Poetry London LAUNCH READING

The Summer 2014 issue of Poetry London will launch with an event featuring readings from Niall Campbell and US poets D Nurkse, Matthea Harvey & Angie Estes.

Doors open at 5.30pm for a 6.00pm start, and entrance is free. 

Tickets are available from the Southbank Centre website. They are limited, so book quickly to secure your place! If you can't make the launch,  Poetry London Summer 2014 will be available to buy from our website after the 22nd May atwww.poetrylondon.co.uk/buy.

The price of this single issue is £8 for delivery within Britain. Alternatively, save over 10% by taking out a one-year subscription. A year's subscription costs £20 for three issues. 

 The event will be held at the Level 5 Function Room, Royal Festival Hall, Southbank Centre, London SE1 8XX. Free wine. Disabled Access. 

Dickinson news - by Max Richards, Melbourne poet

The Emily Dickinson Archive recently developed at Harvard will make available digitized copies of the manuscripts of all Dickinson’s poems. 

The manuscripts are essential for interpreting the work, because they contain many peculiarities—punctuation, spacing, capitalization—that inflect the meaning of the poems, of which only a few, badly mangled, were published during Dickinson’s lifetime. 

Nearly every high school student comes across a poem by Dickinson at one time or other. Now teachers can assign a particular poem in its manuscript and printed versions (they often differ considerably) and stimulate their students to develop closer, deeper readings.

http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2014/may/22/world-digital-library-coming-true/

Last weeks! Shoalhaven Literary Award – Poetry 2014

This year the award is for poetry and the judge is highly respected writer and poet, Les Wicks.

His 11th book of poetry is Sea of Heartbreak (Unexpected Resilience) published by Puncher & Wattmann in 2013.

The prizes on offer are:
1st: $1000 together with a two-week artist residency at Arthur Boyd’s Bundanon on the Shoalhaven River.
2nd: $300
3rd: $100
Plus $200 Encouragement Award for winning entry from a Shoalhaven resident.

The competition closes on Friday 30 May 2014 and winners will be notified after Saturday 20 September 2014

Download an entry form from the FAW Shoalhaven website, www.fawnswshoalhaven.org.au. 

Results, judge’s report and other information will be published on the same site from 20 September 2014

More information?
For further information contact: hollyhill@shoalhaven.net.au

Two Upcoming Sydney Poetry Events

In the busy weeks of May

you are invited to attend two events:

On Wednesday 21st May :

A reading with
Fiona Hile  :  Kate Lilley
Louis Armand  :  Pam Brown

Fiona Hile is visiting from Melbourne

Louis Armand is visiting from Prague

5 for 5.30pm

The Common Room

Upstairs in the Woolley Building

English Department, Science Rd,

University of Sydney

Everyone welcome

Refreshments provided

Books for sale for cash

___________________________________________

On Saturday 24th May:

Vagabond Press presents the launch

of Louis Armand's new collection of poems

"Indirect Objects"

Launch talk by Pam Brown

3pm

Sydney Dance Lounge

Pier 4 / 5, Hickson Rd,

Walsh Bay, Sydney Writers Festival

Everyone welcome

for information on poets, directions to events and further details please visit this link : http://thedeletions.blogspot.com.au/2014/05/a-poetry-reading-fiona-hile-kate-lilley_10.html

Graham Nash WILD Tales review from The Irish Times

from a Review of Graham Nash's WILD TALES -

But when he arrives in dappled, drug-soaked California the book slots into fifth gear. Insider details about the primary characters of Stills, Crosby and, particularly, Neil Young make this essential reading, not just for CSNY fans but also for anyone with an interest in the Laurel Canyon songwriter scene of the 1960s.

Crosby receives much consideration, coming across like a spoilt if likeable figure with an apparently insatiable desire for sex and drugs (preferably at the same time), yet who is, underneath all the bravado, a lonely man nursing deep psychological wounds. Nash characterises Stills as an intensely insecure, incredibly competitive person whose intake of cocaine was mind-boggling (and who, quite viciously, responded to Nash not being able to hit the notes on a song he was working on by slicing the master tapes). The villain of the piece, however, is Young, whom Nash likens to a live grenade being lobbed into a vacuum. “Neil was a guy,” he writes, “with immense talent who was utterly self-centred. Bands for him were merely stepping- stones, way stations to a personal goal.”

