Conversation ✶ Book Here

How does poetry register the transformation of time and space. Where does the poet begin and end? In this session, poets Andrew Brooks and Elena Gomez consider writing friendship and futurity, comradely love and joyous passion. Drawing from a process of reading and writing together over the past few months, this session will move between poetry reading and conversation. Together, they’ll consider writing and reading as collaborative experiments.

Conversation ✶ Book Here

Literary criticism seems to be in an endless state of decline. In so-called Australia, a particular flavour of cultural cringe is yoked to cultural hegemony: a critic might find themselves locked within the ivory tower, or self-censoring for fear of offence, or deliberately pursuing contrarianism for clicks. How, then, do critics move beyond this deadlock? Who decides what is 'good' criticism? What, exactly, is the function of criticism at the present time? This panel discussion sees Eda Gunaydin, Michael Sun and Cher Tan examine the possibilities of literary criticism, as well as the roles and responsibilities of the critic. Together they will pick apart these issues and attempt to propose a future for reviews that takes into account not only writers and editors, but readers and culture as a whole.

Conversation ✶ Book here

The old novel … had defined boundaries within which information was traded for the reader’s loyalty to a common and national agenda. The new novel places the boundaries themselves under question. — Brian Castro, “Heterotopias” (1994)

Thirty years after Brian Castro considered the ‘new novel’, three of Australia’s most talented contemporary novelists discuss the future of the form. Is there such a thing as a ‘Great Australian Novel’, or have twentieth-century paradigms expired? What, exactly, does greatness have to do with fiction? How does the novel relate to the nation?
Dr Lynda Ng, lecturer in Australian Literature at the University of Melbourne, will host Jessica Au, Brian Castro and André Dao as they consider the novel, the nation, and the boundaries that shape them.

CONVERSATION ✶ BOOK HERE

Each work that engages with history (and all do, to some degree or another) raises questions about how our visions and revisions of the past … inform the ways in which we live now, the ways we make sense of and treat each other, the ways we see beyond our individual moments to broader fractures and allegiances, collective memories or amnesias. —Bella Li, Liminal Interview #73

Poems are inevitably entangled in our fraught and fraying histories. Projecting such visions and revisions of the past, a poem is an assemblage, a translation, a palimpsest. As Lucy Van writes in The Open: “Each day here is different. But say that each day here is the same. In this way, each day has no history. In this way, desire.” A poem as history’s cracked mirror; a kind of opening; a rock thrown into a lost lake. Hosted by Sydney Review of Books editor James Jiang, this event sees Bella Li and Lucy Van think through histories, poetics and how to wield language on one’s own terms. 

Supported by the Sydney Review of Books.

Conversation ✶ Book here

I have all the theory in the world to explain the logics of our erasure, the violence of our replacements and our more palatable Others. [...]  But no one’s ever asked how we are both colonised by and inheritors of these words. —Evelyn Araluen, “To the Poets”, Dropbear (2021)

Trace the contours of language, seek out its limits and push. Histories are cut up, struck through, misplaced, misremembered. Join Evelyn Araluen, Hasib Hourani and Mykaela Saunders as they discuss the careful craft of ripping the empire’s language to shreds. In their work, these brilliant writers shift form in myriad ways; they render nonlinear temporalities and introduce new vocabularies; they wield opacities and yet share the dearest of intimacies. Thinking through poetry and prose, language and craft, these three writers will share the shape of a language unsettled.

Opening Night ✿ Book here

For the past eight years, Liminal has carved out spaces for community to gather, converse and create. To open the inaugural Liminal Festival, we’re celebrating with readings from friends old and new. Taking on a brilliant range of genre and form, this event showcases what our rich literary landscape has to offer, with readings from Susie Anderson, Manisha Anjali, Evelyn Araluen, Brian Castro, Bella Li, Jennifer Nguyen, Mykaela Saunders and Michael Sun. 

Poetry Workshop ❋ Free, book here.

