Is there something you always wish you'd shouted aloud, someone still out there in the world waiting to hear an important message, a piece of history you feel your voice could have improved?

Better Off Said: For the Living and Dead is a spoken-word art salon – an evening of words it's time to air.

The BoS team of Marieke Hardy and Emilie Zooey Baker make their Words In Winter debut with a thrilling line-up. Responding to the prompt ’The Words I Wish I Said' are visiting authors NADIA MAHJOURI, MO MANN SUDI and local writers CLAIRE SULLIVAN and MORGAN WILLIAMS. The wonderful IZZY ROBERTS-ORR will deliver a ‘Living Eulogy’ and there’ll be live music by local electro pop duo SQUARE WAVE BOUNCE.

Fresh from a national tour and sell-out events, this is a unique event - so get in fast if you want to enjoy an evening of catharsis, tears, joy, and a little emotional bonfire.

betteroffsaid.com.au

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Presented by Emilie Zoey Baker and Marieke Hardy.

📅 4-6pm, Sunday 24 August
📍 Hotel Bellinzona
🎟️ $35 full / $40 concession

Book here

2026 will see Australia establish its first poet laureate. Will it change the game for Australia's poets?

Featuring Eartha Davis, Barry James Gilson and Izzy Roberts-Orr, hosted by Tim Loveday.

📅 11:30am-12:30pm, Sunday 24 August
📍 Hotel Bellinzona
🎟️ $15 full / $10 concession

Book here

Dust off the poems you’ve been keeping in the bottom drawer and join us to celebrate the breadth and brilliance of local poetic voices. Whether it’s a polished piece or something still a little rough around the edges, bring your words from the page to the stage and take your three minutes on the mic – or just sit back and soak up the magic.

Hosted by local poet Izzy Roberts-Orr, The Bottom Drawer is a warm, welcoming space to share poetry aloud. No pressure, just poetry. Come to read, come to listen, come to be surprised and delighted.

📅 11:30am-12:30pm, Saturday 23 August
📍Daylesford Hotel - Bar Bamford
🎟️ FREE, sign-ups on the day.

Book here

Join me for a half-day poetry masterclass with Writers Victoria in September, where we’ll experiment with voice, persona, and perspective in poetry.

We’ll look at how myth and history can inform our poetics, consider our responsibility in constructing poetic personas, and speak about the ways in which a ‘shapeshifting I’ can afford us choices in the proximity between the self and the speaker of our poems.

📅 10am-1pm, Saturday 6 September
📍 The Wheeler Centre
🎟️ Writers Victoria Member $100 / Concession $100 / Non-Member $140

Book here

Join Izzy Roberts-Orr, author of ‘Raw Salt’, as she movingly explores contemporary elegy and lineages, alongside Manisha Anjali who invites us into the visions and awakenings of her Indo-Fijian ancestors from the sugar plantations of ‘Naag Mountain’. Peter Bakowski uncovers real and fictious characters through delightfully sharp portraiture, as he reads from his collection ‘Our Ways on Earth’. And enter the surreal, heart wrenching dreams and rural landscapes of Robbie Coburn’s ‘Ghost Poetry’.

Poets: Manisha Anjali, Robbie Coburn, Izzy Roberts-Orr & Peter Bakowski. MC: Amanda Anastasi.

Image by Dmitry Laudin

Book live tickets here

Book livestream tickets here

Are you a secret poet? Or do you have a couple of poems hiding in the bottom drawer? Come along to a supportive poetry workshop led by Red Room Creative Producer Izzy Roberts-Orr. Perfect for poets just starting out and those with a more established practice, this practical workshop will include writing exercises and a chance to share with the group. Plus, polish up your poetry submission for a paid poetry commission opportunity through the Phone-a-Poem project callout.

FREE, book here

Presented in partnership with Red Room Poetry, this project was made possible by the Australian Government’s Regional Arts Fund, which supports the arts in regional and remote Australia. Phone-a-Poem is supported by the Australian Government’s Arts and Cultural Development Program, Regional Arts Australia and Regional Arts Victoria.

Let’s talk about death. Death Cafe is one of the world's largest community engagement projects around death. At a Death Cafe people talk about death over tea and snacks. Join local poet Izzy Roberts-Orr for a Death Cafe at the Blackwood Cemetery, including a live poetry reading and cuppas from local legend The Cottage Herbalist.

