Jill Jones: September Writer-in-Residence

Booranga's 2018 Writer-in-Residence program continues in September with our final writer for 2018, award-winning poet Jill Jones, in residence from 18 September to 30 September.

Jill Jones has published eleven full-length books of poetry, including Viva the Real (UQP 2018), Brink (Five Islands Press 2017), and The Beautiful Anxiety (Puncher & Wattmann 2014) which won the Victorian Premier's Prize for Poetry in 2015. 


Her work is represented in a number of major anthologies including the Macquarie PEN Anthology of Australian Literature, Contemporary Australian Poetry and The Penguin Anthology of Australian Poetry. 

In 2014 she was poet-in-residence at Stockholm University. She is a member of the J.M. Coetzee Centre for Creative Practice, University of Adelaide.

http://www.jilljones.com.au/

Latest book: Brink, Five Islands Press
http://fiveislandspress.com/catalogue/brink-jill-jones


Jill's events are as follows:

Our 'members only' event is the Meet-the-Writer soiree to welcome Jill to Booranga. This is being held on Thursday 20 September, 6pm at Booranga. 
To register your attendance please RSVP booranga@csu.edu.au 

Also available is a limited number of one-on-one consultations with Jill. 
To submit a piece of writing for consideration please email  booranga@csu.edu.au

Writing Workshop

When: Saturday 22 September, 2pm to 4pm

Where: Booranga Writers’ Centre, Mambarra Drive, Wagga Wagga

Cost: Free for members, 

$10 donation is requested from non-members. RSVP

Public Reading:

When: Thursday 27 September, 5 pm 

Where: Historic Council Chambers
Fitzmaurice St. Wagga Wagga

Cost: Free  RSVP

Booranga Writers' Centre is supported by the  NSW Government through Create NSW.

Booranga Writers' Centre gratefully acknowledges the financial and in-kind support provided by Create NSW, Wagga Wagga City Council and Charles Sturt University.

Maurice Corlett: Prize-winning Booranga poet

Maurice Corlett, long-time Booranga member, supporter, and current Committee member, recently gained third place in the Peter Cowan Poetry Prize with his poem Baker Street. “I have been sending poems away other the last couple of years and this is the best result yet,” said Maurice of his recent success.

We congratulate Maurice, a very worthy recipient, as he is a dedicated poet and a great supporter of all Booranga events behind the scenes and as well as being very generous with sharing his work in performance opportunities.

Born and raised in England, Maurice has had an interest in writing for many years. He was a founding member of Wagga Wagga Writers Writers (the forerunner of Booranga Writer's Centre) nearly thirty years ago. After an absence of several years he has returned to the group. Maurice writes poetry and prose and has been published in Booranga Writer's annual publication fourW for the last four years. Apart from writing, which he loves, he also enjoy reading his work aloud at Booranga's public readings.

BAKER STREET

Graham and me powering

our way in an old white ute

through the Wimmera after

a hard day’s toil in the heat

when Baker Street came on

the radio and I was transported

twelve thousand mile

back to London.

London – an hour on a fast

train from Brighton – where

the world seemed to be and

me walking through it

down Baker Street.

A strong sense of longing

overtook me as I sat in the

passenger’s seat knowing

that I could not go back

with Lyn waiting for me

and Renee toddling around

in the weatherboard

house in Horsham.

But I was no angel and if

it was Friday we would head

for the pub and stay there for

hours until Lyn came down

with the pram and got me out.

Now when I hear Baker Street

it reminds me of the mistakes

that we made and how things

could have been better.

Maurice Corlett

Ellen van Neerven: ASAL Patrons Lecture

Booranga writer-in-residence for July, Ellen van Neerven, spent a week at Booranga to focus on her writing; conduct a writing workshop for Booranga members and friends; and to deliver the ASAL Patrons Lecture at the Wagga Wagga Art Gallery. Ellen also attended the NAIDOC Week Celebrations at CSU Wagga during her stay.

An appreciative audience of approximately 40 people braved the cold Wagga Wagga winter evening and were rewarded with a wonderful lecture which complimented the 2018 NAIDOC Week theme Because of her, we can! A further 60 people watched the live-stream of Ellen's lecture and to date there have been over 140 views of the video.