Nash’s story continues thus: the break-up with Mitchell and the formation of the money-loving hippy supergroup that laid the foundations for the kind of singer-songwriter who would lay bare their soul – as well as the perilous state of the nation – for the benefit of the listener.

Nash is a solid storyteller, even-handed throughout. From his expansive home in Hawaii – a long way from the coal-gathering days of Salford – he remains something of a hippy at heart and, even at this point in his life, is still ever so slightly wary of Neil Young.

Wild tales, wise man.

Continue reading at The Irish Times

from Writer's Relief: 5 Poetry Forms to keep you entertained

By Writer's Relief Staff:

April is National Poetry Month, a time when poets and would-be bards alike turn their attention to verses both free and formal. If you’re going to write poetry, why not try giving your work a unique twist, something that editors of literary magazines don’t already have piling up on their desks? Here are five unexpected poetry forms to inspire your muse and make your poetry stand out.

Acrostic Poetry: The first letter of each line of the poem spells out a word or message when read from top to bottom. This form of poetry was common in medieval writing, when acrostic poems would spell out the name of the author or the author’s patron. Edgar Allan Poe used this poetic device for his poem, simply titled, “An Acrostic,” which spelled out the name “Elizabeth” with the first letter of each line. Feeling up for a challenge? Try writing a Double Acrostic poem, where the first and last letter of each line spells out a word from top to bottom.

Macronic Poetry: Words in two or more languages are interspersed throughout the poem. This technique is often used to create puns, or for comedic effect. Macronic poetry is more common in bilingual cultures such as Ireland or Scotland, and was especially popular during the nineteenth century.

Concrete Poetry: Also known as “visual poetry,” the typography of the poem is arranged as a visual element, or shape, that is as important as the words in telling the story. Concrete poetry can present particular complications in formatting: You have to make sure that the poem holds its desired shape when an editor opens it. And don’t sacrifice words that are important to the poem’s message just to make it fit a certain silhouette, or you may end up with something that’s overly trite. Some editors will find concrete poetry different and refreshing; others will feel that it’s childish—so choose the journals you submit to carefully.

Palindrome Poetry: A palindrome is a word, phrase, or verse that reads the same forward or backward. “Madam” is an example of a word palindrome; “Writing is life, life is writing” is a palindrome phrase. For poetry, the first half of the poem from top to bottom would be mirrored by the second half from bottom to top. Both halves usually meet in the center at a word or phrase that fits both halves.

Cinquain Poetry: Inspired by Japanese haiku, a cinquain is a short poem of only five lines. The entire poem consists of twenty-two syllables in this pattern: two, four, six, eight, two. One popular variation is for the five lines to follow this outline: noun, description of the noun, action, emotion, synonym of first noun.

Whether you choose to write in the more traditional poetic forms or decide to shake things up by writing in these under-used styles, the important thing is that, in this most creative of months—you’re writing!

For more from Writer's Relief, click here!

Kimberley Haiku Competition

DOG - Nat Johnson (official video)

Reassessing Language Poetry: Thirty Years After The L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E Book

Call for Papers: PAMLA 2014 (Riverside, CA / Oct. 31-Nov. 2)

First published in February of 1984, The L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E Book collected essays,
excerpts, and experiments from the first three years (1978-81) of the
L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E literary magazine. At the time, the book represented a manifesto
of sorts for Language poetry; as editors Bruce Andrews and Charles Bernstein
explained, the collection was in large part animated by “our sense that the
project of poetry does not involve turning language into a commodity for
consumption; instead, it involves repossessing the sign through close attention
to, and active participation in, its production.” Thirty years later, Language
poetry has become one of (if not the) dominant influences on vanguard poetics in
America, and The L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E Book has itself become a kind of “alpha
point” for studies of poets ranging from Lyn Hejinian and Steve McCaffery to
Ron Silliman and Rae Armantrout.

