ABOUT THE EVENT:

On Wednesday 25th June at the Red Mill Distillery, Balmain, join Alison Gorman in conversation with Audrey Molloy and Judith Beveridge for the launch of A Woman Talks to Her Tongue, published by 5 Island Press.

A complimentary welcome drink is provided upon entry. Copies of A Woman Talks to Her Tongue will be available for purchase at the venue through Roaring Stories, with Gorman signing copies after the discussion.

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ABOUT THE VENUE

Red Mill is based in the historic White Bay Steelworks, just across from the inner-west icon, the White Bay Power Station. Red Mill makes small batches of high-quality Rum to age in a special barrel program, blended and bottled in their wonderful, industrial home. Visiting Red Mill is a chance to see the workings of an artisanal distillery, in the historic surrounds of this remarkable building. Refreshments available to purchase include wine, beer and a signature Red Mill cocktail. We look forward to welcoming you to this unique venue.

Attendees are asked to arrive at 6.30pm for a 7pm start. Seating is unallocated – another reason to arrive early to secure an optimal spot.

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ABOUT THE BOOK

1963. A young widow with two little girls marries a bereaved man, also with two daughters, and together they have a child—a fifth daughter. In A Woman Talks to Her Tongue, the fifth daughter, Alison, speaks of that family, as she knew it, its secrets and silences, unacknowledged griefs and inherited traumas, how they shaped her, how she survived them and grew, through poetry, into acceptance and gratitude for the life she made of all this ordinary tragedy and comedy. Poems keep a poet’s secrets and curate her memories as if they were our own; through the ways a poet employs language (sprung, taut, elliptical, rhythmic, metaphored) to care for, and keep safe, the only life she gets to lead, poetry somehow—this is its magic—tells us, its readers, our secrets, myths that might almost be our own. And so it goes with this first book by Alison Gorman.

The early poems of A Woman Talks to Her Tongue catch and release a few moments in a daughter’s life, from her early childhood to parenthood. The second section is a kind and passionate cry for truth-telling, femininity and creativity; it includes a series of remarkable monologues that examine silence and breaking silence in the voices of some women from history: Enheduanna (a Sumerian priestess and the first recorded poet), the goddess Venus, a vestal virgin, Georgia O’Keefe, Frida Kahlo and Zelda Fitzgerald. In the poems of part three—along with the collection’s opening poem “Telling Will”—the poet leads us deftly and kindly through painful discoveries and the loneliness of estrangement, toward her reconnection with ageing parents, and her ongoing battle to forgive. That quest—toward understanding and acceptance—continues through the epiphanies, the moments of world and marriage, the coming of middle age, the delights, that comprise the book’s fourth part. This is a book of women and tongues, a book of many forms, of eloquence and quiet rage; a book of small ecstasies, long sorrows and longer loves. A triumphant first collection. A lyric and fragmentary record of a life that learns to transfigure silence to song and sorrow to beauty.

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ABOUT ALISON GORMAN

ALISON GORMAN is a poet, creative-writing teacher, and former speech pathologist. She lives in Sydney's north and Gloucester.

Her poetry has appeared in Live Encounters, Cordite, Island, Honest Ulsterman, Meanjin, Mslexia, Popshot Quarterly, Southerly and Southword. She was awarded the Dorothy Porter Poetry Prize in 2016 and a Varuna Residential Fellowship in 2023. Her poems have been shortlisted in the Gwen Harwood Poetry Prize, the Bridport Poetry Prize, the Fish Poetry Prize and the Mslexia Poetry Competition; her poems were highly commended in the 2024 Mslexia Pamphlet Competition.

Alison has an MA in Creative Writing from the University of Sydney. When Alison is not making poetry, she teaches creative writing to children at Inkling Writing Studio, which she founded in 2018.

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ABOUT AUDREY MOLLOY

Audrey Molloy grew up in Ireland and has lived in Sydney since 1998. Her debut collection, The Important Things (The Gallery Press, 2021), won the Anne Elder Award and was shortlisted for the Seamus Heaney First Collection Poetry Prize. The Blue Cocktail was published by The Gallery Press and Pitt Street Poetry in 2023. She has an MA in Creative Writing from Manchester Metropolitan University and is the recipient of a Literature Bursary Award from The Arts Council of Ireland. She is co-editor of The Marrow International Poetry.

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ABOUT JUDITH BEVERIDGE

Judith Beveridge has published eight books of poetry, most recently Tintinnabulum (Giramondo, 2024). She was poetry editor of Meanjin for 10 years and taught poetry writing for 16 years at postgraduate level at the University of Sydney. Her books have won major prizes, including the 2019 Prime Minister’s Award for Poetry for Sun Music: New and Selected Poems. She has edited many anthologies, including Contemporary Australian Poetry (Puncher and Wattman, 2016). Her work has been studied in schools and universities and has been translated into many languages.

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TERMS & CONDITIONS

Refunds

Please note that tickets are non-refundable unless the event is cancelled or postponed due to extenuating circumstances. Refunds are not issued within 48 hours notice of event date. Humanitix fee is nonrefundable.

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This event is presented by Roaring Stories Bookshop Balmain.

With thanks to our venue partner Red Mill and Five Islands Press.

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