WA Poets Inc
WA Poets Inc is a Western Australian not-for-profit organisation committed to enriching the cultural fabric of the community through poetry. As a collective of poets and literary aficionados, we seek to foster a dynamic poetry environment in our region. We’re known for our array of programs, from regular poetry readings & workshops to an annual highlight—Perth Poetry Festival— providing a platform for both emerging and seasoned poets to share their work, collaborate and engage with the public.
2023 PPF Events ZOOM
Between Sunday 10 September 2023 and Sunday 17 September 2023
A range of events celebrating spoken word via ZOOM
2023 PPF at Switch Theatre
Between Saturday 9 September 2023 and Sunday 17 September 2023
A series of poetry events performed at Switch Theatre as part of 2023 Perth Poetry Festival
Switch Theatre
2023 PPF Workshops
Between Saturday 9 September 2023 and Sunday 17 September 2023
WA Poets Inc (WAPoets), as part of the 2023 Perth Poetry Festival, is pleased to offer a series of workshops that will extend and complement your poetry writing. All workshops are open to poets of all skill levels and abilities.
Centre for Stories
2023 PPF at Planet Royale
Between Thursday 14 September 2023 and Saturday 16 September 2023
A series of poetry events performed at Planet Royale as part of 2023 Perth Poetry Festival
Planet Royale
Hermit Crab Forms in Poetry
Friday 15 September 2023
Hermit crab forms are an accessible but more experimental type of writing where the poem or story "moves in" to another form of (non-literary) writing, like a hermit crab moves in to the shell of another critter. In this workshop, we will look at what hermit crab forms are, when to use them, what they're especially effective for, then read some examples and write our own.
Please be aware that Arianne has a fragrance sensitivity and we request that you do not apply perfume or deodorant before attending this workshop.
Bon Marche Arcade
Healing Though the Power of Poetry
Friday 15 September 2023
Expressing the subconscious mind through poetry. This unique workshop offers mental wellness, expanding awareness and creativity.
WA Poets Office
2023 PPF Searching for Uglieland
Wednesday 13 September 2023
Join Perth Poemambulism on a two-hour walk through some of Perth’s history with poetry performances and writing opportunities on the way finishing at Allendale Square food court for a Poets Lunch.
Presented by Perth Poemambulism in association with Perth Pop Up Poets and Two Feet and a Heartbeat. Wear comfortable shoes. The entire route is wheelchair accessible. Please contact us in advance if you have any particular mobility or access issues and we will do our best to accommodate you.
London Court Clock
2023 PPF WAPoets Presents ZOOM
Saturday 9 September 2023
An evening of awards, presentations and readings via ZOOM
Make Yourself Heard with Mar Bucknell (CANCELLED)
Saturday 26 August 2023
A workshop in voice production and vocal techniques
with experienced performer Mar Bucknell
-Breath production and control
-Breathing from the soles of your feet
-Diaphragmic breathing
-Listening to the room
-HHHitting those consonants hhhard
-What is an end-consonant space?
-Compensating for the wrong mike and a lousy PA system or engineer
-Dealing with thozzzzze troublessssome sssssibilantzzzzzz
-How to avoid PPoPPing
-This workshop is especially suitable for people who are already fairly confident and comfortable with being on stage, but want to improve their range of vocal possibilities.
BRING:
• An open mind
• Some favourite poetry to read aloud
• Loose comfortable clothing
It is preferable but not essential that you are willing to work barefoot. An 11am start does not mean ‘arrive at 11’. It means ‘start at 11’, with an empty bladder and your personal warm-up done, ready to go.
Bon Marche Arcade
Make Yourself Heard- Vocal Workshop with Mar Bucknell
Saturday 26 August 2023
A workshop in voice production and vocal techniques
with experienced performer Mar Bucknell
Breath production and control
Breathing from the soles of your feet
Diaphragmic breathing
Listening to the room
HHHitting those consonants hhhard
What is an end-consonant space?
Compensating for the wrong mike and a lousy PA system or engineer
Dealing with thozzzzze troublessssome sssssibilantzzzzzz
How to avoid PPoPPing
This workshop is especially suitable for people who are already fairly confident and comfortable with being on stage, but want to improve their range of vocal possibilities.
BRING:
• An open mind
• Some favourite poetry to read aloud
• Loose comfortable clothing
It is preferable but not essential that you are willing to work barefoot. An 11am start does not mean ‘arrive at 11’. It means ‘start at 11’, with an empty bladder and your personal warm-up done, ready to go.
Bon Marche Arcade
WA Poets Poetry Month Presents (CANCELLED)
Saturday 26 August 2023
A selection of free events to whet your appetite for poetry.
AGWA Cafe
What Are You Doing On Stage? Poetry Performance Workshop
Saturday 27 May 2023
With experienced Perth performer Mar Bucknell
If you want to turn your poem into a performance that the audience might remember, then this workshop will help. Performing, rather than just reading, your poem can bring your words, your ideas to life.