This panel seeks papers that (re)consider the evolution of Language poetry in
the thirty years since The L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E Book was initially published. We
welcome proposals that address any aspect of this evolution, including:

        Specific Language poets or texts
        Relationships between various poets and/or texts
        General themes and motifs in Language poetry
        Issues related to Language poetics
        The political/social dimension of Language writing

This list is by no means exhaustive. Language poetry has had a wide influence on
contemporary poetics over the past three decades, and this session seeks to
honor that influence by bringing together a host of approaches to this diverse
body of writing. Proposals on any topics related to Language poetry and poetics
are equally welcome.

Submission Deadline: May 15

Please submit your proposal via the PAMLA website: http://www.pamla.org/2014

If you have any questions about this session, please contact Tom Jesse at
t.jesse@tcu.edu

The Fig - Ken Russel's Women in Love (1969)

Alan Bates reading DH Lawrence's 'Fig' poem as included in Ken Russell's film of 'Women in Love' ...

What's happening at La Mama Theatre

THE PARRICIDE  >>> showing at La Mama Theatre until May 25th <<< St Petersburg, Russia. 1866. Nihilist revolutionaries have taken to the streets and the rule of the Tsar is under threat. In a small flat, Fyodor Dostoyevsky grafts out a novel for an unscrupulous publisher. It’s not the novel he wants to write, but he is under contract, so he works. But all the time he is haunted by a story from his past – that of a parricide, a young man who kills his father. And as the characters in his imagination take shape around him, he finds himself forced to choose between rebellion and repression, authority and chaos, passion and love. RE Ross Trust Award Winner Shortlisted, Rodney Seaborn Playwrights’ Award Written by Diane Stubbings Directed by Karen Berger Dramaturgy by Dave Letch Performed by Lyall Brooks, Nick Simpson-Deeks, Daniel Last, Olivia Monticciolo and Zoe Ellerton-Ashley Set and costume design by Christine Urquhart Produced by Alicia Benn-Lawler Selected for VCAA 2014 Drama Playlist GIVEAWAY: To win a double pass to the show on Friday 9th May (7.30pm) name another RE ROSS Trust winner. Send your answer along with your name and contact number to bek@lamama.com.au by 3pm tomorrow.  More info, including performance times HERE PATIENT 12 >>> MUST close this Sunday 11th May <<< image by Bronwyn Pringle " *** - Patient 12 is a wonderful new Australian piece in which a strong message about patriotism and remembrance will find a home in all of us" - Liam J. O'Byrne, Theatre People  Kevin Summers’ intriguing new play follows the lives of four young men who were there and the people who loved them. More info, including performance times HERE Production supported by Our mailing address is: La Mama 205 Faraday Street, Carlton, Victoria, Australia Carlton, VIC 3053 Australia Add us to your address book

The Poetry of John Tranter - Monash University, Monday 12th May, 2014

Please join us for a reading and discussion by this internationally renowned Australian poet

Monday 12th May 2014

2pm-4pm
Room E561, Menzies Building
Monash University Clayton Campus
All welcome

John Tranter has published over twenty books of poetry and a book of experimental fiction, Different Hands. His latest major works are Starlight: 150 Poems (University of Queensland Press, 2010), which won the 2011 Age Poetry Book of the Year and the 2011 Queensland Premier’s Award, and Urban Myths: 210 Poems: New and Selected (University of Queensland Press, 2006), which won the Victorian Premier’s Prize for poetry in 2006, the New South Wales Premier’s Prize for poetry in 2007, the South Australian award for poetry in 2008 and the 2008 South Australia Premier’s Prize for the best book overall published in 2006 and 2007. He has compiled four anthologies of other writers’ work totalling over 1,500 pages, including co-editing the Penguin Book of Modern Australian Poetry (1991). He has made more than twenty reading and lecture tours to the USA, the UK and Europe.

John Tranter worked as a publisher’s senior education editor in Singapore, and as a radio drama and features producer, directing over forty radio plays and features for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation as well as managing a weekly two-hour national radio arts feature for some years. In 1997 he founded the free Internet literary magazine Jacket (http://jacketmagazine.com/), and in 2004 he founded the Australian Poetry Resources Internet Library (APRIL), the recipient (in 2006) of a half-million-dollar Australian Research Council Linkage Grant to the Department of English at the University of Sydney.

