Voicebox in July, Fremantle, WA

Shane McCauley

Jo Clark

The Fly Trap

Cricket World Cup 2015: at MCG!

England and Australia drawn together

• MCG to host tournament final 
• New Zealand to host one semi-final

• Press Association
• theguardian.com, Tuesday 30 July 2013 

England have been drawn in the same group as Australia for the 2015 Cricket World Cup.

New Zealand, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and two qualifying nations will join the Ashes rivals in Pool A of the 14-team tournament.

South Africa, defending champions India, Pakistan, the West Indies, Zimbabwe, Ireland and a qualifier will compete in Pool B.

England and Australia will meet on the opening day of the competition at Melbourne on 14 February.

The tourists' next fixture is six days later against New Zealand in Wellington, with a match against one of the qualifiers following on 23 February in the city of Christchurch – still rebuilding from an earthquake two years ago.

Sri Lanka are England's next opponents in Wellington on 1 March, before a return to Australia for games against Bangladesh on March 9 at Adelaide and the other qualifier in their group on 13 March at Sydney.

Adelaide, Auckland, Brisbane, Canberra, Christchurch, Dunedin, Napier, Nelson, Hamilton, Hobart, Melbourne, Perth, Sydney and Wellington were confirmed as host cities at today's official launch.

The Melbourne Cricket Ground will host the first ODI between Australia and England in January 2014. Photograph: Ryan Pierse/Getty Images

The ICC chief executive David Richardson said: "The ICC Cricket World Cup is the flagship tournament of the 50-over game.

"The 2015 tournament will mark 40 years since the first World Cup in 1975 and that history of great contests and heroes helps make the tournament what it is - the most sought after prize in our increasingly global game.

"The World Cup will be returning to Australia and New Zealand after 23 years and will be staged at the back of two outstanding 50-over ICC events – the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 and ICC Champions Trophy 2013.

"I'm absolutely confident that the success of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 will further strengthen the status of 50-over cricket as a successful and viable format alongside Tests and Twenty20 Internationals."

The Australian prime minister, Kevin Rudd, added: "This is one of the biggest events in world sport.

"It will attract cricket fans from around the globe and also promote Australia and our close friend New Zealand internationally - especially in India and other parts of south Asia."

Holders India will launch their defence against rivals Pakistan in Adelaide on 15 February.

Ticket prices for the tournament are not due to be announced until later in the year.

National Boat Race: Tony vs Kev

Master class (on-line) with Charles Bernstein at the Chicago School of Poeics on 10/19/13

CHARLES BERNSTEIN

photo ©Lawrence Schwartzwald; may not be used without permission

Study with poet Charles Bernstein in a master class workshop at the Chicago School of Poetics. This one-day online class offers an intimate environment within which to work with one of the key figures of contemporary poetry.

The class runs for 3 hours and will be held in our online, video-conferenced classroom, so you can attend from your own home, from anywhere in the world.

Date: October 19th, 2013
Time: 1-4 p.m. Central Time
Location: Online
Price: $250.00

Class size is limited to 10 students. Register early.

Students should submit one of their poems for in-class discussion at least 2 weeks prior to workshop date.

Study with poet Charles Bernstein in a master class workshop at the Chicago School of Poetics. This one-day online class offers an intimate environment within which to work with one of the key figures of contemporary poetry.

The class runs for 3 hours and will be held in our online, video-conferenced classroom, so you can attend from your own home, from anywhere in the world.

Date: October 19th, 2013
Time: 1-4 p.m. Central Time
Location: Online
Price: $250.00

Class size is limited to 10 students. Register early.

Students should submit one of their poems for in-class discussion at least 2 weeks prior to workshop date.

- See more at: http://www.chicagoschoolofpoetics.com/master-class-charles-bernstein/#sthash.71Dyw4PM.dpuf

register here

Happy Birthday, Gerard Manley Hopkins

It was a hard thing to undo this knot by Gerard Manley Hopkins     It was a hard thing to undo this knot. The rainbow shines, but only in the thought Of him that looks. Yet not in that alone, For who makes rainbows by invention? And many standing round a waterfall See one bow each, yet not the same to all, But each a hand's breadth further than the next. The sun on falling waters writes the text Which yet is in the eye or in the thought. It was a hard thing to undo this knot.

