Fuel Up!

An online workshop with Naomi Shihab Nye

DATE: Saturday 21 October 10am-12pm AEST

LOCATION: Online via Zoom

Exploring our resistances and roadblocks to writing, if any, and encouraging methods and strategies for creating more positive energy in our writing lives. Where does our work come from? How do we stimulate more of it? What are some positive practices? We will share poems, discuss experiences, suggest curatives, and do some writing on the spot (then sharing, optional).

Open to everybody. I love use of the chat bar, for anyone who doesn’t wish to speak a lot.

Please bring a poem written by someone else that has given you fuel somewhere along the way, even when you were a child. Look forward to seeing you!

- Naomi Shihab Nye


Learning outcomes

• Participants will be encouraged to explore methods and strategies for creating more positive energy in their writing lives.

• Participants will gain an understanding of where their work comes from and how they can stimulate more of it.

What you need to participate:

• Zoom and a reliable Internet connection.

• • Please bring a poem written by someone else that has given you fuel somewhere along the way.

This workshop is:

• Open to everybody.

Ticketing: 

Tickets are priced on a sliding scale, from concession/unwaged ($30) to full/waged ($40) to generous supporter ($50), i.e. subsidise a concession ticket by choosing to pay a bit extra). 

One free ticket is reserved for a person experiencing financial hardship — please get in touch.

Upon booking, you will receive email confirmation and, closer to the workshop, further instructions and a Zoom link. 

About your facilitator: 

Palestinian-American writer, editor and educator Naomi Shihab Nye grew up in St. Louis, Jerusalem, and San Antonio, Texas, where she continues to live.  She has been Young People’s Poet Laureate for the U.S. (Poetry Foundation), poetry editor for the New York Times magazine, and The Texas Observer, and a visiting writer in hundreds of schools and communities all over the world. Her books include Everything Comes Next, The Tiny Journalist, Voices in the Air, Sitti’s Secrets, Habibi, This Same Sky, & The Tree is Older than You Are: Poems & Paintings from Mexico. Her volume 19 Varieties of Gazelle: Poems of the Middle East, was a finalist for the National Book Award. The Turtle of Oman and The Turtle of Michigan have both been part of the Little Read program, North Carolina. She received Lifetime Achievement Awards from The Texas Institute of Letters and the National Book Critics Circle. 

The Radical Sonnet – from Petrarch to AI

An online workshop with Dr Gareth Sion Jenkins

DATE: Thursday 14 September 6.30-8.30pm AEST

LOCATION: Online via Zoom

Explore the historical evolution of the sonnet form from its roots in Italian and English traditions. Gain an understanding of the Petrarchan and Shakespearian sonnet verse forms through close readings and analysis of historical and contemporary examples.

Perhaps because the sonnet sits at the centre of traditional ‘fixed’ verse forms it has attracted experimentalists who have played with its well-defined structures. We will look at examples of poets who have reimagined the sonnet form through cut-up and erasure techniques and through procedural constraints.

Participants will be led through a series of writing exercises as the workshop progresses designed to stimulate their own creativity as they engage with aspects of the sonnet form.

Finally participants will explore the use of AI for poetic experimentation. This will include an interactive session where participants collaborate with AI to co-create sonnets and a critical discussion of the poetic results.

‘The Radical Sonnet: From Petrarch to AI’ will celebrate the sonnet's rich heritage while exploring experimentation and the poetic voice of AI.


Learning outcomes

• Participants will gain an understanding of the history of the sonnet form and its traditional verse form structures.

• Participants will gain an understanding of a range of experimental techniques poets have used to play with the sonnet form over time.

• Participants will be stimulated to write their own poetry through a range of writing exercises that include chance operations and writing with found texts.

• Participants will be introduced to AI to co-create sonnets. Participants will evaluate AI generated poetry and the experience of co-creating it.

What you need to participate:

• Zoom and a reliable Internet connection

This workshop is suitable for:

• Beginner and above - anyone who wants to explore the sonnet in traditional to experimental forms.

Ticketing: 

Tickets are priced on a sliding scale, from concession/unwaged ($30) to full/waged ($40) to generous supporter ($50), i.e. subsidise a concession ticket by choosing to pay a bit extra). 