John Tranter is an honorary fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities, and has been awarded many grants and fellowships by the Literature Board of the Australia Council.

For enquires, contact John Hawke (John.Hawke@monash.edu)

eccolinguistics - call for submissions

eccolinguistics, printed paper stapled together exhibiting the finest production values, a little rag distributed to a list of subscribers and otherwise, tangible enough to hold in your hand, is at present looking for work

it appreciates being offended, it wants to not know (which is unfortunate), it loves deviance, and the less cultured the better, where more is always less 

interested in publishing all kinds of things, including visuals, fiction, developed theories, please, make it literary, if you must, we love nonfiction, poetry is the aquifer

no little row of tombstones, eclectic, credited work will be distributed or equitably juxtapositioned according to chance operations, producing fluid petrified patterns, common page, bedbugs

social to capital, unknown to celebrity, snake to hawk, worm to flower, wreckage to heritage, each issue is a never-before-seen ecosystem bursting with aesthetic priorities, contributors are its life    

our guiding voice says

ad nauseam, fuck me

the place

sucks

(but not really)(contributors are its life)

(Whitman)

the image above

solicits the meteor’s

intelligence

for new amino acids 

terra firma covered

Australia, Belgium, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Philippines, Uganda, UK, US

terra firma sought

Unknown

which is to say, we work to get your work read, subscriptions are free, no questions asked as
hard copy only, send work and

or address

to

eccolinguistics // hotmail // com

or

269 North Transit Street

Lockport, NY  14094

eccolinguistics is an aspect of

delete press

http://eccolinguistics.blogspot.com.au/?view=magazine

from Margaret River Press

LATEST RELEASE Twenty four stories selected from entries to the annual Margaret River Short Story Competition make up this year's collection- The Trouble With Flying and other stories.  Apart from numerous new writers, the competition has developed a following of accomplished short story writers, many of whom have won local, national and international awards and have been published in highly regarded collections such as The Best Australian Storiesand in respected journals such as Island, Overland and Australian Book Review. Self-described ‘fledgling’ writer from Sydney, Ruth Wyer, is the winner of this year’s competition for her story, 'The Trouble with Flying'.  The second prize story, 'Dying', is by accomplished Western Australia short story writer, Bindy Pritchard. The South West Prize for the best story from a South West resident is awarded to Rachelle Rechichi for her story 'My House.' BUY YOUR COPY

And Other News We are delighted that Christine Piper who won the second prize in the 2012 Margaret River Short Story Competition has received The Australian/Vogel's Literary Award 2015.  The Award is Australia's richest and most prestigious award for an unpublished manuscript by a writer under the age of thirty-five.  After Darkness tells the story of a Japanese doctor arrested in Australia and sent to an internment camp in South Australia during the war.  Find out more.  Christine's story 'Stranded' appears in our collection, Things that are found in Trees & other stories.

The Newcastle 2014 Poetry Prize - Enter now!

The Newcastle Poetry Prize is one of Australia's oldest & most distinguished literary prizes  ~ celebrating 33 years in 2014 ~ $20,000 prize pool awarded by the University of Newcastle ~ Entries close 5pm EST, Friday 20th June, 2014 Write A poem, or suite of poems, up to 200 lines Win First prize: $12 000 Second prize: $5 000 Third prize: $1 000 Local Award: $500 Harri Jones Memorial Prize (for a poet <35 font="" years=""> Hunter Writers Centre members' award: $200 (members who have been shortlisted or awarded in the past are excluded from the HWC members' award) Enter Here The shortlist of poems will be published in the annual anthology Closing Date: 5pm EST, Friday 20th June 2014 Multiple entries accepted. $33 per entry. Entries are judged anonymously.

Protect Solar! from Solar Citizens ...

As you have probably heard, the Renewable Energy Target - the program that has helped you and 2 million other Australian families go solar - is under review. But, the lesser known fact is that this is the second review of the Target in as many years.

The last review was completed just 18 months ago. It was conducted by an expert team lead by former head of the Reserve Bank, Bernie Fraser.

And it showed that the target is doing what was it was designed to do - help Australians reap the benefits of generating energy from clean safe sources at a very affordable price.