Gerard Manley Hopkins was born on July 28, 1844, near London. A Jesuit priest, he devoted most of his time to his religion, but is best remembered today for the inventive and ingeniously musical verse he wrote in private. Hopkins died in 1889.

The Major Works

(Oxford University Press, 2009)

After the ball was over ...

Thank you to all who sent me birthday greetings. There were many so I can't personalise this grateful message - but absolutely sincere warmest thanks to you all. I received a wonderful 'cake' from my cousin Mary, which I hope to present here now. Fingers crossed ... Yes!

Issa haiku

spring rain-- 
ducks waddle-waddle 
to the gate 


1805 

.春雨や家鴨よちよち門歩き 
harusame ya ahiru yochi-yochi kado aruki 

Why are the ducks congregating at the gate to a house? Is it Issa's house and gate, and do the ducks expect to be fed there? Or are they just waddling about happily under the spring rain? Issa presents the essential image; it's up to the reader to contemplate and enjoy it. 

from https://mail.google.com/mail/ca/#inbox/14020848e854d01a

Issa's storehouse

EXTENSION: KSP Young Writers-in-Residence Program

The deadline for applications for the December 2013 Young Residency Program at KSP has been extended until FRIDAY 2 AUGUST, 2013. Apply now for the unique opportunity to further your writing career in the ambient Greenmount hills.

  2013 Young Writers-In-Residence

Applications for 2013 Young Writer-In-Residence must be post marked on or before 5pm, Friday 2 August 2013

Three Positions are available for the ten days of Monday 2 December – Wednesday 11 December 2013. 

Three Young Writers, up to the age of twenty-five years, will be selected for a 10-day residency at the Katharine Susannah Prichard Writers' Centre, Greenmount, up in the hills outside of Perth, WA.

The residents will receive a salary of $650 and be given writing space and time to concentrate on, develop or complete a work in progress. The writer will also be invited to participate in Katharine Susannah Prichard (KSP) Writers' Centre activities.

The Selection Committee will be looking for talented young writers able to show application to the craft of writing. It is expected that the writers will have some published material in the print, visual or broadcast media. Ideally, applicants should be working towards achieving their first major full-length publication. Applicants may conduct a workshop at the Centre during their residency. If the applicant wishes to do so full support will be given to that endeavour by the Centre. However, applicants who do not want to present a workshop will NOT be penalised.

If you have any queries or need further details please feel free to email or phone the office.

LAUNCH 'TOA' VAUGHAN RAPATAHANA

Book Launch

Novel and Poetry collection

by Vaughan Rapatahana

Kei muri i te awa kapara he tangata ke, mana te ao, he ma.

“BEHIND THE TATTOOED FACE, A STRANGER STANDS. 

HE OWNS THE EARTH. HE IS WHITE.”

SUNDAY 4 AUGUST, 2013 @ Nectar Lounge

Kingslander Hotel, New North Road

from 3PM.

Reading by Vaughan Rapatahana

Introduction by Roger Horrocks

Live Band Lip Service

Atuanui Press

http://atuanuipress.co.nz

Notes of interest from writingWA

Vote For Australia's Favourite Bookshop Bookshops are an important part of any community and the Australian Booksellers Association would like to help celebrate how fantastic its members are.  In an Australian first, booklovers all over the country will be able to vote for their favourite bookshop. All voters will go into a draw for a chance to win a book-buying spree at their favourite bookshop.  This initiative leads up to National Bookshop Day, when bookshops all over the country will be celebrating their role in the community. For details and to vote online, click here. 2013 Patron's Prize for Poets Announced New South Wales and West Australian poets have dominated the awards for Peter Cowan Writers' Centre's 2013 Patron's Prize for Poets competition.  First prize went to John Egan (NSW) for 'Signals', with WA's Roland Leach winning Second Prize for 'The Cartographer's Sonnet', and Kathryn Yuen (NSW) taking out Third Prize with 'The Unreported'. WA poets featured in the Highly Commended, Commended and Judge's Encouragement Award categories.  The competition received over 200 entries and was judged by WA poet Kevin Gillam.

