wednesday June 30th.

Please download the form from the Australian Poetry Centre’s website www.australianpoetrycentre.org.au for more information and remember to include your contact details with your submissions.

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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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Australian Poetry Centre (APC)/RMIT Poet-in-Residence 2010/2011
APC & RMIT Poet-in-Residence
The Writing Program, School of Media and Communication, RMIT, and the Australian Poetry Centre are pleased to announce a poetry residency in 2010/2011.
The Poet-in-Residence will be engaged for a two-month and will provide mentorship, contribute to publications, speak at literary or poetry-related public events, contribute to the poetry community locally, nationally and internationally, deliver personal and public outcomes of the residence and become ambassadors for poetry and the project.
For more information and application details, download this form or go to the APC website.

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THE REASON-BRISBANE POETRY PRIZE
submissions due 2nd July

7th Reason-Brisbane Poetry Prize – open to budding and established writers across Australia.

Prizes: 1st $1500, 2nd $500, 3rd $300.
Theme: Open theme.
Judge: Ross Gillett, multi-award winning poet, will judge the entries
Closing date: 2 July
Winners: winners will be announced at the morning poetry event of Words in Winter, Daylesford on 14 August.
For guidelines send a SSAE to Rules, PO Box 545, Daylesford, VIC 3460.
Sheila Hollingworth, Competition Organiser.

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The Place and Experience Poetry Prize
- entries due 5th July

Major Prize : $1500 + Two minor prizes of $250 each will be awarded at the discretion of the judges
Entries close: Monday 5 July
Judges: Gina Mercer (Island Magazine), Dr. Lucy Tatman (Head of School of Philosophy) and Adrienne Eberhard (Poet and Poetry Editor, Island Magazine)

The crucial point about the connection between place and experience is not,
however, thatplace is properly something only encountered ‘in’ experience,
but rather that place is integral to the very structure and possibility of experience.
– Jeff Malpas 1999, Place and Experience: A Philosophical Topography

Announcement of Winners : by the end of August 2010. The date and place of the announcement of the prize will be published on the Fuller’s Website: http://www.fullersbookshop.com.au in advance.
Winners will be contacted by mail.

Send your entry to: “Place and Experience” Poetry Prize
c/- Anita van Riet
School of Philosophy, UTas
Locked Bag 41
HOBART TASMANIA 7001

Sponsored by :
*University of Tasmania (School of Philosophy, School of Geography and Environmental Studies) *Fullers Bookshop and
*Island (Tasmanian Writers’ Centre)

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APC on line course: The Business of Poetry
– applications due 9 July

The Business of Poetry - Unleash the power of language to create many streams of revenue!
CALLING ALL POETS WHO WANT TO EARN A LIVING FROM THEIR POETRY
On 28 April at 5:30pm, Entrepreneur in Residence at RMIT, Marcus Powe, and the Acting Director of the Australian Poetry Centre, Paul Kooperman, gave a free lecture at RMIT about earning a living as a poet and artist. The workshop was well-attended and a great success. There is obviously strong interest in establishing a career, making a living and sustaining a livelihood from writing poetry or creating art of any kind.

Course: ‘The Business of Poetry’ - The Australian Poetry Centre (APC) on-line course. As a follow up, or in case you missed this lecture, the Australian Poetry Centre is running an online workshop offering poets the chance to develop a strategy for earning an income from writing poetry without compromising their style or craft.
Date of course: over 10 weeks (August 2-Oct 11)
Due date: applications by 9 July

Co-ordinator: The course will be run by Marcus Powe www.marcuspowe.com
On-line course Date(s): starting Monday August 2nd, and run for ten weeks, ending Monday October 11th.
Course requirement/proposal: To be accepted into the course, prospective participants are asked to submit a half page proposal outlining why they want to earn a living and/or income from their poetry, ideas they personally have for doing so and their commitment in pursuing this goal.
Course description: Each week, participants will be asked to set goals and follow specific steps in order to achieve their goals. Together, with Marcus, participants will identify problems, solutions and strategies in order to plan for success and begin sustaining a career as a poet. You can participate from any location in the world, as long as you have an email address.

