Published 5 November 20095 November 2009 · Main Posts Imagine Being Without Pen and Paper Maxine Beneba Clarke You’re probably used to my shameless plugs on this blog by now, but this event’s well worth checking out. On Saturday night, I’m donating a half hour unaccompanied set of my patois and hip hop poetry to Pen and Paper, a charity organisation which raises money for Pens and Paper to be provided to thousands of refugees in east Sudan. There will be African food stalls (can taste it now…) and a number of other performances. Please come along if you can. It’s too difficult for most of us to even imagine being displaced by war or famine. Perhaps we can start by thinking about what it might be like to be without Pen and Paper. Maxine Beneba Clarke Maxine Beneba Clarke is an Australian author and slam poet of Afro- Caribbean descent. Her short fiction collection Foreign Soil won the 2015 ABIA Award for Best Literary Fiction and the 2015 Indie Award for Best Debut Fiction, and was shortlisted for the Stella Prize. Her memoir, The Hate Race, her poetry collection Carrying the World, and her first children’s book, The Patchwork Bike, will be published by Hachette in late 2016. More by Maxine Beneba Clarke › Overland is a not-for-profit magazine with a proud history of supporting writers, and publishing ideas and voices often excluded from other places. If you like this piece, or support Overland’s work in general, please subscribe or donate. Related articles & Essays 12 May 202512 May 2025 · Main Posts Somebody please just do it Sam Wallman Somebody please just do it 9 May 202516 May 2025 · Prizes The Nakata Brophy Prize for Young Indigenous Writers (Fiction) Editorial team In 2025, first prize will be awarded to the best short story up to 3000 words by an Indigenous writer who is 35 years or younger at the closing date of the competition. A runner-up prize may also be awarded.
