This week, we’re excited to be bringing you a collection of stories, poems and songs performed live at Boundless Festival of Indigenous and Culturally Diverse writers.
Boundless is presented by Writing NSW and Bankstown Arts Centre and is made possible with the support of Create NSW, the Copyright Agency Cultural Fund and the Australia Council for the Arts. For more information about Boundless Festival, you can click here.
In this episode we’re sharing sharing three beautiful performances from the Boundless Program. The first two come from ‘When Breath Meets Air,’ a performance event curated by Tina Huang which aims to showcase the power of the spoken word and to highlight why– as Eileen Myles writes, we should “believe in sound.” Why we should believe in the tiniest shakings, in the smells dispersing, in the tingling moments between breath and between air.
First we hear from Gomeroi poet, essayist and law academic Alison Whittaker. You can find Alison on Twitter @AJ_Whittaker.
Next we hear from human rights activist, poet and writer Sara Saleh. Sara is the daughter of migrants from Palestine, Egypt and Lebanon and is currently living on Gadigal Land. Her work has been published in English and Arabic in various national and international outlets and anthologies. Sara was the first poet to win the Peter Porter Poetry Prize and the Judith Wright Poetry Prize, she is currently developing her first novel. You can find her @SaraSalehOz on Twitter and @instasaraade on Instagram.
To close our episode, we have a poem performed by Nicole Smede as part of ‘Empty City, Lonely Girl,’ also curated by Tina Huang this performance event featured stories of loneliness and connection. Nicole is a multi-disciplinary artist of Worimi and European descent and uses language, song and poetry as a form of connection. Her voice can be heard on award-winning film scores, and poetry in visual and sound works, and publications including Guwayu: for all times, and 20x20x12 Sensing Place. You can find her @nicolesmede on Twitter and @nicole.smede on Instagram.
All The Best credits
Production Manager: Danni Stewart
Editorial Manager: Mell Chun
Host: Helenna Barone-Peters
Episode Mix and Compile: Danni Stewart
Social Media Producers: Emma Pham
Community and Events Coordinator: Lidiya Josifova
SYN Mentee Producer: Wing Kuang