Collective Spirit: First Nations Poetry
‘The Christianity you hold so high / Is but a lie, / Justice a cant of hypocrites, content / With precedent.’ (Oodgeroo Noonuccal, in ‘Colour Bar’.)
Poetry has always been a powerful vehicle for ideas. As a genre, it’s often entangled with the moral and social conflicts of the age, and rich with references to politics, history, joy and pain. Forms like spoken word, lamentation and illumination offer unique critical possibilities. And for many First Nations Peoples, poetry has been an incredibly potent space for addressing country, relationships, community and identity.
This discussion, hosted by Ali Cobby Eckermann, will feature three emerging Victoria-based Indigenous poets – Monica Karo, Ryan Prehn and Emily Munro-Harrison – fresh from a residency at Kalang Retreat. They’ll discuss their writing, the residency and poetic licence, and perform readings of their work.
This event is presented in partnership with Kalang Retreat. Collective Spirit is supported by the City of Melbourne Arts Grants Program, the Victorian Government through Creative VicArts Grants and Australian Poetry.
Readings will be our bookseller at this event.
Featuring
Ali Cobby Eckermann is the first Aboriginal Australian writer to attend the International Writing Program at the University of Iowa in 2014. Her verse novel Ruby Moonlight was published in the USA in 2015 and a collection of poems translated and published in Kolkata, India. She returned home and l... Read more
Ryan Prehn is a poet and writer living in Melbourne on Wurundjeri country. He is a descendant of the Worimi mob of coastal NSW. Ryan was a runner-up in Overland’s 2016 Nakata Brophy poetry prize, and more recently worked with Red Room Poetry & Australian Poetry on the New Shoots project as ... Read more
Monica Karo, a Gunai/Kurnai and Gunditjmara descendant is a Melbourne-based poet, actor and singer-songwriter. Having studied a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Theatre at the Victorian College of the Arts, she is continuously expanding on her artistry. Reflecting a deep connection to spirituality throu... Read more
Emily Munro-Harrison is a Wiradjuri woman who grew up on Kulin Country in Narrm. She has always had a passion for writing and story telling, and loved listening to her grandparents’ stories as a child. In 2013 Emily undertook a creative writing summer school intensive at Columbia University in New... Read more
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