Conditions: Membership of the Poets Union or the Australian Poetry Centre, is required. If accepted into the course, you will need to be a member of the Australian Poetry Centre (APC) or a member of the Poets Union. Please check the APC website www.australianpoetrycentre.org.au or the Poets Union website for details of how to join.

Course fee: The course costs $220 (that’s $22 a week for the sake of your career) and places are limited. You do not need to pay until you have been accepted into the course. Once accepted, full payment is to be made before the course begins.
Due date for applications: The deadline for these proposals is Friday July 9th.
Send applications/proposals by email: To submit your proposal, expressing your interest to enrol in the course, please email it to admin@australianpoetrycentre.org.au
More support for artists in business can be found at www.drbusiness.tv

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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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THE 2010 SCANLON PRIZE FOR INDIGENOUS POETRY

Scanlon Prize – submissions invited and due 1st August

The Scanlon Prize for Indigenous Poetry, the Poets Union biennial prize for the best published collection of poems in English by an Indigenous Australian writer, is once again being offered in 2010. The prize was initiated in 2004 as The Brencorp Prize for Poetry and is administered by the Poets Union with the aim of encouraging Indigenous writers in Australia and thereby making their art more widely known.
Previous winners have been Alexander ‘Sandy’ Brown, Ngarla 'Songs' (trans. by Brian Geytensbeek); Dr Anita Heiss, 'I'm Not Racist, But....' and Yvette Holt, 'Anonymous Premonition'.

Prize: This year the monetary value of the prize has been enhanced to $2,000
Entries may be submitted by either the author or the publisher
Fee: notice that there is no entry fee and no entry form.
Eligibility: The published collection of poetry by an Indigenous writer may be in the form of a book or chapbook, and two copies of the volume should be sent to the Poets Union.
Announcement: The winning entry will be announced at the Australian Poetry Festival 3-5 Sept.
The decision by the judge(s) is final and no correspondence about the choice can be entered into.

Submissions due: 1 August, 2010.
Please send 2 copies of the publication to:
Scanlon Prize,
Poets Union Inc,
PO Box 755,
Potts Point, NSW 1335.

THERE IS NO ENTRY FORM, however please include a covering letter with contact details of the poet and the publisher along with 2 copies of the publication.
Note: the 2 copies will not be able to be returned to the senders.

Further enquiries to: Cathy Bray, Office Administrator at the Poets Union. Tel.: (02)9357-6602 (Tuesdays and Wednesdays) or
Email: info@poetsunion.com with Subject : Scanlon Prize
See also details on the Poets Union website of the 2008 winning entry from Yvette Holt.

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The APC Poetry Underground Film Festival (PUFF)
at The Sydney Fringe – entries sought by 20 August
PUFF (Poetry Underground Film Festival) is coming… the APC is seeking films ‘most connected to the art form of poetry’

Seeking: The APC is seeking poetry films on any theme, subject, of any rating, from any city or location around Australia, inspired by any poem, poet or muse, or written by yourself.
Film: It may have text or voice-over…or not. It may be surreal and esoteric…or narrative driven.
Language: It may be in English or another language.
Length of film: No longer than 5 minutes.
Themes and types of film: It may contain adult themes and strong language…or be animated and family friendly.
Only requirement: that it be poetic. As long as it feels poetic in nature to you, we are happy to accept it.
Winners: The top fifteen films deemed ‘most connected to the art form of poetry’, with the best production values, will be selected by a panel of established poets and film makers and officially screened at The Sydney Fringe festival in September.

