National Poetry Competition -- UK

I am thrilled to say that I had two poems longlisted in the 2024 National Poetry Competition. They received 21,736 bpoems and 114 poets were longlistyed for the prize.

National Poetry Competition 2024

The competition, run by The Poetry Society, is one of the world’s most prestigious prizes for a single unpublished poem.

The 2024 National Poetry Competition winners have now been announced.

The winners are…

1st prize – Fiona Larkin, ‘Absence has a grammar’

2nd prize – Matt Barnard, ‘Two boys at midnight’

3rd prize – Sorrel Briggs, ‘Heaven Down’

Commended poets: Andrew Dennison, Kit Buchan, Chris Beckett, Yong-Yu Huang, Lesley Sharpe, Lee Knapper, Hannah Perrin King

And congratulations to the 2024 longlist And congratulations to the 2024 longlist:

Vasiliki Albedo Liapi, Bruce Alexander, Sarah Al-Hajj, Jeremy Audet, Andy Austin-Davies, Tate Bailey, Tom Bailey, Edward Barker, Mike Barlow, Flora Beagley, Lily Blacksell, Laurie Bolger, Colin Bramwell, Emily Breeds, Jessica Brown, Georgia Cabrera-Gutierrez, Finola Cahill, James Canavan, Maya Caspari, Ellie Cauvain, Duncan Chambers, Heather Chapman, Audrey Colasanti, Lauren Colley, Jack Cooper, Sarah-Clare Conlon, Katharine Craik, Carol Dalton, Patrick Davidson Roberts, Olga Dermott-Bond, Kathryn Dorfman, Charlotte Dormandy, Nick Drake, Stephen Duncan, Christina Dunhill, Christopher Edwards, Jonathan Edwards, Mark Fiddes, Dean Gessie, Ross Gillett, george graves, Arabella Green, Dila T. Gunay, Paul Gurton, Joshua Hallam, Allis Hamilton, Chris Hardy, Jack Haworth, Adrian Hobbs, Beverly Hughes, Frost Hughes, Talia Jacobs, Chris Jones, Gregory Kearns, David Keplinger, Tim Kiely, Anna Kisby, Houley Koundourou, Carolene Kurien, Vanessa Lampert, Bianca Layog, Wes Lee, Róisín Leggett Bohan, Emery Lipow, Nasim Luczaj, Gill Macdonald, Johanna Magin, Greg Mahrer, Martin Malone, Barbara Marsh, Robert Maslen, Anne McCulloch, Jim McElroy, John McKay, Paul McMahon, Kristen Mears, Olga Mexina, Jon Miller, Katrina Moinet, Sadhbh Moriarty, Jon Naskrent, Patrick Nathan, Eleonora Natilii, Mia Nelson, Sara Pensalfini, Stephen Poch, Robert Powell, Estelle Price, Victoria Pugh, Amanda Quaid, Maurice Quirke, Zen Ren, George Roberts, Peter Ross, Graeme Ryan, Nicholas Samaras, Jacqueline Saphra, Lesley Sharpe, Julie Sheridan, Maxine Sinclair, William Skelton, Copland Smith, Elizabeth Speller, Sandra Tan, Molly Underwood, Brett Van Toen, Imogen Wade, Kate Wakeling, Dolores Walshe, Seán Watmore, Hana Widerman, Maria Woodford, Luke Wright

Owlet Nightjar poem included as part of Red Room's Phone-a-Poem

Pick up the landline handset and dial a number to hear a poem. Harnessing the magic of the Wonderfoon (made in Nederlands), each number on the rotary phone unlocks a unique poem read by the poet. Phone-a-Poem riffs on John Giorno’s iconic 1969 artwork, ‘Dial-a-Poem’, featuring work by contemporary Australian poets.

Created and led by Red Room Poetry Creative Producer Izzy Roberts-Orr, Phone-a-Poem invites audiences to pause, pick up a handset and enter the space of the poem. An interactive and tactile experience designed to extend our audio archive from the digital realm into public space, Phone-a-Poem encourages audiences of all ages to engage with poetry.

This project is proudly supported by Regional Arts Victoria through the Regional Arts Fund Project Grants.


Phone-a-Poem at Melbourne Writers' Festival

From 8-11 May, Phone-a-Poem invites people of all ages to engage with poetry in a tactile and interactive experience as part of the Melbourne Writers' Festival. Look for three handsets around Festival venues and take a moment to escape into the world of words.