There are things that can be easily learnt to help you with this process, and far from diminishing your individuality, they will help you find your voice. No one method of performance works for every poet or every poem
This workshop covers stage presence, voice production and the grammar of performance and is suitable for anyone, of any level of skills or experience. If you are a beginner you can learn some important steps. And if you think you know everything about poetry and performance, here is the news: you don’t. Good performers never stop learning.
Things to bring:
• some poetry, preferably some of your own and some by your favourite writers
• your preferred writing media
• an open mind.
Bon Marche Arcade
Poetry Editing Techniques with Jackson
Saturday 18 March 2023
Poetry is art made with words. In a friendly, supportive group, learn how to refine your poems to achieve their potential as artworks and reach the audience they deserve through publications and awards. Please bring writing materials and two or three works in progress.
The presenter, Jackson, is an awarded, much-published poet and a trained editor and educator. She has helped many poets achieve publication, including Tineke van der Eecken (A Place to Land) and Annette Mullumby (Strategies for Digging Out Onion Grass). Jackson's fourth full-length collection, A coat of ashes (Recent Work Press 2019), was based on her PhD in Writing. Jackson is in Perth for a short time only -- don't miss out! thepoetjackson.com
Bon Marche Arcade
Water Water everywhere! Poetry Workshop with Cath Drake
Thursday 16 March 2023
Explore the essential element of water – from wetlands, wells, rain, floods, tears… water is ubiquitous, transformative, constantly changing, illusive. It makes up 60% of our bodies. It’s a connector, a life-giver, a place-maker, a symbol of emotion, an agent of danger or rejuvenation – and it deserves reverence.
We’ll immerse in poems about water, the gorgeous environment at the wetlands centre and go with the flow in writing our own pieces about the wonders of water.
Cath Drake is from Perth, and now lives in London, UK. The Shaking City (Seren Books, 2020), highly commended in the UK Forward Prize and longlisted in international Laurel Prize, followed 'Sleeping with Rivers', a Poetry Book Society choice & winner of the Seren/Mslexia pamphlet prize. Cath worked for a decade as an environmental writer in Perth in the 1990s which included several projects related to the Beeliar Wetlands. She hosts The Verandah, quality online poetry events for Aussie & UK writers. https://cathdrake
The Wetlands Centre Cockburn
Borneo Rainforest Collage and Poetry Workshop
Sunday 15 January 2023
Take a journey into Borneo's rainforest with poet Angelina Bong and be inspired
to write a poem. You will also be guided to create a collage using used papers to be paired with your poem. No artistic skills required. Inclusive of some materials. Please bring along scissors and glue.
The Story Lounge
PPF2022 Finale: Poetic Imagery
Saturday 8 October 2022
Join us for a journey through the ages exploring poetic imagery from some of the most renown poets of our past (and present). Presented by Emeritus Professor, Dennis Haskell and read by some of Perth's finest poets.
Planet Royalle
PPF2022 Imagery thru’ the Ages Zoom Meeting
Saturday 8 October 2022
Join us for a journey through the ages exploring poetic imagery from some of the most renown poets of our past (and present). Presented by Emeritus Professor, Dennis Haskell and read by some of Perth's finest poets.
PPF2022 Workshops
WA Poets Inc (WAPoets), as part of the 2022 Perth Poetry Festival, is pleased to offer a series of workshops that will extend and complement your poetry writing. All workshops are open to poets of all skill levels and abilities.
Workshops will involve written exercises, please bring appropriate materials.
Centre for Stories
PPF2022 OUTspoken; Queer Poetry Zoom Meeting
Friday 7 October 2022
An evening of LGBTIQA+ poetry that celebrates the diversity of queer verse here in Perth … and beyond.
PPF2022 Events
Between Saturday 1 October 2022 and Friday 7 October 2022
A program of delectable samples of spoken word showcasing local and featured guest poets exploring themes that will expand your horizon.
Centre for Stories
PPF2022 In this Body are Gardens: Women's Poetry Zoom Meetin
Sunday 2 October 2022
This reading places women’s voices at the centre, as women step up to the mic. This event will feature invited guests and some open mic spots for those who identify as women. All are welcome as audience members.
PPF2022 Knowing Perth Canyon Zoom
Sunday 2 October 2022
Presented by Scott-Patrick Mitchell featuring readings as part of the Red Room Poetry Fellowship
PPF2022 Free Events
Sunday 2 October 2022
Due to significant seating restrictions tickets to these free events must be reserved .
Centre for Stories
PPF2022 WAPoets Presents Zoom Meeting
Sunday 2 October 2022
Creatrix Awards, Ros Spencer Contest Awards, Poetry d'Amour Contest Awards and Anthology Launch
PPF2022 Multicultural Poetry Zoom Meeting
Saturday 1 October 2022
Our multicultural poetry night promises to lead us into many different and diverse cultural alcoves that speak to us from a point of experience and perspective, pain and happiness. It offers us a picture of the Australian identity that is still being shaped by our voices.
PPF2022 Gala Launch
Friday 30 September 2022
An extravaganza of poets featured from New Zealand, New South Wales and locally present an evening of spoken word to wow you from the impressive rooftop garden of the Art Gallery of WA.
