October’s poetry night at Sappho’s will see the 4th installment of ‘Avant Gaga’ — a gala night of experimental poetry — this time with special guests Pam Brown, Ken Bolton (Adelaide), and Amanda Stewart, and hosted by Toby Fitch.


PAM BROWN
Pam Brown has been around the Sydney poetry realm for a long time. She recently edited Fifty-one contemporary poets from Australia for 'Jacket2' where she is an associate editor. She has published many books including, this year, a pocket book of ten poems, 'Anyworld',
from Flying Island Books and a booklet, 'More than a feuilleton', from Little Esther Books. A longer collection of poems, 'Home by Dark', will be published by Shearsman Books in the U.K. in 2013. In a parallel life Pam lives in the bustling town of Asbestos in South-Eastern Québec; in real life she lives two suburbs away, as-the-mynah-bird-flies, in Alexandria.
http://thedeletions.blogspot.com.au/


KEN BOLTON
A gay, light-hearted bastard, Ken Bolton cuts a moodily romantic figure within the dun Australian literary landscape, his name inevitably conjuring perhaps that best known image of him, bow-tie askew, lipstick-smeared, grinning cheerfully, at the wheel of his 1958 Jaguar D-type, 'El Cid'. Born in Sydney in 1949 he works at the Australian Experimental Art Foundation in Adelaide and edits Little Esther books. He has published a good deal of art criticism, some of it collected in Art Writing (Contemporary Art Centre of South Australia). He edited 'Homage To John Forbes', the book on Kurt Brereton, 'More Is Plenty', and wrote the monograph 'Michelle Nikou'. He edited the magazines 'Magic Sam' and 'Otis Rush' and has published numerous books of poetry. Wakefield Press published 'The Circus' in 2010 and Vagabond Press 'A Whistled Bit Of Bop'. Earlier titles include 'At The Flash And At The Baci' and 'Untimely Meditations'.
http://www.eaf.asn.au/kenbolton.html


AMANDA STEWART
Amanda Stewart is a poet, writer and vocal artist. Much of her work is informed by ideas from linguistics, philosophy and science. She has created a diverse range of publications, performances, radio and visual works, locally and internationally, over many years. During the 1980’s and 90’s she worked full-time as a radio producer at the ABC and since then has worked freelance as a writer and performer in literature, music, theatre and new media contexts. She is a cofounder of the Australian text-sound ensemble 'Machine For Making Sense' and the Netherlands trio, Allos. Her Book and CD set of selected poems 'I/T' is available from splitrec.
http://www.splitrec.com/


OPEN MIC
To read your work in the open mic reading, just turn up on the night and put your name on the list. 2 minutes each so we can fit everyone in. And, because ‘Avant Gaga’ is a particularly playful night, why not muck around with your poem — swap the lines around, turn it upside-down, change every verb, read it into a computer translator and have it spat back out — experiment with it and see what happens; you might even like your poem better than before.


FOOD & WINE
The wine and tapas bar will be open so you can have a meal and glass of wine while you're there if you fancy it. The Soup season at Sappho’s is over, but it’s Spring, so get your vernalagia on ...
http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2012/07/02/project-twins-unusual-words/


SO ...
Starts at 7.00 pm in the back courtyard/garden at Sappho's. Look forward to seeing you there.