taking poems to newcastle

I've just been in Newcastle to read as part of Poets Paint Words. Thirteen Australian poets were commissioned to write a poem inspired by an Australian painting in the Newcastle Region Art Gallery collection.

The poets include Robert Adamson, Judith Beveridge, Luke Davies, Kate Fagan, Keri Glastonbury, Martin Harrison, Jill Jones, John Kinsella, Peter Minter, Les Murray, Dorothy Porter, Jaya Savige and John Tranter. The exhibition was curated by Peter Minter and Lisa Slade, in conjunction with Sydney Writers’ Festival.

You can read an article in The Australian about this or go to the Newcastle Region Gallery's site to read some of the poems.

The weather was good and a lot of people came and listened at the various sessions. I lingered for most of the weekend, though my gig was over by Friday night. I caught some kind of flu bug but luckily it didn't strike till Saturday. As someone said, it was a 'boutique poets' event'. And a cool idea.

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