The image of the impecunious poet scribbling away in a garret may have dimmed in popular imagination but making a living from writing poetry has probably never been harder. So it’s refreshing to see the words win and poetry in the same sentence.
Dangerously Poetic Press and the Byron Bay Writers’ Festival have teamed up to offer a $500 poetry prize and a three day festival ticket to one lucky wordsmith this year. There is also a $100 second prize.
And it doesn’t stop there. The winners will be invited to read their winning poems on the Saturday afternoon at the festival and they will also be featured in next year’s Dangerously Poetic Press anthology.
Ordinary Miracles is the theme of the competition. Poetry, say the organisers, ‘is best equipped to find language for the ineffable, numinous moments we all experience’.
Poets are invited to write up to 40 lines, and their work will be judged by Victorian poet Cate Kennedy.
Heralded for her short stories, Dark Roots, Like a House on Fire, the Mexican travel memoir Sing and Don’t Cry, and her novel The World Beneath, Cate is, as well, an award winning poet.
For entry forms and details, check at your local library or download at www.dangerouslypoetic.com. Start scribbling… the deadline is June 7.
Workshop
To inspire writing on this theme, Dangerously Poetic is offering a four week workshop, called Poetry as a Portal. Explore the potent medicine of poetry as it nurtures the intuitive, creative side of the brain. Both new and experienced poets are invited. Using rhythm, repetition, and incantation, discover poetry as a portal into the metaphysical.
This class will be taught by Laura Jan Shore, president of Dangerously Poetic Press. She is the author of The Sacred Moon Tree, a novel, and two collections of poetry, Breathworks and Water over Stone, Interactive Press, which won IP Picks Best Poetry 2011. She has co-edited 10 books and taught creative writing and poetry for over 30 years. This is offered on four Friday mornings from 3 to 24 May, 9.30–12.30 in New Brighton. For more details, contact Laura on 0438 872 610 or check the Dangerously Poetic website under readings and events.
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