www.traversepoetry.org

Sorry again about the long delay between updates. We had a massive slam last month, featuring great sets from guest poets Rhys Rodgers and Tobias Manderson-Galvin – in fact I think it might have been the largest turnout since we started running slams at The Front. On that note, this month’s slam will celebrate our third birthday!

Traverse Birthday Poetry Slam
Featuring Little Sister
26 June 2009 7:30-11:30pm
The Front Café and Gallery
Wattle St, Lyneham

Look out for some more info about this special slam shortly.

Meanwhile, I’ve been very busy organising a free workshop for people under 30, that will explore the techniques and skills that professional performance poets use and how you can use them to improve your own practice. The tutor is Daniel Ferri (yes the very same Daniel Ferri that appears in the film SlamNation!). I worked with Daniel on a similar workshop last year which was extremely well received by all participants.

Performance poetry workshop with Daniel Ferri and David Finnigan
Free for people under 30 – only limited places: book now!
Contact ACT Writers Centre to book: (02) 6262 9191
2 August 2009 10.00am-3.00pm
C Block Theatre @ Gorman House Arts Centre
Ainslie Avenue, Braddon

This workshop will be suitable for all levels of experience so hurry up and book – it’s already half full and it’s less than three weeks away!

Oh, one other thing, Tom posted a review of what looks like an excellent exhibition of paintings by Joabie Lovett over at the Belconnen Community Centre: Symbols of the Dreaming from the Chaos Void. It finishes this Friday so get there quick!

It’s almost poetry slam time again – Friday 26 June at The Front, as usual.

This month I’m very excited to present not one, but two special guest poets.

First up we have young Queensland poet Rhys Rodgers, who has just started on a mini self-funded tour around Australia. This is from his bio:

Rhys Rodgers is a new and exciting performance poet from Brisbane. He won the Love Poetry Hate Racism open mic in 2008, was a finalist at both Nimbin performance poetry world cup and Woodford slam, as well as winning the 2008 SpeedPoets championships in Brisbane.

Next up we have Tobias Manderson-Galvin, who runs the Melbourne theatre company Sample Theatre, and will be sticking around in Canberra for a while to work on an Open House show with Canberra Youth Theatre. From his bio: Tobias Manderson-Galvin is a talented actor and poet from Melbourne whose poetry has previously seen him detained for terrorism by the Federal police, the bomb squad and an Adelaide airport. No stranger to provocation or controversy, Tobias has performed as part of the Dadaist hip-hop act The Hobby Whores and as the titular character Hitlerhoff, the cult comedy fusing of The Hoff and der Führer, which stormed the Adelaide Fringe Festival earlier this year.

So come along, check out some sure-to-be entertaining guest poets and then have ago at performing yourself!

Poetry Slam
26 June 2009 7:30-11:30pm
The Front Café and Gallery
Wattle St, Lyneham