Red Wheelbarrow Books Reading

Tomorrow evening, I’ll have the pleasure of joining a formidable group of writers for a reading at Red Wheelbarrow Books in Brunswick. The line up is as follows:


Thalia
Alan Musgrove
Robbie Coburne
Kim Kerze
Michelle Leber
Maxine Beneba Clarke

Friday 1st June @ 8pm
Red Wheelbarrow Books
105 Lygon St, Brunswick East

Read to you there!

What really went down at Australian Poetry? Find out on 3CR(855am) at 9am today on Spoken Word

A few weeks ago, 3CR presenter Koraly Dimitriadis invited me to participate in an interview with Paul Kooperman, the ex-Director of the embattled Australian Poetry on Spoken Word. Hearing Paul speak so passionately about the politics, pleasure and pitfalls of the organisation filled me both with sadness and with hope. Here was someone who wanted to celebrate, and promote Australian poetry in all it’s forms and fractures. Someone who still seemed to care so deeply about an organisation which he could so easily feel so bitter and jaded about, given the circumstances of his departure.* I went into the interview not really knowing much about the creation of Australian Poetry, the grant-body-encouraged amalgamation of the NSW  Poet’s Union and the Victoria based Australian Poetry Centre, but Paul’s eloquence and openness soon fixed that particular hurdle. The first half of this interview aired last Thursday morning on 3CR’s Spoken Word. The second half, including some poetry performed by myself and by Koraly, can be heard this morning (Thursday May 31^st) 855 on your am dial 9-9.30am.

*Well, tune in for the full story. This is a plug, after all!

Call for Australian Spoken Word Submissions

Audio submissions of spoken word poetry are sought for a special online presentation of Overland to be published in July 2012. Submissions must be under ten minutes in length, and sent as an audio file via the online submission system at overland.org.au before 12 July 2012. No more than three pieces by each poet will be considered for publication. Poets whose work is accepted may be asked to submit a YouTube clip of their poem within seven days of acceptance for consideration for inclusion in the publication. For funding reasons, publication is open to Australian citizens only. Audio Overland will be guest edited by Maxine Beneba Clarke.

bemused rooku

stuff black people don't get
number two hundred and forty seven:
eurovision song contest

Poetry Submissions Open - Social Alternatives

I’m excited to announce that I am the incoming poetry editor of Social Alternatives journal.


Social Alternatives analyses, critiques, and reviews contemporary social issues and problems.

The journal seeks to generate insight, knowledge, and understanding of our contemporary circumstances in order to determine local, national, and global implications.

The journal is committed to the principles of social justice and to creating spaces of dialogue intended to stimulate social alternatives to current conditions.

Social Alternatives values the capacity of intellectual and artistic endeavour to prompt imaginative solutions and alternatives and publishes refereed articles, review essays, commentaries and book reviews as well as short stories, poems, images and cartoons.

The journal has grappled with matters of contemporary concern for three decades, publishing articles and themed issues on topics such as: peace and conflict, racism, Indigenous rights, social justice, human rights, inequality and the environment.

The list of Australian writers previously published by Social Alternatives virtually comprises a ´who´s who´ of the literati and influential on the Australian Left: for example, Ted Wheelwright, Oodgeroo Nunukal, Susan Ryan, Ian Lowe, Thomas Shapcott, Eva Cox, Dennis Altman, Frank Morehouse, Mary Owen, Bob Connell, Kevin Carmody, Humphrey McQueen, Sarah Dowse, H. C. (Nugget) Coombs, Judith Wright, Frank Stilwell, Bruce Dawe, Hugh Stretton, Marcia Langton, and Kevin Gilbert.

The deadline for poetry submissions for the forthcoming Social Media edition is May 30, 2012.

Submissions should be emailed to my attention as Microsoft Word attachment to maxine@socialalternatives.com.