Rooftop, Art Gallery of WA.
PPF2022 Gala Launch Zoom Meeting
Friday 30 September 2022
An extravaganza of poets featured from New Zealand, New South Wales and locally present an evening of spoken word to wow you from the impressive rooftop garden of the Art Gallery of WA.
2022 World Poetry Day
Sunday 20 March 2022
Join us and bring a picnic to enjoy the launch of Colin Young's inaugural book "Between Stations" between 4–6pm on Sunday 20 March at the Amphitheatre at Mattie Furphy House (Claire Copse, Swanbourne). This will be followed by a mega open microphone event.
As this is an outdoor event, please bring your own blanket/cushions/low backed chair, drinks and food.
Amphithearter
The Shape of Poetry with Ruari Jack Hughes (CANCELLED)
Saturday 5 February 2022
This workshop will focus upon the relationship between structure and content in poetry. Through readings and writing exercises participants will develop their skills and write drafts in which poetic form and content are effectively employed.
About Ruari Jack Hughes:
Ruari Jack Hughes writes poetry, fiction and drama.
His writing interests lie especially in the role of memory and the accidental nature of life.
Bon Marche Arcade
WA Poets Inc AGM
Saturday 23 October 2021
The Annual General Meeting for WA Poets Inc
Zoom Taking Chances–Jill Jones
Sunday 19 September 2021
This workshop looks at ways of working with form and process, and specifically at what I am calling improvisational thinking, as a way of getting outside of the prison of ‘inspiration’, and of getting outside oneself in the process. These ideas are intended to provide ways of ‘starting up work’ that also go into new, fresh areas of writing for each participant.
Zoom The Poetry of Things–David McCooey
Sunday 19 September 2021
In this workshop we will think about this shared realm as a source of a ‘poetry of things’, and we will learn how to write a ‘thing poem’ (or ‘dinggedicht’ as it is sometimes called). In learning to write such a poem, we will learn different ways in which poets can represent things through various types of stylisation, and understand how (and why) poetic language can engage in the literary technique of ‘defamiliarisation’.
ZOOM–Festival Finale
Sunday 19 September 2021
A celebration of everything about the festival with final performances by the guest poets; RikTheMost (via Zoom), Jill Jones, David McCooey, Cassie Lynch, Emily Sun, Alexander Te Pohe and Miriam Wei Wei Lo plus the presentation of the Ros Spencer Poetry Contest Prizes.
The Zoom link will appear on your ticket.
2021 Perth Poetry Festival Events
Between Friday 10 September 2021 and Sunday 19 September 2021
A range of low-cost events that will inspire and encourage you to extend and develop your poetry.
Queens Building Hall
ZOOM–West o' the Moon: Fairytale Poetry Zoom Meeting
Sunday 19 September 2021
From Anne Sexton to Ted Hughes to Margaret Atwood, many poets have been fascinated by myth, fairytale and folklore, using the rich imagery and ambiguous themes as jumping off points for their own writing. This reading features local poets sharing poetry that has been inspired by these narratives and speaking about how they work with this material.
The Zoom link will appear on your ticket.
ZOOM–Poetry Readings from Perth's Writers Centres
Sunday 19 September 2021
Join poets from FAWWA, OOTA, PCWC and KSP for an afternoon of poetry readings.
The Zoom link will appear on your ticket.
2021 Perth Poetry Festival Workshops
Between Saturday 11 September 2021 and Sunday 19 September 2021
A series of affordable workshops to extend and develop your creative ability in the pursuit of high quality poetry. Workshops are tailored to poets of all abilities from beginner to accomplished and will involve written exercises. Sharing your work will be an option if desired.
Queens Building Hall
ZOOM–Blak Ink
Saturday 18 September 2021
MC’d by Cyndy Moody. Join us for an evening of First Nation poetry which will feature the likes of Effie Shiousaki, Cassie Lynch, Tony Walley and others as they explore Language, Country and decolonisation.
The Zoom link will appear on your ticket.
When There Are No Words with RikTheMost
Saturday 18 September 2021
This is a Zoom event, the Zoom link will be provided on your ticket.
During this workshop, Rik will share with you some of their favourite techniques for finding words when there supposedly are none, pushing past the surface-level habit of turning away from that which goes often unnoticed or disregarded as inexplicable.
ZOOM–OutSpoken: Queer Poetry
Friday 17 September 2021
Join us for an evening of LGBTIQA+ poetry as we celebrate the diversity of queer verse here in Perth … and beyond. As always, OUTspoken is a fundraising event. This year we will be raising funds for Assisting Your Life to Achieve (AYLA) Inc.
The Zoom link will appear on your ticket.
ZOOM–Poetry Micro–Residencies Readings
Friday 17 September 2021
Poetry readings from the participants in the 2021 Poetry Micro–Residencies program.
The Zoom link will appear on your ticket.
ZOOM–Poetry Gala
Thursday 16 September 2021
Featuring key note speech by Festival Patron, Annamaria Weldon and a taste of what is to come from guest poets RikTheMost (via Zoom), Jill Jones, David McCooey, Cassie Lynch, Emily Sun, Alexander Te Pohe and Miriam Wei Wei Lo plus the Creatrix Poetry and Haiku Prize presentations.
