Spoken Word

Our special guests this week are US touring poet, Desireé V. Dallagiacomo, and Surf Coast poet and artist, Camille Barr.00:00 - 22:30Desireé will be in Melbourne as part of her Australian book tour, doing two shows, and a workshop. She chats with Brendan Bonsack on the phone from NSW, about marriage equality, the importance of poetry communities for mental wellbeing, the role of connective technol...

Archival sound from Lady Longdrop's performance at The Dan O'Connell Hotel in 2016

Tune in to 3CR 855AM or stream on 3cr.org.au to catch Scott Wings sharing a slice of his award winning upcoming Melbourne Fringe Festival show, 'Whiplash'.In conversation with Carmen Main, Scott delves deep into all things heart, dating, identity, mental health and masculinity with a freshness and honesty that is hard to ignore. The program will be available as a podcast shortly after airing. Get...

Our guest this week is Charlotte Sareño Raymond, sharing some poetry, and talking about the experience of putting together her Melbourne Fringe show, The Melanin Monologues - The Untold Stories of the South Asian Community. The show is on for one night only on Friday 13 September at Trades Hall - ETU Ballroom. More details at https://melbournefringe.com.au/event/the-melanin-monologues.

Eddy Burger and Koraly Dimitriadis talk about the new book of spoken word poetry, Solid Air. Photo at 3CR by Di Cousens. 

Santo Cazzati introduces his guest, fellow Italian Australian, Edward Caruso. Eddie has recently released a beautifully presented book of poetry and photography pertaining to his experiences in Argentina and Chile. He has a left political perspective on events there, reflected for certain in his poetry. There is, however, also very beautiful artistic and humanistic expression in his writing. A hig...

A live recording of feature poet, Di Cousens, at the Melbourne Spoken Word & Poetry Festival edition of Be Mused, on the 27th July 2019. The recording also includes poetry by the convener of the event, Cheung-Ling Wong.

In this episode of Spoken Word, tune in to hear Carmen Main in conversation with guest Libby Charlton. Libby shares some of her own original poems, as well as discusses the upcoming Dan Anthology Launch and Art Show, which will be held at The Dan O' Connell Hotel in Carlton on Saturday August 31st, 2pm-5pm. ---------------Libby's BioMy name is Libby Charlton and I’m a Poet, MC, Convenor, Jazz Fan,...

Eleanor Jackson is our guest this week, talking about the nuance and politics of gender, emotional nostalgia, the power of quiet, and the grief of new motherhood. She shares poems about her father, "the second man [she] wanted to be", and discusses stoicism and silence, and the notion of poetry as a secular prayer. She also talks about "racial reconciliation" in Australia, national truth-telling,...

Claire Gaskin is our guest on Spoken Word this week. Fresh from featuring at the Melbourne Spoken Word & Poetry Festival Closing Night, Claire talks about her first forays into live poetry in 1980s Melbourne, and how much the "scene" has changed. She reads some new and old works, and shares some insights into teaching (and marking!) poetry students, her writing process, and favourite poetic device...

A live recording from the vault, of a Brunswick Hotel Passionate Tongues feature performance by Steve Smart.

Rania Ahmed, winner of the MSW Prize People's Choice Award 2018, and feature performer at the 2019 Melbourne Spoken Word and Poetry Festival, is our guest this week. 

On this week's Spoken Word show, we air the brand new 7" vinyl single from Drmngnow, Australia Does Not Exist, which was released at Northside Records ahead of NAIDOC Week 2019.We speak with poet, Laniyuk, about truth-telling, treaty, funding and accessibility in the arts, and the great value of spoken word for people often marginalised from traditional publishing media. The page/stage dichotomy....

Sydney poet, Omar Sakr, reads from his new book, The Lost Arabs and reflects on life and identity in contemporary Australia. Interviewed by Di Cousens.

George presents the final episode of Spoken Word's live Radiothon show at Bar 303 this year, with performers Michael Reynolds and Sigrun Mikula.

In this week's show, we talk with two of the poets featuring in the 2019 Melbourne Spoken Word & Poetry Festival, Arielle Cottingham and Tariro Mavondo.00:00 - Arielle Cottingham21:20 - Tariro MavondoTexas-born Afro-Latina artist, Arielle Cottingham, is now living in Tasmania and joins us on the phone to talk about the body and performance, microphone and stagecraft, differences in the US and Aust...

The 2019 Radiothon Show, featuring poetry by various artists, and thank yous to all the listeners who phoned in or donated online!

George O'Hara presents the second of a series of recordings from the 2019 Radiothon Fundraiser live gig in May this year. This episode features Alan Pentland and Michael Reynolds. 

George O'Hara presents the first of a series of recordings from the 2019 Radiothon Fundraiser live gig in May this year. This episode features Claire Gaskin and Alan Pentland.

George O'Hara presents a live recording of Michael Reynolds, featuring at The Dan O'Connell Hotel.

Awale Ahmed is our guest this week, fresh from his stint as resident poet and storyteller in Queenscliff! Awale shares some brand new poems, and some old favourites, and speaks about his childhood journey from Somalia to Saudi Arabia, and eventually to Australia, where he discovered and fell in love with the vibrant spoken word scene. He talks about casual and systemic racism, his favourite poetry...

A special Mother's Day edition of Spoken Word, featuring poetry on the theme of motherhood, from:Rania AhmedArielle CottinghamZaynab FarahGabriela GeorgesRhiann IsaacsTariro MavondoKrish Prasad** This program contains themes of family violence, self-harm, racial abuse and miscarriage. It also contains course language. Listener discretion is advised. **

This is a reading of poetry at a protest in Castlemaine. The poetry is by refugee poets in Australia's offshore detention centres working with Writing Through Fences and Janet Galbraith. Recorded in December 2017.

George O'Hara presents a live recording of Jocelyn Deane at The Night Heron, Footscray. Jocelyn was born in London and now lives in Melbourne. They have been published in Voiceworks, Australian Poetry, Seizure, and were shortlisted for the 2015 Marsden and Hachette prize for poetry.

Tim Evans in conversation with Carmen MainTim Evans is recovering from being English and, since 2015, has been working through this by performing his poems at strangers. His hobbies include anxiety, depression, jokes, and trying to do all of them at the same time. He’s been published in the audio journal Audacious Vol. 4, in Australian Poetry Journal and in the upcoming anthology Solid Air from Un...