Welcome to our second Poets' Corner for 2025, with guest poet Shaine Melrose.

Shaine Melrose – poet, retired gardener and spoken word performer lives on Kaurna Yerta in the Adelaide Hills. Shaine grew up in the Dandenong Ranges in Victoria and moved to Adelaide thirty years ago, the natural world has always been significant in her life and writing. Chronic illness has been present throughout Shaine’s life but by 2017 her multiple conditions became debilitating. After a long medical journey of ruling out and diagnosis, Shaine reinvented herself, put down the spade and took up the pen in great earnest. This intense hard work has led to the publication of The Natural World Somersaults by Walleah Press, being longlisted for the Vice Chancellors Poetry Prize 2023 and shortlisted for the Judith Wright Poetry Prize in 2022. Shaine has been widely published in journals and anthologies, from Milang Community News, and the annual Friendly Street Reader to Australian Poetry Journal and Overland. She won publication with her short collection, Shooting Words From My Soul in 2022 released by Friendly Street Poets in New Poets #23. Shaine has read at Spoken Word events around Adelaide and achieved ‘Runner up’ and ‘Finalist’ in several Slams.

Don't forget, you can bring along a poem of your own to share during our open mic session.

We look forward to seeing you there!