Welcome to the Velvet Room, a generative workshop fusing tarot and persona, where different forms of people's hearts are called to awaken. Join us at the next lunar eclipse, together we will write the beginnings of poems that dwell between dream and reality, mind and matter.

Shastra Deo was born in Fiji, raised in Melbourne, and lives in Brisbane. Her first book, The Agonist (UQP 2017), won the 2016 Arts Queensland Thomas Shapcott Poetry Prize and the 2018 Australian Literature Society Gold Medal. Her second book, The Exclusion Zone (UQP 2023), is a love letter to all gamers. Shastra is the Liminal x Hyphenated Projects Writing Fellow 2024.

Poetry Reading ✿ Free

Join us for a free community event, featuring readings from Elena Gomez, Shastra Deo, Lucy Van, Panda Wong, Anupama Pilbrow, and Saraid de Silva.

// please note the new venue at Panacea Bar! //

ReadingS ✿ FREE, MORE INFORMATION HERE

Hear readings from works shortlisted for the 2023 Small Press Network Book of the Year Award, followed by the announcement of this year’s winner.

The Small Press Network is dedicated to supporting independent publishers and broadening the diversity of work available in the Australian literary landscape. To celebrate the return of their Book of the Year Award, this instalment of The Next Big Thing will feature readings from works shortlisted for this year’s prize.

Readings ✿ Willing a Rainbow to Fly

Hosted by Regie Cabico featuring DC poets Casey Catherine Moore and Adrian Gaston Garcia, with spotlight performances by New Zealand's Poet laureate, Chris Tse, Saraid de Silva, and Nathan Joe.

More information here.

Readings ✿ Busboys & Poets, Brookland

Featuring spoken word artist Chrissy Ihsaan, with readings by Cher Tan, Hasib Hourani, Bryant Apolonio, Elizabeth Flux, Saraid de Silva, and Rose Lu. Hosted by Regie Cabico and Casey Catherine Moore.

More information here.

Readings ✿ Busboys & Poets, 450K St NW

Featuring Chris Tse, Nathan Joe, Bryant Apolonio and Hasib Hourani.

Hosted by Dwayne B, a homegrown DC native poet, activist, break-dancer, and fashion designer. He is one of the hosts of DC's longest running open mic series, Spit Dat, as well as a member of the Busboys and Poets hosting team for the 5th & K location.

More information here.

Podcast LAUNCH ✿ FREE, MORE INFORMATION HERE

Join us in the gardens for a relaxed and informal listening event and settle in for a selection of narrative audio stories from around the continent that showcase rigorous soundcraft, unconventional storytelling and hidden knowledges.

Lay on the grass, fold a jumper under your head and let us share a snapshot of creatively ambitious podcasting and radio in so-called Australia, alongside unreleased previews of LIMINAL’s forthcoming series.

*For accessibility information about this event, visit mpavilion.org/accessibility

BOOK LAUNCH ✿ FREE, MORE INFORMATION HERE

Join Liminal and Writers SA to celebrate the launch of Haunt, with readings from Justina Ashman, Olivia De Zilva, Stefanie Hooi, and Sam Lau, hosted by Liminal x Writers SA Editorial Mentees Smriti Daniel and Lyn Dickens.

Haunt is a collection of work edited by editorial mentees Smriti Daniel and Lyn Dickens, with support from Liminal editors Cher Tan and Elizabeth Flux. This event has been produced in partnership with OzAsia and Writers SA.

BOOK LAUNCH ✿ $12 — BOOK HERE

Join Liminal and Pantera Press, to celebrate the launch of Against Disappearance: Essays on Memory at Gleebooks, with readings by Barry Corr, Lou Garcia-Dolnik, grace ugamay dulawan and Lucia Tường Vy Nguyễn.

READING ✿ FREE — BOOK HERE

For The Next Big Thing, a line-up of writers explore the body – the bodies we inherit, how we clothe our bodies, and how different bodies experience youth, gender and sexuality. Part of the stellar lineup is Ryan Gustafsson, who will be reading his contribution to the collection Against Disappearance, an essay which explores adoption and the unknown legacy of the body.

