The Shire’s Margaret River Library will host a Multicultural Poetry Night at 6pm on Thursday 22 June 2023, in celebration of the strong, diverse voices that are helping shape the Australian literary landscape.
Poets Lakshmi Kanchi, also known as SoulReserve, Vuma Phiri, Jerome Masamaka and Ana Brawls, will each share poems inspired by love, mother nature, identity, and belonging at this unique, winter-warming event.
Each writer’s work comes from a place of deep reflection, to honour their ancestors and assert their identities with the poetry presented exploring joy, pain, loss, happiness, and many other human experiences.
Those who enjoy language, peoples’ experiences and the expression that can be shared with poetry are encouraged to attend, for a great opportunity to learn something new, make some new friends and be inspired by the creativity of others.
Poets visiting from Perth include:
Lakshmi Kanchi also known as SoulReserve, is a Western Australian poet of Indian descent. Her poetry explores love and its tumultuousness and fantasy and zest in nature. Her debut collection, ‘Lakesong’ was recently published by Centre for Stories.
She is the current Poet-in-Residence at The Wetlands Centre in Cockburn where she is working towards ‘making poetry accessible to everyone in the wider community’.
She is the recipient of 2021 Pocketry Prize for Unpublished Poets, and her poems were Highly Commended in Poetry d'Amour and Ros Spencer Poetry Prize at the 2022 Perth Poetry Festival. Lakshmi's poetry has been featured in ‘Social Alternatives,’ ‘Portside Review,’ and ‘Burrow Journal’.
Vuma Phiri comes from a lineage of orators, determined to spend her life telling the stories that resonate with her as a Black Zambian woman. She engages with the stories around her as a form of entertainment, learning and to gain empathy. Vuma also created @afroheritagebookclub at the Centre for Stories to bring other avid readers alongside her to learn and share the works of Africa’s finest writers. Their writing has been published in Black Ballad UK, SBS Voices, and in the Centre for Stories anthology, Under the Paving Stones, the Beach.
Jerome Masamaka is an emerging poet highly recommended by the Centre for Stories and they have announced he is currently one of six recipients of the Green Leaves / Red River poetry project. Green Leaves / Red River supports poets from CALD backgrounds to publish a full manuscript of poetry. The project also provides two editorial fellowships to emerging editors from CALD backgrounds.
The last poet in our line-up and presenter on the evening is local resident Ana Brawls.
Ana Brawls is a Librarian and Emerging Writer originally from Brazil. She is a recipient of the 2022 Centre for Stories Writing Fellowship. Her work explores family traditions, myths, belonging, human condition and multiculturalism. Ana's poetry and short stories appear in Australia Poetry Anthology, Bangalore Review, Portside Review, with works forthcoming.
Copies of the publications that these works appear in will be on sale on the night and guests will have the opportunity meet the presenters and enjoy light refreshments.
The following day, from 10am to 12pm on Friday 23 June, Lakshmi Kanchi will present a Poetry Writing Workshop with the theme ‘Karri on Writing’ that is free and open to all abilities. In this workshop, participants will observe, mimic, and reimagine the movements in nature, especially looking at the stunning flora and fauna found within our forests, and capture them with words.
Bookings are now open for the Multicultural Poetry Evening and the Poetry Workshop.