One free ticket is reserved for a person experiencing financial hardship — please get in touch.

Upon booking, you will receive email confirmation and, closer to the workshop, further instructions and a Zoom link. 

About your facilitator: 

Dr Gareth Sion Jenkins is a poet, publisher and multidisciplinary artist. Gareth’s first book, Recipes for the Disaster, won the 2019 Anne Elder award. His poetry short-films have screened at festivals around the world and he exhibits text-based art and multimedia installations.

In 2020 Gareth founded the archive and small press Apothecary Archive and in 2021 he took over the running of one of Australia’s most enduring poetry publishers, Five Islands Press.

His next book, The Inclination Compass, a multimedia poetic narrative will be out in August 2023 with Puncher and Wattmann. In 2024 he is a feature artist at Cementa24.

Fans 4Eva: Writing Poems About Fandom, Feelings, and Things We Love

An online workshop with Madison Godfrey

DATE: Monday 7 August - 7-9pm AEST

LOCATION: Online via Zoom

The first poems that Madison Godfrey ever knew, were lyrics yelled in mosh pits. Now as a published author, Madison channels these fan-feelings into poems that honour the enthusiasm of experiencing intense emotions about the things we love.

Poems can be sites of obsession: they can sparkle and shout, like glitter glue on a handmade sign. In this workshop, you’ll learn to direct devotion into delicious metaphors, craft poems that mimic mosh pits, and allow your persona to tremble with joy. First, you will discuss examples of poems that express fan-feelings, before being guided through writing exercises that offer you a series of playful and low-pressure opportunities to revisit your own obsessions.

This is a workshop suitable for anyone who has loved something (a game, a movie, a book, a band, a food, a colour, a blanket) with full force. You will leave with a series of first drafts, and a sense of enthusiasm. Madison is experienced at teaching writers of all levels, from beginner writers to experienced authors, so please feel comfortable participating at your own pace, as all writing exercises will be well-explained and full of possibility.

Outcome:

• A series of poem first drafts,

• And a sense of enthusiasm

What you need to participate:

• Zoom and a reliable Internet connection

This workshop is suitable for:

• Writers of all levels.

Ticketing:

Tickets are priced on a sliding scale, from concession ($30) to full ($40) to generous supporter ($50, i.e. subsidise a concession ticket by choosing to pay a bit extra).

One free ticket is reserved for a person experiencing financial hardship — please get in touch.

Upon booking, you will receive email confirmation and, closer to the workshop, further instructions and a Zoom link.

About your facilitator:

Madison Godfrey is a writer, editor, and educator. Their work has been described as “sensual and often funny” by The Guardian, and “fiercely punk and undeniably powerful” by ArtsHub. Madison has performed poetry at the Sydney Opera House, the Royal Albert Hall, and Glastonbury Festival. They are a previous recipient of the Kat Muscat Fellowship, the Varuna Flagship Poetry Fellowship, and a WA Youth Award for ‘Creative Contributions’ to the state. Madison’s second poetry collection Dress Rehearsals was published by Allen & Unwin Imprint JOAN in March 2023 and “sounds like the score of a rebellion” (Nakkiah Lui). Dress Rehearsals was listed as one of the most anticipated books of 2023 by Refinery29, RUSSH Magazine, and Sydney Morning Herald. Madison lives on Whadjuk Noongar land with a rescue cat named Sylvia. www.madisongodfrey.com

Photo credit: Louise Coghill.

Screwing around with the Nuts and Bolts of Poetry

An online workshop with Kimberly K Williams

DATE: Tuesday 11 July from 6:30-8:30pm AEST

LOCATION: Online via Zoom

Many times, people who write poetry are following an instinct or an impulse without being sure of what they are actually doing. This workshop will examine and play with some of the terms and techniques that are inherent to poetry: free verse, enjambment, caesura, end stops, stanza and line breaks – what do these terms mean, and more importantly, how does their application and execution affect a poem? We will cover some terminology in this workshop, and we will play with applying the terms, too.

This workshop will also offer an opportunity for participants to ask questions – things they’ve always wondered about writing poetry but have not had the opportunity to ask.


Outcome:

• Participants will leave with a better understanding of some of the basic terms of poetry, in terms of meaning and application.  

