KERRY REED-GILBERT: In this edition of the Verity La Poetry Podcast, Managing Editor Michele Seminara talks with poet, activist and Wiradjuri Elder Kerry Reed-Gilbert about her work and the place of First Nations writing in Australia today.
Kerry discusses The First Nations Australia Writers Network (FNAWN) along with the Us Mob Writing Group and their book Too Deadly.
Kerry reads her poem ‘I Know You’, published on Verity La, as well as ‘Just leave your mark here’ from the Australian Book Review and ‘Who’s Responsible’ from her collection Talkin’ About Country. Kerry also reads ‘A New True Anthem’, a poem written by her father — renowned writer, artist and activist — Kevin Gilbert, from his book Black from the Edge.
Kerry candidly discusses responses to her work, plus shares her views on racism, sovereignty and treaty for First Nations Australian people. Listen up!
Missed our earlier episodes? Listen here!
Podcast producer: Alice Allan
If you’d like to support the great work FNAWN do, contact kuracca@bigpond.net.au.
Kerry Reed-Gilbert is a Wiradjuri woman from Central New South Wales who has performed and conducted writing workshops nationally and internationally. She was the inaugural Chairperson of the First Nations Australia Writers Network (FNAWN) 2012 – 2015 and continues today as a Director. In 2013 she co-edited a collection of works By Close of Business, with the Us Mob Writing (UMW) group, and was FNAWN co-editor for the Ora Nui Journal, a collaboration between First Nations Australia writers and Maori writers. 2015 saw Kerry short-listed for the Story Wine Prize, and in 2016 she edited a collection of First Nations voices from across Australia titled A Pocketful of Leadership in the ACT. Kerry is a former member of the Aboriginal Studies Press Advisory Committee and her poetry and prose have been published in many journals and anthologies nationally and internationally, including in the Macquarie PEN Anthology of Australian Literature. Her works has been translated into French, Korean, Benglai, Dutch and other non-English speaking languages.
In 2003 Kerry was awarded an International Residence at Art Omi, New York, USA. In 1997 she toured the South African spoken word national tour ECHOES, and in 2005 she toured Aotearoa, New Zealand, as part of the Honouring Words 3rd International Indigenous Authors Celebration. In 2006 she received an Outstanding Achievement in Poetry Award & a Poet of Merit Award from the International Society of Poets.
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