Welcome!

Hi there

Welcome to my blog. I'm setting this up partly as a record for myself of my activities as a poet, and partly to share my goings about with anyone else who happens to care.

Drop in once in a while, I'll let you know where to come to hear me read and where you can find my poetry, as well as infomation on anthologies I'm putting together and events I'm running.

I suspect this blog will also slide over to other writings of mine (reviews, plays, short stories) as my writing habits shift, but hopefully you'll forgive me for that :)

To introduce myself: my name's Laura Smith, I've been writing poetry for maybe 3 years now, not counting the crap I wrote when I was a teenager.

I'm an Australian Poetry Centre Cafe Poet, picking up the pen once a week to write at Booktalk Cafe in Richmond. I've edited two poetry anthologies and two short collections, and after a long slog I'm nearing completion of my own book of poems, which is about my work as a lighting technician in Melbourne's arts and entertainment venues.

I sometimes write online reviews, but I prefer to keep these anonymous so that I can write honestly without worrying whether I'll have to work with the people I'm critiquing. I've also had a few short plays performed, and stories published. I'm hoping to re-publish some of these on this blog as a kind of archive for you to skim through.

I used to run Sospeso Readings, I've worked as secretary of Melbourne Writers' Theatre, play selector for Short and Sweet Play Festival, board member of Booranga Writers' Centre, and content manager for artsHub.com.

Most recently I've been awarded the inaugural Dorothy Porter Prize for support of new poets, I've been shortlisted for the Whitmore Prize, and I'm soon to compete in the 2010 Poetry Idol final at the Melbourne Writers' Festival.