The Paris Review: Italo Calvino interview

“Novelists tell that piece of truth hidden at the bottom of every lie.” —Italo Calvino

Read The Paris Review 1992 interview with the Italian writer here:http://tpr.ly/aIk2IG.

Rudd's selective compassion

Fiona Katauskas' work has also appeared in ABC's The Drum, New Matilda, The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, The Australian, The Financial Review and Scribe's Best Australian political cartoon anthologies.

'Hardly one copy would sell here.' Gertrude Stein rejection letter!

Oh, a funny reject letter - from this distance in time and space! 

Read more letters of rejection to famous authors at 

http://flavorwire.com/232203/famous-authors-harshest-rejection-letters

Peter Porter Poetry Prize 2014 - Overseas entries accepted!

             

The Peter Porter Poetry Prize 2014 is now open, with prize money worth a total of $6500. This year we will be accepting online submissions for the first time and we encourage poets to  enter online. Also for the first time this year, we will be accepting international entries.

Click here to enter online.

We will also be accepting hard copy entries using this entry form.

The Peter Porter Poetry Prize is one of Australia’s most lucrative and respected awards for poetry, and guarantees winners wide exposure through publication in ABR.

First prize: $4000

Closing date: 20 November 2013

PREVIOUS WINNERS

Stephen Edgar (2005)

Judith Bishop (2006)

Alex Skovron (2007)

Ross Clark (2008)

Tracy Ryan (2009)

Anthony Lawrence (2010)

Judith Bishop (2011) and Tony Lintermans (2011)

Michael Farrell (2012)

John A. Scott (2013)

Gotta be in it ...

Gwen Harwood Poetry Prize

by Island

Now in its 18th year, the Gwen Harwood Poetry Prize remembers Tasmania’s most acclaimed poet. Proudly sponsored by The Hobart Bookshop, the prize is  judged by two of Australia’s finest poets, John Kinsella, the poetry editor of Island and Gig Ryan, poetry editor at The Age.

There is a first prize of $2000 and two minor prizes of $500 each will be awarded at the judges’ discretion. The winning poem will be published in Island.

Submissions:

- single poem or linked suite not longer than 80 lines
- Entries must be typed on single-sided A4 paper
- Please submit two copies of your entry if posting
- Entries can be emailed to Rachel@islandmag.com
- Your  name must not appear in the manuscript; all entries will be judged anonymously
- Poems previously published are not eligible
- Entry forms must accompany each entry. A Printable entry form or  Online Entry Form  are both acceptable.
- Entries close midnight, July 31, 2013. Entries postmarked July 31 will be accepted
- Entry fee $20 per entry ($15 Island subscribers and Tasmanian Writers’ Centre members).

Online payment can be made here or, if you are a subscriber or TWC member here.

Above image: Eilish Kidd

City of Perth Library Haiku Competition

2013 Entry Conditions 

• Haiku and Senryu will be accepted.
• Entries must be previously unpublished.
• Entries are limited to 5 per entrant and must all be on one A4 paper.
• The name of the poet must be included at the bottom of the page.
• A separate contact sheet must have name and contact details.
• The contact sheet must also list the first line of each poem.
• Font size to be at least 22pt. Any font style is acceptable.
• Entries will be judged purely on the text.
• Any pictures or decorations must fit on the page with the Haiku.

Entries close Wed 28 August, 5 pm. Winners will be announced during the Open Mic session at the Library on Fri 6 September.

Submit entries :

• Post : GPO Box C120 Perth WA 6839

• Deliver to the Library : Level 1, 140 William St,Perth

• Email: perth.library@cityofperth.wa.gov.au

Emailed poems must be sent as a word document attachment.

Prizes : 1^st $ 250, 2^nd $125, 3^rd $75.

Entries will be judged by Maureen Sexton, WA representative - Haiku Oz.

