Every day across Poetry Month in August, 30in30 delivers new original poetry, reflections and writing prompts from some of the country’s leading poets, authors, and spoken word artists.

​​30in30 provides a snapshot of some of the best of contemporary Australian poetry - and in this episode, we’ve pulled together a selection of this year’s commissioned works for your listening pleasure.

Find out more about Poetry Month and the artists featured in this episode at redroompoetry.org/poetrymonth

Artist Bios and Poems

1. Chika Ikogwe artist biography, and poem, 'Let that Black lady breathe!
2. Heather Mitchell artist biography, and poem, 'I Fell'
3. Lang Leav artist biography, and poem, 'A Letter to My Mother at Immigration'
4. Mitch McTaggart artist biography, and poem, 'In the event of apocalypse, remember TV'
5. Kirli Saunders artist biography, and poem, 'Safe Way'
6. Hasib Hourani artist biography, and poem, 'you can start anywhere, you’ll still hit all the service stations'
7. Manal Younus artist biography, and poem, 'I Dance'
8. Dominic Guerrera artist biography, and poem, 'cycle'
9. Lucy Norton artist biography, and poem, 'a song you can’t unsing'
10. Jonathan Sriranganathan artist biography, and poem, 'Clipper blades and feather pillows'
11. Juran Adams artist biography, and work 'Willow'

Explore Poetry Month

August is Poetry Month - a continent-wide celebration of contemporary Australian poetry established by Red Room Poetry to increase access, awareness and visibility of poetry in all its forms and for all audiences.

Support the show: https://redroompoetry.org/donate/

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

What do art and sport have in common, and how do you feed your creativity?

Brendan Cowell is an award-winning writer, actor and director for television, theatre and film. He is currently in production on a six-part adaptation of his novel Plum with ABC and Screen Australia, starring Asher Keddie.

Red Room Poetry Creative Producer and Line Break host Izzy Roberts-Orr spoke with Brendan about his poem, ‘Boyd Cordner’, commissioned for Poetry Month 2021 and published in Red Room Poetry’s 20 year anthology A Line in the Sand, as well as art vs sport, the place of poetry and how he feeds his creativity. Keep an ear out for a cameo from Brendan’s Mum Yvonne as well.

Please note: This episode contains coarse language.

Explore Poetry Month

August is Poetry Month - a continent-wide celebration of contemporary Australian poetry established by Red Room Poetry to increase access, awareness and visibility of poetry in all its forms and for all audiences.

Explore the full program at https://poetrymonth.org.au/

This year, as part of Poetry Month, we're bringing the UK's Biggest Poetry and Performance Festival Down Under. The UK’s biggest poetry and performance festival BBC's Contains Strong Language comes to Sydney 28-31 August.

Check out the full program here

https://redroompoetry.org/projects/poetry-month/contains-strong-language/

Support the show: https://redroompoetry.org/donate/

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

What does poetry mean to you? And what if you could put a book on shuffle?

Nam Le’s work encompasses fiction, non-fiction, poetry and screen. His debut poetry collection 36 Ways of Writing a Vietnamese Poem was published in March 2024 in Australia, the U.S. and U.K.

Red Room Poetry Creative Producer and Line Break host Izzy Roberts-Orr spoke with Nam about breaking the form of the book apart, poetry’s ability as a form to reach through language toward the incommunicable, and his poem, ‘Quilting the Armour’ commissioned as part of 30in30 for Poetry Month in partnership with the NGA.

‘Quilting the Armour’ is an ekphrastic poem responding to Sidney Nolan’s 1947 painting of the same name, which depicts Maggie Skillion lining the inside of Ned Kelly’s helmet.

Explore Poetry Month

August is Poetry Month - a continent-wide celebration of contemporary Australian poetry established by Red Room Poetry to increase access, awareness and visibility of poetry in all its forms and for all audiences.

Explore the full program at https://poetrymonth.org.au/

This year, as part of Poetry Month, we're bringing the UK's Biggest Poetry and Performance Festival Down Under. The UK’s biggest poetry and performance festival BBC's Contains Strong Language comes to Sydney 28-31 August.

Check out the full program here https://redroompoetry.org/projects/poetry-month/contains-strong-language/

Support the show: https://redroompoetry.org/donate/

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.