Please read the terms and conditions on the APC website www.australianpoetrycentre.org.au and attached (on both the PU and APC websites) and
submit your film (no longer than 5 minutes long) by Friday August 20th to:
Australian Poetry Centre
PUFF
PO BOX 21082
Little Lonsdale St
Melbourne, 8011, VIC
www.australianpoetrycentre.org.au

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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
– due August 31
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 : lest - $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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Cricket Poetry Award
– value $2,000 entries due 1st September

Calling artists and poets… The organisers invite painters and poets from test playing nations to submit a painting or composition that depicts life in and around the game and sport of cricket.
The Cricket Poetry Award offers AU$2000 to the winning poet with international exposure for the top twenty poems.
Click here for overview –> complete 2009 exhibition including poet Andy Kissane reading his winning poem ‘The Catch’ from 2009 Cricket Poetry Award.
Entry forms and conditions on the Poets Union website www.poetsunion.com under ‘Competitions and Prizes’ Entries close: September 1st. 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 Blakeley 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 Godwin 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 islet, 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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Inverawe Nature Poetry Competition
- entries due Oct 11

Message from Margaret Chestnut:
Hi - we are up and running for the 2010 Inverawe Nature Poetry Competition, now in its fifth year.

Entry forms are on the web www.inverawe.com.au and follow the poetry link.
The entry forms will also be in the June edition of Island Magazine.
First prize $1000, minor award $300, Tasmanian residents $300, emerging poet $200.
Conditions: The competition is for a poem not exceeding 28 lines, on a nature theme.
Entry fee: $6 per poem, maximum three poems per poet.
Details and feedback: Last year’s winning poem and the judges’ report are on the website www.inverawe.com.au
Judge: As last year, Adrienne Eberhard will judge the competition.
Closing date: The closing date for entries is October 11, 2010.

Regards, Margaret Chestnut
Inverawe Native Gardens
Tasmania’s Largest Landscaped Native Garden
www.inverawe.com.au
gardens@inverawe.com.au
ph 03 6267 2020

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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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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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The Greenhouse
– the first issue. An e-anthology of environmental poems, edited by Martin Langford for the Poets Union. www.poetsunion.com

Visit the Poets Union website www.poetsunion.com and click to the right of the Home Page on 'The Greenhouse' to read poems from over 50 Poets Union members.
Congratulations to the poets and to Martin Langford the editor, for all his hard work.
And thanks to Marion Benjamin our webmeister for posting them so beautifully.
Forward the link to your friends www.poetsunion.com

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Contacts for poets who appeared in Perth at the Spoken Word @ Four5Nine Bar:
Janet Jackson
lostpoetjj@gmail.com
www.proximitypoetry.com

Artist contacts & websites
Steve Smart: stevesmartpoetry@gmail.com
Randall $tephens: brainthatweighsatun@gmail.com. www.randallstephens.blogspot.com
Kevin Gillam: kgillam@ccgs.wa.edu.au
Amanda Joy: amanda_joy@me.com. www.littleglasspen.com
Kate Wilson: ktwlsn@bigpond.com. kateslinkypage.blogspot.com
Tomás Ford: tomasford@iinet.net.au. tomasford.com
Dick Alderson: dickaldersn@iinet.net.au

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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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POETICA – ABC Radio National. Saturdays and Thursdays
in JUNE:
Australia-wide Poetry program- Saturdays at 3.05 pm and repeated Thursdays at 3.05 pm
June program:

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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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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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/
If you register with Knopf’s National Poetry Month, they will email you a poem every day in April...Every year in celebration of National Poetry Month, Knopf Poetry offers a free poem—along with bonus features like beautiful broadsides, audio clips, and signed books—each day during the month of April through our Poem-a-Day emails.
Enter your email address to sign up http://poem-a-day.knopfdoubleday.com/
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OTHER NEWS FOR POETS
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Congratulations to Nathan Curnow winner of the Josephine Ulrick Poetry Prize for his poem endtime

Nathan Curnow is the winner of The Josephine Ulrick Poetry Prize 2010 for his poem endtime.

