Toolkits: Poetry

A mentoring partnership between Express Media and Australian Poetry

Facilitator: Melody Paloma is a poet and critic currently living on the far south coast of NSW. 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 debut collection is called In Some Ways Dingo was released earlier this year as part of the Rabbit Poets Series. @melody_paloma

Program Outline for Toolkits: Poetry 2016

12 weeks of information, mentoring and collaboration with Melody Paloma.

Tuesday July 12 | Week 1: What Is Poetry?

What does poetry look like? In Week 1 we focus on the vast and differing forms poetry can take, appreciating the scope of the poetic form and learning to identify what makes an individual poem tick.

Tuesday July 19 | Week 1 Feedback

Submit your writing by Monday July 18 for feedback.

Tuesday July 26 | Week 2: Language and Poetry

What makes a poem a poem? What is it about poetry that separates it from other forms of writing? Why do we write poetry? What are the distinctive ways poetry has the ability to move and inspire?

Tuesday August 2 | Week 2 Feedback

Submit your writing by Monday August 1 for feedback.

Tuesday August 9 | Week 3: Poetry for Social Change with Omar Musa

Poetry is a powerful form. Led by Omar Musa, Poetry for Social Change explores how poetry can change, include, ignite, and explore experiences in ways other forms can’t.

Link to Toolkits Live.

Omar Musa is a Malaysian-Australian author, rapper and poet from Queanbeyan, Australia. He is the former winner of the Australian Poetry Slam and the Indian Ocean Poetry Slam. He has appeared on ABC’s Q&A and received a standing ovation at TEDx Sydney at the Sydney Opera House. His debut novel Here Come the Dogs was long-listed for the Miles Franklin Award, the International Dublin Literary Award and he was named one of the Sydney Morning Herald’s Young Novelists of the Year in 2015. His new hip hop EP DEAD CENTRE was released on August 5th.

Tuesday August 16 | Week 3 Feedback

Submit your work by Monday August 15 for feedback.

Tuesday August 23 | Week 4: Fiction vs Nonfiction Poetry

While some poets write from life, others have devoted their practice to removing their craft entirely from their own identities creating pen names or fictitious literary selves. This week we look at what it means to write fiction and nonfiction in poetry, in its blurry and multiple forms.

Tuesday August 30 | Week 4 Feedback

Submit your work by Monday August 29 for feedback.

Tuesday September 6 | Week 5: Digital Poetry with Benjamin Laird

We live in a digital world. How does this affect the sort of poetry we write? How can we harness the digital to serve our poetry best? We explore how poets use digital forms to their advantage with programmer and electronic poetry Benjamin Laird, jumping down the virtual rabbit hole to see how electronic poetry places the computer at its centre.

Benjamin Laird is a poet and computer programmer. He writes print and electronic poems which have appeared in Peril, Unusual Work, Cordite Poetry Review, and Rabbit. He has written a book-length conceptual poem with US poet Angela Genusa, Composition (2014, Gauss PDF) and his most recent publication is The Durham Poems (2016, SOd Press), a chapbook of biographical electronic poems. He has edited two special issues of electronic poetry for Overland. He was a geek-in-residence at Australian Poetry (2012) and is currently a PhD candidate at RMIT University researching biographical poetry in print and programmable media. He is also the website producer for Overland literary journal and Cordite Poetry Review.

Tuesday September 13 | Week 5 Feedback

Submit your work by Monday September 12 for feedback.

Tuesday September 20 | Week 6: Editing and Publishing Poetry

Learning how to edit your own poetry is an integral part of being a poet, and knowing how to get your work out into the world is essential. We focus on the nitty gritty of how to edit and publish your work, from DIY chapbooks, blogs and zines, to the 101 of poetry journals. Our final week is all about taking your poetry from your desk to the people.

Tuesday September 27 | Week 6 Feedback

Submit your work on Monday September 27 for feedback.

Friday September 30 | Toolkits Meet-up at National Young Writers’ Festival

Are you coming to National Young Writers’ Festival? Stay tuned for more information about a Toolkits meet-up in real life. We can’t wait to see you there.

A few days before each online broadcast session, make sure you check Mightybell and ensure you’ve had time to read the writing examples that will be discussed each week.