Indrani Perera

poet, publisher & mentor

Category: Prizes & Published Work

  • Slamtidote

    Love vs Autumn (Slamtidote) Cover

    Slamtidote is a newish poetry gig bringing poetry and spoken word to Naarm. It's a collective that puts on a monthly gig, held in secret locations. Once you've booked your ticket (and there are free options) you have a pass to a fabulous night of poetry, art, food and music.

    I read my poem, Notes from Diaspora on Returning 'Home',  to the haunting guitar of Bird Girl. It was the first time I've read my poems accompanied by music. It was an incredible experience with Bird Girl improvising the accompanying melody after hearing a line or two of my poem.

    As well as the performances during the evening, Slamtidote also published a zine for the event, filled with poetry and art from some incredibly talented poets and artists. I was super chuffed to have one one my poems included in the beautiful chapbook.

    The secret venue was gorgeous – festooned with fairy lights and red heart balloons. There was warm food in the Indian Dhaba out the back serving dahl and rice. Plus market stalls with books and art. Something for everyone in fact! Slamtidote is most definitely a great new addition to the poetry scene in Naarm!

     

  • Phone-A-Poem

    IP - Phone a Poem 1

    I caught the train into town this morning for a flying visit to the Melbourne Writers Festival and to track down the phones scattered throughout the venues for the event. These are no ordinary phones. Not only are they totally retro with that rotary dial that would make you start the painstaking process of phoning again if you dialled the wrong number (eighties kids you know what I'm talking about) they are completely cool because they are filled with poems!

    IP - Phone a Poem 2

    Yes, you read right. Dial a number on one of these babies and you'll hear a poem read by a poet with a connection to regional Victoria. I'm proud to say that you can hear my poem, Far Flung Seeds, on one of these phones! I wrote this poem about spending time at my grandparents' house in Jeparit, in the Wimmera Mallee. The population here is always around four hundred, it's flat and dry and it has a firm place in my heart.

    Huge thanks to Red Room Poetry for commissioning my poem for this project, to Izzy Roberts-Orr for adding the awesome soundscape and to the Melbourne Writers festival for hosting these amazing phones!

     

  • Phone-A-Poem

    Red Room LogoI'm beyond thrilled to have my poem, Far Flung Seeds, commissioned as part of the Red Room Poetry Phone-a-Poem project! And super excited to have it published, today, on World Poetry Day!

    The phones will be appearing at the Melbourne Writers’ Festival from 8-11 May 2025. If you can't make it to the festival you can listen to my poem online.

    Phone-a-Poem is supported by the Australian Government’s Arts and Cultural Development Program through the Regional Arts Fund, Regional Arts Victoria and Regional Arts Australia. 

     

  • Australian Poetry Journal

    IP - APJ 1

    I have been a huge admirer of the Australian Poetry Journal and its editor Jacinta Le Plastrier for a long time. APJ is one of the premier Australian poetry publications. Through their journals and Best of anthologies they publish some of the most exciting poets currently writing in Australia. Every time I receive my beautifully designed copies, I devour them from cover to cover, inhaling all those luscious words.

    For about as long, I have been sending in my poems to their open calls, hoping that something resonates with the guest editors who change for every issue.

    IP - APJ 2

    In late 2022, I attended a Writers Victoria poetry workshop, Desirte in Poetry, facilitated by Ellen van Neeren, who has an incredible voice and gift with words. It was an incredible workshops and inspired several poems.

    I was delighted when earlier this year, I was asked by EvN to submit something for the issue on Desire they were guest editing for APJ. I've never been asked by an editor to submit to a journal before!

    When found out that my poem, Notes to A Magpie Sitting on a Fence Carolling to the Trees, was being published in APJ Issue 13.2  I felt like I had finally arrived as a poet. Being included in APJ was a dream come true!

    Having my poem selected by guest editor Ellen van Neerven for Issue 13.2 Desire of the Australian Poetry Journal was the best Christmas present ever! I'm beyond thrilled to have one of my poems selected by such an incredible poet and included in Australia's premier poetry journal!

     

  • Haiku in the Hills

    IP - Haiku in the Hills 1

    IP - Haiku in the Hills 2

    Back in August as part of the Sonic Poetry Festival, I attended the Haiku in the Hills poetry workshop facilitated by AJ D’Costa. We met AJ in the Dandenong Botanic Gardens on a crisp winter morning. Luckily for us, the heavens didn’t open as AJ guided us through the gardens, teaching us about haiku and giving us time to write poems. We ended the walk with a delicious picnic on the grass that AJ had packed and carried for us throughout the walk. It was a lovely morning and a beautiful way to experience poetry in collaboration with and connection to landscape and nature.

