Red Room Poetry Month
August 11, 2021
August is Poetry Month, an initiative that Red Room Poetry created to increase the value and awareness of Australian poets and publishers of Australian poetry. This inaugural celebration is already well underway, being championed by Poetry Ambassadors such as Yassmin Abdel-Magied, Grace Tame and Dr Karl Kruszelnicki.
Poetry Month also includes esteemed poets Maryam Azam, Sarah Holland-Batt, Tony Birch, Eileen Chong, Lisa Gorton, Krissy Kneen, Steven Oliver, Thuy On and Megan Wilding (who was recently presented with this year’s Griffin Award) and many more.
Each day in August a new ‘writing prompt’ is created by one of Red Room Poetry’s 30in30 commissioned artists and will be released as text or videos on Facebook and Twitter. Anyone is welcome to join in to win a daily book prize by writing 3 lines in response!
If that doesn’t spark your inspiration, there are many other exciting ways to get involved:
- Book now to hear the highly celebrated First Nations poets Nardi Simpson, Lorna Munro and Dr Jeanine Leane discuss the ground-breaking poetry anthology, Guwayu – For All Times published by Magabala Books and joined by arts journalist Daniel Browning tonight, Friday 13 August from 7-8pm AEST.
- Online Showcases – Tune into South Australia Poetry Showcase 6-8pm local time, Friday 20 August; Aus x NZ Poetry Showcase 6-7pm AEST Thursday 26 August and West Australia Poetry Showcase 7-9pm local time, Thursday 26 August.
- There is also a weekly livestreamed Poetry Month show, called Line Break hosted by Anne-Marie Te Whiu and David Stavanger, featuring a wonderful selection of talented poets including Declan Fry, Grace Lucas-Pennington and Winnie Dunn to name a few. Tune into the next live-streamed show on Tuesday 17 August via Facebook or YouTube.
- Attend a Workshop on a Wednesday night via Zoom. This week’s workshop explores the intersections of comedy and poetry in ‘Comedy vs Poetry’ with Vidya Rajan, 7-9pm AEST Wednesday 18 August. Book your spot here.
Check out other events on the Poetry Month Calendar.
Red Room Poetry Month ends 31 August.