A Month of Poetry

September has seen an abundance of creative verse vocalised, written, and discussed at a range of poetry themed events in the Library. Early September featured ‘Are you brave enough to be a poet’ a forum on poetry presented by local publisher Ginninderra Press. Local poets recited their works and then fielded questions from the floor in a forum discussion. Friendly Street Poets, a South Australian institution, held one of their monthly evening readings at the Library, featuring twenty poets reciting works, from deep and thought provoking verse, to humorous poems, limericks and haiku. North Eastern Writers’ Inc launched their first poetry anthology, NEW Voices at a special event at the Library at the end of the month. Published poet and SA Writer’s centre staff member and disability writer-in-residence, Jude Aquilina launched the event with ten of the NEW Inc poets reciting works that appear in the anthology. It’s great to see such a range of talented people from the local area presenting their work and also seeing it in print!

Poetry Slam heats are here!

…well in a couple of weeks anyway. The National Poetry Slam heats will be held at 5 different locations this year, starting off with Unley on October 7th at the Unley Town Hall. Registration starts at 5pm and the event kicks off at 5.30pm. Slammers get 2 minutes to recite, sing, howl, speak, rap, growl, whisper their poem and will be judged by random people in the audience. Full rules can be found here. There’s a maximum of 20 slammers at each heat, and there’s no pre-reg so it’s essentially first in, first serve. The first 15 slammers will automatically get a spot, the remaining 5 will be randomly drawn from a hat.

Tea Tree Gully has partnered with Port Adelaide Enfield this year so our heat is held at Greenacres Library, 2 Fosters Road, Greenacres on Thursday October 14th. Registration starts at 6.00pm and the event starts at 6.30pm. Further info from the Poetry Slam Website.

Are you brave enough to be a poet?

Local publisher Ginninderra Press are hosting a free public forum at the Library on Sunday September 12th. As described by Stephen Matthews from Ginninderra it’s “a discussion chaired by Sharon Kernot with guest speakers Brenda Eldridge, Jill Gower and Gary MacRae followed by readings by local poets including Graham Catt, Max and Jaqui Merckenschlager, John Sabine and Ros Schultz.” More info on our website. Cheese and wine will be supplied!

Jill Wherry launches her CD

Local humorous bush poet Jill Wherry returns to the library to launch a CD recording of some of the poems from her recently published collection Definitely not Shakespeare. Featuring trademark poems like ‘Shopping for a bra is hell’, Jill will delight with her wit and humour at this special event. Next Wednesday September 1st from 6.30pm. Check out the website for more info.

‘Just your Everyday Apocalypse’

…will be one of the books that South Australian poets Amelia Walker and Graham Catt will be reading from when they come to the library on April 22nd. Both Amelia and Graham have recently published collections of their poetry, Amelia’s in ‘Just your Everyday Apocalypse’ and Graham’s in his chapbooks ‘The Hieronoymus Bosch Shopping Mall’ and ‘The Inverted World – Wagtail 84′, all three of which will be available for purchase on the night. Come along for a fantastic and emotive night of wine, cheese and poetry! Further information is available from our website.

Definitely not Shakespeare!

Local poet Jill Wherry is set to entertain on Friday the 27th of February! Reciting some of the humourous verse from her recently published collection of poems in  ’Definitely not Shakespeare’, Jill looks to amuse and delight the audience with her wicked sense of humour.

Check the website for event details, and the library has a copy of Definitely not Shakespeare available for loan.