34-37 Degrees South
Coledale Launch
The South Coast Writers Centre has hosted many poets and fostered their talents through regular meetings since it began 25 years ago. One of these groups, The Poets in the City, meets monthly to share their new poetry and hone their craft. The anthology 34 to 37 Degrees South, which was first launched in Coledale, features poetry from this group and from a wider range of poets from the writers centre membership.
The anthology is named after the geographic area that the South Coast Writers Centre serves: between Helensburgh and Eden, and west into the Southern Highlands (approximately 34 to 37 degrees South latitude).
Whilst this part of the country has been home to many great poets and writers, the opportunities to be published and have one’s work read widely are still limited. Through supporting the construction of this anthology and many other initiatives, the writers centre is honoured to assist local writers with opportunities to publish their outstanding work.
In this great collection under the theme ‘Coast’, the editorial team featured some of our well-published poets, including two new pieces by Ron Pretty, who was instrumental in establishing the writers centre alongside Dr Elanna Herbert and Tim Heffernan. Joining them in the anthology are also some of our more recent writers, giving the reader a snapshot of the poetic powerhouse of our region.
The collection is available to read online and can be downloaded and printed, and is also available in an easy-to-read format on our website.
The SCWC would like to thank and congratulate all of the poets in this first digital anthology, including Judi Morison, Linda Godfrey and Peter Frankis who edited the collection, and Tao Gower-Jones who interned on this project.
Cobargo Reading
Following the Coledale launch in February, in March poets from the Illawarra met up with South Coast poets to read from 34-37 Degrees South at the Cobargo Folk Festival.
South Coast poets Elizabeth Walton (who you can watch reading her poem via a recording here), Ed Southorn and Kai Jensen were joined by Tim Heffernan, Linda Godfrey (reading Elanna Herbert’s poetry) and Peter Frankis (reading Ron Pretty’s poetry) for a fun early morning poets' breakfast. Interspersed with bush poets, the session was well-received by an audience of about thirty people.
