Originally published at ABC Arts Online, August 2015
“It’s been
misreported that he’s headlining the festival – that is far from the case,”
says David Stavanger, co-director of Queensland Poetry Festival. He is talking
about a particular ‘artist’ who though not headlining, is certainly a name that
stands out in the context of a poetry festival.
The ‘poet’ in
question is of course mining tycoon and politician Clive Palmer, who published
a small volume of poetry in 1981, Dreams,
Hopes and Reflections, which has met with a mixture of derision and
bewilderment in media quarters in recent years. The book did, however, inspire
an essay by Melbourne poet Mitchell Welch entitled ‘Poets in Power’ that was
published in Australian Poetry Journal,
which in turn motivated Stavanger and his fellow co-director Ann-Marie Te Whiu
to take the brave and imaginative decision to recruit Palmer for the festival. The
process was, he says, “not that difficult”. Palmer will read from his work and give
an interview at the event.
As one might
expect, his appearance has stirred up some fairly feisty debate among
Australia’s poetry and wider arts community. And that was partly the point,
says Stavanger.
“It’s been a
mixed response. We’re into sessions that provoke different responses, and I
think if you’re trying to please everyone there’s a danger in that. A public
figure writing poetry, particularly a male figure and someone as intriguing as
Clive Palmer, is definitely worth exploring.”
Another very
deliberate reason for programming Palmer was as a small gesture to redress the
ideological balance of literature festivals generally. Writers’ festivals are
seen by many as unofficial hubs for those of a certain political persuasion,
that is, conventions designed for “leftist, left-of-centre or social democrat”
thinkers, according to Gerard Henderson of the Sydney Institute.
“I think there’s
a danger within poetry circles where most poets tend to lean towards a
left-wing ideology, and that’s great,” says Stavanger. “But I think it’s
important sometimes to look at people writing outside that sphere, as that
essay did. I think it’s important that artistic directors distance themselves
from these sorts of things, and put on sessions that do provoke debate.
“There has been
a few criticisms [of Palmer’s involvement with the festival], but even
programming someone like Les Murray, literary editor of Quadrant and regarded by some as Australia’s greatest living poet,
has had criticism too.”
Stavanger
himself will conduct the interview with Palmer, and will, he says, discuss “things
in his early work which had a sixties kind of philosophy and came from a bed of
socialism. Compared to where he is now, one would ask him what happened. Is he
writing poetry now? What does that poetry look like?”
It should be
emphasised that Palmer is indeed not headlining, and that Queensland Poetry
Festival is a multi-disciplinary, multi-faceted, far-reaching celebration of
the form. Now in its 19th year, as well as Palmer and Murray the
event this year features Los Angeles-based spoken word artist Kate Durbin as
poet-in-residence, Quan from the Brisbane band Regurgitator and acclaimed
Australian poets Michael Farrell, Sarah Holland-Batt, Lionel Fogarty, Abi Cobby
Eckermann and Angela Gardner among many others.
While it may be
true that literary festivals do have a generally left-wing slant, it is also
true that the sheer cost of tickets for some festivals ensures they remain
somewhat middle-class affairs, attracting a certain older demographic, and a
painfully civilised atmosphere. Acknowledging this, Stavanger and Te Whiu have
ensured that an impressive 85 percent of Queensland Poetry Festival events are
free, even if it is a juggle to get the balance (and budget) right.
“Working in the
arts, I am myself not part of the middle class, so I often can’t afford to go
to literary festivals,” says Stavanger, who performs as a spoken-word artist
himself as Ghostboy and won the Thomas Shapcott Poetry Prize in 2013. “I think
poetry has always been a forum or a voice for the dispossessed, and I think
it’s important that a poetry festival has a lot of sessions that are accessible
to everyone. Considering we’re engaging artists from all kinds of demographics
to work with us, for people in the community to not be able to come and see it
would be a concern for us.
“Having said
that, I completely understand why literary festivals have to charge what they
do, just for the names they’re bringing into these festivals from overseas.”
Another balance
that the two directors are extremely conscious of is that between the
spoken-word or ‘slam’ scene of poets and those who dwell exclusively on the
page. Queensland Poetry Festival, by far Australia’s largest poetry festival,
is in the unique position compared to other literary festivals of being able to
offer the actual essence of the art form it exults as part of its program,
rather than merely the discussion and critique of written literature, which you
consume at a different place and time and in a different format. The very
experience of literature, in the form of spoken-word poetry, is part of the
festival, not just its analysis. Therefore, there is a plethora of compelling
spoken-word events, from performance to workshops to events that don’t fit easy
categorisation and embrace the avant-garde.
“I think what
differentiates Queensland Poetry Festival from a writers’ festival is its
really strong performative focus,” says Stavanger. “The theme this year is
‘Language Is a Virus’, the idea of words in transmission, the idea that words
exist in the air. “Poetry existed before printing presses as an oral form. I
think in terms of an acknowledgement of the continuum of where poetry lies, to
not program spoken word is to deny it’s such a critical part of the art form.”
For some years
now the festival’s epicentre has been Brisbane’s Judith Wright Centre of
Contemporary Arts – a fact especially meaningful this year given it is the
hundredth anniversary of the poet’s birth. The venue alone, remarks Stavanger,
is a nod to Australian poetry’s established canon and an “important signifier…
The challenge for us is to push it into new waters.”
With the
aforementioned variations on what performance poetry can be, in their first
year Stavanger and Te Whiu have undoubtedly done that – it is also to their
credit that up to 40 percent of the program is made up of Queensland artists.
Perhaps among the festival’s biggest challenges is promoting those
‘traditional’ poets publishing collections, for whom performance is not their
primary domain, for whom popularity and financial rewards remain slim.
“A lot of poets
are selling 100-150 copies,” says Stavanger, “and that’s disheartening given
the quality of work being produced. I think one answer is more people getting
the opportunity to see these people read their work and understand what quality
we have in this country. It’s an amazing thing to take a book of poetry home
and actually have time to digest it.”
Queensland Poetry Festival took place
August 28-30, 2015 at the Judith Wright Centre of Contemporary Arts, Brisbane. www.queenslandpoetryfestival.com.
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