The Best Australian Poems 2008

I’ve just received my copies of The Best Australian Poems 2008 edited by Peter Rose. Can’t wait to get stuck into it. Poetry from Jaya Savige and Toby Davidson who I’ve had the pleasure of meeting recently. And from Sarah Holland-Batt and Fiona Wright… who I haven’t met, but the pleasure awaits. The book is launched on Nov 17 at 6.30 pm, Readings, Carlton.

Another launch (it must be the season)… is Four W with a launch in both Wagga Wagga and Sydney. I am so passionate these days about opportunities for regionally-based writers and Four W does a great job in selecting work from all around Australia while developing/supporting its local talent. Looking forward to reading pieces from Derek Motion, Belinda Campbell and Kelly Shaw.

http://www.csu.edu.au/faculty/arts/humss/booranga/events/index.html

Now it looks like none of you have decided to buy my house. Hmm… what if I said that koalas sit in the front tree and walk up and down the street? That’s serious wildlife… that’s value!

Aside from poetry and plays what I really dig is music. Gotta tell you about Kanye West’s latest one Love Lock Down, which is super cool as usual, and The Killers new album available in Australia Nov 22. Go to their site and hear the first single, Human. I’ve played it to death all ready. Plus I’ve been workin the cassette deck in my car lately… returned to Peter Gabriel’s So album… still good after all these years!

The Night Air

Recently I’ve been introduced to John Jacobs and have been enjoying his late-night program on Radio National called The Night Air. It’s a wonderful, weird fusion of sound. Check it out. I love it. Here is a link to the stuff he captured and beautifully mixed up from TiNA 08 in Newcastle… featuring snippets from Michael Farrell, Astrid Lorange, Nick Keys and the funniest man on this earth with a guitar, Justin Heazlewood aka The Bedroom Philosopher.

http://www.abc.net.au/rn/nightair/stories/2008/2358094.htm#transcript

or check out The Night Air website

http://www.abc.net.au/rn/nightair/

More news coming soon about Sean Whelan’s launch on the 6th Nov at Bar Open in Melbourne, and the launch of the unstoppable Page Seventeen.

Oh and you gotta check out Justin’s link… that famous bedspread…

http://www.bedroomphilosopher.com/

OzCo news & buy my house

Well the embargo is lifted and I can finally tell you that I’ve been awarded a Developing Writer's Grant from the Literature Board of the Australia Council. This means I am heading back to Port Arthur this year and writing a new play inspired by the stories of the Eaglehawk Neck Dog Chain. And I can’t begin to tell you what this means in terms of financial stability… it couldn’t have come at a better time!

Also check out my 'poem of the week' at the Australian Poetry Centre’s website… up until Monday.

http://www.australianpoetrycentre.org.au/?page_id=2

And if you want to buy my house, check it out here…

http://www.realestate.com.au/cgi-bin/rsearch?a=o&id=105271790&f=10&p=10&t=res&ty=&fmt=&header=&cc=&c=23084802&s=vic&tm=1224107950

More news coming soon on Ballarat Grammar’s production of my Cable Car of Death and Benalla Tafe’s production of Mystery in a Blimp.

TiNA & Sean M Whelan

What can I say about TiNA 08?

I read poetry to Tara Moss, went head to head with the Serial Pest and then finished up the day performing to over one hundred people at the late-night reading of my Ghost Poetry at the old Lock Up.

Big thanks to Newcastle poet, Chris Brown, who helped me out with a call-and-response poem at the start of the ‘haunting’. He was hiding in a nearby cell and delivered his lines like a long-time performer. We totally freaked em out! Good job bro (and thanks for letting me crash at your pad).

Then, later in the reading, we heard footsteps on the tin roof above our heads. It totally threw me and by then people thought it was part of the show… but I didn’t know what was going on. I found out later that people were climbing onto the roof because they couldn’t get in… they wanted to look down through the ceiling.

Needless to say… that kind of attention blew my mind!

The other thing that I’m stoked about is Sean M Whelan’s new book of poetry Tattooing the Surface of the Moon, published by Small Change Press and launched up at TiNA. Sean is a master, and poems like Dear Elliot and In The Places Where We Stood are two of my favourites. Stay tune for details of the Melbourne launch soon. It'll be an event you can confidently invite your friends, cousins, extended extendeds to, being sure that it won't suck. He knocks us dead everytime!

This from In the Places Where We Stood …

In a luck filled future, loss is highly collectible
and a valuable jewel in any trophy cabinet.
And in the places where once we stood,
nobody knew how to lose,
like we did.

Almost TINA

The This Is Not Art Festival is almost here. I’ve been busy preparing for my late night reading at the Lock Up on Thursday night and also for my other panel sessions.

http://www.thisisnotart.org/

There are so many writers I’m looking forward to meeting, having only ever known them by name… including Ivy Alvarez… check out her blog here…

http://ivyai.blogspot.com/

Recently I’ve had some good news from Going Down Swinging. They've accepted one of my ghost poems for the next issue. Plus Peter Rose has selected 'Those Adamant Shapes' for inclusion in Black Inc’s Best Australian Poems 08. So I’m thrilled.

On the play front, Ballarat Grammar have just approached me asking if they can do Cable Car Of Death. I love the thought of 7s and 8s playing Ollie, Floyd and Kat… stuck on a cable car above the Swiss Alps, with nothing but Harry Houdini’s mobile phone number. I’ll post pics up when they come in. And also in Ballarat i have a reading coming up on 13th of October at the Craig Hotel, for the Ballarat Writers' Roving Readings night. Come and hear some ghost stories and poems if you're around.

Now hope to catch you somewhere… and don’t forget the Dream Technologist.

Dream Technologist

If there is a dream you would like to have but the Sandman hasn't delivered yet, why not try the Dream Technologist? As advertised in The Age...

REQUIRES PARTICIPANTS:

Send a brief description of the dream you would like to have and your phone number to...

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447 Church St Richmond 3121

I encourage you to try it. Word on the street is that the Dream Technologist is remarkably good.

Essential Pablo

We performed the show Static for the second time last night over at Port Fairy. Afterwards I got to thump Alicia Sometimes in an arm wrestle and then she translated my Japanese tattoo for me beneath a street lamp outside.

Had no idea it meant that! What was I thinking!?

I have a few writing workshops lined up now at schools/mental health groups and then I’m off to the This Is Not Art Festival in Newcastle (hence the pic above). So I finally have time to do some prep…

http://www.thisisnotart.org/

Warning: to anyone hanging out with me up there… we’re getting tattoos! Oh, and I'll be sporting the Karate Kid headband again at some stage. It's tradition.

Finally, I’ve always been a Nerudiano, so I’ve been enjoying some ‘essential’ Pablo which I picked up at Collected Works the other day. But where are the questions? Not one of his questions in there. Grrr…