The Zoom link will appear on your ticket.
Zoom–Four Oceans Launch Toby Davidson
Thursday 16 September 2021
Four Oceans, Toby Davidson’s second collection, confirms his reputation as one of the most expansive and radical voices in the emerging generation of Australian poets. It moves from Western to Eastern Australia and overseas through finely-wrought long sequences and experiments in form which bear stark witness to the present moment and ask us how we got here.
ZOOM– Poetry d'Amour and other Book Launches
Sunday 12 September 2021
Award presentations for the 2021 Poetry d’Amour Love Poetry Contest followed by selected readings from the anthology. Followed by launches of Vociferate by Emily Sun and the KSP Poetry Anthology.
The Zoom link will appear on your ticket.
ZOOM–Stealing the Language: Womens Poetry
Sunday 12 September 2021
This reading places women’s voices at the centre, as women step up to the mic
The Zoom link will appear on your ticket.
ZOOM–MultiCultural Poetry
Saturday 11 September 2021
Thus event will reconcile with the First Nation people and feature poets from Europe and Asia to continue our commitment to multi-cultural poetry.
The Zoom link will appear on your ticket.
ZOOM–ANTI Slam
Saturday 11 September 2021
A reaction to conventional slams where the worst/most humorous poetry performance wins.
The Zoom link will appear on your ticket.
ZOOM–Letters From Isolation Zoom Meeting
Friday 10 September 2021
Featuring “Dirty Laundry” by Yael Harris and poetry readings from: Allan Padgett, Christine Della Vedova and Coral Carter with Marcus John as they read poetry written during isolation.
Your Zoom link will be on your ticket.
Create, Connect, Share–Creative Connections Exibition
Between Saturday 14 August 2021 and Wednesday 25 August 2021
A series of artists and poets talks and workshop as part of the 2021 Creative Connections Exhibition. A two-week exhibition of diverse and eclectic artwork produced by artists with complex needs with associated poetry, written by members of WA Poets Inc, inspired by and in response to the artwork.
Moores Building
Taking Care of the Silences
Saturday 7 August 2021
A workshop on turning a text into a performance with experienced Perth performer Mar Bucknell.
Cost of workshop is a donation equivalent to one hour of your wage or salary.
Bon Marche Arcade
2021 Poetry Festival Poemambulism
Sunday 1 August 2021
Join us for a gentle stroll with fellow poets. Poemambulism will take a poetic walk through the Perth city centre over two hours exploring its history and architecture, and its colours, forms and textures.
Queens Building Hall
WAPI Poetry Workshop-Everyday Poetry and Every Day Kin
Saturday 26 June 2021
Through writing poetry, we make kin. This workshop explores this intersubjectivity through writing exercises, conversation, and food.
By the end of the workshop, you will have developed a plan for daily poetic routines and an understanding of the place and use of poetry in your everyday relationships.
Each participant is welcome to bring and share food.
Gok-Lim (角林) Finch is a writer, artist and researcher living on the unceded lands of the Whadjuk people of the Bibbulmun Nation.
Bon Marche Arcade
Eco Poetry
Sunday 21 March 2021
In the era of climate change our relationship with nature is continually being re-written, re-examined and re-visioned. Poetry has the power to express our views on the climate crisis as well as our love for and relationship with the environment.
Please Note: the Zoom link will be on your ticket.
Celebrating World Poetry Day
Between Saturday 20 March 2021 and Sunday 21 March 2021
A series of events and a seminar focused on showcasing and sharing poetry to help celebrate World Poetry Day (21st March). The observance of World Poetry Day is also meant to encourage a return to the oral tradition of poetry recitals, to promote the teaching of poetry, to restore a dialogue between poetry and the community so that the art of poetry will no longer be considered an outdated form of art, but one which enables society as a whole to regain and assert its identity.
Queens Building Hall
Experimental Poetry
Saturday 20 March 2021
This is an opportunity to witness how innovative and inspiring Perth poets can be.
Please Note: the Zoom link will be on your ticket.
Towards a WA Tradition in Poetry
Saturday 20 March 2021
An examination of the thousands of years of Dreamtime songlines and performed poetry alongside two hundred years of written text generated by colonial settlers and multicultural migrants as well as the solid emergence of vital indigenous writing.
Please Note: the Zoom link will be on your ticket.
Ancestral Kin & Multi-Lingual Poetry with Gok-Lim, (角林) (CANCELLED)
Saturday 12 December 2020
This workshop is about reconnecting ancestral relations through multi-lingual poetry, and re-building these relations within the self. Participants will be encouraged to share and write about their self and their relations, to explore poetry through the many languages they have a connection with, and the class as a group will share these connections respectfully and sensitively. It is hoped that this will be a safe space for First Nations people and People of Colour.
