Milk Teeth’s first review!

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Last week I received a lovely FOUR STAR review of Milk Teeth at Books & Publishing by Carody Culver. My book was described as a ‘striking debut poetry collection’ from ‘a powerful new voice in Australian poetry’!!!

Don’t forget, Milk Teeth will be launched at the Queensland Poetry Festival 23-26 Aug 2018! If you can’t attend QPF, you can also preorder the book on a heckload of places, including Penguin and Booktopia, or pop into your local independent bookshop and ask for a copy. 🙂

Milk Teeth book cover

Cover of Milk Teeth

Queer space rabbits?!

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This month has been poem-tastic, with three of my pieces being published in quick succession! What a good time!

‘astrophobia’ was released in A Visitor’s Guide to the Void, which is available on itch.io. This guidebook is a stand-alone accompaniment to a larger performance installation, Enter the Void. I’m so pumped to be a part of this stunning, stellar project! Other rad poets in the guidebook include: Jennifer Mace, Kaolin Fire, Toby MacNutt, Mari Ness, Hester J Rook, and Melody Watson.

EnterTheVoid

Photo by Toby MacNutt

I have a non-binary-themed poem in the most recent Rabbit 24 – LGBTQIA+ issue. It’s about the ridiculous lengths people go to in order to erase trans people, especially on forms and surveys, punctuated with humour and heavy sarcasm.

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Rabbit #24, copyright Rabbit Poetry

And finally, Concrete Queers released their latest issue #11 Home and it contains my poem ‘Walk me home’. You can buy a copy here on Etsy. Other featured creatives in this issue are: Pewkazilla, Bridget Flack, Cassandra Cho, Ellen Muller, Rob Corica, Nicole Field, Hester J. Rook, Alison Evans, and Zenobia Frost.

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Photo: Concrete Queers #11 Home

All these sweet poems will be also in my upcoming poetry collection Milk Teeth, published by UQP!!!

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Photo: Fancy cover of my book!

New poem at Ibis House

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For those of you who don’t know, I love the sacred Bris-bin ibis a lot, so to be published in a mag called Ibis House is both a privilege and very On Brand for me.

** Read my new poem ‘Sabbatical’ at Ibis House here! **

And if you enjoy the poem, don’t forget you can add a tip (pls give me ur monies) 💸

You can also submit your own work to Ibis House, which I’d super recommend coz they pay and they also make cool art inspired by your work. Like this intense and spooky video for ‘Sabbatical’ which I love!

Queensland Poetry awards are open!

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The Arts Queensland Thomas Shapcott Poetry Prize for an unpublished manuscript is in its 15th year! The award includes prize money of $2,000 and a publishing contract with University of Queensland Press (UQP). I was last year’s winner and it’s been wonderful and life changing! Enter your manuscript so I can pass along the Shapcott Prize baton! 😘💖

*** Visit the Queensland Poetry Festival (QPF) website for more info ***

Super deep words I said from the QPF piece above: “Winning the 2017 Thomas Shapcott prize has given a new life and sense of freedom to my writing practice. My voice as a non-binary person is very often silenced, so to win such a major award has given me the confidence to push myself further and to embrace my voice as a marginalised poet.”

All four Queensland Poetry awards are now open for your excellent entries, including the Arts Queensland supported Thomas Shapcott, Val Vallis & XYZ Awards, along with the ekphrasis prize supported by Philip Bacon Galleries. 

*** Once more with feeling: visit the QPF website for more info ***

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Pic of me being a happy poetry dork, winning the Shapcott at QPF 2017. This could be you!

Zine Review: Rabbits & Relics: Okunoshima (Rabbit Island)

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Sea Green Zines reviewed my zine Rabbits & Relics! 🙂

Sea Green Zines

Rabbits & Relics: Okunoshima (Rabbit Island)
Rae White
https://raewhite.net/
https://twitter.com/wings_humming

Rabbits and Relics is an A5 black and white zine about Rae’s exploration of Okunoshima – Rabbit Island.

I have always wanted to travel to Japan, so to say I was excited about any sort of Japan-related zine is a bit of an understatement. I’ve heard of various animal places like the fox village and cat island, but rabbit island was new to me.

I think the thing that really struck me about this zine is the glimpse of reality Rae gives in this zine. At the start, Rae mentions how the contrast of adorable rabbits and World War 2 relics is both striking and confronting.

Take what you will of the beautiful living alongside the symbols of the horrible, but it really spoke to me. This isn’t some glossed up, glossing over happy fun time tourist brochure. Rae provides…

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April news!

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I have so many great announcements this month and we’re only 4 days into April!

I’m featured on the website Transgender Writers and Writers with Intersex Variations in Australia. Sign up to check out the list here.

A recording of my Judith Wright Poetry Prize second placed poem ‘what even r u?’ will also be featured at the upcoming AVANT GAGA #36. The event will be held at Sappho Books in Glebe on Tuesday 10 April from 7-10pm and will feature readings from Evelyn Araluen, Raelee Lancaster, Omar Sakr and Holly Isemonger!

‘if there’s nothing out there, why am I searching?’

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My plant poem ‘if there’s nothing out there, why am I searching?’ is in this gorgeous issue of Umbel and Panicle!   

This poem is fresh and so new, it won’t even be in Milk Teeth! ‬

Have a read of the poem here.

Umbel & Panicle’s Issue 7: Roots is also full of poignant and inspiring poems, including “A Lesson In Uprooting” by Dhiyanah Hassan, “Clearcut” by RL Mosswood, and “Soon Come” by Saleem Hue Penny, and gorgeous photography by Che Gilson.

My poem placed second in the Judith Wright Poetry Prize!

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BIG NEWS: My poem ‘what even r u?’ came second in the Overland Literary Journal Judith Wright Poetry Prize!!

Congrats to Evelyn Araluen for her poems ‘Guarded by Birds’ and ‘Dropbear Poetics’ winning first and third places respectively. And also congrats to the shortlisted and commended poets! 

**Read the full announcement on Overland here**

I particularly liked this quote, which sums up my poem perfectly:

“Second-placed ‘what even r u?’ by Rae White is insistent in its breaking down of binaries (gendered in particular but also linguistic, via puns and inversions) while expressing admirable patience in the face of intolerance and abuse.”

PS: on that note, if you’re commenting/writing about this wonderful prize, please note my pronouns are they/them (e.g. ‘they just won a great prize!’) and I am non-binary, NOT a woman or female. Thank you 

The detailed judges’ report and three winning poems will be published in Overland 230, out in late March.