You can read the poems by clicking on the images. Or here

To read Owlet Nightjar click the image above. Or here

'Selkie' poem in Clarion #3 our by Feral Angels Press

I have a poem in this edition of Clarion, out by Feral Angels Press, Devon, UK

I wrote this poem on the Great Ocean Road a few years ago, and then the next day, after penning the poem, I was doing my yoga, where I do it every day, and saw a seal had swam up, during the night and the high tide, to die on the rock near to where I did yoga every morning. But the poem is not necessarily about that.

You can purchase a copy here

Friday July 5th 6-7pm Allis Hamilton poetry reading in the CHAPEL of the Uniting Church, Castlemaine on Agitation Hill.

Please join us for a night of great poetry on Friday July 5th 6-7pm with Allis Hamilton in the CHAPEL of the Uniting Church, Castlemaine on Agitation Hill.

Allis Hamilton creates poetry, paintings, and music. Her poetry is published in journals and anthologies in Australia, Scotland, England, Ireland, and Canada such as The Poetry Review, Meanjin, Overland, Westerly, Australian Poetry Journal. In 2022 she was a finalist in the Montreal International Poetry Prize, and semi-finalist in the Doug Moran National Portrait Prize. Allis was a finalist in the Adelaide Perry Prize for Drawing, 2019. Her music and poetry has featured on BBC Radio 3’s programme, ‘Freeness’, & a composition she created for Obsolete Sounds, Oxford, was discussed on BBC Radio 4. Allis currently has an exhibition of paintings at The Healing Well, Mostyn St. Castlemaine.

The reading is not funded. A $5 donation is appreciated, so the poet receives payment. 

A complimentary glass of wine courtesy Book town Winery is available. Thanks for the support.

We pay respect to the Dja Dja Warung, traditional owners of the land where this event takes place,

Thanks to the Uniting Church, Castlemaine.

'Elf-Shot', poem in Oxford School of Poetry Review

One of my poems, Elf-Shot, has been published in the Oxford School of Poetry Review.

This poem is part of the series I wrote inspired by my stroke/ brain haemmorhage some years ago. This selection of poems will be in my next poetry collection, which will hopefully be forthcoming sooner than later.

You can read the poem here.

Poetry Reading at That Poetry Thing – Smith's Alternative, Canberra: Jerzy Beaumont (CAN) & Allis Hamilton (VIC) + open mic


$10/5

That Poetry Thing presents: Jerzy Beaumont & Allis Hamilton

Jerzy Beaumont is an Australian poet currently residing in Alberta, Canada. His work has featured in publications such as Cicerone Journal, Australian Poetry Journal 8.2, BITE Magazine, The Canberra Times, Hobo Camp Review, Cordite 93: PEACH, Red Room Poetry’s Line Breaks, and more. His debut verse novella Errant Night was published by Recent Work Press in 2021 and shortlisted for the John Bray poetry award in 2022. Previously specializing in spoken word & free verse poetry, Jerzy has more recently been exploring formal structure and prairie poetry in preparation for his next book.'

Allis Hamilton is a poet, artist, and musician. Her poetry is published in Australia, Scotland, England, Ireland,
and Canada, such as The Poetry Review, Meanjin, Overland, Westerly. Allis was a finalist in the 2022 Montreal International Poetry Prize. She has been a semi-finalist in the Doug Moran National Portrait Prize; a finalist in the Adelaide Perry Prize for Drawing; and long-listed for the Delphian Gallery Open Call, London.She featured on BBC Radio 3’s improvised jazz programme, ‘Freeness’, 2020; & on BBC Radio 4, World at One, when her composition for the Obsolete Sounds project for Cities and Memory was discussed in 2022.

Open mic - to sign up on the night come fifteen minutes before we start at 7pm, or email us at smithspoetry@gmail.com. Each open mic poet has 3 minutes, please time your poems.

Sounds from Iceland by Cities and Memory

I’m thrilled to see my musical composition: Ice, rain, wind, spirit (Thingvellir national park) is included among the tracks on Cities and Memory latest album release, Sounds from Iceland. Part of their series of special albums dedicated to the sounds of specific cities and countries, Sounds from Iceland explores bubbling hot springs, gushing waterfalls and the expansive fjords of one of the world's most magical countries - and compositions built from these sounds that have inspired artists all over the world.

About my piece: Thingvellir national park reimagined by Allis Hamilton.

"This track is a conversation between midwinter, in my bushland home of Heron Cottage in Southern Australia, with that of the Iceland Thingvellir National Park. It is a song of the elements of rain and ice, wind and spirit.

"The night I first heard the Icelandic track was an evening of an enormous storm, a tornado of sorts, and the recordings I made of that fierce wind and the trees in my garden swaying and swirling in their unified response to the wind created my first thoughts for the music.

