POTM Episode 9 – featuring ‘Homespun’ performance and interview

In this episode, we showcase a special performance by the Mothertongue multi-lingual poetry collective performing their original work ‘Homespun’.

‘Homespun’ is written and performed in five languages (six, including English) by four poets who came together through Mother Tongue Multilingual Poetry events and workshops in Canberra. Originally created for the Noted experimental writers festival, ‘Homespun’ explores ideas and feelings about displacement, longing, love and home. The poets are:

Vesna Cvjeticanin – born in Yugoslavia, Vesna left before the war with her husband and two young children. A lawyer by profession, Vesna writes her poems in Serbian, all of which (except for Homespun) are expressed in 15 lines.
Karina Bontes-Forward is a poet and musician of Chilean heritage who writes and sings in Spanish, Indonesian and English and enjoys playing with different musical traditions and languages.
Anita Patel – born in Singapore and educated in England, Singapore and Australia, Anita grew up speaking both English and Bahasa Malay. A former teacher of English and Indonesian, Anita won the ACT Writers Centre Poetry Prize in 2004 and her poetry has been published widely.
Asefeh Zeinalabedini – came to Australia from Iran seven years ago. Azerbaijani and Persian are her mother tongues. She is a linguist by profession and writes and performs in Persian, Azerbaijani and English.

This episode hosted by: Sam Byrnand