2010 Josephine Ulrick Poetry Prize winners:
First Prize ($10,000) ‘endtime’ by Nathan Curnow, Victoria
Second Prize ($5,000) ‘Always Sometimes Never’ by Andrew Slattery, New South Wales
Commended ($2,500) ‘One Broken Knife’ by Carmen Leigh Keates, Queensland
Commended ($2,500) ‘Dead Sea Psalms’ by Jill Pattinson, Victoria

Judges' comments: http://www.textjournal.com.au/ulrick
Read the 2009 and 2010 winners and see the judges' comments at http://www.textjournal.com.au/ulrick
Visit the Griffith University website http://www.griffith.edu.au/arts-languages-criminology/school-humanities/news-and-events/josephine-ulrick-prizes

*********************
Jordie Albiston winner of the Kenneth Slessor Prize for Poetry
(NSW Premier’s Award for Literature) for her collection ‘the sonnet according to ‘m’
Jordie Albiston lives in Melbourne, where she was born in 1961. She is a poet whose work frequently reflects historical research. Australian composer Andrée Greenwell has adapted two of her books (Botany Bay Document, 1996 - retitled Dreaming Transportation - and The Hanging of Jean Lee, 1998) for music-theatre: both enjoyed seasons at the Sydney Opera House. Nervous Arcs won the Mary Gilmore Award for a first book of Australian poetry in 1995, and was also shortlisted for the NSW Premier's Prize. Her fourth collection, The Fall, was shortlisted for Premier's Prizes in Victoria, NSW and Queensland. Here fifth, Vertigoa cantata was published by John Leonard Press, in 2007. She holds a PhD in literature.
The letter ‘m' is emblematic of recurrence and precipitousness in these poems. They emerge with the wantonness of sensations in everyday life. In this case three lives: maternal grandmother, paternal great-great grandmother and the poet. Jordie Albiston, with characteristic delicacy and zest, limns these very different women as perspectives to each other.
Recurrence is intrinsic to sonnets. They are patterned internally, and are often paroxysmal: a perfect form and formation for poems which worry the distinction between the fatal and the banal. The sequence tells what happens when you admit the existential into everyday life, in small or large doses. The results can be desolate, or sublime. And comedic as well: Albiston knows how to play between darkness and send-up, when it comes to an arduous and animating tension between body and mind.
The Sonnet According to 'M' is published by John Leonard Press
Jordie Albiston, the sonnet according to ‘m'

****************************
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 featured 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 was 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.

*****************************
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

*****************************
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. A copy of the poem is on the Poets Union Website under Festivals and Competitions.

*****************************
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/

*****************************
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".
+
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.

*****************************
Congratulations to Jean Valentine - Jean Valentine has been selected as the 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

*****************************

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

Sunday, June 13, 2010

Love at the Bar - don't miss the final performance Sunday 20th June

Love at the Bar – witness protection.
A review by Cathy Bray.*
(May 20-23 season, Sydney Writers’ Festival 2010 – The Sydney Dance Café)

So it appears that in a previous lifetime I may have been a cockney spruiker. This realization came to me on the opening night of Love at the Bar (20-23May, Laureate Productions’ first season at the Sydney Writers’ Festival).

I had already seen the light with this mob last year, when Wordjammin’ put together their 5-night tribute to Kenneth Slessor, An Evening of Darlinghurst Nights (upstairs at the Tap Gallery in Darlinghurst, 2009 Sydney Writers’ Festival). That evening evoked the real 1930s of Darlinghurst and Kings Cross (more familiar to young audiences today through the latest Underbelly series).

So here we were in the gonads of the 2010 Sydney Writers’ Festival, also known as The Sydney Dance Café, which for 3 nights had been converted to a wonderful waterfront bar; slap up against Sydney’s green harbour and the old wooden pylons of Wharf 4.

Suddenly, a voice arrived and we were frantically searching to find out who owned such a mellifluous beauty. The poet Russell Erwin asked me ‘Who owns that voice that could sink ships?’ Erwin had come to Sydney from Crookwell, to hear John Carey’s recording of Erwin’s poem Awaiting Resolution. On the opening night Angela Stretch (Producer/Director) stayed out of sight but before we could get annoyed, the music started and out came three amazing young performers: Kath Ellis, Dave Stephenson and Kathleen Williamson.