This new review is designed to hurt solar, but you can help.

Will you help us send a clear message to the panel and government by submitting Bernie Fraser's authoritative report to the new Review Panel?

With this new review launched so close to the completion of the last one, it’s hard to conclude that it is anything other than a stitch-up designed to cut support for solar energy and help the big power companies.

If the government truly wanted to support Australian families to take back control of their power bills, it would have accepted the findings of the first report and got on with helping Australian families install solar.

That’s why Solar Citizens is launching a cheeky activity today. We want to flood the review panel with copies of the LAST review findings to make our point clear: this review is not necessary; it’s a waste of taxpayer money, and we want the government to get on with helping more Australian families go solar.

If thousands of ordinary solar supporters flood the submission panel, it creates a great story for media and makes clear to the government that the community rejects the wasteful, unnecessary repeat review into solar.

Will you help make a submission today?

Thanks,
Lindsay, Sarah, Taegen, Nick, Claire and the rest of the Solar Citizens team

-=-=-

Solar Citizens is working to protect the rights of million of Australian solar owners to cut bills, create cleaner power and take energy generation back into our own hands. You can also keep up with Solar Citizens onTwitter or like us on Facebook.

Kurt Vonnegut's reply to High School student's letter

In 2006 an Xavier High School English teacher named Ms. Lockwood gave her students an assignment: write a letter to a famous author. The instructions were to discuss the author’s work and ask for advice. Only one author responded – Kurt Vonnegut — (1922 – 2007). Here is what he said.

Dennis Lillee parts ways with Cricket Australia

Dennis Lillee has parted ways with Cricket Australia after turning down an offer to renew his contract as a coaching consultant with the fast bowlers.

The Age has reported that Lillee demanded more money for his services as a consultant, and Cricket Australia was not willing to meet his request.

"Unfortunately Dennis Lillee didn't accept Cricket Australia's offer to renew his contract," a Cricket Australia spokesman said. "He is a great of the game and the door will always be open to him if he wants to return and be involved in any way. We've made a point in recent times of being open to bringing in coaching consultants when required."

Lillee has been widely credited with helping to reignite the career of Mitchell Johnson, while he has also worked with bowlers such as Pat Cummins and James Faulkner.

Cricket Australia said in January last year that Lillee had been made a pace-bowling advisor, but his preferred terms for a renewed contract were not met this year.

Cricket Australia this week confirmed a contract extension for bowling coach Craig McDermott, whose role was also expanded to include the shorter formats as well as Tests, while Ali de Winter will work alongside McDermott, largely at the National Cricket Centre.

VELVET TONGUE: SPRING 2014

Spring has sprung and testosterone is rising. Velvet Tongue is back on the 26th of May 

at Bar Kick.

On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/221170344739819/?fref=ts

Hosted by Ernesto Sarezale, this spring's Velvet Tongue features the following poets

and writers (in alphabetical order):

TOM BLAND, PAUL EBBS, GIDEON K, GREG MITCHELL

(and other surprises TBC)

Plus the usual OPEN MIC slots! 

NOTE: The pre-booked open-mic quota for May's Velvet Tongue has been met,

which means that anyone requesting a spot after 19:00 BST on 4th of April 2014 

will go onto a "waiting list". There are usually drop-outs on the night, so most of

 those on the waiting list will probably have the chance to read/perform anyway 

(and will get in for free).

Doors open at 7pm; show starts at 7.30pm. £5/£3, free to participants. 

At Bar Kick, 127 Shoreditch High Street, London, E1 6JE. 

(Old St/Liverpool St tubes, Shoreditch High Street overground)

Velvet Tongue celebrates the hot, the sweet, the viscous, the carnal, the sexy,

the racy, the provocative, the lustful, the voluptuous, the libidinous, the playful, 

the flirtatious, the teasing,the suggestive, the explicit, the romantic, the cheeky, 

the bold, the brash, the brassy, the flashy, the risque, the pervy, the licentious, 

the queer, the depraved and the downright kinky. 

And flesh exposure is always encouraged on and off the stage... 

As bare as you dare. 

What people are saying about Velvet Tongue: 
http://velvettongueuk.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/reviewspreviews-and-reports.html