Bon Marche Arcade, Level 2
WA Poets AGM Zoom Meeting
Saturday 24 October 2020
The 2020 AGM of WA Poets Inc
Festival Finale
Sunday 27 September 2020
A celebration of everything about the festival with final performances by the guest poets; Michael Dylan Welch, Anne-Marie Te Whiu, David Stavanger, David McCooey, Fable Glodsmith, Samantha Melia, Taonga Sendama and Mike Williams plus the presentation of the Ros Spencer Poetry Contest Prizes.
Moana Hall
Finale - Zoom
Sunday 27 September 2020
A celebration of everything about the festival with final performances by the guest poets; Michael Dylan Welch, Anne-Marie Te Whiu, David Stavanger, David McCooey, Fable Glodsmith, Samantha Melia, Taonga Sendama and Mike Williams plus the presentation of the Ros Spencer Poetry Contest Prizes.
The Poetry of Things Zoom
Sunday 27 September 2020
This workshop will examine how we can use poetic language to make the most ordinary of things compelling, by writing a ‘thing poem’, learning the different ways in which poets can represent things through various types of stylisation, and understand how (and why) poetic language can engage in the literary technique of ‘defamiliarisation’.
The Poetry of Things—David McCooey
Sunday 27 September 2020
This workshop will examine how we can use poetic language to make the most ordinary of things compelling, by writing a ‘thing poem’, learning the different ways in which poets can represent things through various types of stylisation, and understand how (and why) poetic language can engage in the literary technique of ‘defamiliarisation’.
WAPI Office, Bon Marche Arcade. Room 33, Level 2
Haiku on Steroids Zoom
Sunday 27 September 2020
This advanced workshop explores rule-breaking, taboo topics, and other creative and energizing approaches to writing and appreciating haiku.
Haiku on Steroids—Michael Dylan Welch
Sunday 27 September 2020
This advanced workshop explores rule-breaking, taboo topics, and other creative and energizing approaches to writing and appreciating haiku.
WAPI Office, Bon Marche Arcade. Room 33, Level 2
Multicultural - Zoom
Saturday 26 September 2020
Maitland Schnaars, Taonga Sendama (PPF guest poet), Alexander Tepohe, and Yahye Sheihk-Abdi, share their poetry and their thoughts with MC Vivienne Glance.
Plus, Anne-Marie Te Whiu (PPF guest poet) and others will be invited to read their work.
Multicultural Poetry
Saturday 26 September 2020
Maitland Schnaars, Taonga Sendama (PPF guest poet), Alexander Tepohe, and Yahye Sheihk-Abdi, share their poetry and their thoughts with MC Vivienne Glance.
Plus, Anne-Marie Te Whiu (PPF guest poet) and others will be invited to read their work.
Open mike spots available of 1-2 poems, max time 4 mins, register on the night at the door.
Moana Hall
10 Lessons Learned from 101 Rejections—Natalie D-Napoleon
Saturday 26 September 2020
In this workshop you will examine your fears and doubts and walk away with real world techniques to improve your writing and banish your fears.
Queens Building Hall
Page meets Stage Zoom
Saturday 26 September 2020
This workshop focuses on ways to distil and reshape performance poetry for the print medium (and vice versa), ways of editing spoken word for the page, and working on poems utilising the limits, possibilities, and strengths at the intersection of both forms.
Page meets Stage—David Stavanger
Saturday 26 September 2020
This workshop focuses on ways to distil and reshape performance poetry for the print medium (and vice versa), ways of editing spoken word for the page, and working on poems utilising the limits, possibilities, and strengths at the intersection of both forms.
WAPI Office, Bon Marche Arcade. Room 33, Level 2
Healing Through the Power of Poetry Zoom
Saturday 26 September 2020
This workshop will help you discover a story only you can tell, by nurturing a mindfulness practice, cultivate self-awareness, find your voice, and get into that writing zone.
Healing Through the Power of Poetry—Samantha Melia
Saturday 26 September 2020
This workshop will help you discover a story only you can tell, by nurturing a mindfulness practice, cultivate self-awareness, find your voice, and get into that writing zone.
WAPI Office, Bon Marche Arcade. Room 33, Level 2
Under a West Australian Sky: Eco Poetry Evening
Friday 25 September 2020
In the era of climate change our relationship with nature is continually being re-written, re-examined and revisioned. Poetry has the power to express our views on the climate crisis as well as our love for and relationship with the environment.
Queens Building Hall
Haiku Walk Zoom
Friday 25 September 2020
Join Michael Dylan Welch for a directed haiku-writing amble through King’s Park. This workshop is a stepping stone to regular Haiku practice.
Take a Walk on the Haiku Side—Michael Dylan Welch
Friday 25 September 2020
Join Michael Dylan Welch for a directed haiku-writing amble through King’s Park. This workshop is a stepping stone to regular Haiku practice.
Please meet 9.15am at the Wildflower Pavilion near the Boab Tree in Kings Park
Kings Park Wildflower Pavilion
Gala - Zoom
Thursday 24 September 2020
Featuring key note speech by Festival Patron, Andrew Burke and a taste of what is to come from guest poets Michael Dylan Welch, Anne-Marie Te Whiu, David Stavanger, David McCooey, Fable Glodsmith, Samantha Melia, Taonga Sendama and Mike Williams plus the Creatrix Poetry and Haiku Prize presentations.
