20th November, 7.30pm, Smiths Alternative, Alinga St, Canberra City.
Free.
Three poets read great works that have opened their minds and inspired them, plus a selection of their own poems.
Open mic readers, please bring along a piece that has changed your take on writing or life (one poem each).
Paul Magee is a poet and researcher in poetics at the University of Canberra. He is author of Stone Postcard (John Leonard Press 2014), Cube Root of Book (John Leonard Press 2006) and the prose monograph From Here to Tierra del Fuego (University of Illinois Press 2000). Cube Root of Book was shortlisted for the Innovation Award at the 2008 Adelaide Festival Awards for the Arts, while Stone Postcard was named in Australian Book Review as one of the books of the year for 2014.
Melinda Smith is the author of five poetry books, most recently Goodbye, Cruel (Pitt St Poetry, 2017) and the poetry + art chapbook Members Only (Recent Work Press, 2017). Her work has been anthologised widely and translated into multiple languages. Her previous book Drag down to unlock or place an emergency call won the 2014 Australian Prime Minister’s Literary Award for poetry. She is based in the ACT and is a former poetry editor of The Canberra Times.
Owen Bullock’s most recent publications are Semi (Puncher & Wattmann, 2017) and River’s Edge (Recent Work Press, 2016). A further collection, Work & Play, is forthcoming in 2017 from Recent Work Press. He has edited a number of journals and anthologies, including Poetry New Zealand. He recently completed a PhD in Creative Writing at the University of Canberra, where he teaches.