Now as Laureate’s new production progressed, I began to realise that we were without the benefit of really knowing most of the 15 Australian love poems that were being presented. So I jumped up at interval (and my kids won’t even blink when you tell them this) and I started working the room, going from table to table like a Jehovah’s Witness saying, in effect,

“Listen idiots, you need a program so that your brain can keep up with what you’re hearing and not get in the way of your listening. And so that when you go home, you can read and re-read the poems while the music’s still fresh in your head and the video is still projecting across your eyes. Get one now - $15! With little taster CD of 3 tracks in the back! $15 a program. Amy Winehouse eat your heart out!”

They pulled the lights on me then and I found myself back at our table and had to sit down and behave myself.

There’s a two page statement at the beginning of the program where each member of the crew, Stretch (Producer/Director), Geir Brillian (Sound & Lighting), JD Young (Video Projections), Ashley Chatto (Composer), and the performers, each give an artist’s statement about the production. Stephenson (singer and trumpeter / trombonist) says

“Within this production lies a beautiful problem: making these poetic constructs meaningful to the crowded ear. Re-reading of each beautiful poem is a luxury given to the company, but not to the audience.”

(Madwoman/Witness (up the back): 'Thank you! Get your programs here! Only $15! Thank you!)'

The poet Martin Langford (let’s call him ‘the selector’) researched and found about 40 Australian love poems for this season of Love at the Bar (mainly contemporary poems and 10 of the final 15, by women writers).

“With both men and women exploring love in searching, risky ways, the poetry of relationships was enjoying a particularly strong period – and Love at the Bar is an attempt to tap into that,”
says Langford, who is one of the directors of the newly established Laureate Productions and whose latest collection, The Human Project, has been published by Puncher and Wattmann.

Langford took the poems to Chatto, the young Australian composer, who sat in the beer garden of the Convent Garden Hotel in Sydney’s Haymarket one warm evening last December and quickly sorted out the 20 that he sensed had musicality. From these he went away and wrote the music for the 15 poems which make up the program for Love at the Bar**.

Chatto’s music starts out with the playfulness and wistfulness of The Golden Mean by Dorothy Hewitt sung by Ellis who captures every glint in the poem

‘nobody said You’re girls
You can’t do these things
so we did them
fragile as cabbage moths
our white dresses flicking in sunlight’

Ellis is a Sydney singer, performer and visual artist and perfectly described as ‘a perpetual bridesmaid out for revenge’ as the front woman for Sydney bands Hubris and Kathellisism.

The poet Julian Croft came down from Armidale on the second night of the show and saw Stephenson perform his poem The Bar at the Rock Garden, Covent Garden, November 1981 to Chatto’s The Clash-esque composition,

‘It’s really the girl behind the bar at the Rock Garden
Covent Garden
November 1981, this poem is about. Don’t believe titles’


Before I go, I just have to tell you that the range of compositions which Chatto has brought to this show is extraordinary. Every Australian who has ever been moved by music and words has to get to know Chatto’s work and to hear Williamson sing

‘He looks in my heart and the image there
Is himself, himself, than himself more fair.’
(first two lines of Untitled by Lesbia Harford)
And

‘For when you truly fall in love
The sun comes closer by a mile:
It is enough to make you sweat
It is enough to make you strip.’
(last verse of I think that hardly anyone/Has ever fallen very far by Kevin Hart)

I won’t go on much more because you, dear reader, have been given a second chance and saved me from having to give you a reminder call. Love at the Bar will be continuing its season, this time at RAVAL upstairs at the Macquarie Hotel (just down the hill from Whitlam Square and Oxford Street in Wentworth Avenue). And later Laureates will have a season at The Sydney Fringe with their production ‘City Nights’ at the Sound Lounge in the Seymour Centre.

I would go to this show just to hear Stephenson’s trumpet playing and his scuba diving deep baritone voice, or to watch Ellis’s acting or to hear Williamson sing.

If Chatto’s compositions for ‘Untitled’ and for 'I think that hardly anyone/ Has ever fallen very far', do not end up as major hits, then I will probably need to go into witness protection because I was there and I saw and heard everything!

