mandybeaumont

The next edition of GRIFFITH REVIEW is WOMEN & POWER and I’m in it and I’m really looking forward to having a read. I hope you are too. Go here to buy it and check it out!

THE NEW
I’ve been asked to be the guest reader at the SMALL ROOM WRITERS COLLECTIVE (Griffith University Student Writers group) for their Slaves and Masters show. Ive been asked to do a reading on a literary great. Im tossing up between Bukowski and Hemingway. But it looks like great fun and if you are in town come on down. All the details are HERE.
THE NOT SO NEW (BUT KINDA NEW)
Last year the Tassie Poetry Festival recorded some of our readings and they are now up to have a listen to. So go on, do it!

So last year was a pretty big writing and events year for me. I became the Poet in Residence at the State Library of Queensland, ran the very popular SPOKEN events there each month (which attracted hundreds and hundreds of punters and some of Australia’s best poets, artists and performers), I got a grant from Arts Queensland to go over to the SanFrancisco Writers Conference (which was amazing, and I got my foot in the door with some US agents), I was a guest at the Tassie Poetry Festival (which is amazing!) and performed a homage to David Bowie as part of Liner Notes for the Brisbane Writers Festival with the talented and amazingly fun Leah Shelton from POLYTOXIC. I started teaching poetry at Griffith, and  I started my Research Masters in Creative Writing at QUT. So this year is so much less glamorous and world travelling than last year. This year its all computers and long runs to get that writers block out of the way. Its about writing this book and not partying too hard (heheheh well, you know I have my moments!). And so last year, lots of my pictures were of glitter and booze and poetry dress ups and pretty boys and girls. This year, I bring to you a picture of all the glamour of a writer trying to write a god damn book!

Last October (yep I’ve been slack in keeping up with the website) I got invited to the most fabulous Tasmanian Poetry Festival, run by Cameron Hindrum and his wonderful team. Check them out here. I went down with my lovely pal Steph and we had THE BEST WEEKEND. The readings were fabulous, the venues very old school cool, the punters really excited and the food was amazing. We stayed for the festival, had a ball, met some great people, hung out with my lovely friend Shan (yeah she took us to wineries and cheese shops!), discovered the work of Alex Skovron, then headed down to Hobart for MONA! Yeah it was full of cheese, beer, wine, poetry, laughs, old mates, new mates, good hotels and road trips. Thank you Tassie Poetry Festival you topped off a huge and amazing year for me in the world of poetry. And here are some pics of my favourite bits of the weekend!! Enjoy

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Ok you lot. Here are some of the photos from the Liner Notes event I was a part of at the Brisbane Writers Festival. As usual, the fabulous and talented RAW BONES PHOTOGRAPHER was our official photographer on the night and came up with these gems. Looks fun huh!?

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If you are in Sydney, go check out this exhibit that I am a part of.

So the final SPOKEN event called ‘ ALL THAT GLITTERS’ that I held at the State Library of Queensland was a few month’s back now, but  I’ve been hell busy since then.  But now I’ve finally gotten around to putting up some of the photo’s from the night. A big thanks to the amazing RAW BONES PHOTOGRAPHY for the AMAZING shots on the night. Go check out the website, she does AMAZING work.

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2 fun things happened this week, and here they are…

1. The Launch of the Brisbane Writers Festival in The Weekend Australian, where the performance Im doing, Liner Notes has got a nice write up.

2. And this happened. Their poor little writerly souls wont know what hit them!

I’ve been asked to be a part of the 2012 ‘Many Writers, One Story’ for the Brisbane Writers Festival with others, including  Nick Earls , Marieke Hardy, Mark Watson, Joanne Harris, Chris Cleave, Dave Graney , Eowyn Ivey, Jeff Sparrow, Kate Forsyth, Paul Gilding, Patrick Gale, Michael Robotham,  John Boyne, Emilie Zoey Baker , Claire Bidwell Smith, Andy Griffiths, a.rawlings, Linda Sue Park, Phil Kafcaloudes, Tanveer Ahmed, Jon Doust, Gina Perry, Chris Turney, Martin Chatterton, Tony Cavanaugh, Tara Moss, Susan Johnson, Rebecca Sparrow, Mandy Beaumont, Sean M Whelan, Belinda Jeffrey, Sophie Hamley, Christopher Currie, Kristina Schulz, Terry Whidborne, Anna Campbell, Chris Somerville, Tristan Bancks, Toni Jordan, Benjamin Law and more.

It’s gonna be rippa’ fun. So go check it out here