Ink & Echo: Monthly Poetry Meetup

✦ A monthly poetry gathering · Perth

Welcome to Ink & Echo

Come with a thought. Leave with a poem.

A Saturday evening sanctuary for people who love words, wonder what to do with them, or simply want to give poetry a go. Part writing workshop, part open reading, and entirely about the joy of making something together.

Whether you've been writing for years or haven't written a line since school, Ink & Echo is a place to experiment, listen, find your voice and meet good people. Each gathering follows a different theme, so there's always somewhere new for the words to take us.

No experience required. No pressure to perform. Just bring yourself, and perhaps a notebook.

New ways to find your words.

01 / The workshop

First, we write.

Explore playful prompts, poetic forms and new ways of looking at the world. Guided by Lakshmi Kanchi (SoulReserve) and, on occasion, guest poets, you'll make room for discoveries, happy accidents and the beginnings of poems you didn't know you had in you.

02 / The reading

Then, we share.

The floor opens for anyone who'd like to read. Share something fresh from the workshop or bring a poem you've written before. Listening is just as welcome as reading, and every voice is met with warmth and encouragement.

A glimpse of our themes · October 2026

Between Wind and Wall: Poetics of Home

Home is never only a place of shelter. It is the space between what holds us and what passes through: wind under a door, voices through a wall, memory moving from room to room.

In this workshop, we explored home as architecture, inheritance, refuge and rupture: houses that disappear, walls that hold memory, and landscapes that endure after fire.

Each workshop has its own theme. See the available ticket dates for upcoming sessions.

Your place at the table

Tickets & bookings

Regular sessions are pay-what-you-feel, starting at $20. Special sessions may have a fixed ticket price; the January workshop at The Wetlands Centre Cockburn is one of these.

Booking your workshops: You can book one or more upcoming Ink & Echo sessions in the same order. Simply choose the workshop dates you want from the ticket options, and check the venue and price for each session.

Refunds and places: Refunds are available up to seven days before your workshop. Within seven days of the workshop, bookings are final, except where a refund is required by law. All places are allocated on a first-come, first-served basis.

Lawson Flats members: Thanks to the venue's generous support, up to four complimentary places are available to members for sessions held at Lawson Flats. Please choose the Lawson Flats Member ticket when available.

Our usual home: Lawson Flats

Most Ink & Echo sessions take place at Lawson Flats. Our 30 January 2027 workshop will instead be held at The Wetlands Centre Cockburn, 184 Hope Road, Bibra Lake WA 6163. Please check the venue listed for your chosen session.

Lawson Flats
4 Sherwood Court, Perth WA 6000

Get directions ↗

Accessibility: Step-free access from Sherwood Court and lift access inside the building.

Public transport: Around five minutes' walk from Elizabeth Quay Station, ten minutes from Perth Station, and close to Blue CAT services on St Georges Terrace.

Parking: No onsite parking. Nearby paid options include Council House and Pier Street car parks. Short-stay bays outside Lawson Flats may be used for drop-off and pick-up.

A little reminder: If you've already written something that fits the workshop theme, bring it along. Sometimes an older poem finds a new home in a room full of listeners.

A big thank-you to our hosts

Ink & Echo is proudly supported by Lawson Flats, who generously provide the venue in kind and help make this gathering possible.

Meet your facilitator

Lakshmi Kanchi (SoulReserve)

Lakshmi is an Indian-Australian poet who believes poetry belongs to everyone. Her writing explores the shifting relationships between language, culture and perception.

She is the author of Lakesong, her debut poetry collection published by Centre for Stories, and winner of the 2023 Ros Spencer Poetry Prize and 2021 Pocketry Prize for Unpublished Poets. Her work has been shortlisted for the Heroine's Prize and the Grieve Project.

Her poetry has appeared in Australian Poetry Anthology, Social Alternatives, Portside Review, Burrow Journal and The Saltbush Review, among others. She was the inaugural Poet-in-Residence at The Wetlands Centre (2022–23) and Swan Writer-in-Residence at the Midland Courthouse (2024).

Photography & recordings

Photographs or recordings may be made during the event for promotional materials and communications. By registering, you consent to this use.

If you don't wish to appear in photographs or recordings, please contact Laksh at soulreserve@yahoo.com so we can make arrangements.

Acknowledgement of Country

Ink & Echo acknowledges the Whadjuk people of the Noongar nation as the Traditional Custodians of the land on which we gather. We recognise their continuing connection to land, waters, culture and community, and pay our respects to Elders past and present.

Always was, always will be Aboriginal land.