2012 Cafe Poet in residence
Alia Gabres is our 2012 Cafe Poet. She will be at City Library until late August.
The residency was launched on Tuesday 27 March. Alia and her special guests, Joe Kim and Rochelle D'Silva, captivated the crowd at City Library with outstanding spoken word performances. View photos on our Facebook album.
Alia will give free monthly workshops at City Library. Budding poets are invited to attend!
About Alia Gabres
Free workshops
What is the Cafe Poet program?
Previous Cafe Poets at City Library
About Alia Gabres
Alia Gabres is a co-director of The Centre for Poetics and Justice, a not-for-profit organisation focused on using poetry as a form of literary education, self expression and social engagement for marginalised peoples. She was recently a part of the Global Poetics Tour 2011 where she performed alongside international wordsmiths of the like of Shane Koyzcan, Ken Arkind, Mahogany Brown and Jive Poetic. She concluded a whirlwind year by sharing the stage with acclaimed Def Jam poet Amir Sulaiman.
Throughout 2011, Alia was a curator of the spoken word explorations series ‘Tell it Like it is’ at the Footscray Arts Centre. She is currently working on her first collection of poetry entitled This Residue of Light: Broken openings, poetry and the like. She hopes to continue finding avenues to link people’s real experiences through poetry while savouring the human elements in humanity.
Alia toured in February 2012 with Luka Lesson and Joel McKerrow as part of the Please Resist Me Poetry Slam Tour, presented by The Centre for Poetics and Justice.
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Free workshops
During her residency, Alia will host one free slam poetry workshop each month at City Library. Budding poets and writers are welcome to attend to share and develop their work, ideas and performance skills with Alia and each other.
This series of sessions will build towards a public performance poetry event in the Gallery at City Library at the end of Alia's residency, where those who have worked with her will be able to perform their work in a supportive environment.
Workshop #3
When: Tuesday 12 June, 6pm to 7.30pm
Bookings essential: 9658 9500 or online
Max number of participants: 15
Dates of July and August workshops and final slam event still to be confirmed. Watch this space!
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What is the Cafe Poet Program?
The Cafe Poet Program was established in 2009 by Australian Poetry. It aims to promote poetry while strengthening community relationships. So far this nationwide program has provided more than fifty poets with an opportunity to develop their writing in a supportive environment.
Australian Poetry, a merger between the Australian Poetry Centre and NSW Poets Union, is based at The Wheeler Centre in Melbourne.
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Previous Cafe Poets at City Library
From July to December 2011, Australian Slam Poetry Champion Luka Lesson was the first Cafe Poet in residence at City Library.
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