Caroline Reid Writes

 The Poetry Book Awards is an annual, international book award given to the best poetry book awards produced by indie writers, self published authors or books published by small, truly independent presses. I received news last week that SIARAD has been long listed for this year's award. The Poetry Book Award - long list SIARAD is published by ES-Press , an imprint of Spineless Wonders Publishing,  which truly is a small, independent press. The advantage of being published by small presses like SWP is that authors get to work closely with the publishing team. I worked alongside graphic designer BKAD (Betttina Kaiser) , and had input in all the decision making including style of book, (I love square books!) front cover, graphics and font type, as well as working closely with editor Matilda Gould. The process was invigorating and exciting, a real artistic pleasure. I didn't write and publish this book to win awards. As a team we made the book we wanted to make, a book that gave ...

"Reid's delivery is masterful. This is poetry of the best kind."  Alice Gorman, Adelaide Fringe Review I am so freaking pleased to announce that SIARAD, my one-woman spoken word theatre event, will enjoy a Comeback Season in September at Studio 166, Goodwood Theatre & Studios. With the brilliant assistance and support of theatre-maker Emma Beech, Goodwood Theatre & Studios, Spineless Wonders and Andy Hunt, I'll present 5 shows across 3 days: Friday, September 17th - Sunday, September 19th 2021. Tickets have just been made available through Try Booking. SIARAD pulses with images of stars and stray dogs, highways with no horizon and mothers with fading memories, a blend of poetry and storytelling with a consistent element of humour and surprise.  Here are some responses from those who came to SIARAD at Adelaide Fringe Festival: Such a brilliant show! I loved it!!  I forgot I was even in the theatre. Thank you. If you love words and writing, this is just the pe...

 Heeeey, thanks for dropping by. Things have been rumbling along since March. My Adelaide Fringe show came and went. The audiences were lovely and the studio space was so intimate it felt like I was performing to friends in my lounge room. I did 3 shows, with a splash of heckling on opening night, which I loved! The wonderful Alice Gorman (otherwise knows as Dr Space Junk ) had this to say in her review: "Reid's delivery of her words is masterful It's no wonder she has twice been a finalist in the Australian Poetry Slam. She blends cadence with a conversational style that hits just the right balance. Music, sound effects and props augment the words and emotions as Reid moves from verse to verse. This is not a chronological narrative, but you feel you have taken a journey with Reid to some place of stillness and acceptance at the end ... This is poetry of the best kind, that engages you and makes you want to be BFFs with the poet."  If you didn't get to the show, ...

When I was planning SIARAD, my debut collection of poetry and prose , I wanted two things: a book that crossed boundaries and a beautiful work of art. Luckily for me, I found the people who made that happen. Bettina Kaiser art+design and the Spineless Wonders crew created a gorgeous work of art with a beautiful aesthetic. Kerryn Goldsworthy noted in the Sydney Morning Herald that "the design and illustrations are a precise fit with both the form and content of Reid's text."   And what of crossing boundaries? When the book went to print I had a vague notion that I’d like to record SIARAD as an Audiobook , and ‘wouldn’t mind’ doing it as a show. Possibly at Adelaide Fringe in 2022, I thought. Then Covid-19 invaded our world. A stressful time, to say the least. However, during lockdown I was able to use a Covid Support Grant from the South Australian government to make the Audiobook I’d been dreaming of. This is great! I thought. My book has crossed over from print into au...

HOME-MADE SOUND BOOTH The South Australian government may have been the first state government in Australia to come to the financial aid of artists by providing quick response grants for Innovating Practice. What a privilege to be the recipient of one of these grants. With the funds granted to me I bought sound and video recording equipment, paid for the hire of a sound studio, paid other creative artists for their services and had some funds left over for living costs. My primary project has been recording SIARAD as Audiobook. I decided to record the longer (prose) pieces in a professional studio. A local radio station PBA FM offered a very reasonable hourly rate and over 4 sessions I came away some very clean, crisp recordings. Perfect for the prose. At first I was disheartened that I didn’t have the funds to record the whole book in a professional setting but, as things turned out, it was actually a good thing.   By researching on the internet, and with the help of my partner,...

Oh yeah, a second print run! It’s been almost six months since the release of my first book of poetry and prose, SIARAD, and it’s an understatement to say that since then there has been a lot of uncertainty and sorrow in the world. For many authors, the resultant cancellation of book launches, tours and presentations has been a big disappointment. But disappointment is not the end of the story. Human creativity and invention has come to the fore, yet again, in troubled times. As a performance poet, my world has been opened up by online events in Melbourne, Perth, Sydney and Queensland. I know of many other poets who have participated in international poetry events too. Last night I competed in a Slam Final hosted by The Bunker Spoken Word that took place in Queensland . As well as live performers, there was a bunch of us performing via Zoom in W.A., N.S.W., Victoria, S.A. And in the Zoom room with us for the whole event was Holly McNish, drinking tea and eating toast on a Saturday mo...

SIARAD was released last month. My longtime friend, the artist, illustrator , writer and art historian Georgina Coburn has penned a review: " Having seen her performances as a finalist in the 2018 and 2019 Australian Poetry Slam competitions online, I was looking forward to reading Caroline Reid’s debut collection of poetry and prose, Siarad . Based in Adelaide, Australia, Reid’s work has been published in literary journals such as Verity La, Red Room Poetry, Cordite and her poem Lost was shortlisted for the 2019 Ó Bhéal International Poetry-Film competition. In Siarad, Reid’s ferocious honesty, sensitivity and acuity leaps off the page as it does on stage, fuelled by personal experience and acute social observation. Siarad, a Welsh word meaning to talk or speak, reflects Reid’s family history and this collection, drawn from over a decade’s work, is testament to finding your voice as an artist. In form and content this is a gift of a book, raw, lyrical and ...

SIARAD - Bio One of the  most difficult things I had to write for SIARAD was the biography. The first draft was a dry linear account of where I'm from, what I've published etc. But it felt dull and I wanted something a little different, something that was a little more in line with the flavour of the work. Then serendipity stepped in: I discovered that Margaret Atwood and my mother (who I'm dedicating the book to) share the same names and that gave me a way in to a different kind of tone. So, I have succeeded in writing one of my literary heroes into the bio of my debut collection. I think that qualifies me as some kind of genius. Oh, and the font is Artegra Slab, in case you were wondering (of course you were ). Sexy, huh? C x

book cover design and illustration by Bettina Kaiser I've been consumed by a new project these past few months. It's long been a goal of mine to gather together some of the shorter works I've written over the past decade or so and put them in a collection; and finally, it's happened. The name of the collection is SIARAD, a Welsh word meaning to talk, to speak. It was the first word I chose. Then I went off on a tangent of worry about how non-Welsh speakers might pronounce the word and if it might put them off reading the thing. So I set myself a deadline and trod a long journey to find a different word. Turned out to be a circular loop that took me back to the start: SIARAD. None of the English words I found were as satisfying in sound or look; nor did they have the weight of Welsh culture behind them and that was important to me (my Mum is Welsh and the book is dedicated to her). The 's' is pronounced 'sh', the same as Sinead or Seana. I really l...