Poetry and performance

It all started a long time ago, scribbling words on bits of paper, and writing poetry.  Really –  I must have something on every subject, even football, and I hate football.   I’ve spent alot of time at spoken word venues around Melbourne, and featured at many of them:

  • Tuesdays nights – The Spinning Room (first at Duke Of Windsor Hotel, Chapel St, then at ET’s, High St) until 2012.
  • Saturday afternoons at The Dan O’Connell
  • The Arthouse, La Mama,
  • Passionate Tongues Poetry, convened by poet, Michael Reynolds
  • Babble, Brunswick St – “You have been chosen!”  – yes, that one!

I’ve performed at several Overload Poetry Festivals, and even appeared on the Channel 31 Red Lobster poetry programme a few times (Producer: David McLauchlan.)

In June 2012, poet Santo Cazzati kindly invited me to be the featured Poet on his 3CR community radio programme, ‘Spoken Word’. 

My poem Restitution won First Prize in the 2012 WB Yeats Poetry Prize for Australia (Judges: Earl Livings/Heather Sebo).  With grateful thanks to Declan Foley.  

http://wbyeatspoetryprize.com/2012_judges_report/first_prize_restitution

In 2009 I entered the Melbourne Writer’s Festival Poetry Idol and made it through the slam heats, resulting in a performance with all the other finalists in that huge auditorium in BMW Edge Federation Square.  Were my knees knocking?  You decide.  It’s on Youtube if you want to google it.

For a few years I fell in love with Scriptwriting – between 1997 and 2003 – when I did a couple of workshops with the legendary UK Writer, Jimmy McGovern (various TV series  – Cracker, Dockers, The Lakes;  plus films –  Priest,  Liam).  

I also did a nine week course with Simon Hoenger –  The Screenwriting Journey (Gravity Entertainment Pty Ltd), which focussed on Screenwriting for Hollywood.  I didn’t get an Oscar for anything, but I had alot of fun weekends honing my craft, and coming up with interesting dialogue.  Everything is useful in the end.

For a month, in 2002,  I completed the University of Melbourne Filmmaking Summer School,  and had ideas about quitting my day job to write for television.  It was a fabulous time.  I loved everything about it.  I remember looking around at all the Writers, Actors and budding Producers/Directors, and thinking, ‘These are my people.’   It was like coming home.

And once upon a time, I worked in radio production in Manchester, UK, on Piccadilly Radio (for Tony Michaelides: The Last Radio Programme) where I acquired my love of indie pop and alternative music.  My mum never understood why I wanted to spend my Sunday nights  at the studio, logging the playlist, especially when I wasn’t getting paid.  Are you kidding? It was beyond fantastic.