The next Friendly Street Poets Words at the Wall event this Wednesday May 16th – 5.30 – 6.15pm (Free entry) features two great poetic greats, Peter Goldsworthy and Aidan Coleman – two of my favorite contemporary Australian poets.

Peter, born in Minlaton, SA, manages to work as a GP and has also developed an enviable reputation as a writer of fiction, libretti and poetry.

“He writes in all genres, including the opera libretto; his novels make their way onto stage and screen; and he has won too many prizes to be listed here. But he pays the usual price for media prominence and multiple glory: all too often, his poetry is thought of as a sideline. On the contrary, it is at the centre of his achievement. No poet who so resolutely avoids the set forms gets quite so much in.”  (Clive James)

Aidan, born in Aberystwyth, Wales, has made Adelaide his home for more than twenty years.

He has had a career in education as well as becoming one of Australia’s rising stars in poetry. Soon after I first met him, just on the release of his first collection, he had a life-threatening stroke. After recovery he also had to re-learn speech and pick up his writing life. (See my review of his first collection Avenues and Runways HERE.)

Aidan’s latest collection, Asymmetry, is undoubtedly destined for great things: of Aidan Coleman, Les Murray says ‘Dizzying imagery, executed with utter control. Coleman’s artistry puts him in the forefront of young poets anywhere.’

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This is a unique opportunity to see and hear two great Australian poets in one place, at one time, for free.

May 16th – 5.30 – 6.15pm

Treasures Wall, 1st Floor State Library, North Terrace, Adelaide

M.C. Mike Hopkins (Friendly Street Co-ordinator Words@Wall)