Poetry Gala
Thursday 24 September 2020
Featuring key note speech by Festival Patron, Andrew Burke and a taste of what is to come from guest poets Michael Dylan Welch, Anne-Marie Te Whiu, David Stavanger, David McCooey, Fable Glodsmith, Samantha Melia, Taonga Sendama and Mike Williams plus the Creatrix Poetry and Haiku Prize presentations.
Moana Hall
Poetry Doctor–Andrew Burke
Between Monday 21 September 2020 and Wednesday 23 September 2020
Andrew Burke will be available for one on one, 30 minute “consultations” with poets to provide constructive criticism of any of their poems that need diagnosis, analysis, revision etc. Up to 3 poems (or 6 haiku) can be emailed to Andrew beforehand.
Andrew Burke has published thirteen poetry collections, one novel and a smattering of short stories, book reviews and literary criticism.
Bon Marche Arcade
Emerging Poets
Tuesday 22 September 2020
An evening with poets from the WAPI Emerging Poets Program.
Poetry Surgeon–Rose van Son
Tuesday 22 September 2020
Rose van Son will be available for one on one, 30 minute “consultations” with poets to provide constructive criticism of any of their poems that need diagnosis, analysis, revision etc. Up to 3 poems (or 6 haiku) can be emailed to Rose beforehand.
Rose van Son has been published in Westerly, Cordite, Australian Poetry, Grieve and more. Her prizes include places in the Tom Collins and Ethel Webb Bundell contests. Her collections are in Sandfire, Three in the Campagna, Three Owls and a Crescent Moo
Bon Marche Arcade
First Nation Poets
Monday 21 September 2020
Join us for an evening of First Nation poetry which will feature the likes of Cassie Lynch, Daniel Hansen and many more as they explore Language, Country and decolonisation. Open mic on the evening available for First Nations poets.
Anti Slam
Sunday 20 September 2020
A reaction to conventional slams where the worst/most humorous poetry performance wins.
Queens Building Hall
Book Launches Zoom
Sunday 20 September 2020
Join WA Poets Publishing, Andrew Burke and KSP in launching "Creatrix 3", "New & Selected" and "Of Moon & Sea".
Erasure Zoom
Sunday 20 September 2020
This workshop will endeavour to showcase that poetry is in fact for everyone, by providing a safe place for participants to share or discover what poetry means to them whilst learning news ways to create.
Erasure—Fable Goldsmith
Sunday 20 September 2020
This workshop will endeavour to showcase that poetry is in fact for everyone, by providing a safe place for participants to share or discover what poetry means to them whilst learning news ways to create.
WAPI Office, Bon Marche Arcade. Room 33, Level 2
Looking for the Narrative Zoom
Sunday 20 September 2020
This workshop will discuss the creation of narrative poetry, be it fictional, autobiographical, or otherwise with hopes to open the gates to experience and spark narrative pieces from all attending.
Looking for the Narrative—Mike Williams
Sunday 20 September 2020
This workshop will discuss the creation of narrative poetry, be it fictional, autobiographical, or otherwise with hopes to open the gates to experience and spark narrative pieces from all attending.
Note: there is a follow up workshop on Sunday 27th September at Mattie Furphy House (Claire Copse, Swanbourne)
Queens Building Hall
Experimental Poetry
Saturday 19 September 2020
Not to be missed, this is an opportunity to witness how innovative and inspiring Perth poets can be. Limited open mic will be available.
Queens Building Hall
Poetic Form—Annamaria Weldon/Dennis Haskell
Saturday 19 September 2020
This workshop will discuss contemporary poetic form, the reasons for the shift from traditional stanza and rhyme, and the formal elements that best suit draft poems submitted by participants.
Tom Collins House
Weaving Words
Saturday 19 September 2020
This poetry workshop with Anne-Marie Te Whiu invites participants to consider concepts including ‘beginnings’, ‘starts’ and importantly, ‘the idea of you’.
WAPI Office, Bon Marche Arcade. Room 33, Level 2
Weaving Words Zoom
Saturday 19 September 2020
This poetry workshop with Anne-Marie Te Whiu invites participants to consider concepts including ‘beginnings’, ‘starts’ and importantly, ‘the idea of you’.
haiku Targets Zoom
Saturday 19 September 2020
An introduction to haiku and what makes a good haiku. This workshop will extend how you see the world.
haiku Targets—Michael Dylan Welch
Saturday 19 September 2020
An introduction to haiku and what makes a good haiku. This workshop will extend how you see the world.
WAPI Office, Bon Marche Arcade. Room 33, Level 2
Who Are You? Zoom
Saturday 19 September 2020
This workshop examines the concept of ‘self’ as a multifaceted, growing identity and how, even as individuals, we are still tethered to ‘community’.
Who are You?—Taonga Sendama
Saturday 19 September 2020
This workshop examines the concept of ‘self’ as a multifaceted, growing identity and how, even as individuals, we are still tethered to ‘community’.