"Over the winter, through frosts, thunderstorms and rain I recorded the sounds of the natural world outside my squeaky front door. Alongside these I played some piano, ocarina; and added vocal layers laid like whispers on the wind over the footsteps of the other sounds, including the Icelandic recording which bookends the song alongside thunder and the calls of the mystical and mythic black cockatoos, the rain bringers."

released October 6, 2023

BigCi Art Residency Open Day Sunday 23rd July 2023

I have been fortunate to spend the past few weeks at Bilpin at BigCi doing a residency with the fellow artists:


Amaya Lang is an artist, writer and teacher living on Gadigal Land/Sydney.

She is currently working on a novel that explores the themes of addiction and resilience, and the stumbling search for wholeness through relationships and art.

At BigCi she hopes to experience how immersion in natural landscapes can induce creativity and flow states.

At Open Day she will read an excerpt from her novel in progress, as well as share ideas she has collected during her residency from artists, writers and musicians on approaching creative tasks through a lens of play and curiosity.


Allis Hamilton lives and creates poetry, music and visual art on Dja Dja Wurrung country, Victoria.

During her time at BigCi, Allis is following the whispering threads of vision, story and myth sung within her bones by her ancestors, and the plants and creatures around her, to remember the sacred story of all things.

Her work is centred in the natural world, and within the natural world of her own body; exploring her experiences within this astonishing miracle we call life. Centred around horses, birds, herbs and water, Allis writes to find healing, and to remember her way back home.


Rae Howell is an Australian composer, performer, and director of multi-art form projects. Her work is inspired by patterns in nature and highlights poignant environmental concerns that emerge from the buzz of a bee, the call of a bird, or the hammer of a piano. The focus of her BigCi residency is the beauty of birdsong in the Wollemi National Park, with a particular emphasis on the musical complexity of bird calls.
A short film about Rae's previous award-winning project Bee-Sharp Honeybee will be screened throughout the day. Developed via extensive research into the rhythm, pitch, and 'waggle dance' patterns of bees, Bee-sharp Honeybeeculminated in a large-scale production of string orchestra, synchronised with live animated projections and a honeybee hive, streamed live throughout the performance.
Rae Howell is the Winner of BigCi Environmental Award 2022.


Iella (Daniela Attard) is a UK-based Maltese visual artist and designer. Most of her work is figurative and illustrative, exploring themes of fantasy, climate change, and existentialism.

While at BigCi, she has been developing the early pieces for a large project entitled 'Migration Nation' - a body of work about Climate Migration.

People are increasingly forced to leave their homelands due to environmental changes, including sea level rise, extreme weather, drought, and water scarcity. Factors such as political instability or apathy, capitalism, conflicts and poverty also add to the complexity of the causes of climate migration.

Iella is also working on a side project - studying and drawing the natural landscape, focusing on flora affected by wildfires.

Reading some of the poetry I wrote while on my residency at the Big Ci Open Day in July


 

Obselete Sounds on BBC Radio 4, World at One

Some of composition, My Grandmother left me more than this typewriter, was featured on BBC Radio4’s programme, World at One yesterday.
Stuart Fowkes was interviewed about the Obsolete Sounds project by presenter Sarah Montague. Stuart speaks about the project and then specifically mentions my composition. Some of my composition, namely my Grandmother reciting some of her poem, was played on the show.

You can listen to the interview here: BBC RADIO 4 - WORLD AT ONE

You can also listen to the entire composition here, and obtain the Obsolete Sounds album here and listen to the entire 150 Obsolete Sounds sound samples here.

OBSOLETE SOUNDS - THE ALBUM

A few months ago I created another track, ‘My Grandmother didn’t just leave me this trypewriter’ for Cities and Memory, for their Obsolete Soubds project.

Stuart Fowkes, the founder of Cities and Memory, says this: ”Each sound in the project is recomposed and reimagined by artists, as they reflect on how the sounds of our world are changing and being lost every day – bringing a new perspective to how we listen. 

From buzzing modems and the whir of old VHS and cassette tapes to the changing soundscapes of our urban, cultural, industrial and natural worlds, the project documents the sounds we’ve already lost – and those that we’re in danger of losing. 

The sounds of the world are changing faster now than at any stage in human history and the lifespan of sounds is shorter than it’s ever been before – sounds that only came into existence a few years ago are already disappearing. 

Obsolete Sounds is designed to draw attention to the world’s disappearing soundscapes, to highlight those sounds that are worth preserving because they form part of our collective cultural heritage – and to help us think about how to save those sounds before it’s too late.”