• We will cover the basics by reading some poems and looking at examples and by playing with the poets’ own poems.   

What you need to participate:

• Zoom and a reliable Internet connection.

• Poets are encouraged to bring 1-2 to poems to the workshop that they have already written. 

This workshop is suitable for:

• This workshop is for all levels of poets but is especially designed for those at the beginning or intermediate levels of poetry writing. 

Ticketing: 

Tickets are priced on a sliding scale, from concession/unwaged ($30) to full/waged ($40) to generous supporter ($50), i.e. subsidise a concession ticket by choosing to pay a bit extra). 

One free ticket is reserved for a person experiencing financial hardship — please get in touch.

Upon booking, you will receive email confirmation and, closer to the workshop, further instructions and a Zoom link. 

About your facilitator: 

Kimberly K Williams is the author of three books of poetry, Still Lives (Gazebo Books), which received a 2022 Canberra Critics Circle Award in Writing, Sometimes a Woman (Recent Work Press), which won the 2022 WILLA Literary Award for Poetry, and Finally, the Moon (Stephen F Austin University Press). Kimberly was short-listed for the University of Canberra's Vice-Chancellor's Poetry Prize in 2019, and her poems appear in many journals and anthologies around the world. She is the current director of the UC's Poetry on the Move Festival. After teaching in higher education for over twenty years in the U.S., Kimberly moved to Canberra to pursue her PhD. 

Synaesthetic Poetry

An online workshop with Sean West

DATE: Monday 12 June from 6.30-8.30pm AEST

LOCATION: Online via Zoom

Sensory details are integral to crafting great poetry. In this online workshop, participants will be encouraged to explore the concept of ‘synaesthetic poetry’. Synaesthesia is a perceptual phenomenon in which stimulation of one sensory or cognitive pathway leads to involuntary experiences in a second sensory or cognitive pathway, creating an overlap of two or more senses (I.e. a sound stimulates a visual experience such as seeing a piece of music as a painting or animation).

In this workshop, you will simulate synaesthesia and play with sensory pairings to push your creative practice to new and unusual places. You will be encouraged to taste visual images, visualise your favourite music as images, personify your favourite colours, characterise your favourite tastes, and articulate your loved one’s voices as textures against your skin. These unconventional prompts will encourage poets to embrace their neuroplasticity, regardless of writing experience.


Outcome:

• Finding a new approach to writing poetry through synaesthetic brain exploration.

• Unblocking writer's blocks and struggles.

What you need to participate:

• Zoom and a reliable Internet connection

This workshop is suitable for:

• Anyone! Emerging, established or new poets should all find this workshop accessible and engaging, as the structure isn't built on established poetry conventions and will take a "teach from the heart" approach

Ticketing: 

Tickets are priced on a sliding scale, from concession/unwaged ($30) to full/waged ($40) to generous supporter ($50), i.e. subsidise a concession ticket by choosing to pay a bit extra). 

One free ticket is reserved for a person experiencing financial hardship — please get in touch.

Upon booking, you will receive email confirmation and, closer to the workshop, further instructions and a Zoom link. 

About your facilitator: 

Sean West is a Meanjin-based Autistic poet, support worker, and workshop facilitator. His recent placings include the Queensland Premier’s Young Publishers and Writers Award, the SCWC Poetry Award, the XYZ Prize for Excellence in Spoken Word and the Thomas Shapcott Poetry Prize. His debut chapbook, Gutless Wonder, was published by Queensland Poetry in 2023. He is the founding editor of Blue Bottle Journal and works for Ruckus Slam Brisbane. Find him at www.callmemariah.com.

‘My body of work is largely informed by my sensory experiences, so this workshop comes from a place of lived experience and encouraging patrons to explore their own neuroplasticity. As someone diagnosed last year with ASD level 1 and self-diagnosed with synaesthesia, my sensory input is unique and my senses overlap and flow into each other, at times overwhelming me.

For as long as I can remember, I’ve experienced unusual sensory pairings. People’s voices can sometimes have a texture or taste. When listening to music or spoken word poetry, I often see an animated visual playing out in my head, especially vivid if I close my eyes.. Certain smells smack me in the face with such strong memory associations. Although synaesthesia is involuntary, I want to gift participants a peek into what their brains can do.’