On the second Tuesday of June, the Poetry Night at Sappho plays host to AVANT GAGA #74, with special guests Cornflake Sunset (Luke Beesley), Suneeta Peres da Costa, Mark Roberts and Moya Costello, plus the usual open mic section. Sign-up for the open section is at 6:30pm on the night at the venue, and up to 10 readers will read for up to 2 minutes each. Drinks and tapas are available for purchase from the bar. Free Entry!
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CORNFLAKE SUNSET is the singer-songwriter moniker of acclaimed Australian poet Luke Beesley. In late 2024, he released his debut album, Double Portrait. Cornflake Sunset songs are a sort of rusty, literary folk-rock—absurd, intertextual, hyper-vivid. Luke's most recent collection of poetry, In the Photograph (Giramondo), was shortlisted for the Prime Minister’s Literary Awards. He is currently writer in residence at the Abbotsford Convent and lives on Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung land (Naarm/Melbourne).
SUNEETA PERES DA COSTA was born in Sydney ~ on Gadigal Country. She writes fiction, non-fiction, plays and poetry. She also works as an editor, mentor, teacher, occasional literary critic. The Prodigal, her debut poetry collection, was published by Giramondo in 2024. Her novella, Saudade (Giramondo, 2019; Transit Books USA & Canada, 2019; China Workers Publishing House, 2024), was shortlisted for the 2019 Australian Prime Minister's Literary Awards, the 2020 Adelaide Festival of Literature Awards and a finalist in the 2020 Tournament of Books (USA). Her novel, Homework, was published internationally and shortlisted for the Nita Dobbie Literary Award.
MARK ROBERTS is a writer, critic and publisher living on unceded Darug and Gundungurra land (Blue Mountains NSW). For much of the last four decades, Mark has been involved in writing, criticism and publishing. In 1982, he established P76 magazine with Adam Aitken and has been involved in small press publishing ever since. In 2011 he set up, with his wife Linda Adair, the on-line journal Rochford Street Review. Mark’s latest poetry collection, The Office of Literary Endeavours, has just been published by 5 Islands Press.
MOYA COSTELLO has five books: two collections of short creative prose, two short novels, and one collection of prose poems. She has scholarly and creative articles in textbooks, anthologies, journals and art catalogues; read at many venues; judged writing competitions; been a guest at Australian writers' festivals; and received writing grants and fellowships from state and federal government departments. She grew up in Sydney, has lived in Melbourne, Adelaide, and the Byron Bay hinterland. She currently lives on the lands of the punnilerpanna/palawa people, north coast of Tasmania/lutruwita.
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IMAGE: Hella Guth, 'Isle vagabonde', 1957, oil on canvas, 140 x 140 cm.
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