From the 150 compositions, the founder, Stuart Fowkes, selected 13 to create an album from the project.

My composition was included in the album. You can obtain the album here:

This album compiles some of the highlights from the project – and the recordings that inspired them – and is available to download for free/pay what you like.

I'll be reading my poem, Decade, for the launch of our Summer 2022 edition of Meanjin

Come join us for a night of readings and celebration to mark the launch of our Summer 2022 edition at the Grace Darling Hotel in Collingwood on December 1 from 6:30pm.

You’ll hear from some very fine Meanjin writers, including Adolfo Aranjuez, Na’ama Carlin, Allis Hamilton, Luke Beesley, Fatima Measham, Guy Rundle, Jack Latimore and S.J. Finn.

We’ll also be raising a glass to farewell Jonathan Green as Meanjin Editor—the end of an era!

It’s a free event, and we look forward to seeing you there.

 

When: Thursday 1 December from 6:30pm

Where: The Grace Darling Hotel, 114 Smith Street, Collingwood (upstairs in the bandroom)

Link to Meanjin page to RSVP

Decade – Meanjin, Summer 2022, Edited by Bronwyn Lea

One of my poems, Decade, will appear in the Summer 2022 edition of Meanjin Vol 81, No 4.

“'Australia Where' is the coverline for the December 2022 edition of Meanjin, Jonathan Green's last as editor. Various essays in this edition address elements of national character and direction.

Historian Mark McKenna's 'Australia in Four Referendums' looks at the recent sweep of referendum history since the momentous 1967 vote: "In 1999, we effectively told our First Nations' people that addressing the republic was more important, more urgent, and potentially more nation-defining, than their exclusion from the constitution. It has taken twenty-three years to see how wrong that decision was, and how it reflected a deeply ingrained colonial mentality from which we are still struggling to emerge today."

Darumbal/South Sea islander writer Amy McQuire writes on 'The Act of Disappearing': "We do not know how many Aboriginal women have gone 'missing' in this country... To understand the violence of silence and silencing, we must first understand what has been silenced. And to understand, we must first listen to the families of women who have disappeared, and most critically, listen to Aboriginal women. We must do so by remembering that the acts that have been perpetrated against them do not define them."

Waanyi writer Alexis Wright considers how her ancient culture has responded to ongoing destruction-and how to bear witness to the creation of a post-apocalyptic world.

Plus: Guy Rundle on the Australian Labor Party's right turn, Paul Daley on the enduring whiteness of our founding military mythology, Scott Stephens on the choked breath of public discourse, Mark Kenny on the possibility of a progressive patriotism, Bruce Pascoe wonders when "Australia can become herself", Bernard Keane makes the case for governance, Tim Hollo argues we won't know what happens next until we make it, while Anne Spargo-Ryan asks: "Will we fuck for pleasure in the apocalypse?"

Other essays from: Jo Chandler, Shannon Burns, Claire G Coleman, Lucia Osborne-Crowley, Fatima Measham, Sara Saleh, Martin Langford and Peter Craven.

Memoir from: Na'ama Carlin, Diana Blackwood and Mark E Dean.

New fiction from: Kate Ryan, SJ Finn, Gregory Day, Tina Huang and Penny Gibson.

New poetry by: Jill Jones, Eileen Chong, Stella Theocharides, Angela Gardner, Judith Beveridge, Max Lavergne, Debbie Lim, Rachael Mead, Allis Hamilton and Paul Dawson.

Reviews by: Maria Danuco, Zowie Douglas-Kinghorn, May Ngo and Ellen O'Brien.”

Semi-finalist - Doug Moran National Portrait Prize 2022

I am thrillied to say my painting: ‘Where the old horse wanders on the crest of the hill’ is selected as a semi-finalist in the 2022 Doug Moran National Portrait Prize.



From the website it says:

Judge Gerard Vaughan AM commented

“It has been a pleasure and privilege to participate in the judging of the Moran Prize. I have been impressed by the sheer quality of works submitted, and the variety of ways in which so many artists have explored – and extended – the idea of what a portrait could be, what it tells us about both the sitter and the painter, and the personal and social contexts which each painter explores. Our years of confronting the pandemic are one theme. I have also been very struck by the interesting self portraits submitted, and by the high number of portraits of an artist’s painter friends. In fact, this fascinating body of work represents not only each painter’s ‘reflection’ of another human being, so often emotional, deeply personal and heartfelt, but also the ideas, interests and tastes which define a moment in time – right now, here in Australia.”