Tom Collins House
OUTspoken LGBTIQA+ Poetry Evening
Friday 18 September 2020
Join us for an evening of LGBTIQA+ poetry as we celebrate the diversity of queer verse here in Perth… and beyond. As always, OUTspoken is a fundraising event. This year we will be raising funds for Noongar Radio’s first ever LGBTIQA+ radio show, Rainbow KINection.
WAPI Workshop: Writing for the Ear with Jackson
Saturday 25 July 2020
Thomas Campion said that poetry is “a system of linked sounds”. Dylan Thomas said he wrote for the ear rather than the eye. By example, discussion and experiment, we will discover how contemporary poets use the music of language to affect the reader’s consciousness.
• Different kinds of pause and silence
• Types of line break and their effects
• Consonance, assonance and rhyme, and their effects
• An introduction to the principles underlying rhythm and cadence in English-language poetry
Bon Marche Arcade
Of Memory and Furniture - ZOOM Reading with Bron Bateman
Thursday 25 June 2020
WA Poets Inc presents a live reading by West Australian poet Bron Bateman from her exquisite collection "Of Memory and Furniture" published earlier this year by Fremantle Press.
Bron will be joined by guest poets Caitlin Making and Liana Joy Christensen.
ZOOM online reading
WAPI Workshop: Writing Poetry from Real Life
Saturday 6 June 2020
Award winning poet Natalie D-Napoleon presents a poetry workshop on writing from real life. Participants will learn new ways to generate ideas for single poems, a series of poems or an entire collection from real life. We will explore a variety of techniques from the visual, listicles, journaling, music, memoir, and free-writing to generate ideas that will provide a trove of material. Poets should leave this workshop with a variety of techniques they can use time and again.
Bon Marche Arcade
Weaving Multiple Art Forms / Multi-media into Poetry (CANCELLED)
Saturday 28 March 2020
In this workshop, we will look at examples of how writers, both traditional and contemporary, have included multiple art forms / multi-media in their work: painting, photography, cinema, television, facebook, etc. We shall discuss the effects, and ways in which it can add depth and interest to the work.
There will be writing exercises to implement these ideas. Please bring writing materials and
your imagination, and feel free to have some fun and write on the wild side.
Level 2, Rm 33 Bon Marche Arcade
Run haiku run
Saturday 5 October 2019
This workshop is for anyone who wants to write haiku or to include succinct lines in their poetry.
Bon Marche Arcade
2019 Perth Poetry Festival
Between Friday 9 August 2019 and Sunday 18 August 2019
A variety of affordable poetry readings and performances by featured poets from USA, Canberra, Melbourne and WA.
Queens Building Hall
2019 Perth Poetry Festival Workshops
Between Saturday 10 August 2019 and Sunday 18 August 2019
A unique series of workshops featuring Perth Poetry Festival guest poets and invited local poets, presenting workshops that will challenge, extend and amuse.
Queens Building Lecture Room
Peter Bakowski Poetry Doctor
Between Monday 12 August 2019 and Thursday 15 August 2019
Peter Bakowski will be available for one on one “consultations” with poets to provide constructive criticism of any poems of theirs that need diagnosis, analysis, revision etc. Bring along a poem or several you want diagnosed or think about your individual stumbling blocks when facing the blank page.
Please arrive at Reception, on Level 1, at least 5 minutes before your session.
Qeens Building Queen Room
All 2019 Perth Poetry Festival Workshops
Saturday 10 August 2019
An opportunity to attend all of the 2019 Perth Poetry Festival Workshops at a reduced price
Queens Building Lecture Room
Staining the Tree of History
Saturday 20 July 2019
An opportunity for poets aged 12 to 112 who would like to explore using historical material to develop poems that extend boundaries and create opportunities to look at events from new perspectives.
Level 2, Rm 33 Bon Marche Arcade
Poetry, Magic and Identity Workshop
Saturday 18 May 2019
In this workshop, participants will explore the potent and textured poetry created by the LGBTIQA+ community and instances where it intersects with concepts of magic and invocation. Works from the likes of Ocean Vuong, Yrsa Daley-Ward, Francesca Lisette and others will be examined in the context of how they give voice and power to the marginalised.
There will be opportunities for individual writing exercises.
Queens Building Hall
Writing and Performing Slam
Sunday 17 March 2019
This workshop, which will be limited to 15 beginner to advanced poets who want to write and perform Slam poetry, will “begin n end ... with a few giggles, smiley stuff, and a warm hug”, then focus on Slam as a modern form with a wide variety of expressions in which fun and exuberance are essential. Throughout the workshop, Splodge will work with participants to help them develop or expand their Slam styles based on concrete examples, including his own and other poets’ works.
Queens Building Lecture Room
Writing Poetry from Real Life
Saturday 19 January 2019
Presented by Virginia O'Keefe, this workshop aims at beginner writers and those who don't feel confident with some of the more modern forms of poetry. It will allow you to begin with the known and develop your style from concrete examples as a stepping stone to poetic growth.
