Queensland
Poetry Festival is one of my favourite local
events. It always does such a tremendous job of bringing in brilliant artists
around strange and compelling themes. This year's is shaping up to be particularly awesome, with a great lineup of local and international artists, panels around resistance, language and race, and a wonderful highlight musician in The Bell Divers. My picks for the festival are below. WEDNESDAY 27 AUGUST
Not Much to Tell You
Kaitlyn Plyley is a local poet and storyteller and all sorts of charming. Her solo show is a combination of poetry and comedy, cultural critique and storytelling and should be pretty darn wonderful.
FRIDAY 29 AUGUST
QPF Official Opening
The official open is always a great event, and features the announcement of the winners of the Val Vallis Award and the Thomas Shapcott Prize. Plus, y'know, drinks! Food! Mingling!
Needlepoints of Light
The official open is always fun, but it's the following event worth sticking around for. A showcase of some of the most exciting poets of the festival (this year Warsan Shire!) and a stellar musician (this year The Bell Divers!), Needlepoints of Light is shaping up to be one of the must-see events of the festival.
SATURDAY 30 AUGUST
Tongue Tied: poetry and Asia
This year, QPF has offered up a few panels, and Tongue Tied looks like a really interesting one. MC'd by the (rather brilliant) Eleanor Jackson, QPF will be speaking to four poets with ties to Asia about language and connection.
Night Uncurls its Palm
All of the evening poetry readings tend to be good ones, but this one is particularly awesome, with a lineup to rival any poetry event in the country. Warsan Shire! Eleanor Jackson! Luka Lesson! David Stavanger!
Teen Makeouts Hate Poetry
One-sided conversations, contemporary dance and a complete melt down of language is a pretty great way to sell an event, even more so when it involves teen-focused pop culture.
SUNDAY 31 AUGUST
Celestial MonstersI mean, the theme is celestial monsters. 'Nuff said.
Riotous Punk Angels
Poetry as resistance has been around almost as long as poetry itself has been, so it makes for a pretty perfect panel. They'll be talking about anger and warfare, discrimination and more.
Into the Warmth
Poetry and food have an interesting relationship, so it's pretty great to see them interacting through Yum Cha at this year's poetry festival. Particularly with the poetry stylings of Zenobia Frost and Candy Royalle.
The Space Between: film screening
Poets! Film! Multimedia artists! This is always a good one.
The Bedroom Philosopher
The Bedroom Philosopher (Justin Heazlewood), is one of Australia's most innovative cross-medium artists, so it's awesome to see him headlining his own slot at this year's festival. It should be pretty great.
The Unknown Future of Everything
Finish off your festival experience with a slam!
You can view the whole program over at their website.
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