slip off the concrete boots of your dreams
~ Ali Whitelock from 'The Lactic Acid in the Calves of Your Despair' (Wakefield Press, 2020)
What is a poet without an audience? What is a new book without hands to hold it up to the light?
The outbreak of COVID-19 meant the cancellation of live poetry events and writing festivals Australia wide in 2020. This resulted in many poets and their publishers losing income and key opportunities to showcase new work, not to mention build readerships and celebrate the words beyond print.
To offer a little relief in response to this, Red Room Poetry and Oranges & Sardines Foundation collaborated to create In Your Hands – a free digital collection featuring 80 poems by poets whose recent, current or forthcoming release has been directly affected by the closure of live events.
All poets were paid for their contribution to In Your Hands and audiences were (and still are!) encouraged to buy copies of the poets' books.
Past events
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Panel event: States of Spoken Word
Friday 07th August 2020
Partners and Supporters
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Create NSW
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Oranges & Sardines Foundation
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Billy Blue Creative
