16 October 2019: The fifth Poetry on the Move Festival kicks off this Thursday 17 October featuring poetry readings, workshops and conversation sessions between Poets-in-Residence at a number of venues across Canberra.
This year’s theme, Small Leaps, Giant Steps, playfully appropriates Neil Armstrong’s historic utterance as a way of exploring how contemporary poetry uses or harnesses knowledge of various kinds, and what avenues of exploration poetry enters.
The Poets-in-Residence include the award-winning Tricia Dearborn, Alvin Pang and Mani Rao.
“As Canberra’s pre-eminent poetry festival, we continue to draw incredible talent from across the globe,” said Shane Strange, Festival Director from the University of Canberra’s Centre for Cultural Research. “We are unique in placing academic research on poetics in the festival program through the Symposium, which allows us to explore how poetry helps us understand our world.”
The Festival Hub will be the Ainslie and Gorman House Arts Centre. There will be evening readings at Smith’s Alternative, the National Portrait Gallery and the Canberra Museum and Gallery. The Museum and Gallery will also host a poetry symposium.
The Poetry on the Move Festival will run from 17 October until 21 October and features 35 poets. On the final day of the festival, the Vice-Chancellor’s International Poetry Prize will be announced at the Canberra Museum and Gallery.
The festival attracts people to Canberra from across Australia and the world, as well as supporting Canberra’s local literary bards.
Poetry on the Move is run by the International Poetry Studies Institute as part of the University of Canberra’s Centre for Creative and Cultural Research in the Faculty of Arts and Design.
For more details on the program, visit the Poetry on the Move Festival website.