November

Having Lisa Dempster read from her book Neon Pilgrim was a great way to finish up the year for Stopping all Stations. Loads of fun and, as always, a great vibe. Thanks to all the open readers and especially to Shari Kocher-Campbell, who read out her winning poem from the 2010 Page Seventeen Poetry Competition, 'Dreaming in Auslan: a Study in Yellow and Grey'.

And thanks to our sponsors, and Tiggy donating a copy of the latest Page Seventeen and Lorraine McGuigan some back issues of Poetry Monash, everyone went home with a door prize!

We're taking a well-earned break until next year when we kick off again in March with Sandy Jeffs, author of Flying with Paper Wings.

All the best to everyone for the festive season. See you in 2011.

Lisa Dempster

Lisa Dempster, our feature reader for  Stopping all Stations this month, is the author of Neon Pilgrim and editor of The Australian Veg Food Guide. She is also the Director of the Emerging Writers' Festival. 

Lisa assures me she is NOT a poet, but if you check out her website you'll see she's had quite a year and will have plenty to talk about.

Looking forward to seeing you at the LAST Stopping all Stations event for the year. (We'll be starting up again in March 2011.)

October

It was great to see so many people turn out to enjoy some good company, good food and of course some excellent poetry on such a cold and wet day. Tiggy read from her new collection, First taste, and then some of her new material after the break. Tiggy's poetry is always accessible and taps into what we can all relate to. And it's guaranteed to make you laugh somewhere along the way.

Some fantastic open readings, too. If you weren't there you missed hearing about bossy bus drivers and a wonderful poem about a giant.

Pics are a bit fuzzy. Sorry. A new camera is on the list.

Tiggy Johnson

Come along on Saturday October 16 to hear Tiggy read from her new collection, First taste. It's the penultimate Stopping all Stations for the year so write something to read in the open section or dig out something from the archives.

Tiggy Johnson began telling tales as a youngster when she told her mum her brother had hit her. With maturity, she developed skills to make stuff up that doesn’t necessarily come true. Her science degree and past life as an insurance loss adjuster did little to prepare her for her current work as a stay-at-home mother, writer and editor of literary magazine Page Seventeen. Her short story collection Svetlana or Otherwise was released in 2008 and her poetry collection First taste in 2010. Tiggy lives in Melbourne’s Dandenong Ranges with her husband, Bryden, and their children, Hamish, Claudia and Dylan.

September

How lucky we were not only to have Jennifer Harrison and Myron Lysenko as featured readers, but to have the services of the most beautiful fairy butterfly to draw the lucky door prizes!

Myron and Jennifer

Stopping all Stations has come around again. Come and check us out on Saturday September 18 to hear Myron Lysenko AND Jennifer Harrison. Not to be missed!

Myron is a poet, editor, songwriter and musician. He is the author of six books of poetry, a founding editor (with Kevin Brophy) of the vibrant literary journal Going Down Swinging, and a member of accoustic folk band Dyana Gray and the Creme Brulees. Myron started to earn his living as a poet in 1989. He began his career by writing long narrative poems and these days he concentrates on writing haiku.

Jennifer Harrison is a Melbourne poet. Her fourth poetry collection, Folly & Grief, was published by Black Pepper Press in 2006. She has been awarded both the Anne Elder Poetry Award and the Martha Richardson Poetry Medal. Her poems have been widely anthologised in the Best Australian Poems and The Best Australian Poetry series and most recently in The Penguin Anthology of Australian Poetry and The Puncher & Wattmann Anthology of Australian Poetry. She has taught poetry in Turkey and Japan as well as Australia. Colombine, a volume of new and selected poetry is forthcoming from Black Pepper Press in 2010.

August

Sorry these are a bit late if you've been waiting for a post to appear.
(Been busy book launching! Dog Gone - my children's novel - should be hitting the shops anytime soon.)
Thank you, Chris Wallace-Crabbe, for a thoroughly entertaining afternoon of poetry!

Chris Wallace-Crabbe

Stopping all Stations is coming around fast, so pencil Saturday August 21 on your calendar. This month Chris Wallace-Crabbe is featuring and it's an opportunity not to be missed. Come along and enjoy some great poetry, short story and spoken word in general. Who knows - maybe someone will burst into song? It's a friendly atmosphere with great door prizes and food.

See you there.

Chris Wallace-Crabbe was born in 1934. After leaving school he worked at the Royal Mint, Melbourne, then, at diverse jobs. . He was Harkness Fellow at Yale University, 1965-67, Professor of Australian Studies at Harvard, 1987-8, and Visiting Professor at the University of Venice, 1973 and 2005. His first book of poems was published in Australia in 1959, but in the eighties he began to publish with OUP, with The Amorous Cannibal. Has given many readings of his poetry around the world, but never in Africa. His most recent books of verse include By and Large (2001), The Universe Looks Down (2005), Telling a Hawk from a Handsaw (2009 )and the bilingual Each Line of Writing Still Is to be Done (2006 ). He chairs the Australian Poetry Centre at the Wheeler Centre. Also a public speaker and commentator on the visual arts, he specializes in "artists' books", and all that might mean. Read It Again, a volume of critical essays, was published in 2005. Among other awards he has won the Dublin Prize for Arts and Sciences and the Christopher Brennan Award for Literature. Since his retirement he has been Professor Emeritus in the School of Historical Studies, University of Melbourne. Chris draws, plays tennis, and has penned the couplet, "Consumption of Australian wine/ Is a large part of my design."

July

What a great afternoon of spoken word - poetry, short story and a blog post! Earl Livings treated us to a fine selection of poetry which had everybody listening intently. Thanks Earl. And thanks to all our open readers. It was a feast. And as always, a great atmosphere to boot - even in the middle of renovations!