                                                  Ellen van Neerven                       photo: James Farley

If you were unable to attend the Lecture, the video is available online 

Ellen van Neerven Lecture

Ellen van Neerven: Very present

"Ellen van Neerven's ASAL patrons lecture coincided with NAIDOC week, whose 2018 theme was Because of her, we can!  Strongly informed by this theme, Ellen devoted much of her talk to people who have been leaders and enablers for her and for others - her mother, Elders and particularly Oodgeroo Noonuccal, the activist, teacher, artist and poet.

Ellen spoke to us in a very present way, placing each word in the moment which arrived for it, and respectfully considering each thought. While she touched various topics - excluded voices in literature and education, deep climate expertise, the waves and sand around Moongalba - the keynote was continuity and connection: ancestors and knowledge present in people and country today, the slice of colonisation sitting in the long stretch of history, and young writers listening and walking where Aunties have stood." — Cassily Charles 

                                                                  Lachlan Brown and Ellen van Neerven                                Photo: James Farley

Booranga members with Ellen van Neerven
                  L to R: Maurice Corlett,  Lachlan Brown, Ellen van Neerven,Kathryn Halliwell, Claire Baker, David Gilbey                                                                                                                                                                                                     
Photo: James Farley 

Booranga Writers' Centre greatly appreciates the support from the following organisations for making this event possible.

This event was funded by the Copyright Agency through the Association for the Study of Australian Literature (ASAL)

Booranga Writers' Centre is supported by the  NSW Government through Create NSW.

Booranga Writers' Centre gratefully acknowledges the financial and in-kind support provided by Create NSW, Wagga Wagga City Council and Charles Sturt University.

Booranga Writers' Centre is supported by the  NSW Government through Create NSW.

Booranga Writers' Centre is supported by the  NSW Government through Create NSW.

Booranga Writers' Centre gratefully acknowledges the financial and in-kind support provided by Create NSW, Wagga Wagga City Council and Charles Sturt University.

Booranga Writers' Centre gratefully acknowledges the financial and in-kind support provided by Create NSW, Wagga Wagga City Council and Charles Sturt University.

Elsewhere: Workshop

Our thanks to Dr Sam Bowker, Lecturer, Art History and Visual Culture at CSU Wagga Wagga for facilitating this workshop, at the H.R. Gallop Gallery, for Booranga members and friends. Participants were given a tour of the exhibition and were then asked to respond to the artworks, reflect on the ways in which we describe travel, and critique the idea of 'elsewhere'

The artworks of Wendy Sharpe and Bernard Ollis provided detailed and colourful material for ekphrasis and travel writing inspiration.

This touring exhibition will be launched in the HR Gallop Gallery on the evening of Thursday 23 August. It will then travel to Griffith, Dubbo, Port Macquarie and Tamworth with the support of CreateNSW and a Charles Sturt University Compact Grant, curated by Dr Sam Bowker of the SCCI. The artworks include sketchbooks, unfolding scrolls, paintings, and drawings.

These drawings and paintings by Wendy Sharpe (Archibald Prize winner and former Official War Artist) and Bernard Ollis (Former Director of the National Art School) are vibrant critiques of Orientalism.​ The exhibition reflects upon how we understand each other when we are geographically separated. Their exquisite sketches record perceptive journeys with people and through places that have been clouded by misapprehension, fear, and cliches.  Their practice acknowledges the histories, limitations and initiatives of travelling artists.

This exhibition is motivated by the challenge of communicating shared experiences across place, politics, culture and history, for these are stories in which both parties are located 'Elsewhere'.

Full Exhibition Details 

Wendy Sharpe and Bernard Ollis

Elsewhere

Travels through Morocco, Egypt, Syria, Iran and Central Asia

13 August - 7 September 2018

Exhibition Launch

Thursday 23 August 6pm

H.R. Gallop Gallery, Darnell Smith Drive, CSU

Wagga Wagga

Seminar: ‘Art after Orientalism’

Thursday 30 August 1-2pm

HR Gallop Gallery, Darnell Smith Drive, CSU

Wagga Wagga. Open Monday-Friday 10am-5pm