Poems on paper are stable looking yet change with every reading. They change as we begin to know them better. They change because we, and language, and objects all accumulate time. Likewise, no two performances of a poem are the same, contingent on the moment in time they are made into sound. Award winning poets Pam Brown, Toby Fitch and Holly Isemonger will bring their well-loved and new poems to life.

The event is presented by Poetry Sydney, sponsored by Eastside as part of the Eastside Unlocked festival program in association with the Stanley Street Gallery.

Exhibition: The Broken Creek, John Donegan, ‘Hold still, listen and see’

Feature poets:

Pam Brown has been writing, collaborating, editing and publishing in diverse modes for five decades. A number of her many books have been on the shortlists and have sometimes won the prize. In 2022 her collection of poems Stasis Shuffle (Hunter Publishers) received the annual Judith Wright Calanthe Award. She lives in Sydney on never-ceded Gadigal land.

Toby Fitch is poetry editor of Overland and a lecturer in creative writing at the University of Sydney. He is the author of seven books of poetry, including Where Only the Sky had Hung Before and, most recently, Sydney Spleen (Giramondo 2021). His next book, a newly expanded and full-colour edition of Object Permanence: Calligrammes, will be published by Puncher & Wattmann and Thorny Devil Press alongside a solo exhibition at WordXImage in December 2022.

Holly Isemonger is a poet, critic and editor from Gerringong, NSW. She was the joint winner of the Judith Wright Poetry Prize. Her work has appeared in journals such as Cordite, Overland and Westerly and she is the author of the chapbooks Hip Shifts (If A Leaf Falls Press) and Deluxe Paperweight (Stale Objects dePress). She can be found at @Hisemonger on Twitter.

Poetry Sydney nurtures innovation, discovery, and inspiration through the poetry of today. We present established, emerging and early career poets from diverse poetry practices. For more information please visit our website: poetrysydney.org

Exhibiting artists:

John Donegan is an artist with a background in photojournalism. His artistic practice searches for the beauty in the menial and ordinary rhythms of everyday life, often highlighting the seemingly unimportant, insignificant, or unseen. The Broken Creek marks a turning point, whereby Donegan is exploring finding peace within nature and himself.

Exhibition: The Broken Creek
Dates: 19 October - 12 November 2022
Gallery: Stanley Street Gallery

Julie Blyfield has worked for over 30 years at her practice, currently from her own independent studio overlooking her garden environment in Maylands, South Australia. Blyfield’s jewellery and object work is inspired by research into botanical specimens, historical silver collections and the rich diversity of the Australian landscape, which she interprets using the technique of metal chasing, hammering and surface chiselling, predominately in sterling silver and more recently, copper.

Exhibition: Surfacing
Dates: 19 October - 12 November 2022
Gallery: Stanley Street Gallery

Poetry Sydney gives respect to the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation, the traditional owners of the land we live, create, meet and work.

Image detail credit: The Broken Creek, John Donegal, Stanley Street Gallery. Copyright 2022. All rights reserved 2022