    IP - Haiku in the Hills 3

    After the workshop, AJ gathered our poems and put them into this gorgeous zine. I don’t often write haiku so it was wonderful to have a poem included in this collection. One that I am sure I couldn’t have written without AJ’s expert guidance. Thanks AJ for a fabulous poetry workshop and this amazing souvenir of a wonderful morning!

     

  • Heroine’s Anthology

    IP - Heroine's Anthology Front Cover

    IP - Heroine's Anthology Poem

    Stories in own voices and poems from outside the mainstream are especially close to my heart. Which is why it was such an honour to be shortlisted for the Heroine's Anthology Global edition poetry prize.

    This prize and subsequent collection features poems from women about women. Heroine's Anthology is a series of poetry collections edited by Dr Sarah Nicholson. Each collection has a distinct theme and this particular edition was for global poetry.

    I really wanted to feature poems about famous Sri Lankan poets but from behind the keyboard, the best I could do was find translated poems from our near neighbour, India. My poem, pathika, features lines of poetry from three different Indian poets interspersed with an ode to those poets, written by me. It's the first time I have incorporated poetry from other poets and it was fun to use my love of research to write a poem. 

    You'll notice that I have deliberately not said 'female' poets. To do so implies that the term 'poet', excludes women. And that women poets are somehow unusual or an aberration when in fact, more women write poetry than men. A fact that isn't often reflected in poems featured in journals, prizes awarded or books published. One day the term poet will encompass the whole spectrum of humanity and all will be given a pen to write their own story.

    In the meantime, check out this fabulous anthology for some incredible voices, writing their stories into the pages of our shared herstory.

     

  • Have a Little Faith

    IP - Have a Little Faith 1It's been a strange kind of year. I haven't really felt like I've found my groove yet. And it's November already!

    Things haven't been helped by all the boxes still loitering in the laundry and hallway from our move late last year. And of course learning that we have to move again really threw a spanner in the works.

    But.

    IP - Have a Little Faith 2

    There is a but. A silver lining. And that is opening my inbox this morning after a week wrestling with said boxes (I am determined to unpack everything and throw out the stuff we don't need before we have to move again) to discover that I was longlisted for the 2024 Frontier Open Poetry Prize.

    Me!

    Longlisted for an international poetry prize!!

    Maybe I will keep on writing after all 🙂

     

  • Anthropocene

    IP -Anthropocene 1

    I’m so excited by my copy of Anthropocene. It’s a chapbook published by the Queensland Writers Centre that contains four of my poems. Only two copies were made – this one and one other that was sold to raise funds for the Queensland Writers Centre. You know I love limited edition print runs and I don’t think you can get rarer than this! 

    IP -Anthropocene 2

    IP -Anthropocene 3

    IP -Anthropocene 4

    I was stoked when I found out my submission had been accepted for publication in a chapbook. These poems are close to my heart and it’s wonderful to see them finally in print.

    I had no idea what the cover of this chapbook was going to look like. All I knew was that it was going to be illustrated by Christine Sharp. Letting go of my work without knowing what the end result was going to look like was a real act of trust. I’m so glad I put my faith in Q Poetry! because the chapbook is gorgeous!! Fabulous design and layout and I adore the cover

    Thanks to the Queensland Writers Centre and Christine Sharp for taking my poems and turning them into a work of art!!!

    IP -Anthropocene 5

    Given the theme of this collection of poems, I think it’s fitting that the snails got to it first as you can see on the back cover. 🐌 

    Anthropocene by Indrani Perera
    Published by: Queensland Writers Centre
    Cover design by: Christine Sharp

     

  • Being

    IP - Being

    Late last year I had not one, but two poems, long listed for the University of Canberra Vice-Chancellor's International Poetry Prize! It was a huge honour to have my work recognised by the judges.

    Landline is a poem about old friends who you've know forever but hardly find the time to see any more. Life has moved you in different directions and you may not even live in the same city. But there's always the phone.

    Much to my amazement, the second poem, Notes From the Diaspora on Returning 'Home', ended up being shortlisted! I wrote this poem while I was traveling in Sri Lanka with my partner, daughters and parents. It was an incredible experience to hear my father telling us all stories about his childhood in the places where they happened. And at that same time feel a disconnection from a place that should be more familiar than it is.

    If you'd like to read my poems you can now buy this wonderful anthology where you'll also find the winning poem and other amazing poems fro the competition. This is an anthology to treasure and read again and again.

    Huge thanks to the University of Canberra for including my poems and recognising my work.

     

  • Heroine’s Anthology Shortlist

    Heroine's Anthology Shortlist

    My poem, pathika, has been shortlisted for the Heroine's Anthology Prize which means it will now appear in the forthcoming Heroine's Anthology of poems from around the world.

    I am so excited to be included in this global edition of poetry about amazing women from throughout Herstory, I can't wait to see who I will meet in its pages!