wa poetry festival |
Review of WA poetry festival 20072007 FESTIVAL REVIEWS & HIGHLIGHTSLucas North’s Co-Chair Festival Report With the addition soon thereafter of Helen Hagemann as Co-Chair, I knew the coming year’s event could balance the varied expectations of you, our audience. Working with precision and a monkish discipline, Helen and select others (both on and not-officially on our committee) learned that it was possible to bring a top line-up: we met Samuel Wagan Watson in February at the Words and Ideas Festival. I told him how I’d bonded with his street-level urban jazz, and he pledged to come west in October. But minutes later, Mark Reid told me he was migrating to NZ. I began to sense how this Festival might play with us. Helen thought she’d write to Dorothy Porter. When the verse-novelist agreed, it seemed too good to be true. We had to include Alvin Pang, the hovering post-future voice from Singapore. After months of maze-running and negotiations, we had gathered a unique collection of voices for the Festival. Then, at the end of the theoretical business, we had to actually stage the Festival. We had a dedicated band of guerrilla poets and an audience I knew was frothing. Frothing to see other poets. Frothing to engage rivalries, celebrate the greats and witness the new wave on this west coast. Then the magic part came. The audience came and, for the most part, we all pulled it off. The opening by our Patron Fay Zwicky will be long-remembered as a diamond afternoon, as was our audience with Dorothy Porter. Workshops and panel discussions had the poets exchanging ideas, ripping away wrapping to get at their gifts. There were surprises, too, like our good fortune to meet and host Cam Black trekking down an airport corridor all the way from Victoria, bringing his own bad self on his own good funds. We had local book launches that resembled after-parties, there were that many well-known poets and writers in attendance. We also had some dog-sitting-on-a-hot-rock moments. In fact, a couple of rock-solid-sink-your-yacht-with-your-dog-on-board moments. A few times during the week, a hand would leap out to yank me back from walking into disaster. More often than not it belonged to Zan or Julian Ross saving my dog from getting cooked. Guests, poets, committee and Co-Chair, I thank you. Lucas North -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- What a festival it was for 2007! From the initial launch to the last weekend at the Library, the Friday, Saturday & Sunday evenings at the Glasshouse, there were still enthusiastic poets ready to read, ready to listen to their peers, or to whoop it up when they enjoyed a poem or performance. The success of the festival shows in this enthusiastic support and it was especially gratifying to see the same faces attend many events - even on the same night! My thanks go to the dedication of the committee, the generous time they have given during the festival in making every event a success. The attendance figures in comparison to last year have been staggering. High numbers were shown at the launch (73+ people), during workshops, our nights at the Glasshouse (Sunday 21st - a full house), plus people watching the readings or viewing the Poetrees. My thanks go to Zan & Julian Ross for making the City of Perth Poetry Readings a delight for those who read, for the public who stayed or wandered through the Poetrees. It is also gratifying to receive letters from members, especially from Shane McCauley congratulating us on a great festival with such variety. He was especially grateful for his participation and to be paid while currently not working! My thanks go to Andrew Burke, a champion bloke, who has donated his fee (from 3 events) back to WA Poets Inc. Ashley J. Higgs has offered to give us an A+ when we write our acquittal. It is people like this that know and understand that we are all young players in the game of Poetry Festivals. Alan Boyd is now a poetry festival stalwart. Our gratitude and thanks go to him for WAPI’s website and his online promotional work of the festival. As well, he is a major player, bringing with him a younger crowd, different artists and voices with interesting, new and alternative ways of getting the word out. Although the National Poetry Slam occurred during the same Friday night as the magazine launch, it added to our city celebrations and atmosphere rather than hindering. Our venues: The State Library of WA & The Glasshouse The Glasshouse was a necessary change of venue for our evening programs. A BIG THANK YOU!!! to all our volunteers. You made the festival the success it was, and you made it so much easier for our hard-working team. You contributed, delivered your task, looked cheery in festival t-shirts, all smiling, working, enjoying the festival’s events. Well done Coral Carter, Janet Jackson, Liana Christensen, Jo Clarke, Flora Smith, Gabby Everall, Chris Konrad, Jessica Surendorff, Jen de Ness, Jan Napier, alan boyd & the team. To all of you, plus committee volunteers, thank you from the bottom of my heart. I am also very grateful for all the positive reviews, thank you one and all. As Liana Christensen writes. ‘The festival pleased most of the people most of the time, and that is a mega-achievement.’ Helen Hagemann MEMBERS’ COLLECTION OF REVIEWS of 2007 WA SPRING POETRY FESTIVAL Dear friends and colleagues Thanks to Ms. Colleen Harris at Subiaco Library, for the best gig I've been to for a while. Thank you to the organisers of The Word Is Out festival, for all the goodies, feedback, kindnesses, hugs and kisses! Deepest dark blood thanks, Official Launch of the Spring Poetry Festival The Festival Launch proved to be a juicy, soulful and creative treat for all festival-goers. What was really fantastic about it was the way in which the programme began with the "Welcome to the Country" acknowledgement by local musician and elders. Murray Jennings not only treated us to his best ABC voice as MC, but his prize-winning poem had me mopping up an escaping tear or two. There was a fine celebration of the wonderful poetry of the Festival Patron Faye Zwicky, through both the reading of a broad selection of her poems and an entertaining speech by Andrew Burke. Maureen Sexton shared her experience of getting the first spring poetry festival up and running, and read a compelling poem about her childhood in Perth. Andrew Burke's poetry from his time in China gave us a colourful taste of his life there. All enjoyed the yummy food, drink and chatter. I then had the pleasure of seeing the State Poetry Slam winning poem for the first time, performed by Viv Glance in the Pages Cafe. After a delightful afternoon at the Festival Launch we made our way to the Poeantics at the Glasshouse to enjoy a feast of poetry from the invited guests; Alvin Pang, Barbara Temperton, Sarah French, Zan Ross and Lily Chan. This proved to be an interesting cross section of styles, wordplay and performance for the audience followed by an original mix of music by Miteyko. Kevin Gillam weaved his wonderful spell of melodic finger play and improvised chords, which embellished the guitar and drum sounds and the character play of Alan Boyd the poetic antipoet. Jen de Ness Dear Lucas & Helen "I came away from the three events that I attended feeling very much a part of a wonderful community of passionate and committed people." Some feedback for you on the festival – (an extract) Pages Café is a lovely venue and obviously well patronised for the Likewise, Josephine did a great job chairing the Gala Opening Night at the Glass House. I hope you enjoyed the festival. Congratulations to you, your Best wishes, Some highlights of the WA Spring Poetry Festival, October 2007 A substantial crowd attended the festival opening in the State Library Theatre. Festival patron Fay Zwicky spoke entertainingly, well-known local poets read, and we were welcomed with music and words by local Nyoongar people. A very articulate older Nyoongar woman explained the need for active women and men both in the past and today. From the opening and multicultural nights at the Glasshouse, the poems I remember best were Singapore poet Alvin Pang's modern-oriental calm-busy word-paintings. The Afternoon with Dorothy Porter was well worth paying for. Her talk, readings and answers to our questions were utterly inspiring, and the book sales table was crowded afterwards. The Poets Radical Night organised by Ray Grenfell was a lot of fun with some serious poems, some not so serious, and some people with guitars. Most of the scruffy sofas and motley chairs in the back section of The Moon cafe were occupied. For performers and readers it's great to have a full house. Acoustically it's not a wonderful space but it has a great vibe for poetry. And it serves Guinness. Four stars. The PoetTrees display in Murray Street Mall gave the public an opportunity to consume some poetry along with their designer clothes and lunches. Zan Ross did a stalwart job of MCing the readings and those poets brave enough to get onstage had a chance to show off. Some poets were able to invite friends and family who work in the city and don't come to evening readings. The Bush Poets and Yarnspinners brought their own headset mike and could teach a few of the, er, postmodern poets a thing or two about performance. The free bottled water was a bonus for thirsty poets. I arrived on Tuesday night to MC the emerging poets night to find the Glasshouse packed out for Gabrielle Everall's book launch, which was just finishing. Her verse novel 'Dona Juanita and the Love of Boys', funded by ArtsWA's A Few New Words programme, was launched by John Kinsella. It was great to see so many people turning out for a poetry event, and many stayed to hear the emerging poets. Six guests and ten or fifteen open mikers made for an entertaining emerging poets night. Open mike included authentic hip-hop from Washington DC performed by 'Early' and his beatboxing colleague (brought to us by the US Navy, I think). Zan Ross's workshop 'Beyond the Narrative' was packed with poets and everyone went away with pages full of words and ideas. Poets Corner on the second Saturday was another full house. Host Frances Macaulay Forde's programme of guest readers was expanded to include the re-launch by Fay Zwicky of Nandi Chinna's and Sarah French's books. Other highlights included Ashley J Higgs (Melbourne) and Samuel Wagan Watson (Queensland). Whenever allan boyd is MCing we have a good time. OpenFace (second Saturday night) and