Indrani Perera

poet, publisher & mentor

Tag: published author

  • Phone-A-Poem

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    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!

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    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

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    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.

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    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

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    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.

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    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

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    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.

     

  • Anthropocene

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    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! 

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    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!!!

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    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

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    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!

     

  • Heroine’s Anthology Longlist

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    Herstory is a topic very dear to my heart. I am always looking for females voices, especially those that have been hidden or erased from the offical versions of accounts. I want to know about the stories of women who shaped past events. I want to hear about their ingenuity and inventions. I want to know what they were like, where they lived and who they loved. I want to look at the stories we tell ourselves about the world and I want to see myself reflected within its annals.

    I guess I've always been feminist in this regard but my quest for women's tales only grew stronger once I had two daughters. I wanted to share with them stories about the world that told them they could do anything that they set their minds and hearts to doing. If you're on this quest as well. I'd highly recommend the Goodnight Stories for Rebel Girls series of books and the Little People Big Dreams picture book biographies about prominent female figures. Princess Smartypants is a wonderful picture book for young girls about a. sassy Princess who does not want to get married – she's too busy doing other things!

    All of this is to say that I am beyond thrilled to announce that my poem, pathika, has been longlisted for the Heroines Anthology Global edition Prize. 

    Pathika is about the lives and poetry of three famous Indian poets. These women are well known in India but not as familiar to most readers in the west. Being from South Asia, I wanted my poem to reflect my heritage. No Greek goddesses for me! I was originally wanting to write a poem about female poets from Sri Lanka but they were quite hard to find given that I don't speak Sinhala or Tamil. So I looked to our neighbours for inspiration and found a whole wealth of material.

    Big thanks to the Heroine's Anthology for choosing my poem!

     

     

  • Finding My Feet

    IP - Finding My Feet (INVITATION TO BOOK LAUNCH 12-02-2024)

    Melbourne Poets Union have been around for what feels like forever and they do amazing work to promote poetry and support poets in Melbourne and its surrounds. Last night I attended the launch of their brand new anthology, Finding My Feet. It features poems from some of Australia's most well known poets. And me! It's a huge honour to be included in this magnificent publication.

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    The editors selected two of my poems, Seagrass Meadow and no good at sport, to appear in this excellent anthology.

    This extensive collection of poems feels like a wonderful representation of contemporary poets from around Australia. It's well worth buying if you'd like to know more about the current Australian poetry scene.