We are pumped that Toolkits: Poetry is back and better than ever! In 2019, we received many applications for our poetry stream, making the selection process a difficult one, but we are so excited to introduce our 8 talented young poets from across Australia that will be participating in this year’s program.  For 12 weeks, these young poets will explore the histories, language and changing face of poetry. They will be challenged to engage with the art form in unique and different ways. The program covers writing non-fiction poetry, poetry as a form of resistance, decolonising and First Nations languages, poetry and humor, and how to edit your work for publication.

Toolkits: Poetry will be facilitated by Melody Paloma, an established poet, editor and critic living in Melbourne, and author of In Some Ways Dingo (Rabbit). Melody will facilitate the programs online sessions and workshops, providing one-on-one mentorship and individualised feedback to each young writer.

For more information on our Toolkits and Toolkits: Live program (which you can participate in right now!) visit our website.

But for now, say hello to the class of 2019!

 

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Lou Garcia-Dolnik, 21, Gadigal land (Sydney)

Lou Garcia-Dolnik is a 21-year-old Filipinx writer, editor and harpist working at the intersection of gender, sexuality and ecology. They are currently in their last year of an Arts degree at the University of Sydney, majoring in English (Postcolonial and Indigenous literature). Living on unceded Gadigal land, they serve as editor-in-chief of HERMES and Prose Team Leader for ARNA Journal, and have previously been published in Voiceworks. In this year’s Toolkits: Poetry, they look especially forward to writing around and through rupture, receiving their (long-awaited) education in contemporary experimental poetics and learning how to write poems that say ‘I Want’. They hope to one day write a poem that does what Anaconda does when Nicki Minaj breaks into that weird laugh thing i.e. self-eruption, involution, breaking the 4th wall. Though they currently spend most of their waking life embarrassed in the library, they will one day be the powerful dyke-leader of a queer artist colony running out of the Green Gables homestead, Prince Edward Island. They should probably start tweeting more @lougarciadolnik.

Adalya Nash Hussein, 23, Birraranga/ Narrm (Melbourne)

Adalya Nash Hussein is a Punjabi-Australian writer and editor. Her work has appeared in The Lifted Brow, Liminal, Ibis House and Going Down Swinging (among others). She has been a Wheeler Centre Hot Desk Fellow, shortlisted for the Scribe Nonfiction Prize, and an Emerging Writers’ Festival Melbourne Recital Centre Writer in Residence. She is an Online Editor of The Lifted Brow and a nonfiction editor for Voiceworks.

Christy Tan, 20, Birraranga/ Narrm (Melbourne)

Christy Tan is a settler/ migrant living, studying, writing and working on unceded/ stolen land in Birraranga/ Narrm, originally from Malaysia, via so-called Perth. She was shortlisted in the 2019 Woollahra Digital Literary Award and her works have been published in Cordite Poetry Review and The Suburban Review. Christy started writing for fun and creative catharsis at the age of six years about a bully in her class she subtly imagined as “Jade the Bunyip” but has only recently (reluctantly) embraced the wanky label of “writer”. She is a fetus poet wanting to give birth to something but unsure exactly what she is pregnant with (it might just be a food baby). She hopes to perform a C- section through Toolkits: Poetry and is excited to learn with and from the other participants! 

Fiona Dorrell, 29, Alice Springs

Fiona Dorrell lives and writes in Alice Springs. She has worked for the NT Writers’ Centre and NT Writers Festival since 2015. Her short stories, poetry and reviews have been published in Australian Poetry, Westerly, ABR and Voiceworks and shortlisted for prizes. In 2016 she was a recipient of the inaugural Arts NT Varuna Fellowship and in 2019 she is a participant in the Hardcopy manuscript development program through the ACT Writers Centre.

Kaya Lattimore, 24, Whaduk Noongar booja (Perth)

 Kaya Lattimore is a Filipinx-Australian writer and poet. As a mestiza, immigrant and queer womxn, her writing obsessions include diaspora, family histories, queer and racial identity, and language.  Her poetry has appeared in be:longing, The Brown Orient, Cicerone Journal, Not Very Quiet, Australian Multilingual Writing Project, amberflora zine, and Djed Press. Kaya has performed her poems at various open mics and poetry slams in Nipaluna/Hobart, Ngunnawal country in Canberra, and now, Whadjuk Noongar boodja/Perth. Through Toolkits: Poetry, she hopes to abandon familiarity by exploring and experimenting with new themes, forms, and voices in her writing. Find her on Twitter and Instagram @kayalattimore, and on her website/blog kayalattimore.wordpress.com.

Asiel Adan Sanchez, 28, Birraranga/ Narrm (Melbourne)

Asiel Adan Sanchez is a non-binary doctor, writer and advocate. Born and raised in Mexico, their work explores the intricacies of race, culture, gender and sexuality. In 2018, they were awarded a Hot Desk Fellowship from The Wheeler Centre for their poetry suite Guadalupapi. Through their time in Toolkits, Asiel will be focusing on a new series of poems for their first poetry collection m/otherland. Asiel’s writing has appeared in Rabbit Poetry, Archer Magazine, Voiceworks Magazine and The Age, amongst others.

Joshua Cram, 25, Blue Mountains

Joshua Cram lives in the upper Blue Mountains, chases waterfalls, and sighs a lot. His poems have been published in Cordite Poetry Review, Voiceworks, and the UTS Writers’ Anthology. He writes short stories, short plays, and short poems. He loves listing things in threes, evangelising for authors, and not finishing things. In fact, his university Honours thesis was actually just the beginnings to short stories, but those weren’t very good. He should make a vow re: eschewing shortcuts, but there’s only so much time. He’s excited for Toolkits: Poetry — particularly the weeks on non-fiction poetry and humour/joy as resistance, because most of his poems are suspiciously allegorical and he isn’t very funny.

Nostalgia was the major motivation to apply for Toolkits. It might be perverse to look back fondly at workshopping, but he often recalls an amazing poetry class (at UTS, taught by Martin Harrison and Berndt Sellheim) and sighs about it.

Kimberley Croxford, 28, Birraranga/ Narrm (Melbourne)

Kimberley Croxford is writer, environmental activist, and musician living in Melbourne. She studied creative writing and journalism at Monash University and has edited multiple arts publications. Kim has published environmental journalism as a freelancer and performed poetry at spoken word nights. By participating in Toolkits she hopes to develop a more disciplined approach to her poetic practice.