Published 4 August 20094 August 2009 · Main Posts Believe : Overland & the Melbourne Slam Maxine Beneba Clarke Overland is sponsoring a heat of the Melbourne (Believer ) Slam tonight at The Spinning Room (Upstairs at ET’s Bar, Prahran), so rock along if you’re around town. Co-ordinated by Melbourne poet Geoff Fox, previous heats of the slam have been held at spiritual places around Melbourne, including the Victorian Council of Churches, Quang Minh Buddist Temple, and Iramoo Sustainability Centre. Everyone in the audience votes (so be prepared to harness your inner critic if you attend), and slammers wax poetic about stuff they believe in, religious or otherwise. The fun kicks off at 8pm at The Spinning Room, ET’s Bar, 211 High Street Prahran. Englishman Jon Garrett and his younger, funkier sidekick (O’Sullivan’s observation, not mine), Melbourne poet Anthony O’Sullivan rank high in the slam MCing stakes. Tonight there’s cold hard cash at stake, as well as an Overland subscription, a free copy of the journal for heat winners, and possible publication if Acting Poetry Editor, the honourable Tim Wright, gets slammed to his liking. 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 20 March 20262 April 2026 · Main Posts Final results of the 2025 Judith Wright Poetry Prize Editorial team Established in 2007 and supported by the Malcolm Robertson Foundation, the Overland Judith Wright Poetry Prize seeks outstanding poetry from new and emerging writers. This year’s judges, Shastra Deo, Harry Reid and […] 20 March 202620 March 2026 · Main Posts Final results of the 2025 Neilma Sidney Short Story Prize Editorial team Established in 2007 and supported by the Malcolm Robertson Foundation, the Overland Neilma Sidney Short Story Prize seeks outstanding original short fiction of up to 3000 words themed loosely around the notion […]
