Please note: This is an online event.

On the eve of the publication of her fourth poetry collection How Decent Folk Behave, poet Maxine Beneba Clarke and Thuy On, author of the critically acclaimed poetry collection Turbulence, come together in a poetic dialogue to read recent poems and discuss reading and writing poetry in a changing world.

On a daylight street in Minneapolis Minnesota, a Black man is asphyxiated - by callous knee of an officer, by cruel might of state, and under crushing weight of colony. In Melbourne the body of another woman has been found. The Atlantic has run out of the English alphabet, when christening hurricanes. The earth is on fire - from the redwoods of California, to Australia’s east coast. The virus arrives, and the virus thrives. Authorities seal the public housing towers up, and truck in one cop to every five residents. Notre Dame is ablaze - the cathedral spire blackened, and teetering. Out in Biloela, the deportation vans have arrived. Every Friday, in cities all across the world, children are walking out of school. These poems speak of the world that is, and sing for a world that may one day be.

This event is free to attend but bookings are essential.

Please book here.

Attendees will be sent a promo code to claim $5 off the price of the book when they book their ticket. This code will be valid until 24 hours after the event has ended. When purchasing in store, simply mention the discount code or show your digital ticket at the counter to receive the discount.

How to ‘attend’ a virtual event at Readings

This event commences online at 6.30pm using the video conferencing platform Zoom.

To book for this event, you must provide your email address.

To ensure the Zoom event stays private, participants will be emailed a unique zoom link and a password 30 minutes before the event begins on the day of the event. Please check your email.

All bookings for online events will be closed one hour before the event begins.

You do not need to have a Zoom account to join a meeting, but mobile users will need to download the Zoom app for their device. Desktop and laptop users can either download the Zoom application or access the event via their web browser.