November -- JJ doing poetry in Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney

It's a busy November for me, as it turns out. As well as marking and administrivia stress outs, I'm dancing poetry around Australia, even in the current home town.

First up, because it's confirmed, and it's, urrm, first up, I'll be reading in Adelaide at the first Lee Marvin reading for November alongside David Mortimer, Heather Taylor Johnson and the maestro, Ken Bolton himself. So, that's Tuesday 3rd, November at Dark Horsey, the usual 7.30pm for 8pm.

The full Lee Marvin November program, a pretty tasty one for the beginning of the summer season, is as follows:

 November 3rd 
Jill Jones  •  Heather Taylor Johnson  •  Ken Bolton  •  David Mortimer

 November 10th 
Cath Kenneally  •  Naomi Horridge  •  Gretta Mitchell  •  Shannon Burns

 November 17th 
Jelena Dinic   •  Mike Ladd  •  Alison Flett  •  Peter Goldsworthy

 November 24th 
Francesca da Rimini  •  Steve Brock  • Rachael Mead  •  Ken Bolton
Then, I'll be in Melbourne for the launch of my new book, Breaking the Days, from Whitmore Press. The venue and time is still to be confirmed, but it will take place on Saturday 21st November, afternoon or evening. Alison Croggon will do the launch honours. My thanks again to Alison and to Anthony Lynch and the Whitmore Press crew.
And then, I will be in Sydney for the November Rhizomic reading at Mr Falcon's on Glebe Point Road. That's Wednesday 25th November. Further details when they are available.
Maybe I'll get to other parts of Australia, if they'll have me, in future years.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular Posts

vale Jackson Mac Low 1922-2004

Belatedly, wanting to acknowledge the passing of Jackson Mac Low last week. There's an obituary at The New York Times and here's more info on Mac Low . The poem below is from his series of Light Poems. 1ST LIGHT POEM: FOR IRIS -- 10 JUNE 1962 The light of a student-lamp sapphire light shimmer the light of a smoking-lamp Light from the Magellanic Clouds the light of a Nernst lamp the light of a naphtha-lamp light from meteorites Evanescent light ether the light of an electric lamp extra light Citrine light kineographic light the light of a Kitson lamp kindly light Ice light irradiation ignition altar light The light of a spotlight a sunbeam sunrise solar light Mustard-oil light ...
Read more

the smell of rain

I went out for a brief walk this afternoon. It was raining, but not so hard you needed an umbrella (I hate umbrellas anyway). And so very strong, the smell of rain. I remember once reading out a poem of mine and having someone come up after the reading and note that I'd used the phrase 'the smell of rain'. I couldn't tell if he liked it or was simply taking the mickey (the latter, I suspect, as he was a very 'cool' poet and I am, manifestly, not). I wondered about the smell. To me it's always been obvious. But today I decided to go and find, and here , via the ABC and CSIRO, is some hard data. The common rain smell comes from a gas called petrichor. Apparently, volatiles evaporate from plants and are absorbed by rocks, concrete etc. When the rain hits the rock, the volatiles are released into the atmosphere. That's why I can particularly smell it wandering along concrete paths and past sandstone walls. If it's good enough for CSIRO, it's good eno...
Read more

connecting poetry and TED

As well as taking part in events at the Sydney Writers Festival next week, I'll also be doing a quite different gig in Sydney on Saturday 22 May, at the Carriageworks. I will be part of some readings organised by The Red Room , at an event called TEDx, which is taking place in Sydney at CarriageWorks on Saturday 22 May 2010 and featuring, as the website claims, a selection of Australia's leading visionaries and storytellers showcasing their Ideas Worth Spreading LIVE to a group of thinkers ... as well as ONLINE to the world at large"." It's part of something called TED which is described as "a small nonprofit devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading. It started out (in 1984) as a conference bringing together people from three worlds: Technology, Entertainment, Design" . As for the poetry part it will include Johanna Featherstone from the Red Room making a presentation about the role of poetry in Australian society. To complement Johanna's talk will be rea...
Read more