This is the future of Australian poetry.

*************************

* Cathy Bray is a Sydney student of poetry and script-writing. She has had poetry and reviews published in a number of anthologies and journals and has just had her first chapbook of poems, The Owl, published by Picaro Press. She has been selected to 'be a black sheep' at The Sydney Fringe this September, and will be performing at Madam Fling Flongs in Newtown.

*************************

** The program for Love at the Bar:

Chapter 1:
The Golden Mean - Dorothy Hewett (1923-2002)
Why I Like You - John Jenkins
untitled - Lesbia Harford (1891-1927)
Love Poem - John Forbes (1950-1998)
Sassy - Kate Llewellyn
You Are My Absurdist Angle - Marcella Polain
Sleeping Together - Geraldine McKenzie
I Am In Love - MTC Cronin

INTERVAL

Chapter 2:
The Specifics of Love - MTC Cronin
I think that hardly anyone - Kevin Hart
The Bar at the Rock Garden - Julian Croft
Finished - Kate Llewellyn
There is No More Time - MTC Cronin
Awaiting Resolution - Russell Erwin
The Owl and the Pussycat Baudelaire Rock - Gwen Harwood (1920-95)

Love at the Bar: witness protectio - a review by Cathy Bray

Love at the Bar – witness protection.
A review by Cathy Bray.*
(May 20-23 season, Sydney Writers’ Festival 2010 – The Sydney Dance Café)

So it appears that in a previous lifetime I may have been a cockney spruiker. This realization came to me on the opening night of Love at the Bar (20-23 May, Laureate Productions’ first season at the Sydney Writers’ Festival).

I had already seen the light with this mob last year, when Wordjammin’ put together their 5-night tribute to Kenneth Slessor, An Evening of Darlinghurst Nights (upstairs at the Tap Gallery in Darlinghurst, 2009 Sydney Writers’ Festival). That evening evoked the real 1930s of Darlinghurst and Kings Cross (more familiar to young audiences today through the latest Underbelly series).

So here we were in the gonads of the 2010 Sydney Writers’ Festival, also known as The Sydney Dance Café, which for 3 nights had been converted to a wonderful waterfront bar; slap up against Sydney’s green harbour and the old wooden pylons of Wharf 4.

Suddenly, a voice arrived and we were frantically searching to find out who owned such a mellifluous beauty. The poet Russell Erwin asked me ‘Who owns that voice that could sink ships?’ Erwin had come to Sydney from Crookwell, to hear John Carey’s recording of Erwin’s poem Awaiting Resolution. On the opening night Angela Stretch (Producer/Director) stayed out of sight but before we could get annoyed, the music started and out came three amazing young performers: Kath Ellis, Dave Stephenson and Kathleen Williamson.

Now as Laureate’s new production progressed, I began to realise that we were without the benefit of really knowing most of the 15 Australian love poems that were being presented. So I jumped up at interval (and my kids won’t even blink when you tell them this) and I started working the room, going from table to table like a Jehovah’s Witness saying, in effect,

“Listen idiots, you need a program so that your brain can keep up with what you’re hearing and not get in the way of your listening. And so that when you go home, you can read and re-read the poems while the music’s still fresh in your head and the video is still projecting across your eyes. Get one now - $15! With little taster CD of 3 tracks in the back! $15 a program. Amy Winehouse eat your heart out!”

They pulled the lights on me then and I found myself back at our table and had to sit down and behave myself.

There’s a two page statement at the beginning of the program where each member of the crew, Stretch (Producer/Director), Geir Brillian (Sound & Lighting), JD Young (Video Projections), Ashley Chatto (Composer), and the performers, each give an artist’s statement about the production. Stephenson (singer and trumpeter / trombonist) says

“Within this production lies a beautiful problem: making these poetic constructs meaningful to the crowded ear. Re-reading of each beautiful poem is a luxury given to the company, but not to the audience.”

(Madwoman/Witness (up the back): 'Thank you! Get your programs here! Only $15! Thank you!)'