Doug Moran National Portrait Prize judges original artworks from Australian artists, capturing Australians from all walks of life, whether a public figure or someone from the artist’s circle of experience. Works are painted at least partly from life with the sitter known to the artist and aware of the artist’s intention to enter the Prize.

You can view my painting here: Where the old horse wanders on the crest of the hill

And see the list of the other semi-finalists here: here

My poem, Epistle, short-listed for the Montreal International Poetry Prize, 2022

I am humbled, thrilled and honoured to be a finalist in the Montreal International Poetry Prize, with my poem, Epistle selected onto the short-list.

The Montreal Prize awards one prize of $20,000 CAD to a poet for a single poem of 40 or fewer lines. A jury of internationally reputed poets and critics selects a shortlist of approximately 60 poems, from which a judge chooses one winner. The shortlist is published in The Montreal Poetry Prize Anthology.

The prize is run by the Department of English at McGill University in Montreal, Canada.

You can read all of the finalists, including my poem, Epistle, here


New track for Cities and Memory: My Grandmother didn't just leave me this typewriter, featuring Mabel Hyacinth reading her poem, Web of Life

I have reated a new track for Cities and Memory:
'My Grandmother didn't just leave me this typewriter, featuring Mabel Hyacinth reading her poem, Web of Life

Composition by Allis Hamilton.

"My grandparents lived across the road from me growing up. It was my Grandmother Mabel Hyacinth (May) who introduced me to poetry. She wrote poetry herself and often used a typewriter. When her and my Grandfather finally moved out of their home, in the empty house on her kitchen table May had left me her typewriter. It was such a beautiful sight! Did she know I would grow up to become a writer? Perhaps, but I doubt she would have guessed I would use the typewriter as an instrument in a musical composition. I created this work in honour of her.

"In the composition I have used the typewriter May gave me, alongside the typewriter sample provided by Cities and Memory. As well as the typewriters, to help set the space of the place where I was given the typewriter, I included a recording of my family at our home having breakfast in the sun. I also created cello, harmonium, chimes and vocal recordings to sit these sound among; as well as some frogs recorded at my home in the bush because I thought the frogs sounded like typewriters. And within all of this I have placed my Grandmother May reading one of her poems, Web of Life. I recorded May reading this poem when she was 93. She lived to be 98 years young. She would be thrilled to know her poem may be heard by people from all around the world."

This is part of the Obsolete Sounds project, the world’s biggest collection of disappearing sounds and sounds that have become extinct – remixed and reimagined to create a brand new form of listening. Explore the whole project at https://citiesandmemory.com/obsolete-sounds

Link to Cities and Memory here:

And you can also listen to the poem/song track below

My Hare poem is a part of Reflections on the Castlemaine Art Museum Collection 23 June 2022—26 February 2023

Reflections on the Castlemaine Art Museum Collection, this is held at Castlemaine Art Museum, Littleton Street Castlemaine

‘In this response to a large oil painting in the collection, poet Allis Hamilton recalls her poem Hare, as having ‘writing itself onto my page’ after viewing Philip Wolfhagen’s Southern Vista I. As Allis describes, "there is no visible hare in Wolfhagen’s painting yet to me it felt like it was there, or could quite easily be there, in among the shadowy hedges of the landscape."‘

The works in this exhibition have featured in a series of articles published on the CAM website. Reflections began as part of CAM’s online response to the COVID-19 lockdown. Contributors are asked to ‘reflect’ on works or objects from the CAM collections and history. Reflections also included published interviews with local artists and education resources for young people.

Reflections has been an experiment in opening up CAM's art and museum collections to new voices and knowledge. This series and exhibition represent a commitment from the Castlemaine Art Museum to make our magnificent collection accessible, relevant and uplifting. We encourage and invite our community to continue these reflections and conversations and have included a number of works which have not yet attracted a ‘reflection’. The exhibition also includes a selection of objects in the historical museum downstairs.

Link to the Castlemaine Art Museum here

And you can read my Hare poem here

NEW ALBUM: A Campfire at the Edge of the World by Necklace of Wrens

During lockdown I created an album.
I recorded it in my garden, or in my hut, or one track under one of my beloved trees.
My musical moiniker used here, Necklace of Wrens is named after Michael Harnett's brilliant poetry collection A Necklace of Wrens, which i am using with permission and blessing from his son, Niall Hartnett., the exexutor of Michael’s estate,

You can download the album on my bandcamp page here:

A Campfire at the Edge of the World

This is my painting/collage of the The Finnish goddess Ilmatar