the closing party (Sunday night) were no exception with lots of exciting poetry and music finishing with noise, smoke, lights and words from mirrorball threat poet Tomas Forde. Janet Jackson Spring Poetry Festival Review The fledgling Spring Poetry Festival, just three years old, took flight this This lead to some interesting creative mingling that may not happen in other It's also a tribute to the excellent range of workshops on offer - from The panel presentations - and Dorothy Porter's Sunday session - gave It is, of course, always possible to make changes for the better. In that Would it be possible to get around the 'double booking' hassle by I also think it would be good to have brief, clear and specific guidelines Finally, these points are offered in the spirit of making the excellent even Liana Christensen Review of the 2007 WA Spring Poetry Festival The 2007 WA Spring Poetry Festival took the poem off the page and exposed it as a hardy, portable art form shared by poets – local and international - whose voices, in every sense, moved freely between diverse venues and audiences. From the State Library Theatre to a tree-fringed dais in the Murray St. Mall (at noon, amidst Perth’s weekday shoppers!) and the unpredictable acoustics of The Glasshouse in Northbridge-by-night. Momentum mounted as the week unfolded and by Friday, determined to miss nothing, I made it to three events in the one evening: Subiaco Library for beautiful readings from Samuel Wagan Watson, Ashley J Higgs, Deanne Leber and Lucy Dougan, then over to the raucous Poetry Slam National Finals at PICA’s bar, crowded by enthusiasts who almost raised the roof when popular Vivienne Glance won, finally arriving at the Glasshouse for the last hour of the Word is Out Magazine launch where haunting poetry from Afeif Abdelrazig put a quite different perspective on Forrest Place from the one we saw during the daytime Festival recitals. Even so, at times I missed many fine sessions, including workshops and panels, once or twice because their scheduling coincided with other events. Frustrated, now, that colleagues’ conversations are peppered by references to what I missed, I’m determined to plan next year’s attendance with Swiss precision. And to encourage friends who are poetry teachers to come, with their students, to experience the inclusivity and effervescence shared across all stages and ages. The 2007 WA Spring Poetry Festival featured many voices, including bush and migrant poetry, indigenous and refugee poets, the verse novel and the poetry slam, emerging and internationally established poets, recital and performance, ’cello, bands, rap and theatre. This was a broad church with a generosity of embrace ~ matched by a generosity of shared experience from the moment it was launched, with Patron Fay Zwicky reminiscing and reading, followed by Sunday afternoon with the riveting Dorothy Porter (and the intervening Gala Opening night, according to friends whose stamina outdid mine, was just as high on energy and content). Festivals foster an atmosphere of intimacy and I valued the anecdotes woven by poets through their readings, as they placed each piece in context and generously shared their ‘creation’ stories. Generous, also, was the wholehearted participation (sometimes not matched by attendance numbers) of those running workshops and panel discussions, and the vision and realisation of the Festival by its tireless committee, WA Poets Inc., and Sponsors. Amazing that the Poetrees, in their heavy pots, with over 400 individually decorated poems tied to their branches, were brought to Forrest Place each day – Lucas North and Zan Ross were tireless. Invariably, Helen Hagemann was still there at the end of every night, smiling whatever that day’s challenges had been. Session MCs generously allocated time not only to featured poets but to many open mike readers – framing the local poetry scene as not only having sound roots but as a “work in progress”. I found it provocative, inspiring and entertaining to be exposed to so many intense, vital styles of poetry and to put faces and personalities to verses previously read. Alvin Pang, Samuel Wagan Watson, Ashley J. Higgs – it’s impossible to name everyone who made an impression. It was a treat to indulge a love of poetry in great company, delightful to hear poets who are my local ‘favourites and friends’ reading to full, appreciative audiences (you know who you are!). The Festival featured many of WA’s well-respected poets but also let us collectively witness key moments of emergence, such as the launch of Gabby Everall’s verse novel, Dona Jaunita & The Love of Boys. As with any feast, there was more than I could digest (or name here). As it progressed, the Festival became less and less about sampling a menu. Its sustained focus and a broad ensemble of invited poets offered the nourishment of community, gave voice and visibility to those contributing to the rising energy of poetry here and now, and by its conclusion had added up to far more than the sum of its parts. It’s been said a poet must be willing to be ‘found, and found out’ by the world. Participants in the 2007 WA Spring Poetry Festival did just that. Annmaria Weldon
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