When does a poem not look like a poem? When it is a prose poem. Is there a line between microlit and prose poetry? Is it hard, or blurry?
Come and hear some of Canberra’s creators of prose poetry and microlit talk about their approach and share their work. You might be inspired to try a new form! And if you already write prose poetry or flash fiction, there will be a short open mic where you can share a piece of your own work.
Prosaic City will be hosted by Kimberly Williams, and feature writers and poets Amanda McLeod, Faye Brinsmead, Lucy Alexander and Shane Strange.
Tickets: Free, but registration required.
Kimberly K Williams is the author of three books, Still Lives (Life Before Man, 2022), Sometimes a Woman (Recent Work Press, 2021) and Finally, the Moon, (Stephen F Austin University Press, 2017). Still Lives won a Canberra Critics Award for Writing in 2022, and Sometimes a Woman won the WILLA Award for Poetry in 2022. Kimberly moved to Canberra to work on a PhD after twenty years of writing and teaching in the U.S. Southwest and currently works at the University of Canberra's Centre for Creative and Cultural Research and teaches in the Creative Writing Program at UC. She is originally from Detroit, Michigan.
Lucy Alexander has lived in Canberra for 19 years. She has worked as a tutor, bookseller and workshop leader to keep up her poetry habit. Her poems have appeared in journals and online, as teaching resource material and won her CAPO award in 2022 as well as being shortlisted for the Arc prose poetry award, 2022. Lucy has been working with teachers and preschool students on poetry and is particularly fascinated by line breaks and how they make a poem breathe.
Faye Brinsmead lives in Braddon and works at the Treasury. Her microfictions have appeared in a wide range of literary journals, have won or placed in competitions run by Reflex Press (UK), National Flash Fiction Day (UK) and Meanjin, have been shortlisted and nominated for other awards, and included in the annual Best Microfiction anthology (Pelekinesis Press). Her poetry is published in journals including Meniscus, The Ekphrastic Review and the Wales Haiku Journal. She's currently awaiting the results of an international novella competition, and working on a novel.
Amanda McLeod is a Canberra-based creative with a passion for nature. Her poetry and fiction have appeared in many places both in print and online, with recent publications including Green House Literary, The Big Issue Fiction Edition, and Meniscus Literary Journal. She’s usually outside by the nearest river; otherwise catch her on the socials @AmandaMWrites
Shane Strange is publisher at Recent Work Press and Artistic Director at Queensland Poetry. He has been involved with the editing and publication of over 100 titles of poetry, prose and essays. His writing has appeared in various print and online journals in Australia and internationally, including Overland, Griffith Review, Burley and Verity La. He is the author of two chapbooks, Notes to the Reader and Dark Corner. His first collection of poetry All Suspicions Have Been Confirmed was released 2020.
