Author Archives: Beth Spencer

Notes for the Translators – poems and notes from 142 Australian and NZ poets

    Notes for the Translators: 142 New Zealand and Australian Poets is a remarkable collection edited by the ever-creative Kit Kelen. Each poem is accompanied by a mini essay by the poet — about the poem, the references, idiom, allusions … Continue reading

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Reading literary fiction can make us better thinkers! — more creative, more rational, and more empathic.

  Book sculpture-The Thinker- by Daniel Lai A study by researchers at Toronto University has concluded that reading literary fiction can make us better thinkers — more able to handle uncertainty, ambiguity, open-ended situations and questions; all of which in … Continue reading

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Diorama at the old Melbourne Museum – the Okapi (genesis of a poem)

. What is an okapi? And why should a creature barely seen by humans matter to us? Background to this poem:  A museum is more than just a place made up of things, it is also an arrangement of bodies: … Continue reading

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