Writing – LARSEN

Decolonising A Bookshelf in Enough Trope

Reading is my only competitive sport (though one in which I only compete with myself).

My 2025 writing year

Arts, cultural and human rights advocacy and governance were the key themes of my 2025 writing year (with a little bit of poetry here and there).

Writers festival reflections

Any day I get paid be a writer is a good day. So I was delighted to book four writers festival events for the 2025 season – which I am now half-way through.

Why we cancelled our Bendigo Writers Festival panel

I was so looking forward to this weekend’s Bendigo Writers Festival, where I was meant to join Madison Griffiths and Cher Tan as part of the Cities of Literature Book Club to discuss Looking at Women Looking at War by the late Ukrainian writer Victoria Amelina.

However, following the decisions and actions of Festival and Presenting Partner La Trobe University this week, and in solidarity with fellow participating writers, we no longer feel able to take part.

And another thing: Meta’s Grand Theft AusLit

Like many others, we were dismayed to learn that mega-corporation Meta has stolen the work of thousands of Australian creators to train the Large Language Model for its flagship AI, Llama 3, without permission, license or compensation – including both editions of The Relationship is the Project.

Westerly reviews Public. Open. Space.

Huge thanks to Ellie Fisher, whose review of Public. Open. Space. was published by Westerly Magazine this week.

My 2024 writing year

Community-engaged practice, for-purpose governance, along with arts and human rights advocacy were the key themes of my 2024 writing year.

Building your author brand

No matter where you are in your publishing journey, it’s more important than ever for writers to think about their profile, reach and brand.

However, building your author profile is a marathon, not a sprint. So, in the lead-up to next month’s Writers SA workshop, I’ve put together some top tips for getting started.

Poems, place and digital space: online poetry in Australia, China and Hong Kong

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Over the past three decades, digital platforms have become a significant global player in the development and dissemination of poetry.

Variously referred to as e-poetry, electronic or cyber poetry, digital poetry, social media or Instapoetry and more, Australian digital poet and Professor of Electronic Literature Jason Nelson defines the artform as ‘the combination of technology and poetry, with writers using all multi- media elements as critical texts. Sounds, images, movement, video, interface/interactivity and words are combined to create new poetic forms and experiences’.

Like other online art forms, the creation and consumption of digital poetry has grown further and faster since the COVID-19 pandemic—as more people turned to poetry to make sense of the changing world and shared that poetry through one of the only platforms available to them during that time. ‘Poems are ideally suited to social media,’ New York journalist Michelle Dean writes, ‘because they pack so much meaning into so little language.’

However, this coming together of digital and poetic culture is different for poets in different countries, depending not just on geographic and internet access but language use and platform preferences, as well as the degree to which online activity is monitored, censored or controlled.

My 2023 writing year

In a nothing-short-of-extraordinary writing year, 2023 included the launch of my debut poetry collection, completion of the next edition of The Relationship is the Project, self-publication of my grandmother’s memoir, neiphling’s picture book and family musical, articles in three literary journals, new poems in print and online, and more.