By Lit Salon media manager, Tori Brown
(Follow Lit Salon’s Instagram @qutlitsalon)
We’re starting the year off petty, as our lord and saviour Regina George would. As such, the theme for the QUT Literary Salon’s first salon of the year was Salty. Held at the Grove Bar on the 27th of March, we had margs aplenty and quite the sea of pink-clad patrons. But disaster struck – we were flooded with Engineering students on a pub crawl and about five minutes from our start time (Lit Salon attracts quite the crowd, we’re just really cool like that). Our co-president Josephine gave a wonderful intro to the night, and our Welcome to Country, and subtly let the Engineering students know that unless they were here for our readers, they can’t sit with us!
Max Saltmarsh started off the night. Performing three original songs, Man in the Mirror, White Horse (which was devastatingly not Taylor Swift), and Broken Hand. Max’s delicate storytelling and folksy guitar, reminiscent of Courtney Barnett, was soulful and drew us all into the night.
Our first reader, Verity Rose, delivered a passionate and punchy piece about the value of swear words in self-expression, clicking in place of swears for impact. The power behind the end line was stunning; “F*ck that, I will not be silenced!”
Isaac Thornton delivered a suite of poems. The first of which was definitely captivating, another ode to the word f*ck. I’m noticing a trend. Isaac’s voice had a beautiful tone and pace, which kept you hanging on to every word.
Our fabulous guest speaker Rae White, author of MILK TEETH (2018) and Exactly As I Am (2022) and founder of Uplift Poetry and EnbyLife, then took to the stage, delivering a couple of poems from their books. These poems were heart-wrenching and so terribly gorgeous. About finding your place, worth, and self-love amongst discovering your identity, especially as trans and non-binary. “You are enby enough… Never-ever disappearing.” It was a joy to have them with us.
After the interval we had Murtaz Muneeb perform a brilliant slam poem about snails and all things Salty. Isaac Barker delivered a very relatable story about the perils of being the younger sibling. Joshua Hansard’s story about surfing and drowning left us all washed up on the shore. Then a real genre-bending tale by Felipe Brenny took us to another fantastical and gothic world.
Our very own editor, David Uptin, performed a quiet rage-filled memoir of his experiences as a “forgiving person” and growing up Christian. The grudges held, and the pain suppressed all under the guise of forgiveness. Bespoke and impactful, David never ceases to amaze us.
Finally, the gorgeous Al Singh laid out society’s five rules for young ladies. Be vigilant, be quiet, smile more, always apologize, and never say these rules aloud. Al always speaks from a place of such strength and power and left us all with the most important rule of all, “Well behaved women, seldom make history.”
To cap off such a wonderful night and start to the year ahead of salons, we announced our April theme. Where we come from, who we are, family trees, and actual trees.
Our next Salon is Roots! The event will be held at the Grove Bar at Kelvin Grove campus on Thursday 2 May, from 5pm to 8pm. Come along for an Expresso Martini dressed in vintage, or your grandparent’s clothes. Hope to see you there!
Tori Brown is a Meanjin based writer and filmmaker. Currently working as QUT Literary Salon’s Media Manager whilst studying a Bachelor of Fine Arts (Creative Writing) at QUT. She loves writing stories about relationships in any shape or form and how they affect us. None of her works would be possible without the immense emotional support of her cat and the power of caffeine. Follow Tori on @__niwatori__