The poet Martin Langford (let’s call him ‘the selector’) researched and found about 40 Australian love poems for this season of Love at the Bar (mainly contemporary poems and 10 of the final 15, by women writers).

“With both men and women exploring love in searching, risky ways, the poetry of relationships was enjoying a particularly strong period – and Love at the Bar is an attempt to tap into that,”
says Langford, who is one of the directors of the newly established Laureate Productions and whose latest collection, The Human Project, has been published by Puncher and Wattmann.

Langford took the poems to Chatto, the young Australian composer, who sat in the beer garden of the Convent Garden Hotel in Sydney’s Haymarket one warm evening last December and quickly sorted out the 20 that he sensed had musicality. From these he went away and wrote the music for the 15 poems which make up the program for Love at the Bar**.

Chatto’s music starts out with the playfulness and wistfulness of The Golden Mean by Dorothy Hewitt sung by Ellis who captures every glint in the poem

‘nobody said You’re girls
You can’t do these things
so we did them
fragile as cabbage moths
our white dresses flicking in sunlight’


Ellis is a Sydney singer, performer and visual artist and perfectly described as ‘a perpetual bridesmaid out for revenge’ as the front woman for Sydney bands Hubris and Kathellisism.

The poet Julian Croft came down from Armidale on the second night of the show and saw Stephenson perform his poem The Bar at the Rock Garden, Covent Garden, November 1981 to Chatto’s The Clash-esque composition,

‘It’s really the girl behind the bar at the Rock Garden
Covent Garden
November 1981, this poem is about. Don’t believe titles’


Before I go, I just have to tell you that the range of compositions which Chatto has brought to this show is extraordinary. Every Australian who has ever been moved by music and words has to get to know Chatto’s work and to hear Williamson sing

‘He looks in my heart and the image there
Is himself, himself, than himself more fair.’
(first two lines of Untitled by Lesbia Harford)
And
‘For when you truly fall in love
The sun comes closer by a mile:
It is enough to make you sweat
It is enough to make you strip.’
(last verse of I think that hardly anyone/Has ever fallen very far by Kevin Hart)

I won’t go on much more because you, dear reader, have been given a second chance and saved me from having to give you a reminder call. Love at the Bar will be continuing its season, this time at RAVAL upstairs at the Macquarie Hotel (just down the hill from Whitlam Square and Oxford Street in Wentworth Avenue). And later Laureates will have a season at The Sydney Fringe with their production ‘City Nights’ at the Sound Lounge in the Seymour Centre.

I would go to this show just to hear Stephenson’s trumpet playing and his scuba diving deep baritone voice, or to watch Ellis’s acting or to hear Williamson sing.

If Chatto’s compositions for ‘Untitled’ and for 'I think that hardly anyone/ Has ever fallen very far', do not end up as major hits, then I will probably need to go into witness protection because I was there and I saw and heard everything!

This is the future of Australian poetry.

*************************

* Cathy Bray is a Sydney student of poetry and script-writing. She has had poetry and reviews published in a number of anthologies and journals and has just had her first chapbook of poems, The Owl, published by Picaro Press. She has been selected to 'be a black sheep' at The Sydney Fringe this September, and will be performing at Madam Fling Flongs in Newtown.

*************************

** The program for Love at the Bar:

Chapter 1:
The Golden Mean - Dorothy Hewett (1923-2002)
Why I Like You - John Jenkins
untitled - Lesbia Harford (1891-1927)
Love Poem - John Forbes (1950-1998)
Sassy - Kate Llewellyn
You Are My Absurdist Angle - Marcella Polain
Sleeping Together - Geraldine McKenzie
I Am In Love - MTC Cronin

INTERVAL

Chapter 2:
The Specifics of Love - MTC Cronin
I think that hardly anyone - Kevin Hart
The Bar at the Rock Garden - Julian Croft
Finished - Kate Llewellyn
There is No More Time - MTC Cronin
Awaiting Resolution - Russell Erwin
The Owl and the Pussycat Baudelaire Rock - Gwen Harwood (1920-95)

*************************************