A Book launch for La Mama Poetica curator Amanda Anastasi’s new poetry book The Inheritors.
Amanda Anastasi, current Poet in Residence at the Monash Climate Change Communication Research Hub and convener of La Mama Poetica, launches her book The Inheritors (Black Pepper Publishing, 2021). This event will feature readings from readings from the new collection and special guest poets Alicia Sometimes, Nathan Curnow and Eleanor Jackson, and climate scientist James Goldie.
Alicia Sometimes is a poet, writer and broadcaster. She has performed her spoken word and poetry at many venues, festivals and events around the world. She is director and co-writer of the art/science planetarium shows, Elemental and Particle/Wave. She is currently a 2021 City of Melbourne Boyd Garret recipient. Alicia will launch the book on the night as well as reading a set of poems.
Nathan Curnow is an award-winning poet and current judge of the Woorilla Poetry Prize. His books include The Ghost Poetry Project, RADAR, The Right Wrong Notes and The Apocalypse Awards.
Eleanor Jackson is a Filipino Australian poet, performer, arts producer and community radio broadcaster. She is the author of Gravidity and Parity and A Leaving, both by Vagabond Press. Her live album, One Night Wonders, is produced by Going Down Swinging. A long-term advocate for diversity, inclusion, equity and justice in the arts, she is a former Editor in Chief of Peril Magazine, Board Member of Queensland Poetry Festival and Vice-Chair of The Stella Prize. She is currently Chair of Peril Magazine and Producer of the Melbourne Poetry Map.
James Goldie is a data journalist and former climate scientist who has spent the last decade researching and visualising the climate crisis.In 2019, James completed a PhD investigating Australia’s worsening health burden in the face of a changing climate. After finishing, he worked with the Monash Climate Change Communication Research Hub, helping Australians understand climate change with graphics and information on their local climate. James now works as the Data and Digital Storytelling Lead for 360info, a new data journalism project hosted by Monash University.
Amanda Anastasi’s poetry has appeared in unlikely places, from the walls of Artist’s Lane in Windsor to The Massachusetts’s Review in the US. Amanda was the recipient of a 2018 Wheeler Centre Hot Desk Fellowship and a 2020 Assembly for the Future Artist in Residence for The Things We Did Next, writing a series of poems set in the year 2029. Her climate change poetry is featured in Best Australian Science Writing 2021.
“A daring, mesmeric collection. Anastasi weaves her way through these fresh, brave worlds with quiet strength and a careful, exquisite control. A vital and most necessary book from one of our finest.” – Ian McBryde
The event has sold out and will be live-streamed on La Mama Youtube here: