Queensland Poetry Festival (QPF) is an independent festival and arts organisation which exists to support, cultivate, and promote a vibrant poetry culture in Queensland.
A community organisation made up of creative individuals passionate about inspiring, entertaining, challenging, and bringing poetry in all its forms to a wide audience, QPF work with individuals, artists, schools, and arts organisations, to promote Queensland poets and poetry.
QPF embrace and encourage the wide possibility of poetic expression, page poetry, readings, slam, spoken word, performance, music, ekphrastic poetry, collaborations, installations, cross-platform creations, film, and more. One of the finest spoken word festivals in the country, the festival is an important part of Australia s annual literary calendar, with an established reputation for excellence and innovation amongst audience, artists and industry worldwide.
Damian CowellFollowing an outter space theme this year, co-director's of the festival Anne-Marie Te Whiu and Dvid Stavanger tell us what really happen to words in space:
What can we expect from this year's festival?
D: Exciting artists taking poetry into the future. Sessions that will challenge a lot of people's idea of what poetry is and how we listen to it. From slam to song to sonnet. Quan in a wig (TBC). Poets naked (literally and metaphorically).
A: World class poetry where over 80% sessions are free.
What are you most excited to see?
D: We're bringing a tour of three contemporary Scottish poets, it's the accent and so much more. Also, interviewing Clive Palmer about his journey from writing love poems as a young man to becoming a mining magnate.
A: 'Quasimodo's Dream' where poets respond to the films of David Lynch. 'Listen Like Thieves' session with rapper and novelist Omar Musa, Myanmar's conceptual poet Nyein Way and Italian poet-artist Elisa Biagini.
QuanCan you explain this year's theme of outer space?
Both: This was initially borne from the choice of Kate Durbin as Arts Queensland Poet in Residence. She works with pop culture, social media and reality TV which got us thinking about poetry in the air, as a transmission. Plus one of Kate's photos reminded us of Barbarella. From there we thought about what it is the poetry of the future, and started to programme around this theme. And who doesn't dig space?
Is language a virus?
Both: According to W.S. Burroughs it is, and who would argue with him?
What does happen to words in space?
Both: They mutate once delivered live. Text once off-the-page can take new forms, as you will see when you come to QPF. Our opening night 'Walking On A Dream' literally puts poetry in the air via circus and brings a sci-fi tech touch with the likes of Seja & Quan (Regurgitator).
Kate DurbinHow do you think poetry has developed and evolved in the past decade?
A: The rise of technology has made communication more rapidly accessible, and inadvertently made us all poets in some way. Also, an increase in people writing poetry vs. people reading it.
D: Poetry has become a very popular live form that most festivals incorporate in some way, which is great. It now also has a very participatory art, which has meant a younger audience via the slam movement, but it's also created a fine line between what poetry actually is. If I get up and say words for two minutes, is that a poem?
Which form of poetic expression do you favour most?
A: Poetry films such as Canadian Justin Stephenson who is premiering his new work 'The Complete Works' at QPF 2015. I've been hooked on film since seeing Fellini's '8Ω ' as a kid. We are also showing 'Picnic At Hanging Rock', and to me this is a quintessential example of film as poetry, it's the stillness and the use of silence that holds you.
D: Performance or sound poetry that startles me, that goes beyond the slam aesthetic, approaching subject matter from the side rather than the front. Poets such as Klare Lanson, Adam Hadley and Lionel Fogarty that agitate the air. I also love poetry on the page, hot bath and a long, slow read.
SnowdogAre grammatical/ punctuational errors in modern forms of poetry acceptable?
D: Their not that important to me. Words can(t) be remixed and rehsped; mistakes are another door in.
A: No.
A haiku about the upcoming festival by David and Annie:
The future poets
Defying gravity live
Bookmarks in your ear
The Queensland Poetry Festival takes place at the Judith Wright Centre, 28-30 August.
