SURVIVAL IN FERTILE RUINS
In a four-day celebration of poetry and spoken word – including showcases, multi-disciplinary events, installations, workshops and panels – poets and audiences from around the world come together for the Red Dirt Poetry Festival in Mparntwe/Alice Springs.
WORDS ROSIE WILD
IMAGE NICO LIENGME
RUN BIENNIALLY SINCE 2014, Red Dirt has grown into one of the most iconic literary events in the country. It presents diverse voices, grapples with gutsy themes, and creates spaces of experimentation, dynamism and word-driven joy.
This year, the Festival’s hub is at Gap View, beside the Ntaripe Ranges, while school workshops and night-time programming appear in satellite events across town. This makes for plenty of places where people can come together around the power of poetry.
The Executive Director of the Festival is Laurie May. They write and perform poetry all over the world, host spoken-word, commission poetry, curate events, and research poetry festivals as far afield as Rotterdam. Self-described as co-ordinating “desert rats doing stuff”, May collaborates with a crew dedicated to making poetry accessible to everyone.
“Poetry is a tool for connection ... It not only holds a mirror up to society, it documents each unique moment in time. You can look back at poetry across hundreds of years and get an understanding of the socio-political landscapes that each poet lived and wrote in,” says May.
“As we stand knee-deep in global shi[f]t, there is a deep uncertainty in the air, the arts, our homes and communities of what comes next. For this year’s Festival, we reflect on the concept of Survival in Fertile Ruins, partnering with poets, scientists, musicians, cultural institutions and industry leaders to eplore ... What is it exactly we want to leave behind? And is it too late to change the future to leave different ruins?”
This year’s program opens with a bold combination of creativity and science, bringing entertainment and education together in the showcase, Passageways [Caminos], presented in partnership with Chile’s International Poetry Festival (ACRUX), Festival of Poetry and Science.
The whole four-day poetry program includes music from bands and an event called Oscillations, where music experimentally weaves with words. It includes food with the much-loved event Eat Read Zine, where poets draw on memory and connection to create a multi-sensory experience the audience can see, feel, hear and taste. The program spans workshops, installations, panels and dance. It honours a diversity of voices, and especially those that come from this land.
“We are really excited about our Saturday evening events, including a partnership with Running Water Community Press and the Cervantes Language Institute, designed to commemorate the poets who have passed away from the Arelhekenhe Angkentye – Women’s Talk collection, while sharing the works translated into Spanish, featuring flamenco dancing and guitar, and Arrernte Cultural dance group, Simpson Desert Dancers,” says May.
Don’t miss out on the full festival program of Red Dirt. It’s an exploration and celebration of a wide range of voices. It’s a place to witness, in real time, the creation of a poetic archive of our intense times. And it’s a place to hear words to survive by.
Red Dirt Poetry Festival
WHEN THU 20 – SUN 23 AUG
AT GAP VIEW & SATELLITE VENUES
COST FREE-$50 | $110 FEST PASS
INFO reddirtpoetryfestival.com
