FREE EVENT
The Poetics Of Refuge
Participating Chair: Paul Hetherington • Michele Seminara, Sarah Holland-Batt and Robbie Coburn
Poetics comes from poiesis, meaning ‘to make’. For centuries, poets have built refuge with their words, fashioning shelters to succour writers and readers alike. Now, as humanity struggles with timeless and timely new challenges, our award- winning poets ponder poetry's unique power to provide solace.
Artist
MICHELE SEMINARA
Michele Seminara is a poet and editor from Sydney. Her books include Engraft, Scar to Scar (written with Robbie Coburn), HUSH and Suburban Fantasy.
Artist
SARAH HOLLAND-BATT
Professor Sarah Holland-Batt is an award-winning poet, editor and critic, and a member of QUT’s Creative Writing faculty. Her first book, Aria, was the recipient of the Thomas Shapcott Poetry Prize, the Judith Wright Poetry Prize and the Anne Elder Award. Her second book, The Hazards, won the 2016 Prime Minister’s Literary Award for Poetry. Sarah’s most recent books are Fishing for Lightning: The Spark of Poetry, a collection of her columns on contemporary Australian poetry from The Weekend Australian, and her poetry collection The Jaguar.
Artist
ROBBIE COBURN
Robbie Coburn’s work has appeared in many national and overseas publications such as Poetry, Meanjin, Island and Westerly, as well as in notable anthologies, including Writing to the Wire and To End All Wars. He is the author of two full-length volumes of poetry, Rain Season and The Other Flesh.
Moderator
PAUL HETHERINGTON
Professor Paul Hetherington is an Australian poet and academic who has published numerous poetry collections and won or been nominated for more than thirty national and international awards and competitions. He worked for 19 years at the National Library of Australia and is Professor of Writing at the University of Canberra, where he heads the university’s International Poetry Studies Institute.