poetry@fedsquare

Beer DeLuxe upstairs at Federation Square

With the so called boat people and the refugee issue remaining and still dominating the current social and politican arena in Australia we thought it would great to give a voice to those voiceless, that is those who put their lives in a huge risk, crossing wild seas and lots of dangers trying to escape hard economic and social conditions and also political and other similar harrasment and settle in a civilised country and put their life dreams in a motion again.

In 19 July we will feature young poet and activist Benjamin Solah and the group Writing Through Fences: Poets from within immigration detention through the launch of Through The Wire: writing from immigration detention.

BENJAMIN SOLAH is a writer of truth, fiction and poetry, a spoken word artist and political activist. He grew up in the suburbs of Western Sydney but now lives in Melbourne where he studies Creative Writing at RMIT University. Editor of MelbourneSpokenWord.com and a convener of Keep Left. His writing has appeared in Overland, The Emerging Writer, Geek Mook and various anthologies. He has also co-produced a spoken word EP with Santo Cazzati “Duel Power”. He has performed poetry and spoken word at Passionate Tongues, Dan O’Connell, Midsumma Festival and Keep Left. He has been a refugee activist since 2004 and a member of Refugee Action Collective (Victoria). His chap book “Broken Bodies” is a series of poetic snapshots concerned with the treatment of asylun seekers.

WRITING THROUGH FENCES (WTF) is a writing group primarily made up of people who are or have been directly affected by the Australian immigration industry. It was established in 2013 by Janet Galbraith. The name Writing Through Fences refers to the ability of writers and artists to reach beyond fences and walls that attempt to contain, define and silence them. The name also situates this group within the long colonial practices of division of country, of displacement and incarceration characteristic of Australia’s ongoing racist history. Writing Through Fences recognises that we live, create and are imprisoned on stolen lands.

Over the past eleven months the group has grown into a strong community of creativity and support. It has become a place of refuge for many. Writing and art-making is an enlivening process where the practitioners are able to define and re-create selves that reach beyond and before the current violences they are experiencing, asserting their different experiences, personalities, styles, histories and literary traditions.

You can find WTF’s work at http://thearrivalists.tumblr.com/. If you wish to support this group you can find Friends of Writing Through Fences at https://www.facebook.com/friendsofWTF

To contact Janet Galbraith: galbraith_janet@yahoo.com.au

We will have also our open mic readers.

Poetry@fedsquare is coming to you the third Saturday of every month (except December and January) under the Federation Square and the auspices of Multicultural Arts Victoria.

Contact details
Dimitris Troaditis
poetryfedsquare@gmail.com
troaditisdimitris@gmail.com
facebook http://www.facebook.com/PoetryAtFedSquare
twitter http://twitter.com/poetryfedsquare