The Poets Union is pleased to announce that the winners of the 2010 Young Poets Fellowships for 2010 are Mathew Abbott (ACT) and Eileen Chong (NSW).

We thank all candidates for their interest, and wish all of them well with their writing.

Martin Langford (Poets Union Committee)

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From 2002 to 2007, the Fellowships were offered five times and funded four times (in the initial, unfunded year, Poets Union committee members donated mentorships and other services voluntarily, as a way of getting the project going. A funded Fellowship, however, allows us to offer a better balanced group of activities ).

The Fellowships comprise:

1. Attendance at PoetryLab workshops.
2. Individual mentorships with experienced poets.
3. The publication of chapbooks by the Poets Union.
4. Publication of the Fellows’ work in the Poets Union journal, Five Bells, and on the Poets Union website.
5. The opportunity to present work at Union readings: in Festival years, at the Australian Poetry Festival.

We ask in return that the Fellows write one review-article on the work of a poet of their choice for publication in a Poets Union outlet such as Five Bells. The critical discourse is sadly lacking in Australian verse, and this is a way of encouraging poets to become part of it.

What is the intended impact of the project?
The purpose of this project is to enable the best young poets in Australia to further develop their already considerable skills with input from the most capable of mentors, and to allow them to achieve some public presence at a time when they are ready to enter the public arena.

It is designed for young poets who have already made significant progress in the development of their writing, but who still need to make the final steps towards full publication.

Other outcomes of the Fellowships include:
1. They allow Fellows to make essential links with the poetry community.
2. They bring exciting new talents to the attention of the poetry audience.
3. They create situations – launches, readings etc – where sales are made.

Lastly, the Fellowships contribute towards the nurturing of a poetry community: neither literary traditions, nor writing or reading communities are so robust in Australia that they do not benefit from some practical assistance.

Unfortunately, the funding for this program ended in 2007, when the Australia Council changed its policy on the funding of projects involving mentoring.

The Poets Union believes this was a highly successful project, and that it deserves to be continued. We have displayed a capacity to select talented young poets, as is confirmed by the Fellows’ subsequent honours and publications, and believe that the program has already made an important contribution towards the development of Australian poetic talent.

How much do we need?
One Fellow costs $5000 for a Fellowship lasting one year.
A break-up of costs is as follows:

Admin + promotion 1000
PoetryLab Workshops 800
Mentorships 1000
Chapbooks 1200
Travel Expenses(eg to meet mentors; travel to Festivals) 1000

We would prefer to run the Fellows in pairs, though it would not be essential.

A Rolls-Royce version of the Fellowship would run with three different mentorships over three years, and include a chapbook at the end of year one, with a fully developed first book, at the end of the third year. We estimate such a Fellowship would cost about $20,000 over the three years. Such Fellowships would represent as thorough a professinal input into a new writing career as we would in practice be able to offer. It is, of course, no more than is offered to talented newcomers in other spheres.

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The Poets Union is pleased to be able to list episodes from a new series 'A Way With Words' - showcasing the best of Ausrralian contemporary poetry introduced by Carol Jenkins from River Road Press.

Following the tremendous response to the posting of the first recording, from WA poet Caroline Caddy, we will feature one poet a fortnight. So go to Readings and enjoy!

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The Poets Union has our very own blog.

Live dangerously poets, click here http://poetsunioninc.blogspot.com/

Members will be able to collect their weekly e-news about all poetry events, festivals, readings, due dates for submissions, competitions, prizes, scholarships, e-anthologies and e-magazines, poetry news from Australia and the world!

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Thanks to the Hon.Virginia Judge MP and 'THE WEEK' magazine for their invitation to the NSW Parliament POETRY SOIREE
and
Congratulations to Johanna Featherstone of RED ROOM COMPANY who presented the event, along with Francis Merson Arts Editor of THE WEEK magazine and Brook Emery of the Poets Union Inc for their hard work and organisation.

The Soiree was held on Wednesday 28th October in the Piano Lounge of the Strangers' Dining Room in Parliament House, Macquarie Street,Sydney

The guests of honour were leading Australian poets, Judith Beveridge and David Malouf, who needed no introduction.
Music was provided by Ashley Chatto.

The evening was presented by Johanna Featherstone of RED ROOM COMPANY with
- the assistance of her crew at RED ROOM, (RED ROOM patron John Fairfax was present and read a poem!)
- the sponsorship and support of John Borger (General Manager, THE WEEK)and Francis Merson (Arts Editor, THE WEEK) and
- with the partnership of the Poets Union thanks to the work of Brook Emery (Chair, Poets Union Inc.) and Martin Langford.

Judith Beveridge gave a wonderful reading first (she has a new collection coming out soon), followed by a number of poets and politicians reading in the first open mic. session. We then broke for refreshments.
David Malouf began the second half of the evening honouring us with some of his latest poems. He was followed by another open mic. session (poets had to register beforehand and this worked very well with Johanna and Brook able to accommodate a very diverse range of poets).

Music was provided by Ashley Chatto on the grand piano who many of us remembered for his superb jazz compositions and renditions on both piano and acoustic guitar at 'An Evening of Darlinghurst Nights' (a tribute to the work of Kenneth Slessor held over 5 nights at the Tap Gallery) as part of the 2009 Sydney Writers' Festival in May this year.

Thank you again Hon. Viginia Judge MP for inviting us and THE WEEK MAGAZINE for sponsoring this event and to Johanna Featherstone for her superb organisation.

It was a great night for poetry, for Sydney and for parliament!

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