Kalang Retreat and Australian Poetry would like to thank all those who entered the Kalang Award: Tracking Nature.
We received so many wonderful applications from across Australia. We have thoroughly enjoyed reading through all the applications, inspired by the variety, talent and ideas.
We are thrilled to announce WA poet Siobhan Hodge as the winner for the Kalang Award: Tracking Nature. We wish her all the best for her Summer residency from Dec 8th – 13th 2017 at Kalang Retreat, Somers, Victoria.
Siobhan Hodge has a Ph.D. from the University of Western Australia and is an Associate Investigator for the ARC Centre of Excellence for the History of Emotions. Her thesis examined the creative and critical legacy of the ancient Greek poet Sappho. Siobhan was winner of the 2015 Patricia Hackett Award for poetry and Highly Commended in both the 2016 Glen Phillips Poetry Prize and 2017 Ros Spencer Poetry Prize. She has had articles, reviews and poetry published in a range of places, including Westerly, Axon, Colloquy, Limina, Cordite, Plumwood Mountain, and Peril. She has also been a feature poet for art projects, including Anthologia’s “Language of Flowers” art installation. Her chapbook of Sappho poems, Picking up the Pieces, was part of the Wide Range Poetry Chapbooks series, sponsored by Cambridge University in 2014. Her next chapbook, Justice for Romeo, is forthcoming with Cordite Books for 2018 and addresses equine welfare issues.
Siobhan Hodge Project Description:
During the residency at Kalang, I intend to work on a collection of poems titled
Andrometrics. This collection explores intersections between colonialism and
environmentalism, coupled with a burgeoning interest in astronomy and space. Serious
scientific cases are now being made for the mining of resources off-world, and NASA is
sending brilliantly detailed pictures of our local planets and moons with increasing
regularity. Who owns materials found in space? In studying the natural world, humanity has
looked up to the stars and found even more spaces to exploit. Andrometrics will engage
with environmentalist and anti-colonial sentiments that need to be acknowledged in making
these future decisions. Before looking to the stars, we need to first take responsibility for
the natural spaces around us.This is a collection that focuses on scientific exploration and theories of space and resource
mining, but has a clear foundation in eco-poetics, postcolonial theory, and gender issues.
During the residency, I will explore the legacy of a perceived cultural divide between the
sciences and the arts, via the mediums of space, astronomy, and mythologies associated
with the stars. A framework has already been outlined for this collection and much
background research undertaken, but this residency will enable me to commit time to
producing, refining and editing these pieces. In addition, the beautiful rural location of
Kalang will provide the much-needed environmental settings to give the collection its
“grounding”, as well as providing a welcoming, supportive environment to produce and edit
a substantial number of poems.
Kalang Retreat is a dedicated place for writers, situated in the coastal township of Somers on the Western Port Bay. The residents draw inspiration from this unique landscape, often allowing nature to inform their work. With exceptional diversity of fauna and flora, there are new worlds and nearby seaside panoramas to invigorate the imagination.
Please keep your eyes out in 2018 for future partnership residencies between Kalang Retreat and Australian Poetry. Read more about the Kalang Award here.