10am – 1pm

Where I Come From: A Cruise Celebrating the Life and Poetry of Robert Adamson

Luke Davies, Judith Beveridge, Claire Potter and Robbie Coburn. Host: Michele Seminara

$55 + booking fee

Join us to celebrate the life and work of the great Australian poet Robert Adamson. Poets Luke Davies, Judith Beveridge, Claire Potter and Robbie Coburn will be reading and reminiscing during a three-hour cruise on Robert’s beloved Hawkesbury River. The event will include a special introduction by Robert’s partner, photographer Juno Gemes, musical accompaniment by Steve Hoy, a Buddhist blessing by Venerable Thubten Chokyi, and will be hosted by Michele Seminara.

Please note: due to unforeseen circumstances, Ali Cobby Eckermann can unfortunately no longer join this event.

The cruise will leave at 10am sharp from Patonga Wharf, returning to Patonga Wharf at 1pm. Seating is unallocated, and you are welcome to bring food and beverages aboard to enjoy as the day unfolds (there will be no catering available for purchase during the cruise). 

Photos below © Juno Gemes
Other photos © Syl Marie

Robert Adamson

Born in 1943, Robert Adamson lived with his partner, photographer Juno Gemes, on the Hawkesbury River to the north of Sydney. Over his lifetime he produced 21 books of poetry and three books of prose, with the 2020 Reaching Light selecting from five decades of Robert’s work. He was awarded the Christopher Brennan Prize for lifetime achievement, the Patrick White Award, and The Age Book of the Year Award for The Goldfinches of Baghdad (Flood Editions, 2006), amongst many other accolades. He passed away on December 16, 2022.

• Read the Sydney Morning Herald obituary by Jason Steger here.
• Read the Poetry Sydney obituary by Devin Johnston here.
• Read ‘Poet Robert Adamson’s last interview’ by Susan Wyndham here.

Ali Cobby Eckermann

PLEASE NOTE: UNFORTUNATELY ALI COBBY ECKERMANN CAN NO LONGER JOIN THIS EVENT

Ali Cobby Eckermann’s first collection little bit long time launched her literary career in 2009. In 2013 Ali toured Ireland as Aust. Poetry Ambassador and won the Kenneth Slessor Prize and Book Of The Year (NSW) for Ruby Moonlight, a massacre verse novel. In 2014 Ali was the inaugural recipient of the Tungkunungka Pintyanthi Fellowship at Adelaide Writers Week, and the first Aboriginal Australian writer to attend the International Writing Program at University of Iowa. In 2017 Ali received a Windham Campbell Award for Poetry from Yale University USA. She was awarded a Literature Fellowship by the Australian Council for the Arts in 2018. In 2019 Ali was awarded a prestigious Civitella Ranieri Fellowship in Italy.

Claire Potter

Claire Potter is the author of three poetry collections and numerous essays and translations. Her poetry has been published in Poetry Chicago, London Review of Books, New York Review of Books, Best Australian Poems, New Statesman, and Poetry Ireland Review and translated into Chinese and French. She studied at the University of Western Australia, and the University of NSW, and has a Masters in Psychoanalysis from Université Paris VII and in Psychoanalytic Infant Studies from the Tavistock Institute. She teaches at the Architectural Association London where she also runs the AAWriting Centre.

Judith Beveridge

Judith Beveridge has published seven volumes of poetry all of which have won or been short-listed for major prizes. Her latest volume, SUN MUSIC: NEW AND SELECTED POEMS (Giramondo, 2018), won the Prime Minister’s Poetry Prize in 2019. She has edited and co-edited a number of anthologies including Contemporary Australian Poetry, (Puncher & Wattmann 2016). She was poetry editor for the literary magazine Meanjin from 2005-2016. Her work has been studied in schools and universities and translated into many languages. She taught poetry writing at post-graduate level for many years at the University of Sydney and continues to work in the community. She is a recipient of the Philip Hodgins Memoria Medal and the Christopher Brennan Award for excellence in literature.

Luke Davies

Michele Seminara

Robbie Coburn

Steve Hoy