PANEL ✶ FREE, BOOKINGS ESSENTIAL — BOOK HERE

Hear from some of the most daring creative voices in the country as they discuss their contributions to Against Disappearance, a collection of essays from First Nations writers and writers of colour who bend boundaries, call on the past and envision new futures. Each piece in the anthology asks questions and shares stories for those who have been diminished or ignored in the writing of history. Leah Jing McIntosh, the book’s co-editor and founding editor of Liminal magazine, is joined in conversation by contributors Andre Dao, Hasib Hourani and Mykaela Saunders.

BOOK LAUNCH ✿ FREE, BOOKINGS ESSENTIAL — BOOK HERE

Join Liminal and Pantera Press, for readings, drinks, and books as we celebrate the launch of Against Disappearance: Essays on Memory.

Against Disappearance will be launched by Evelyn Araluen, with readings by Mykaela Saunders, Hannah Wu and Ruby-Rose Pivet-Marsh.

READING ✿ FREE — BOOK HERE

This celebratory event will include an engaging panel discussion, a showcase of the final art work commissions and live performances from MAV’s Ahead of the Curve artists.

Join us for readings by Chi Tran and Mo Chamas from their work in Liminal’s Sanctuary, published as part of Ahead of the Curve.

PANEL ✶ FREE
Digital / View Here

Hailed as Australia’s first Muslim rom-com, Ali’s Wedding – the charming story of a cleric’s son caught between tradition and love – was celebrated for its portrayal of an underrepresented diaspora and involvement of community members in the cast and crew.

Using the film as a springboard, this panel conversation – co-presented by Faculty of Arts and Liminal magazine – unites Ali’s Wedding executive producer Tony Ayres, activist and Human Rights Arts & Film Festival chair Roj Amedi, and media scholar Ruby Hamad to discuss authenticity, visibility, and evolutions in both the screen landscape and Asian-Australian communities. Ultimately, this panel explores why ‘seeing ourselves’ remains a perennial concern in contemporary society, and further investigates the relationship between representation and cultural change in modern Australia. Moderated by essayist, critic and Liminal publication editor Adolfo Aranjuez.

PANEL ✶ FREE — Bookings Essential
Carriageworks, 245 Wilson Street, Eveleigh, NSW.

Since 2017, LIMINAL has published and showcased some of Australia’s most exciting new voices. With its dedication to Asian-Australian writers, the platform is an antidote to the whiteness of Australian publishing. The inaugural LIMINAL Fiction Prize expanded this brief to writers of colour, producing a longlist that challenged genre and political conventions alike.

Liminal founder Leah Jing McIntosh, who edited the Collisions: Fictions of the Future anthology springing from the prize, speaks with contributors Naima Ibrahim, Mykaela Saunders, Bryant Apolonio and Eda Gunaydin.

Free — Bookings essential.

BOOK CLUB ❃ $10
Centre for Stories, 100 Aberdeen St, Northbridge WA.

Join the wonderful team at the Centre for Stories for an IRL special book club to celebrate the launch of LIMINAL‘s new book Collisions. Building on from our earlier collaboration, the Centre is pleased to host an event to celebrate LIMINAL’s latest work. Come and join a conversation about an exciting new work that focuses on a wide range of emerging voices. Book here.

PANEL ✶ $10 — BOOKINGS ESSENTIAL
Digital Event / Wollongong Writers Festival

Join LIMINAL's Leah Jing McIntosh with panellists Claire Cao, Bryant Apolonio and Eda Gunaydin as they read from upcoming fiction anthology, Collisions, and discuss writing and reading the body.

PANEL ✶ FREE — BOOKINGS ESSENTIAL
Digital / Avid Reader Bookshop

Join editor Adalya Nash Hussein and writers Victor Chrisnaa Senthinathan, Jason Gray, Bobuq Sayed and Jessica Zhan Mei Yu for a discussion on Collisions. Register here.