Toolkits: Poetry

Big opportunities aren’t just for those peddling their pens in the big smoke. Young writers from across Australia can take part in Toolkits – a series of intensive, craft-specific online writing programs.

Express Media Toolkits is a rigorous 12-week program for writers aged 30 and under to develop their skills in a unique and exciting online environment. Each program includes one-on-one mentoring and feedback from an established writer, specialised presentations from guest artists and the opportunity to network with other young people working in the same literary form.

In 2017, Toolkits: Fiction will be facilitated by Jennifer Down, author of Our Magic Hour and Pulse Points (released August 2017). Jennifer will guide participants through the art of storytelling and ethics, how to craft characters, plots and plans and how to polish work for publication.

Toolkits: Poetry will be facilitated by Melody Paloma, an established writer and poet from Melbourne, and the 2014 winner of the Overland Judith Wright Poetry Prize. Participants will explore the histories, language and changing face of poetry, and be challenged to engage with the art form in unique and different ways. The program also covers writing poetry in the digital age, Aboriginal histories in Australian literature, the intersections of writing and visual art, and how to edit your work for publication.

Learn from some of the best working writers in the country as Express Media presents Toolkits Live with guest artists Omar Musa, Tony Birch, Evelyn Araluen, Bella Li, and Elena Gomez,. Join participants in these livestreamed, online sessions and take part in the conversation as these five incredible writers share their specialised interests and writing practice.

Applications to Toolkits are open to all young writers, including high school students, regardless of level of written experience. Young people living in outer-metropolitan, regional and remote areas of Australia are encouraged to apply.

All you need is motivation and internet connection, so don’t miss out on this exciting opportunity to refine your craft and be mentored by some of Australia’s best literary talent.

What is poetry? What makes it different from other forms of art and writing? How do I write, and publish, my own poems?

Applications are now open and close Tuesday May 31.

Express Media and Australian Poetry present Toolkits: Poetry, an online course in the forms, functions, histories and uses of poetry, combining theoretical approaches, practical exercises, and one-on-one mentorship to guide young writers through the development of new work.

Over a 12-week intensive, participants will explore the histories, language and the changing face of poetry, and be challenged to engage with the art form in unique and different ways. The program also covers writing poetry in the digital age, Aboriginal histories in Australian literature, the intersections of writing and visual art, and how to edit your work for publication.

Toolkits is first and foremost a practical initiative and young writers will be encouraged to write, workshop and edit their writing throughout the course.

In 2017, Toolkits: Poetry will be facilitated by Melody Paloma, an established writer and poet from Melbourne, and the 2014 winner of the Overland Judith Wright Poetry Prize. Melody will facilitate the programs online sessions and workshops, providing one-on-one mentorship and individualised feedback to each young writer.

Participants also have the chance to learn from some of Australia’s best poets, with guest artists Bella Li and Evelyn Araluen presenting live and online sessions for the next generation across the country.

Go here to submit your application.

Evelyn Araluen is a poet, activist, teacher, and researcher working with Indigenous Literatures at the University of Sydney. She is the coordinator of Black Rhymes Aboriginal Poetry Night in Redfern and has spoken at the Sydney Writers Festival, Newcastle Writers Festival, and the National Young Writers Festival. She is the 2017 winner of the Nakata Brophy Prize for Young Indigenous Writers, and her poetry and criticism has been published in Overland, Southerly, Rabbit, and Best Australian Poems 2016. Born on Dharug country, she is a descendant of the Bundjalung nation.

Bella Li is the author of Maps, Cargo (Vagabond Press, 2013), shortlisted for the Wesley Michel Wright Prize, and Argosy (Vagabond Press, 2017)—a book of poetry, photography and collage. Her writing has been published in journals and anthologies such as Meanjin, Cordite, The Kenyon Review and Best Australian Poems. She is a managing co-editor at Five Islands Press, a co-curator and editor at Photodust, and co-editor of The Slow Canoe Live Journal and Press.

Melody Paloma is a poet and critic. Among other publications, her work has appeared in Cordite, Rabbit, Plumwood Mountain, un Magazine, and the 2016 Hunter Anthology of Contemporary Australian Feminist Poetry. Melody was the recipient of the 2014 Overland Judith Wright Poetry Prize for New and Emerging Poets. Her first collection In Some Ways Dingo is forthcoming as part of the Rabbit Poets Series. Melody works for Australian Poetry in their young poet’s programs.