FREE, tea and snacks provided

Pick up the landline handset and dial a number to hear a poem. The wind phone (風の電話, kaze no denwa) is an unconnected telephone booth in Ōtsuchi, Japan, where visitors can dial the dead. A new audio work by local poet Izzy Roberts-Orr extending on her collection of elegies, Raw Salt.

Installed all afternoon at Blackwood Cemetery, 35 Byres Rd Wurundjeri Country, Blackwood

FREE, no bookings required.

‘In Otsuchi, there is a phone booth
where you can dial the dead.
Kaze no denwa, the wind phone
carries your words on the currents
but air is not the same thing as breath.’
- from ‘imbibed aubade’, in Raw Salt by Izzy Roberts-Orr

Come along to a supportive poetry workshop as part of Hide+Seek Festival. Perfect for poets just starting out and those with a more established practice, this practical workshop will include writing exercises and a chance to share with the group. Plus, polish up your poetry submission for a paid poetry commission opportunity through the Phone-a-Poem project callout.

FREE, book here

Hide + Seek Festival

Presented as part of Hide + Seek Festival 2024, returning to Moorabool Shire with a program of music, art, food, and entertaining delights for all ages. Discover the hidden gems our regional towns offer, wander through arts trails and savour the local produce and historic buildings. Explore the full Hide + Seek Festival program here.

Stoked to be appearing alongside some of my very favourite poets at Bendigo Writers’ Festival - check out the full festival program here.

Poets Are Us

Saturday, 17 August 2024
11:00 am 12:00 pm

Join Claire G Coleman, Izzy Roberts Orr, Jazz Money and Sara M Saleh to celebrate Poetry month, a Red Room Poetry initiative, celebrated each August to raise the profile of Australian poets and poetry. This session will include live poetry readings and a discussion on the creative process of poetry writing, the tricky subjects that can be explored through poetry and current directions in the Australian poetry landscape.

Bookings and more information here

Psst…

The whole program is amazing, but I want to give a specific shout-out to my wonderful friend and neighbour Caroline (aka The Cottage Herbalist) who is running An Edible Weed Walk on Sunday morning where she’ll share all kinds of fantastic knowlege of the kind you’ll find in her book The Medicinal Garden.

Thursday, 15 Aug 2024
06:30pm - 07:30pm
The Wheeler Centre

Poetry is beyond time. It’s a way of bringing together the countless generations of humanity. It’s a means of connecting past and present. It’s a way of imagining the future. – L-Fresh the Lion, 2023 Poetry Ambassador

What would you tell the future?

The Victorian Poetry Month Gala returns for the fourth year in 2024, featuring a selection of Australia’s finest poets tugging at the threads of alternative timelines.

A captivating evening of collective imaginings awaits. Host Eleanor Jackson will be joined by Emilie Collyer, Jeanine Leane, Mitch McTaggart, Izzy Roberts-Orr, Thabani Tshuma, Grace Yee and Ouyang Yu, with a special musical guest to be announced.

Full $19
Concession $15
Pay What You Wish tickets are available for this event

Bookings and more information here

Ever wondered what your hat would say if it could speak? How your toaster feels, or what your couch thinks about your telly watching habits? Join local poet Izzy Roberts-Orr for an interactive workshop to learn about poetic techniques and draft some new work of your own.

Workshop is for ages 11-17 years. Free.

Book your spot now.

A Poetry Workshop at Words in Winter Trentham

Sunday, 4 August
10:30am-12:30pm

Join local playwright, poet, broadcaster Izzy Roberts-Orr for a poetry workshop that will ignite your creativity and hone your writing skills. Whether you're a seasoned poet or a curious beginner, this engaging session will provide you with the tools and inspiration to explore the depths of your imagination and express yourself through the art of poetry.

Venue: The Mechanics Trentham, 66 High St

Tickets: $40 (Limit of 20 people)

Bookings and more information here

About Words in Winter Trentham

Running since 2004, Words in Winter is a celebration of literature that takes over the tiny town of Trentham in August. Celebrate the power and the delight of language through WORDS – written, spoken or sung; through poetry, storytelling, composing, and competing.

Check out the full program of events on their website here.