Cath’s Poetry Picnic – in person, Perth Australia 22/4/23
Hello Perth!
I’m on a brief trip to Perth, Western Australia and I’d love to meet local poets before I head back to London.
Find new ways into your writing with mindfulness and let your imagination fly with short writing prompts, followed by an informal social brunch/lunch in the park reading poems we love, igniting the joy of sharing poetry!
Why start with mindfulness? I’ve been really inspired by mindful ways into my writing – it also helps me feel more human, creative and better overall!
This is for anyone with an interest in poetry.
Timing
Arrive 10am, official start 10.30am
I’ll lead a poetry and mindfulness session for about half an hour (to around 11am)
Then we will write together – a few quick writing exercises, inspired by mindfulness and reading some pieces ( to around 12)
The picnic to around 1pm or so!
Please arrive by 1030 at the latest (or if you are a bit late, that’s fine just be aware of the mindfulness quiet & wait until we’ve finished that bit)
What to Bring
Bring your own refreshments, something comfortable to sit on (to sit still for a period so a fold up chair might be good) and a notebook to write in.
Plus, bring a short poem or two you love to read aloud (the only rule is it can’t be a poem you’ve written).
Where
It’s going to be a gorgeous sunny day. We will meet at South Beach, Fremantle – go right to the end of South Beach, past the South Beach cafe, just before Bistro 21 (there is a carpark there) and we will meet either inside the rotunda or just in front of it.
I’m wearing a long sleeve pink shirt and light blue trousers!
If it rains we will be in the rotunda – or check here for details.
By Donation… Suggested $20 or whatever … but more importantly just come anyway! Donation is optional. Bring cash if you wish.
Enroll so I know you’re coming
Get in touch to let me know you are coming by emailing me HERE. That way I can also send you updated info closer to the time.
About Cath
Perth-born, Cath Drake’s collection ‘The Shaking City’ (Seren Books) was highly commended in the 2020 Forward Prizes, longlisted in the international Laurel Prize and described by TS Eliot winner Philip Gross as ‘a guide to staying clear-eyed, combative and caring in unsettling times.’. It follows ‘Sleeping with Rivers’ which won the Seren/Mslexia poetry pamphlet prize and was a Poetry Book Society choice. Cath’s prizes include a second in the 2017 Resurgence Poetry School eco-poetry prize (now called Ginkgo) and highly commended in 2019. She runs The Verandah, international quality online poetry workshops and events, joyfully linking poets from both hemispheres. She’s been published widely in literary journals in UK, Australia, USA and Ireland. She’s an award-winning journalist and nonfiction writer and also a mindfulness teacher.
… a good poem creates an enchantment … a sudden surge of curiosity, interest, emotion, a momentary spell of heightened awareness, heightened emotional vulnerability, heightened imaginative sensitivity … I try to create a room in which something important is happening, will happen or has happened.
Poet, Dana Gioia