By entering, you agree that your name and the poem will be listed on the library blog should you be awarded a prize.

Due to space constraints only the winning haiku will be displayed in the Library.

Entries are welcome from everyone, but overseas entries are not eligible for prizes.

Entries will not be returned unless accompanied with a stamped, self - addressed envelope.

Key points on writing haiku

Brevity is a key element in haiku. Around 12 syllables or less is ideal, but up to 17 syllables is okay. Can be read in one breath. Usually written in 3 lines. Uses simple language. No capital letters or punctuation. Usually a juxtaposition of 2 images, but single image is okay. Captures a 'moment in time'. Written in present tense. Has an 'aha' factor. 

Mayakovsky's 120th Birthday

Arts & entertainment

© RIA Novosti The Moscow News / Joy Neumeyer

Moscow marks 120th anniversary of poet Vladimir Mayakovsky

by Joy Neumeyer at 19/07/2013 16:50

Today Moscow is marking the 120^th anniversary of Futurist poet Vladimir Mayakovsky with poetry readings, walking tours and even Georgian polyphonic singing.

The festivities began at 11 a.m., when a small group of admirers laid flowers at Mayakovsky's grave in Novodevichy Cemetery, and continued by the statue of the poet on Mayakovskaya Ploshchad. A crowd of around two dozen people, divided evenly between over-70 stalwarts and excited teenagers, gathered to hear poet Yevgeny Rein read two of his own works dedicated to Mayakovsky, followed by the winners of a youth competition staged by the Mayakovsky Museum proclaiming some of the poet's most famous lines.

In an unusual interlude, dancers gyrated to techno music in costumes designed by Suprematist artist Kazimir Malevich for the Futurist opera "Victory over the Sun." A large black-and-yellow sculpture representing the letter "Ya," standing just to the right of the Mayakovsky monument, paid homage to Mayakovsky's poem of the same name.

Born in Georgia on July 19, 1893, Mayakovsky rose to become the voice of the Bolshevik revolution, as well as the co-creator of the progressive journal "LEF" and the author of numerous slogans for propaganda posters and ads. He shot himself in his Moscow apartment at the age of 36, a tragedy some claim was arranged by the state.

After a set of guided tours this afternoon around spots connected with the poet, the events will continue this evening at the Mayakovsky Museum at Lubyanskaya Ploshchad with live music and more readings. At 7:30 p.m., the Union of Georgians in Russia will perform dances and poetry in Georgian. The commemorations will conclude at 10:40 p.m. with a reading by actor Anatoly Bely of Mayakovsky's "I Love."

And could you?

I suddenly smeared the weekday map

splashing paint from a glass;

On a plate of aspic

I revealed

the ocean's slanted cheek.

On the scales of a tin fish

I read the summons of new lips.

And you

could you perform

a nocturne on a drainpipe flute?


1913

Click here to read Mayakovsky's 1913 poem "And could you?" in both English and Russian, as well as audio of a reading by the author.

from http://themoscownews.com/local/20130719/191779487/--Moscow-marks-120th-anniversary-of-poet-Vladimir-Mayakovsky.html

FOR SALE: BLAKE'S COTTAGE

If you’re in the market for a quaint cottage, William Blake’s home in Felpham, England, is now on offer for £650,000, or about $970,000. The house, where Blake lived for three years at the beginning of the 19th century, is set in a walled garden, according to realtor Jackson-Stops & Staff, and has four bedrooms and two bathrooms. From the photos, which are available on Jackson-Stops’s website, it looks like a real beauty. (Thanks to Observer art critic Maika Pollack for tipping us off to the news.)

Felpham’s government website proudly notes that Blake once declared the village “a dwelling place for immortals.” He also penned a fairly strong endorsement in another poem:

Away to sweet Felpham for heaven is there:
The Ladder of Angels descends through the air
On the turrett its spiral does softly descend
Through the village it winds, at my cot it does end.

However, he did not exactly enjoy a worry-free stay there. He disliked his patron at the time, the poet William Hayley, who had asked him to illustrate his poems, and at one point he became involved in an altercation with a soldier who accused him of cursing the king, though he was eventually acquitted. Hopefully you’ll have a better time there.

from HERE.

