Spoken Word

The live Radiothon show for 2022, with presenters, Brendan Bonsack and Es Foong. Featuring poetry Dominique Hecq, Tim Loveday, Kathryn Ross, and Phu-Linh Tran. 

A live recording of Jennifer Compton, feature poet at Cherry Poets, The Cherry Tree Hotel, Cremorne. The event was held on 7th May 2022. Jennifer's eleventh book of poetry, the moment, taken, is available from Recent Works Press.

In this week's show we chat to poet Nicholas Powell about his new collection, Trap Landscape, soon to be launched in Melbourne. Powell is winner of the 2011 Thomas Shapcott Poetry Prize. His latest work is described as "Word play and vernacular colliding to re-imagine language in a dreamscape".Also in the show we hear a poem by Andy Jackson, and part one of a live recording of Jennifer Compton at...

Di's poetry crosses a range of forms and is always evolving.

A few weeks ago we put a call out online for artists to contribute a poem or story on the theme of motherhood. Thank you to everyone who sent in their work! There were too many contributions to fit into one Spoken Word show, so it was split into two episodes. This second episode features readings by Amy Bodossian, Ela Fornalska, Simone King, Vasilka Pateras, Chae Paterson, Scott-Patrick Mitchell,...

Alex Skovron reads from and discusses his new book of poetry, Letters from the Periphery, with Di Cousens. Photo by Di Cousens.

Last week we put a call out online for artists to contribute a poem or story on the theme of motherhood. Thank you to everyone who sent in their work! There were too many contributions to fit into one Spoken Word show, so it's been split into two episodes. This first episode features readings by Astrid/Brownsugababe, Caddy Callaghan, Rebecca Louise Clarke, Jeltje Fanoy, Ela Fornalska, Allana Kelsa...

This show plays extracts from the CD, Voices, where German born, British composer Max Richter combines a spoken word rendition of parts of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights with his own musical composition. Produced by Di Cousens.

This episode features performances by Claire Gaskin, Kim Jeffs, Blayke, Eleanor Jackson, Viki Mealings, Saint Jorge, Thabani Tshuma and Fleassy Malay. With music by Claire Cross, Juliet Vrakas, Rachel Dease and Monique DiMattina. 

Poet and publisher Susan Hawthorne reflects on her life in poetry and Spinifex Publishing. This is part two of two programs.

A live recording of the inaugural Radio Laria gig at Open Studio on 6 April 2022. Featuring Laura Brinson, Mary Chydiriotis and Vasilka Pateras, reading from their book, Thread, as well as new works. Radio Laria is a community collective that runs monthly events where poets, writers and storytellers can gather together to share their expressions. Originally part of Girls on Key, Radio Laria priori...

Susan Hawthorne talks to Di Cousens about her new work of poetry, The Sacking of the Muses. Photo by Susan Kelly.

Poet Judith Rodriguez talks about the poetry of the Aboriginal community which was originally an oral tradition but which was written down in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

In this episode, we play segments of the live premiere of Reconstruction, a poetic monologue by Sean O'Callaghan, described as "Irish storytelling the ancient epic way, in its own idiom." The audio was recorded live at Pride of Our Footscray Bar on 17 March 2022.Also in the program, a piece by Jeltje and Friends, from their new album of spoken word, In the Foreground.

Sandy Jeffs talks about her new book, The Poetics of a Plague, A Haiku Diary, which reflects on the experience of the COVID-19 pandemic in Melbourne. Interviewed by Di Cousens.

This week's show features performances by Jessie Giles, James Worse Public Address Method, Indigo Sparke, Sean M Whelan, and Jakson. 

'Since Ali Died' was a stage show by Omar Musa performed at the Arts Centre Melbourne in 2019. This show presents some of the spoken word pieces from the CD of the same name. Presented by Di Cousens. Omar Musa, a Malaysian-Australian rapper, poet and author from Queanbeyan and author of 'Here Comes The Dogs'.

Santo Cazzati speaks with poet and gig convenor, Laura Fisher.

This week's programme features performances by:Josh CakeJeltje FanoyViki MealingsFleassy MalayThe Magpie SwoopPlease click on the links above for more info on each performer. Thanks for listening! 

In today's show, we play some pieces from Closed Beginnings, the debut collaborative release of Tariro Mavondo, Reuben Lewis and Peter Knight. For more information about the album, please visit Australian Art Orchestra. 

Lizz Murphy talks to Di Cousens about her new book of poetry, The Wear of My Face. She is an Irish-Australian poet who lives outside Canberra in New South Wales. The matters that have concerned Murphy poetically in the past persist in this collection - especially social justice and the lives of women: girls, vulnerable to predation, but also older women, or poorer women, or women displaced. Murphy...

Grace de las Nieves reads poetry from her debut collection, La Gracia de las Nieves. The book is published in Spanish, with English translations. Presenter, Brendan Bonsack, reads the English versions. Grace chats about coming to Melbourne from Chile, women's power and poetry as a language of revolution, the translation process, and the untranslatable concept of saudade.

Our guest this week is multi-disciplinary artist, Sasha Čuha, talking about his new projects, a podcast exploring the visibility of mental health within the arts scene, and a spoken word album of gothic horror stories. To listen to episodes of The Candle Melbourne podcast, go to www.thecandlemelbourne.com. ** Please note that this episode contains course language and discussion of mental health an...

This is the second part of a two part series on Old English wisdom poetry. Translator and commentator Bob DiNapoli discusses his new book, Reading Old English Wisdom, the Fetters in the Frost. This poetry is the work of ancient English pagan poets which was fortuitously preserved by monasteries more than a thousand years ago. Interviewed by Di Cousens, photo by Di Cousens.

This week's guest is Nikki Vivicca, poet, actor, comedian, burlesque and improv performer, among many other talents! Nikki's work was recently performed in an online theatre show, Body Uncertain, she was a performer in the green room award nominated show, Gender Euphoria, and winner of both the Midsumma Poetry Slam and Trans Poetry Slam, as well as being a runner up for the 2019 Melbourne Spoken W...