Radio Laria Poetry

Radio Laria is a spoken-word community collective that holds monthly poetry and storytelling events. Community is invited to gather to hear and hold space for one another, as we witness and share our craft and expressions. There is an open mic, open to all, a limited amount of spots each night and sign up is on arrival at the door. Originally part of Girls on Key, Radio Laria continues to prioritise featuring women and gender diverse poets. Radio Laria Storytelling is starting in 2025, a sister event to the traditional poetry stage where community is invited to share stories on a theme, our first theme for this event is WONDER AND AWE. The storytelling stage open mic holds space for up to 7 stories and stories can be up to 7 minutes. Stories can be true stories of your lived experience, fantasy, dreams of how you wish it could be, fictional tales or outright lies. Whatever the story is we want to hear it. It doesn’t need to be polished or poetic, but instead simply be a story, as if you were telling a friend about something that happened or something you want to make happen. For 7 minutes the stage is yours to share. Being, witnessing, telling your story is connective, and this is the mortar of community building. Our venue is the Black Spark Cultural Centre (126A Gladstone Avenue, Northcote, VIC 3070), a grassroots centre entirely run by volunteers. Doors open 7pm and the stories will start at 07:30. Tickets are $10 or $5. Speaking our stories in a safely held space is a radical act of community building, one that works to empower our voices, to remind us of the connections and resonances that exist in our shared human-ness as we witness one another, and to align us, toward our forward facing purpose, which is to create, connect, express and share our truths and our dreamings. Location: Black Spark Cultural Centre, 126A Gladstone Avenue, Northcote, VIC 3070. Black Spark is a one minute walk from the no. 11 tram line (St Georges Rd) and a 10-15 minute walk from Croxton Station (Mernda Line) A volunteer run bar is available and cash is preferred if you have it. Food can be brought in from outside. Accessibility: Front entrance, open mic, and carpark are all wheelchair accessible. OUR FEATURE ARTIST IS KENDRA KELLER, also known as LADY LONGDROP. Kendra is a submerging artist who has enjoyed fleeting moments of infamy as a poet and performance maker, her essays and poetry have been wheedling their way into the hearts from the stage and the page for well over a decade. Her show “YAY For Cane Toads!” was nominated for the “Best Theatre” and won “Spirit Of Fringe Award” for its premiere season at melbourne Fringe Festival, 2019. Kendra was born on Kulin country, from a line of cheeky Swiss matriarchs, and raised of Kabi Kabi country by bohemians and seekers who all spent a lot of time sitting around reading poetry.