Queens Building Hall
2018 Festival Workshops - International Guests
Sunday 19 August 2018
A series of workshops delivered by Nina Lewis (UK) and Aaron Lee (SGP) aimed at developing your poetry writing and style.
Mattie Furphy House
2018 Perth Poetry Festival Workshops
Between Saturday 11 August 2018 and Saturday 18 August 2018
A diverse and exciting program of workshops facilitated by guests of the 2018 Perth Poetry Festival. All workshops involve writing exercises, please bring appropriate materials.
Queens Building
2018 All Festival Workshops
Saturday 11 August 2018
Enjoy all of the 2018 Perth Poetry Festival workshops at a discounted rate
Queens Building & Mattie Furphy House
Master Pass to All Festival Workshops
Monday 28 May 2018
Enjoy all of the 2018 Festival workshops at a reduced price.
Queens Building and Mattie Furphy House
Poetry d'Amour Summer of Love
Wednesday 14 February 2018
Love poetry and music under the stars featuring Laundryman + Antipoet, Saoirse Nash, Sanna Peden and Kate Wilson. Music by "Double M". Projections by Ross McCallum. MC Karen Tighe. BYO picnic, gates open 6.30pm.
Grassed Amphitheatre behind Mattie Furphy House
2017 Perth Poetry Festival performances
Between Thursday 17 August 2017 and Sunday 20 August 2017
Poetry performances featuring international poets Luis H. Francia (USA) and Lydia Lockett (Canada), national poets Susan Fealy (Vic) and Andy Jackson (Vic) and local poets Dennis Haskell, Mags Webster, Matt Norman and Luka Buchanan
Northbridge Community Room
2017 Perth Poetry Festival Workshops
Between Sunday 13 August 2017 and Sunday 20 August 2017
A series of interactive workshops that are suitable for all poets, no matter their level of expertise, who would like to explore new and different techniques to inspire and improve their writing.
Northbridge Piazza Community Room
2016 Poetry d'Amour Summer of Love
Saturday 19 November 2016
An evening of love poetry under the stars featuring some of Perth's best spoken word artists and winners of the 2016 Poetry d'Amour Love Poetry Contest and the South Perth Libraries Poetry Contest. Included in the evening is the launch of the 2016 Poetry d"Amour Anthology.
Japanese Garden, Perth Zoo
2016 Perth Poetry Festival
Between Friday 5 August 2016 and Sunday 14 August 2016
A celebration of poetry over ten days in August, showcasing featured national and WA poets. The festival provides a platform for other poets to contribute via open-microphone slots at many events, which include both themed and non-themed poetry reading sessions, panel discussions, slams, and performances in public spaces.
Northbridge Community Room and other venues
2016 Perth Poetry Festival Workshops
Between Wednesday 10 August 2016 and Sunday 14 August 2016
A series of workshops presented by eminent guest poets on a range of topics to suit those with poetic abilities ranging from beginner to advanced.
Northbrige Community Room
2015 Perth Poetry Festival WAPI Events
Between Thursday 13 August 2015 and Sunday 16 August 2015
A four day celebration of poetry featuring Angelina Bong (Malaysia), Mark Reid (NSW), Pierre van Osselaer (Vic) and local poets; Peter Jeffrey, Laura Stocker, Rose van Son, Chickie and Alexis Lateef.
Northbridge Community Room
2015 Perth Poetry Festival Workshops
Between Friday 14 August 2015 and Sunday 16 August 2015
A series of information and interactive workshops designed specifically for today's poet. Some exper
Northbridge Community Room
Sean M. Whelan Workshop
Sunday 15 February 2015
Cut into the past and the future leaks out.
Creating poetry from the news. Sean will show you examples of his own poetry where he has used true life events to create an alternative narrative to the real world. He will then provide newspapers and magazine articles as prompts to take your own poetry on a different direction.
Mattie Furphy House
Poetry d'Amour 2015
Saturday 14 February 2015
Enjoy a romantic evening of love poetry and music under the stars on Valentine’s Day at the Japanese Garden, Perth Zoo, featuring MC, Karen Tighe and poetry performances by Tom Lanoye, Mags Webster, Sean M. Whelan and Maitland Schnaars with Allan Boyd and Kevin Gillam PLUS others.
BYO picnic and enter via gate 3 from 6pm
Japanese Garden
2014 Perth Poetry Festival
Between Thursday 14 August 2014 and Sunday 17 August 2014
he tenth annual Perth Poetry Festival features four days of workshops, readings, talks, slams and poetry contests that bring together different poetic expressions, languages and traditions.
Local, national, and international poets are offered professional development opportunities to challenge their craft through networking and workshops, while a diverse range of events offer poetry enthusiasts a scene to explore. Full program available at www.wapoets.net.au
Northbridge Piazza Community Centre/Slam & Comic Poetry @ The Bakery,
2014 Perth Poetry Festival Workshops
Between Friday 15 August 2014 and Sunday 17 August 2014
Hosted by guest poets, learn everything from "making a poem" to finding inspiration and incorporating music, sound and imagery in poetry
Northbridge Piazza Community Room
