Welcome to Ink & Echo

Your monthly Saturday evening sanctuary for poetic exploration and expression! Half workshop and half reading, this two-hour-long event is designed to enrich your poetic craft while offering a stage for your voice to be heard.

Whether you’re a seasoned poet or picking up the pen for the first time, Ink & Echo offers a warm, inclusive space. What’s more? Each month features a unique theme, inspiring you to dive deeper into different facets of poetry.

The first hour of Ink & Echo is a workshop tailored to ignite your creative spirit. Guided by author and poet SoulReserve (author of Lakesong), you’ll dive into writing exercises, learn about different poetic forms, and explore techniques to make your words resonate.

This is a safe space to practice, make mistakes, and grow, all while enjoying the thrill of immediate and constructive feedback from your fellow poets.

The second hour opens the floor to you! Step up to the stage and share your freshly minted verses or read from your stash of treasured poems.

It’s an intimate, encouraging environment where every voice is celebrated. Each reading segment aligns with the month’s theme, offering a cohesive and engaging experience for readers and listeners alike.

Monthly Theme

The theme for this month’s event

Poetic Alchemy: Turning the Mundane into Gold

Poetry, like alchemy, has the power to transform the ordinary into something luminous. In this session we explore how a poet’s eye can extract beauty, meaning, and wonder from everyday life, turning fleeting moments into golden verses. Whether it’s a crumpled receipt, a half-drunk cup of tea, or the hush of a quiet afternoon, poetry elevates the overlooked, revealing hidden depths. Through a series of exercises, we’ll refine the base metal of the mundane into something extraordinary—using metaphor, sensory detail, and perspective shifts to reshape our view of the world. Together, let's discover how the simplest moments can hold magic, waiting to be distilled into poetry.

Remember: If you have already written poems that fit the monthly theme, bring them along to share with the group.

Tickets

Tickets are pay-what-you-feel and start at $20. Book to RSVP and buy your tickets right here on Humanitix.

Location and Transport

The event will be held at Centre for Stories, Northbridge WA 6003. Centre for Stories is a wheelchair-accessible venue.

The Perth train station is a 10-minute walk from Centre for Stories. The closest Wilson parking is 2 minutes away at Northbridge Central, 8/6 Errichetti Place.

Photography Consent

This event may be photographed. By registering for a ticket, you confirm you are giving consent for any photos and recordings to be used for promotional materials and communications.

If you do not wish to be photographed, please contact Laksh at soulreserve@yahoo.com.

February Event Details

Date: 15th Feb 2025

Time: 5:00pm – 7:30pm

About the Facilitator

Lakshmi Kanchi (SoulReserve) is an emerging Indian-Australian poet on a mission—to make poetry accessible. Her writing anatomises the complex linkages between language, culture, and perception.

She is the author of “Lakesong”, her debut poetry collection, published by Centre for Stories. Lakshmi won the 2023 Ros Spencer Poetry Prize and 2021 Pocketry Prize for Unpublished Poets, and her works have been shortlisted for the Heroine’s Prize and Grieve Project.

Her poetry appears in ‘Australian Poetry Anthology,’ ‘Social Alternatives,’ ‘Portside Review,’ ‘Burrow Journal,’ ‘The Saltbush Review,’ and more. She was also the Inaugural Poet-in-Residence at The Wetlands Centre (2022-23) and Swan Writer-in-Residence at the Midland Courthouse (2024).