Let your Lyrics pay off!

WA POETS Inc. SONG LYRIC CONTEST CLOSING THIS SUNDAY.

$200 first Prize, subsequent prizes awarded at the judges discretion

For details see: http://www.wapoets.net.au/2013-poetry-festival/2013-song-lyric-contest/

Please feel free to spread this information through your networks.

Poet Myron Lysenko spreads the inspiration ...

• 
  Write way: Myron Lysenko reflects on his life as a poet. Picture: Paul Rovere

MYRON Lysenko is one of the few poets in Australia who has managed to make a good living from his art.

Lysenko, who has published six books, enjoys ‘creative writing’ and teaching others. The Woodend resident is convenor of Chamber Poets, and conducts a monthly poetry reading at the Chamber Art and Coffee House.

“I like to write a lot of different poetry, from formal to modern, and from serious to light-hearted and witty poetry.” 

Asked what makes good poetry, he says it’s easier to know what bad poetry is. “Good poetry depends on the reader or listener. It uses fresh language and in some way moves the reader, moves them into contemplation, to tears or laughter.”

As a child, Lysenko loved reading. “My parents used to argue a lot and to escape their anger I escaped into books. If you love books, you want to try and write one yourself. I thought if I can get one book published, I’ll have a happy life.

“I’ve been very lucky that I’ve made a living from poetry since 1989, not just from selling books but travelling, doing readings and conducting writing workshops in schools.”

The session, open to the public for a donation,  runs from 2-4pm and starts with entertainment from the Black Forest Smoke Band.The next monthly reading, the sixth of its kind, is at the Chamber Art and Coffee House, 90 High Street, Woodend, on Saturday. It will feature novelist and poet Grant Caldwell. Budding poets can read their own work to the audience. 

Details: Myron Lysenko, myronpoet@hotmail.com

article from http://www.macedonrangesweekly.com.au/story/1641663/poet-myron-lysenko-spreads-the-inspiration/?cs=12

Old Zen Meditation saying ...

Best Australian Writing - 2013 Submissions Now

Submissions

Black Inc. is pleased to announce that Kim Scott will edit The Best Australian Stories 2013, Robert Manne will edit The Best Australian Essays 2013 and Lisa Gorton will edit The Best Australian Poems 2013.

Submissions for the Best Australian Essays and Poems are now open.

The Best Australian Essays 2013

The deadline for submissions is 1 August 2013, but early submission would be appreciated. Please send one essay – recent work only, published or unpublished – to Robert Manne at the address below. Previously published work must have been published after 1 August 2012.

Robert Manne
c/- Black Inc.
37 – 39 Langridge St
Collingwood VIC 3066

The Best Australian Poems 2013

The deadline for submissions is 1 August 2013, but early submission would be appreciated. Please send up to three poems – recent work only, published or unpublished – to Lisa Gorton at the address below. Previously published work must have been published after 1 August 2012.

Lisa Gorton
c/- Black Inc.
37 – 39 Langridge St
Collingwood VIC 3066

Word count: There is no official minimum or maximum length, but please keep in mind that space constraints make very long pieces harder to accept. Please consult previous years’ collections to get a sense of the usual upper and lower limits.

Formatting: Please staple everything together, including cover letters and any other material. We prefer submissions that are double-spaced, single-sided and in Times New Roman. There is no official entry form. Please include your name and contact details, preferably an email address as well as a postal address, with your submission. If you have a literary agent, please include their full contact details.

Owing to the number of submissions we receive, submissions cannot be returned and the editors are unable to comment on individual submissions.

The editors’ selections will be announced on this website in October 2013.

Questions regarding submissions can be directed to submissions@blackincbooks.com(please note, submissions are NOT accepted via email, unless you are living overseas or travelling for an extended period.)

The Best Australian Stories 2013

To keep submissions at a manageable number, we are not accepting unsolicited stories this year. The editor will be considering stories from a wide range of print and online publications.