That Poetry Thing: Jen Crawford (ACT) and David Stavanger (NSW) + Open Mic
Schedule
Mon Mar 16 2026 at 09:00 am to 11:00 am
UTC+11:00Location
Smith's Alternative | Canberra, CT
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Entry $10/$5Join us for luminous performances from local poet, Dr Jen Crawford and interstate poet, David Stavanger as well as your own time to shine on our famous Open Mic!
About the featured poets:
Dr Jen Crawford is a poet and academic, originally from Aotearoa New Zealand. She is a Professor of Creative Writing in the Faculty of Arts and Design at the University of Canberra. She has published eight poetry collections including Koel (Cordite, 2016). With Paul Collis she co-edited Story Ground: The Anthology, a collection of literary works derived from a series of workshops informed by Indigenous storytelling and knowledge practices. With Rina Kikuchi she co-edited Poet to Poet: Contemporary Women Poets from Japan. She’s previously worked in Aotearoa New Zealand and Singapore. Her critical work focuses on the poetics of place, ecological imagination and cross-cultural engagements in various literary contexts. Her next poetry collection, A General Image of the Countryside Recovering from the Effects of Winter is forthcoming from Puncher & Wattmann Press.
David Stavanger is poet, performer, cultural producer, editor, and former psychologist living on Dharawal land in Port Kembla. His first full-length poetry collection, The Special (UQP, 2014), was awarded several prizes. David is the co-editor of Solid Air: Collected Australian & New Zealand Spoken Word (UQP, 2019) and Admissions: Voices Within Mental Health (Upswell, 2022), which received a NSW Mental Health Arts & Media Award. Case Notes (UWAP, 2020) won the 2021 Victorian Premier’s Literary Award for Poetry, and his new collection is The Drop Off (Upswell, 2025).
David works as an Artistic Director at Red Room Poetry. He was previously the co-director of QLD Poetry Festival and part of the Programming Team at Woodford Folk Festival. He is also known for his work with several community writing projects that amplify marginalised voices and lived experience writers including Brotherhood of the Wordless (writers with autism precluded from speech) and as the producer of MAD Poetry (writers with lived mental health experience.
Sign up for the Open Mic from 6:30pm with your MC, Jacinta
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Where is it happening?
Smith's Alternative, 78 Alinga St, City ACT 2601, Australia, CanberraEvent Location & Nearby Stays:
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