Hearing Helen Hagemann read from 'Evangelyne & other poems'

Today I took myself off to Lunchlines at Edith Cowan University (this semester in its new time slot of Monday 12.30 to 1.20pm) to hear my long time friend, poet and novelist, Helen Hagemann, read.

It was a pleasure walking into the stale old classroom in Building 17 to see some friendly faces I knew from when I taught there. I bought a copy of Evangelyne off Helen - a handsome hand-sized red book with stitched binding and fold-over cover (a style I really like myself).

Helen read from a new poetry collection in manuscript before reading from her second novel, a work in progress. The narrative sense and the imaginative similes kept the audience engrossed, both in the poetry and the prose. In fact, she shared with us her love of the prose poem, and illustrated this love with a haibun from her book, Ball Doyen(ne), pg 17. I notice there are a number of prose poems and haibun in Evangelyne, so I am looking forward to investigating that text.

Helen laughed at herself as she gave the audience (mainly present day students) 'motherly advice' about getting up at Lunchlines and reading to your first audience. Her confidence and style weren't there when she first stood up at ECU some years ago!

Evangelyne and Other Poems is published by the Australian Poetry Centre as part of the APC New Poets Program (supported by the Sidney Myer Fund), PO Box 284, BALACLAVA 3183. Visit their website at http://www.australianpoetrycentre.org.au

Evangelyne and other poems - by Helen Hagemann

Helen Hagemann’s writing is a triumphant celebration of the power of poetry to recapture the past and still the present. Whether she is remembering growing up on the Central Coast of NSW, memorializing family and neighbours or observing cormorants, she makes each moment vividly real. These poems have all the dazzle and sting of a summer day at the beach, with the Esky full of rolls and lettuce and the ‘cozzie’ a ‘rainbow’ to put on. Evangelyne & other poems is an exuberant, generous, thoroughly lived-in collection. Its relish for the everyday details of Australian life is a rare delight.

- Jean Kent

Helen Hagemann grew up on the Central Coast of NSW during the fifties & sixties, and lived in Sydney for a short time before settling in Perth.

Her poetry is widely published in literary magazines and anthologies. She has an MA in Writing, and teaches prose at the Fremantle Arts Centre.

The Australian Poetry Centre
invites you to the launch of
the APC New Poets Series 2009

little bit long time
by Ali Cobby Eckermann

Evangelyne & other poems
by Helen Hagemann

Awake During Anaesthetic
by Kimberley Mann

Canyon
by Andrew Slattery
Monday 18 May 2009
7.30pm–9.00pm

Hotel Gearin, 273 Great Western Highway
Katoomba NSW

To be launched by Ron Pretty
with readings by Mark Tredinnick and Romaine Moreton

Entry $5, or free to members of the Australian Poetry Centre

For more information go to: http://www.varuna.com.au