Jakeb Smith addresses the crowd at the March Salon.
The delayed March Lit Salon took place on Thursday the 29th of April, and featured a stacked line-up of readers, a fair crowd, and a major announcement.
Salon Co-President Jakeb Smith.
For those who don’t know, the QUT Lit Salon hosts monthly readings of some of the best work by the university’s most skilful creative writers, responding to a theme.
The theme for March was heirlooms, and part poetry slam part author preview, the Salon did not disappoint.
Salon co-president Jakeb Smith opened proceedings a little after 4PM to an energetic and attentive crowd, and was followed by a blistering poetry suite from Killian MacDonald and a short story from Glass alumni Jak Kirwin, Big Red.
First-year Mackenzie Castley read her a prose poem Loam, before Vogel Prize winner and Creative Writing lecturer Dr Rohan Wilson surprised the crowd with a preview of his latest project, which was met with rapturous laughter and applause.
After a brief intermission, the Salon resumed with Emma Nayfie’s powerful poem, This Will Not Be Her Shame, which captivated the audience.
Another Glass alum Alisha Davenport then read a suite of four poems, before readings ended with Samuel Maguire’s short story, Green Jacket.
Killian Macdonald at the March Lit Salon.
Dr Rohan Wilson reads from his latest project.Samuel Maguire reads his short story, Green Jacket.
But the most exciting moment of the night arguably came during the intermission, when Smith announced that Brisbane author Trent Dalton (Boy Swallows Universe) would be a guest speaker at the upcoming May Salon, on the 27th.
According to Salon members, Dalton’s had been courted for some time.
‘We had only dreamed of getting Trent when we made our wishlist of potential readers,’ said Ciaran Grieg, a Salon social media coordinator.
‘It was absolute torture to keep it a secret for a month or so.’
Madison Blissett de Weger, editor for QUT Literary Salon, is also excited for the May Salon.
‘We’re all expecting a massive intake of submissions,’ she said, adding, ‘we’re big fans of Trent, and who knows, we may be lucky and get to hear something new.’
When asked of how the evening went, Blisset de Weger commended the attendees for their enthusiasm.
‘The crowd’s atmosphere really made it great.
‘It gave every reader such a confidence boost and instant validation for all their hard work.’
The May Salon will take place on the 27th in the Grove Bar, and the theme is Brisbania – submissions will open soon here.
The Lit Salon Team: Ciaran Greig, Bex Roma, Jackson Machado-Nunes, Jakeb Smith, and Madison Blissett de Weger.
Tom Loudon
Tom (he/him) is a Meanjin/Brisbane based writer and the Editor in Chief at Glass Media. He has a Bachelor's degree in Fine Arts (Creative Writing) and is currently studying Communications (Journalism) at QUT.
